My mom excitedly emailed me today to tell me, "George Hamilton is the new host of Price! It's on TMZ!" So I go to TMZ.com and they basically say the same thing. Oh wait. They say,
"TMZ has learned that George Hamilton is the front-runner to replace Bob Barker on the "Price is Right."
We're told that CBS honcho Les Moonves and the show's producers think George is "wonderfully charming" and "could really make the show work."
We'll let you know if and when the perma-tanned TV titan is told to "come on down!"
Ah, so it's being tempered with an "if". Well then. Who knows if this was a valid, insider source, or George's publicist.
The ratings for 5th Grader seem to be slipping somewhat precariously week to week. Perhaps they will bottom out at some point, but for now Fox shouldn't be too worried, since they have been non-existent on Thursday night for years, and 10 million viewers for them on the night is probably more than they could have hoped for.
Totally bizarre sequence on last night's PYL rerun. The middle contestant definitively decided to pass his spins, only to ask a second later if he could back out of his decision. Peter looked totally lost but was signalled it was ok. Not long after this I think a rule went into place explaining that once you said you were passing, you were done.
Then, said contestant spun and hit a Move One Space decision square. But he didn't realize what had happened and just started clapping and cheering. Peter had to rouse him from his stupor to remind him to make a choice.
Finally, on his next spin, the same guy started banging the podium in front of him right as the board started spinning. He either accidentally hit his buzzer or at least disturbed it enough for to board to stop momentarily and flash a square. There was an awkward pause and then the board started spinning again. Ca-razy.
I wouldn't normally use Price is Right (let alone that, Swap Meet on the Price is Right) as a buying tool, but they had the Endless Games package as one of the items in there. Looks like they had the box for a Match Game game in there. I figured it was a board game, but according to their web site, it's a DVD game. DVD games are a mixed bag from what I've heard, with most of the bag mixing towards the bad side instead of the good. But we'll see. Endless Games has, with a few exceptions, remained pretty faithful to the shows, so let's give them the benefit of the doubt.
She was on the Simpsons for a second time tonight. Yes, the Simpsons hasn't been good for at least 2 years, but any show with Betty White on it just gets 100 times better.
She is 85 years old and must be turning down job offers left and right. What a freakin' amazing woman.
1 vs. 100 sure is looking stronger after Identity plummeted 3 million viewers from 1 vs. 100's season average. It would be wrong for me to gloat about this. Oh, what the heck, I'll gloat.
That's a good piece of advice to remember should you ever get into Contestant's Row. On today's Price, Orlando was the second bidder and, when prompted to bid, gave the first part of his bid into his hand instead of his microphone. So what was heard on air was (blank) thousand dollars. Bob took it as $2,000, and the actual price was $1300-something so he lost.
Now, if he meant one thousand dollars, he would have won. You may have noticed in cases like this, the producers try to flash the bid to Bob to prompt the contestant to repeat it as to avoid an error. This is due to an incident a few years back when a bid was misheard, Standards and Practices weighed in, and the show was forced to pay the wronged contestant the entirety of what she could have won on stage, including her pricing game, both showcases, and $11,000 in potential wheel winnings.
Also, contestant Margie, called before the 4th item up for bids, has to be the most hysterically fun contestant they've had in a while. After gasping in shock and screaming after getting down to Contestant's Row, she proceeded to go off on a bizarre lovefest for a pinstripe suit Bob wore on a previous episode. Keep your eye open for these moments--we only have a few months of them left.
I've been hearing a lot of buzz about Mario Lopez' audition for Price, so much that from what I've heard, he's got the inside track for the job. I realize that probably horrifies a lot of people. After all, I remember him totally screwing up Masters of the Maze a decade ago. But since then he's had a lot of decent gigs, including Pet Star and Extra, as well all that Dancing with the Stars exposure.
Compared to some of the other names I've heard, the only other person I'd like to see doing the job is Todd Newton. But I just wonder if his star power isn't high enough to get him traction for the gig. Bob was obviously not an A-List celeb when he got the job 35 years ago either, but the show is far more high profile now.
I try to catch a few episodes of Price per week, and today's was one of them.
*We finally had a contestant nail the Check-Out game, missing by only 87 cents and well within the new, generous $2 range
*Was there a contestant in a partial fireman's costume?
*How many times is that yellow Ford Mustang Coupe Deluxe going to be included as a showcase prize? I think the producers love that car because most people assume it's far more expensive than its roughly $20,000 ARP and overbid on the showcase because of it.
That was a quote that flew by during the intro of Price is Right today. Now, how on Earth is that claim even remotely true anymore, unless they're limiting their focus to the group of network daytime game shows. Of course, they're the only show in that group anymore, so the claim is worthless.
Don't get me wrong, I love the show, but let's try to be more accurate with the intro sayings. How about something like, "Watch us now before Bob leaves and we're totally screwed"?
Maybe I'm stating the obvious, but I don't really buy the whole "Howie picked a contestant at random and brought them back to the studio" thing. There's way too many variables there, namely the whole issue of the Hot Dog on a Stick corporation needing to be consulted first. Not that they were likely to turn down the free publicity, but nothing in Hollywood ever works that magically.
It's fine for the show to try new ideas, but lying to the audience is always a bit dodgy, especially when the genre has had bad experiences with that (cue the video of Herb Stempel answering "On the Waterfront" here).
Is anybody else a bit confused by the total lack of information on Let's Play Crosswords? The show has no pilot and only a vague promotional pitch film on the 'net...and yet it's been given a firm go for next Fall. I know Merv Griffin carries a lot of clout in the industry (and rightfully so), but as a station manager, wouldn't you want to know some basic info about the show before clearing it? It's certainly not like every Merv show has been a hit (I'm looking at you, Headline Chasers and Monopoly).
To all 1 vs. 100 fans out there, light a candle during tomorrow night's season finale. It could be the last, but I surely hope not. The show performs as admirably as anything else on NBC that night and is infinitely cheaper to make.
I'm not avidly rooting against Identity in its 2nd run, but let's just say I hope it finds its way onto a missing persons report at some point.
...5th Grader is, eh, it is what it is. Semi-enjoyable if you tivo through 60 minutes in about 8. The material in tonight's episodes at least seemed to come close to matching the correct grade level. I wasn't jazzed about the first contestant on there, the "Construction Worker" who sure looked a lot like an actor.
I guess what bothered me most of all is the "coming up next week" promo, which I only saw because it bled over to the start of Family Guy. It basically dropped a bombshell about a contestant on next week's show. Whatever happened to building up suspense? The in-show previews before commercial breaks are bad enough.
I was very weary of tonight's 2 hour Deal or no Deal episode. Frankly that's like when Another World expanded to 90 minutes...probably not a good idea.
Well, I was wrong. They squeezed in 3 games, and the first and third were total doozies, both with $1 million cases. I couldn't fault the general for dealing when he did; I would have done the same. He had just the $1M left in a sea of crud, and it was a miracle that he had it all.
The second guy however, I just didn't get him. Besides the kilt and the overblown muscles, he dealt earlier than anyone I've ever seen...after just 3 rounds. They barely had a shot to introduce his family. And he left when he had 3 huge amounts left.
I was amazed that they actually played the entire game out, and as it went on, it was clear that he had luck all on his side, ending with the most painful $1M reveal ever. In fact it may be the worst deal in history, $81K for a $1M case.
As an aside, what do people think about the producers not knowing what case has been chosen? I'd like to believe it but I think it's just too tempting from a production standpoint not to know ahead of time. In fact, it seemed as if Howie was clued into it at some point in the 3rd game prior to the final reveal. But what do I know?
As I was reading over on Buzzerblog that American Gladiators is going to show up on ESPN Classic, I wondered to myself, what other classic games should be airing on "non-traditional stations."
And then it hit me: Why on Earth is VH1 Classic not airing reruns of Remote Control? It was one of the seminal game shows of the 1980s, a favorite among an audience who usually never watch game shows, and now that they're grown up I'm sure it would be a big nostalgia kick. Airing it on VH1 Classic would probably erase any worries about the music licenses (one would hope), and the kitsch value is super high.
I got excited when I saw that 1 vs. 100 is still on the schedule for next week, but the week after it looks like it's gone. Instead we get Identity and Miss USA, together at last. Hopefully the respite for 1 vs. 100 will be short.
DVD-based home games have been a mixed bag in the US. Most have gotten bad reviews, but a few seem to be ok. But in the UK there's an even bigger collection of DVD games out there, including some surprising ones:
Unfortunately the first two are apparently snoozes, but Strike it Rich appears to be the best of the lot, at least according to the reviews on amazon.co.uk. If you have a few bucks (keep in mind the exchange rate and shipping will ding ya good) and a PAL DVD player, they may be worth checking out.
Has anyone over there (or over here) bought a DVD home game that they absolutely loved or hated? Let me know!
Deal or no Deal games tend to fall into three buckets:
*Contestant goes one step too far and leaves with peanuts *Contestant leaves with decent money, but could have had more *Contestant is unbelievably lucky
We don't see much of the third bucket, but we definitely saw it last night. Contestant (surprisingly not annoying, either) left with $402K with just two cases left in play. Both had huge amounts, and she had $400. Crazy. Seeing the banker in a 'fro was a trip.
I think maybe after sitting through Vas o no Vas, maybe I can appreciate Deal or no Deal a little more. We'll see if my new affection lasts.
Having studied Spanish for seven years (and not really put it to much practical use), I decided to Tivo America's "other" Deal or no Deal, "Vas o no Vas" on Telemundo last night.
There are a few good things about it--they instituted a play in game with a couple of questions to answer between two potential contestants, which was nice. They have bailouts placed midway through the game, such as taking a car and leaving. And...
Hmm, that was it for the good. Now the bad:
*The show moves even slower than the Mandel version, which is saying a lot *The models can't open the cases very well, most of the cases (or "Portfolios") looked like they were having hinge issues *The camera work is shoddy at best, with the reveal of the case starting from a wide shot and then ending with a closeup, by which point the case has already been opened and the audience has reacted *The little notes that appear on the screen in the English version are usually semi-informative, such as "There's a 40% change the offer is under $1000". On the Spanish version, the notes say gems like "The contestant just opened the $10,000 case."
I'm not sure what the ratings are for this show, I'd be curious to know how it's doing. It was an interesting diversion but probably not one I'd take again.
Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader? is a bona fide hit.
Sigh.
What's worse than that is that you have to imagine every development company in the country is now trying to replicate the success of it. The problem is, can you really copy an idea so focused?
This is straight out of left field, but if "game shows with kids" becomes the new hot genre, does that mean a revival of Child's Play could get the green light? There were Craig's List postings regarding that show a few months ago, so who knows? Other than that, I can't think of too many properties that could really take advantage of this show.
Further proving that the country is headed into a downward spiral, Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader had the biggest ratings of any FOX series debut ever. The boffo ratings for the show were so stunning that even the AP picked up on and put an article out.
Retention was down slightly for night 2, but still, 77% out of American Idol is something most shows would dream of. On the same night last year, some unknown Fox comedy held just 48% of the audience.
I still think the show is weak. It's hard to sit through without tivo'ing heavily. But Jeff Foxworthy has a huge following (for some reason), and watching people look stupid on national TV will never get old, I suppose.
