Schedule it to me one more time

GSN just sent me the pdf schedule for the week of March 12-18. You can check it in the sidebar, just above the picture of our really cute dog.

As always the pdfs can only be trusted as far you can throw them after you print them out. The GSN schedule changes with the wind when the wind is in a really flighty mood. Who knows what will finally happen in the week of March 12-18?

For now, though, 100K Pyramid is scheduled to take the place of poorly performing Dancing With the Stars on Friday night. This was supposed to happen sooner, before GSN sent out new pdfs taking Pyramid away. The GSN boards erupted in one of their endless spasms of Dancing hatred when the network scrapped the planned Pyramid block on Friday.

But now 100K Pyramid is supposedly back on tap for March 16. A couple episodes with Soupy Sales feature in the lineup. He appeared on the show a zillion times. Once Bob Stewart found a celeb who could play that hard little game, the celeb got called back again and again.

Way off-topic

I don't spend all my time watching game shows. Another of my guilty pleasures - appropriate term - is Investigation Discovery. The true crime channel creeps me out sometimes, though.

Especially a show called Disappeared, about people who go missing and often meet bad fates. The show almost never has a happy ending. Either the missing person gets murdered or is never found.

Happened to be watching a Disappeared rerun today about a Utah man named Steven Koecher. He went missing in 2009 under completely unexplained circumstances, and his family has been desperately looking for him ever since.

I found myself flipping over to game shows just to get away from the story. GSN was showing Richard Karn's Family Feud, and the CBS affiliate in my area was running Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune. At least on game shows nobody gets killed and there are no distraught families. And the shows always end with a resolution.

There was no resolution in the Koecher case. He's still missing, and it's not a game show.

GSN, the spinoff

A favorite fantasy of the older-is-better GSN Internet boards is GSN2, devoted exclusively to those beloved golden oldies. I knock down the latest rehash of the idea...

Other poster: Could this be a solution: Two Channels? GSN Classic and GSN Modern?

Pipe dream. GSN itself can't get full distribution, thanks to old demos and modest overall ratings. An all-oldies network, with even worse demos, wouldn't get any carriage at all from the system operators (with the possible exception of DirecTV, which still owns part of GSN).

Another poster: I can't imagine History Channel does either but there's 3 of those now I believe.

Yet another poster: But, it worked out for ESPN, didn't it?

The comparison with ESPN or History is...let's just say, wildly far-fetched. Both ESPN and History are almost fully distributed on cable/satellite because they get far bigger audiences and much more advertiser-friendly demos than GSN does. That's why they can spin off channels and still coax (or browbeat) the system operators into carrying them. The operators don't want to lose the main channels, so they accept the spinoffs.

In the latest February 13-19 week which I linked, for instance, both ESPN and History landed in the top six among all cable networks in prime time 18-49 viewers. Don't hold your breath until GSN comes within light-years of a similar performance. GSN is lucky to get any 18-49 viewers at all (slight exaggeration, but not too much of one). So wasting money to launch GSN2 would make no sense at all. Nobody would carry it.

The price is okay

NPR and The Price is Right are two things I'm mostly indifferent about. Well, I do wish that NPR would get off the taxpayer's dime. And I dutifully note TPiR news here on the blog because, folks, I'm a full service game show blogger.

So it was with some trepidation that I looked at this NPR blog entry about, what else, The Price is Right. I was afraid of snotty putdowns or gushy enthusiasm, or a combination of both.

There definitely was some snottiness, especially about Bob Barker. The female author shows clear disdain for the target of several lawsuits. But she's happier with Drew Carey, who doesn't make contestants pull hundred-dollar bills out of his jacket pocket. She also doesn't like Plinko, for whatever reason.

Her overall opinion is mild and measured: "It's a really good show to put on your DVR to watch while you're in and out of the kitchen making dinner." Not exactly a high-powered endorsement, but a reasonable evaluation of the show's comfort-food quality. After all, it's fine to watch people win some cash and merchandise. Worse things happen in the world.

Live and in person

Todd Newton is taking his The Price is Right live show to a Florida casino for an eight-week run starting March 1. The press release talks about Todd's "exuberant personality," which is certainly true enough.

Live game shows are a natural for casinos, where rumor has it that a lot of games are played. (By a weird coincidence I'm listening to Alan Parson's Turn of a Friendly Card right now on my computer. Don't let me down tonight!) Todd has hosted a zillion TPiR live shows in Vegas.

And by another weird coincidence, weekly game show blogger Aaron recently saw the TPiR show in Vegas currently hosted by Joey Fatone. He can't resist a few wry observations about the show's multiple announcers. But Aaron winds up enjoying himself quite a bit. "I personally had a great time, and my throat ended up hurting a lot from all the shouting the audience is expected to do."

Aaron also took in the Name That Tune live show in Vegas. But that effort didn't impress him so much. One of the show's co-hosts, Marley Taylor, has an interesting back story.

Four dealing seasons

Wayne Brady just tweeted what had been rumored in an interview mentioned in the faux tweets. Let's Make a Deal will return for a fourth season.

I'm happy for Wayne and company, though I'm frankly not a particular fan of the show. I never even liked the classic Monty Hall version that much. Though I do get a kick out of the Monty Hall problem. It's got to be the most commonly known mathematical problem with a wildly counterintuitive answer.

The Wayne Brady version has never been a big winner in the ratings. But it's dirt-cheap compared to soap operas, which are becoming an endangered species thanks to their relatively high costs. So Wayne rolls on.

I'd like to think that some network daytime execs would learn a lesson here. There are a lot of decent game show formats that could probably do as well as Let's Make a Deal, if not better. And they really don't cost a lot. Not to mention any names...PYRAMID!!

Syndies perk up a little

The week of February 6-12 was a decent one for syndicated game shows. No big jumps but a little bit of improvement. TVNewsCheck presents the news that could have been worse...

Wheel of Fortune 7.7 - up a tick
Jeopardy 6.4 - up a couple ticks, take that, Pat and Vanna!
Family Feud 3.2 - flat
Millionaire 2.6 - up a tick

You know the routine with TV by the Numbers. When they post their top 25 syndie list, I'll post the viewership averages. They're up: Wheel of Fortune 12.3 million (weekend repeat 6.5 million), Jeopardy 10.1 million, Family Feud 4.7 million. Meredith keeps just missing the list.

Meanwhile, in broadcast news Wipeout keeps bumping (or splashing) its way along a ratings trough. The show pulled a 1.5 18-49 rating and 5.1 million viewers last Thursday, February 16. I'm starting to wonder about its future on the Alphabet Net (warning, Variety-speak).

UPDATE: Douglas has posted the GSN viewer numbers for February 13-19. So-so at best. The viewership averages were 308K/234K prime time/total day. Dancing With the Stars continues to stink, but 5th Grader continues to shine.

New episodes bust out all over

GSN just dropped a long string of press releases into my inbox. New episodes of various shows start on the network the week of March 12. Forty-one new eps of Newlywed Game will run on Monday and Tuesday at 6:00PM and 6:30PM. That's why the network sent the picture of Sherri Shepherd you're looking at.

Baggage will run 60 new episodes at 6:00PM and 6:30PM on Wednesday and Thursday. Hm, a lot more Jerry, for better or worse. And the ratings disappointment Dancing With the Stars will get its twelfth season run on Saturday nights.

GSN can certainly use some new material, because the ratings haven't been all that swell lately. The new eps of the originals could help restore some of their lost Nielsen luster. And maybe a more recent season of Dancing might hoof its way to better numbers. (I'm not too confident any more, though.)

There may be some schedule reshuffles beginning the week of March 12, but GSN hasn't sent me the advance schedule pdf yet. And the way things go, the pdf is usually obsolete before its week rolls around, anyway.