Jan 11 2008 'Price is Right' Coming to DVD. What?
The perfect gift for your terminally ill friend or family member. Nothing says "You're so permanently sick that you need an equally permanent way to watch a show people only watch when home sick" like a collection of 26 Price is Right episodes. And what better way to painfully exit the world than guessing the price of flatware and an RV?
While the show has always served its purpose of providing modest company that breaks up the life insurance ads between 11 and noon, I can't imagine anyone actually going out of their way to watch such predicable, anodyne entertainment. I can say in all honesty that I've never once thought, "God, I could really go for that episode of The Price is Right from January 13, 1987 right now. Just one of those moods." Have you?
The Price is Right - Here It Comes [TV Shows on DVD]
Oct 11 2007 Drew Carey is Hilarious as Host of 'Price is Right'
Contuining today's extensive game show coverage, CBS has a clip from the new Price is Right with Drew Carey, complete with a new, thickly-bespectacled logo to remind us that Carey still has the look of a '50s G.I.
If you were worried about the comedian's hosting abilities, his saying, "You gotta get your Plinko before you can go to the bathroom-o," should relieve your fears.
Oct 11 2007 Regis Philbin Hosting 'Million Dollar Password'
How to make a successful exciting primetime game show:
1. Choose a concept that has been done many times before, but raise the stakes - Password was moderately successful. How about Password Plus, giving it the same glamor as shampoo with conditioner? Oh, you already did that. How about Super Password, implying a vague sense of superiority over its predecessor? OK, you did that too? Time to really up the ante: Million Dollar Password. Leave no mistake about what's at stake in finding this password. As a bonus, it's reminiscent of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, giving audiences a sense of pleasant nostalgia until they realize it's still on the air with Meredith Viera.
2. Choose a pleasant, non-threatening host - If it weren't for Howie Mandel's slickly shaved head and goofy non-humor, Deal or No Deal would be lost in the sea of shows with women-objects guarding numbered metal briefcases. Without Jeff Foxworthy, Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? would seem like a silly, rhetorical question instead of the poignant realization that, yes, some rednecks aren't, and you might be one. Regis Philbin is perfect, and again serves as a reminder of the success of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, and that Regis is not yet dead.
3. Make it look like a strange, harshly lit, dystopian future - I'm just assuming. What recent game show doesn't look like that?
'Password' is...Regis [Variety]
Oct 1 2007 New Price is Right Set Confusing, Ironic
When it was announced that Drew Carey would be taking hold of the reigns of The Price is Right, I worried they might try updating the set of the show to mimic the stark, poorly-lit future world of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, Deal or No Deal, and basically every other idiotic game show to come out in the last ten years. (Honestly, does a show called Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader need to look like it's an Orwellian dystopia?)
So, here's the bad news: they did remodel the set.
But here's the strange news: they've remodeled it to somehow look more campy than it originally did.
Yes, as the above slideshow demonstrates, the environment that made the set of Match Game '76 look like a concept showroom has been renovated with a new, barely-noticeable change in logo and scenery. The outdated '60s and '70s-style patterns have been replaced with new '60 and '70s-style inspired patterns for reasons that are still unclear.
But where before the kitschy look rang of nostalgia and heritage, it has now become a desperate wink at the audience that says, "Hey, look how goofy we kept them! We get it!" Whatever executive OK'ed this decision was likely wearing a trucker hat and Members Only jacket and, between swigs of Pabst Blue Ribbon, had just finished explaining how he ironically likes Journey.
Thank Oscar for his telling slideshow of this tragedy.
Jul 24 2007 Drew Carey to Host Price is Right
Last night on The Late Show, Drew Carey announced he will be the new host of The Price is Right, taking over for Bob Barker. Now, I think they could have found a much better or much worse replacement for the recently retired host, but my main issue is just that they're continuing the show at all. I mean, really, what's the point? It's not like PiR is actually some great, revolutionary game show idea. Watching the hour-long show, like a visit to a dying grandpa, was done out of a sense of duty, nostalgia, and mild amusement with the outdated decor. You can't get rid of grandpa and expect me to keep visiting his house, even if he's been replaced with a younger, slightly funnier grandpa with thick glasses.
Question of the day: Will anyone be willing to run up and kiss Drew Carey?*
*including family members.
May 29 2007 CNR Joins the Great Big Match Game in the Sky
Television's greatest game show participant, Charles Nelson Reilly, died Friday due to complications from pneumonia. Though he played many roles during his 76 years, he is probably best known for his many appearances on game shows in the '70s and '80s. Aside from possibly Speed Racer, no one has worn an ascot so proudly or often, and his antics are all that keep Match Game on GSN to this day. CNR was truly a legend in the industry.*
*The giant glasses industry.
Mar 16 2007 Jeopardy! Desperately Pleads For Viewers
The event gave Alex Trebek his first orgasm in 23 years.
The Jeopardy! website has a cryptic message that tonight's show will be a history-making one, with an event that has never occurred before on the show and will likely never again. For some reason this has intrigued me enough to actually bother watching, making me the only person under 65 caring about the show.
Someone better be shot or something. I swear to god, if it's just a three-way tie, I'll be so pissed.
NOTE: This is going to cause me to miss Comedy Central's Scrubs rerun. Let me know what happens.
UPDATE: I'm so pissed.
