After a couple of years lost in realityland, GSN has decided it’s time to put the Game Show back in “GSN”. Their 2009 advertiser upfront has gone online at http://upfront.gsn.com. Among the highlights:
- GSN has acquired rerun rights to Deal or No Deal and 1 vs 100. (Would it be too much to hope that GSN may have rights to revive the latter?)
- They have a bunch of new concepts in development:
- Wakeup Call: GSN wakes you up in your own home – to play a game show right then and there.
- Star Treatment: Cash Cab upgraded – random players are given the day of their lives… as long as they keep answering questions right, they stay in the limo for big prizes… get one wrong, and get dropped on the curb.
- Instant Recall: Hidden-camera show where players are dropped into a situation, watch it play out, and then have to remember intricate details of what they just saw.
- The Search for the Next Great Game Show Host: Can you guess?
The winner gets to host a future GSN Original. - The Money List: Remember Fox’s one-episode The Rich List? No, but that’s OK, because GSN has a season of the show waiting to air this spring… hosted by Fred Roggin of GSN Live.
- 20Q: The handheld game comes to TV… and it’s players vs. computer, with Ken Jennings as judge and Joey Lawrence hosting.
- Brainteaser: The UK interactive game is coming to GSN. All kinds of word and math-based puzzles, with home player participation.
- GSN Daily News: “News you watch… to win”. A story is read, and you call in to answer questions about them..
- They are teasing “Big Saturday Night” (all-interactive Saturday primetime), “Friday Night Originals” (which may include the first four items on the development list), and a continuation of Sunday “Poker Night”.
- And, of course, their existing originals – Newlywed Game, Catch 21, GSN Live, Bingo America.
As a game show fan, this is exciting. Even if GSN bungles a few of these – not that they’ve EVER bungled a concept – it’ll still be fun to see a committment to the game show format.
And, of course, don’t forget the rumor that CBS will replace Guiding Light with a game show this fall…
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I watch gsn almost every afternoon. If there is a show I don’t like I can wait an hour or so for a diffeent one, BUT on Sunday all you put on is poker. Isn’t there a poker channel. I hate having no good tv g games on Sunday night. Please give me some choices. Bored in California
[...] Now this went better…GSN has rolled out the first few new shows from the upfront presentation. Deal or No Deal is airing daily, and 1 vs 100 is on weekends (speaking of which, if 1 vs 100 Xbox Live pans out, that may get me to invest in the console). And last Saturday, GSN premiered Big Saturday Night, featuring 20Q and The Money List. The two game shows worked well – Cat Deeley is a visually-pleasing and otherwise-capable traffic cop for 20Q, Hal Sparks has promise as the sarcastic “computer”, Mr. Q, and the gameplay is definitely fun. And I thought The Money List got screwed by Fox (as The Rich List), so having it come back was a treat. Fred Roggin got a little over-dramatic (and I think he needs a voiceover guy or co-host to play off), but the lists are fun to guess along with (or shout at the TV with!). The only problem? The other hour – the interminable Big Saturday Night sketches and games. I’m going to give them another chance on Saturday – but if the BSN segments go as badly as I expect, I’ll be running the DVR on the BSN-free reruns of 20Q and The Money List on Sundays. [...]