HOLLYWOOD JUNKET met a contender for WIPEOUT during the show’s auditions held at the Los Angeles Convention Center. She ended up making it onto the show! Watch our second interview with her about her experience competing on WIPEOUT, Season Two! Click on image, or link below to watch interview.
Watch WIPEOUT contestant interview!
Tags: ABC, Contestant, wipeout Posted in
It was our first visit to the live GSN show, “Big Saturday Night!”. This was the first Saturday since filming started that I didn’t have an excuse to haul myself some nine miles away from Hollywood to attend the live taping. Although it doesn’t sound like a lot. In L.A. traffic, it sure translates into almost one hour of driving easy!
The set is not big and consists of a medium sized stage that is routinely changed-out very quickly in the short allotted time that they have to do so. Huge play boards are set-up for each contestant with identical game pieces. Once the first contestant is done with his or her game, the big board is hurled around rapidly and vigorously by crew at lightning speed as the opponent approaches the stage.
I do believe that GSN has invented a new genre of show with this. It’s a unique blend of sketch comedy/game show/interactive variety show! For those whom have not seen the show yet, it’s all done in real time, and hosted by three terrific personalities: Ross Mathews (”The Tonight Show”), Charissa Thompson (”Fox Sports”), Keegan-Michael (”MadTV”). Two segments include phone contestants. They are two competing phone contestants that must play a game based on clues given to them by a show guest. Tonight’s celebrity guest was Claudia Jordan from “Deal or No Deal” who announced she will be the co-host of this year’s “Miss Universe” pageant. Go number one!!
Crew cleans-up after a live game on stage.
“Big Saturday Night” broadcasts live during the span and commercial breaks of “20Q”, and
“The Money List”. The studio audience is figuratively split in half. One side is the red side, and the other is the blue side. Two contestants play a series of games throughout the whole show. Some of these games result in a win for the audience members as well depending on who wins, the blue or red contestant.
Some “live” facts: Production actually runs the broadcast of “20Q” and “The Money List” on the three big studio screens when they’re not shooting. It’s fun to see the studio audience watch these shows on TVs and playing along. Audience members sitting in the pit, must move every time a new set-up is done for the contestants playing on stage. Then they are seated again. This happened about five times. The audience side that did not win, had some members that were very upset at the losing contestant, called her names, and even accused the show of being “fixed” (which is impossible by the way).
As consultation prizes, audiences were given hard copies of “TV Guide”. Hosts are all very friendly and interact openly with each other and audience. There were a lot of out-of-town audience present hoping to win big!
The show asks all audience members to bring a bill statement with them. This is in fact to randomly select one person in the audience from each side and the show actually pays that bill. One woman selected was so overwhelmed and ecstatic to be having the show pay her $1,900 bill. On our side, HOLLYWOOD JUNKET host quietly sat with her $23 gas bill that she brought.
HOLLYWOOD JUNKET was unlucky with any wins. Not such a “big Saturday night” for us. Guess we sat on the wrong side. Prizes include $1000, gift cards for “Omaha Steaks” , “F.Y.E”, and $50 cash.
Check-out Ross’ blog: http://helloross.blogspot.com/
Tags: Big Saturday Night, Charissa Thompson, Claudia Jordan, Deal or No Deal, GSN, Keegan-Michael, MadTV, Ross Mathews Posted in
Let's Make A Deal remake
A full fledged remake of “Let Make A Deal!” is being prepped for production. An audience was brought-into the studio earlier this week for a number of run-throughs as the producers of the show auditioned potential hosts for the remake game show.
Some audience members even won $100 in cash! More updates on this as we get them.
Tags: Let's Make a Deal, remake Posted in
Before the million dollars was won on “Deal or No Deal”, HOLLYWOOD JUNKET got a peak inside the million dollar vault, during our interview with a “Banker Girl”.
Watch the video here:
http://www.HollywoodJunket.com
Tags: Banker Girl, Deal or No Deal, Deal or No Deal case model Posted in
Hollywood, CA - HOLLYWOOD JUNKET attended a special run-through session of a new game show aimed at GSN. Kelly Goode, Senior Vice President of programming at GSN, was in attendance along with about twelve other GSN network executives at the “Production Group” studios in Hollywood.
We reported on a previous run-though of this same show, “Everybody Gets One!”, co-hosted by Dr. Gadget, who is best know for giving away prizes, including electronics on shows like “The View”. This particular session, brought-in Tanika Ray from “Extra” as his co-host, who was very upbeat, and pulled-through what seemed like a last-minute gig for her (receiving constant directions in her earpiece).
Dr. Gadget's new GSN game show makes the audience winners!
A producer from “Catch 21″ introduced the show’s games and rules, and explained that the audience of forty-five people is also the contestants. This producer also stated that this game show is “the best game show that I’ve ever worked on!”, and that it’s the “biggest show GSN has ever done!” Bigger than “Big Saturday Night”? As much as $277,000 worth of prizes are given out on one show.
The audience is split into three separate groups of fifteen, divided by professions. For example groups may be: pet groomers, book-keepers, and school teachers.
The game show consists of five games that every audience member has the chance to play.
Contestants are selected from the 45-count audience pool by guessing the retail price of an item closest to it’s actual price. It doesn’t matter if they go over, as long as they guess the closest price. Whomever is the closest from each of the three groups, goes onto the stage to play the games, and to represent their group until they lose a round, then someone else is chosen out of their group in the same process of elimination.
There are five games the contestants must get through. They are: 1) Square Deal - contestants must circle the four digit number from a crossword-style board that is closest in price to the electronic product up for grabs ; 2) Bag Your Bid, 3) Dress the Model - each contestant must dress one game show model in wardrobe totaling $5000; 4) Biggest Bargain - players must guess which product at a sale price is the greatest bargin among three pre-selected items; and 5) Dr. Gadget’s Produce Stand- each player must put fruit in a bag to make it weigh 5lbs.
Each set of products is displayed and showcased by three beautiful game show models in a “Price is Right” type fashion.
Players getting the closet in number to these games, win the prizes for their whole section, “everybody gets one!”, and also get bumped-up to the “winners circle” where they reside for the rest of the show at a corner of the stage, while another member from their group must earn a place on stage to try and join them. Winners can also be sitting at home! Dr. Gadget consistently reminds viewers at home watching to jump onto their computer to win prizes at the GSN website.
After the fifth game is played, the five contestants in the “winner’s circle” get to compete for a new car. Each player selects a car door remote from one wall of remotes. Whomever selects the one that makes the car start, wins the car! The clincher, they also have the option to upgrade to fancier or sporty car by trusting their instincts to choose another correct remote to the upgraded in order to win it. If they select the wrong remote, they also loose the first car that they won.
“Everybody Gets One” is a familiar show mix of “Let’s Make a Deal” and “The Price is Right!”. GSN is staying on track with their current theme of introducing interactive game show television with audience members as well as home viewers who can win prizes on the GSN website during the show. The show seemed to be well received by audience members there, with the exception of a few. One, who stated he thought it was boring and didn’t like the high energy. If it really is the “biggest show GSN has ever done”, then I expect it to do very well. However, I really could see this show taking-off as a web game show. Just a thought.
Tags: Dr. Gadget, Everybody Gets One, GSN, Tanika Ray Posted in
HOLLYWOOD JUNKET was on the set of “We” television’s new game show, “Most Popular”. If you were in the audience, click on the link below to see if you see yourself on the show!
http://www.wetv.com/video/25809310001/most-popular-sneak-peek
“Most Popular” female audience is an important part of this game show.
Tags: audience, game show, Most Popular, We Posted in
The game show that humbles many adults for their lack of knowledge of basic school subjects such as mathematics, science, history, geometry, and english is joining day time syndication, “Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?” The show was sold to Warner Bros. who will air it on multiple stations, five days per week, twice per day. One network being, CMT.
The set looks the same as the prime time set. The seating has been limited to a smaller number of audience members and no balcony, where the prime time version did had a balcony for audience.
Same looking set for daytime shows. Above photo: host, Jeff Foxworthy with celeb contestant, Billy Bush from a previous prime time season.
Host Jeff Foxworthy, in person is very down-to-earth, and oddly enough does have a teacher vibe/presence about him on stage. He joked with the audience, signed autographs, and even recited some of his “redneck dictionary words” for a fan. Then told the story of how his book of the play-on-words came to be. He stated that he initially thought he’d only be able to come-up with about twenty, but it soon turned into about two thousand.
The format is different, and the time frame is one half hour. Contestants come out to the stage to roll through ten topics given to them on a monitor “chalk board”. Contestants are allowed to bring up to four supporters who consist of family and friends to sit in the audience adjacent to the stage to cheer them on.
The fifth grade child actor, students on-stage that are there to play the game with contestants now consist of only three children versus five from the prime time show. Two different groups of three children are rotated from the morning shows, and the afternoon shows. So, no same children are there for any one whole tape day.
How The Game is Played:
There are ten categories on the board. The top two are the hardest questions, being “Fifth Grade” level questions, and worth $5000 each. The next two are “Fourth Grade” level worth $3,500 each; “Third Grade” at $2,500; “Second Grade”, $1000 each; last two are “gimme” questions that are “First Grade” level at $500 each. A total winnings consisting of $25,000 that can be increased to $250,000 after being multiplied by ten if the contestant answers the “Bonus Question” correctly.
If at any time, the player gets an answer incorrect, they lose all of the money they had earned up to that point. The only exceptions are the following: They get a $5000 question wrong, but the fifth grade student gets it correct. The contestant still earns the $5000; the contestant can choose to use their “save” safety net option and if the fifth grader gets the answer correct outside of the $5000 question, the money is still earned.
The other two safety nets contestants have are “copy” and “peek”. If a contestant chooses to use their “copy” option, they must lock-in the answer the fifth grader wrote down without seeing it first, and that’s the answer they play. If they use “peek”, then they can take a look at what the fifth grader wrote for an answer and decide whether or not they would like to lock it in as their answer.
Contestants play all the way through the board to the end. Once they reach the “Bonus Question” that multiples their money times ten, they get to see the subject category of the question, and decide if they’d like to continue. If they decide to SEE the question, however, they must answer it. If the contestant answers this “Bonus Question” incorrectly, they “give all the money back”. If they’ve earned at least $2,500 before the “Bonus Question”, then they get a consultation prize in the form of a $2,500 “Best Buy” gift card. If they have earned less than $2,500, the gift card is only $250. One contestant at today’s taping walked out with a $250 gift card. On the other side, a contestant was almost “smarter than a fifth grader” and earned $25,000 in their game, and decided not to go for the “Bonus Question”.
At the end of their defeat, contestants must still look into a camera and admit verbally, “I am NOT smarter than a fifth grader”.
On-Set:
The filming of the show is very fast-paced and organized. There seems to be a large fan-base of the show. Sunday’s afternoon shows filled-up, having to turn some audiences away!
As far as contestants, no word yet on if celebrities will be brought into the day time version to play.
The show started filming last Thursday, June 11th, and films seven shows per day. The syndicated version begins airing this September.
Tags: Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?, daytime, FOX, Jeff Foxworthy, syndicated, Warnor Bros. Posted in
The karaoke match-ups, “The Singing Bee” on NBC, and “Don’t Forget the Lyrics” on FOX battled it out for the first two seasons. Then, “The Singing Bee”, hosted by former “Back Street Boys”, Joey Fatone, got canceled. Now, the show has been given new life by CMT (Country Music Television) , and revamped into a country honky-tonk! That other karaoke, celebrity-driven, game show..well, unless it is too picked-up by another network, looks like it won’t be coming back.
Melissa Peterman (center) brings goof-ball character from “Reba” onto “Singing Bee” set!
The CMT network has re-branded “The Singing Bee” as a country-western fan-based music-fest. The contestants on the show, are very knowledgeable of country music, and play the game fairly well. One contestant even winning the grand prize of $10,000! The show is about sixty percent country music, and the rest with a mixture of pop-music, and a little bit of rock. No “Honey Bees” on this stage. Just, a “Bee Hive” of a big band that consists of about six vocalists, and bassist, a drummer(whom the host comically flirts with overtly), and, guitars. Band leader,composer, Steve Dorff created the show’s theme song, and wrote these lyrics for it: “There’s a party going on. Clap your hands, sing a song. Cause there’s a great big party going on!”
The new host, Melissa Peterman, from WB sitcom “Reba”. Peterman as a host is a good fit. However, hosting in itself, limits her comedic abilities. While on stage, she is consistently channeling her “Reba” character, “Barbra Jean” with egotistical stints such as creating her own catch phrase song by the “Bee Hive”, and teasing the drummer with onstage antics such as bending-over. These are all “Barbra Jean” type characteristics.
How the Game is Played:
Peterman starts each show off by selecting pre-determined contestants for the show that are placed in the audience while they and the rest of the studio audience sing a popular country song.
Contestants are called-up on the stage to continue the game. Peterman’s catch phrase and advise to these contestants is, “You don’t have to sing it well. You just have to sing it right!”. A total of seven contestants go to the stage to compete for one of six spots on the stage.
Contestants must claim a seat in the karaoke game by correctly finishing song lyrics. The same song replays until someone gets it right. Then they move on to a new song. Once all six seats are filled, the next round begins.
In the second round, each player must finish a verse in a song by unscrambling jumbled song lyrics on a big screen, and sing it. Players earn five points per correct word in lyrics.
Round two is called, “Singing with the Enemy”. Contestants are forced to pair-up in teams of two, creating three teams altogether, and must finish random lyrics to a song. They earn five points per correct lyric.
In the third round, “Karaoke Challenge”, remaining players get to pick a song according to the release year and song style. Contestants must finish correct lyrics after the “Bee Hive” is done singing it.
Two players are left by round four, called, the “Chorus Showdown”. Two remaining players are given the chance to complete the correct lyrics of a song. The fist player to correctly complete a song, goes on to the final round! While on set, I witnessed a rare incident where the producers of the show actually had to call a tiebreaker because the players had gone on for so long without giving any correct lyrics. They had to face off by using a buzzer at a clue given to them. They could choose to complete the song, or pass to their opponent.
The last and final round is, “Final Countdown”. Here, the last contestant must get seven songs correct to win the “Singing Bee” trophy, and the grand prize of “$10,000!
The show is somewhat more enjoyable than “Don’t Forget the Lyrics”, and more interesting than NBC’s version of “The Singing Bee”. Will country fans become fans of this new show? We’ll see when it premiers on CMT this summer.
Tags: CMT, karaoke, Melissa Peterman, The Singing Bee Posted in
New, original GSN (Game Show Network) game show, “The Money List”, premieres Saturday, June 13th at 8pm. It is hosted by local Los Angeles sports anchor (KCAL 9), Fred Rogan, who also hosts “GSN Live”.
A game show that earns people money for their talent of trivia knowledge of pop-culture topics such as films, songs, and celebrities, along with their ability to gamble and hold their best “poker face”.
Rogan’s hosting technique is anticipation, and suspense building. His style is one in which somewhat teases players with what correct answers may be by stating contents of list that contestants did not name.
“The Money List” pits two teams of two total strangers who wager against each teams’ knowledge and ability of completing answers on lists from categories given to them by Rogan. Teams are placed in individual, sound-proof “pods” across from each other where they can not hear each others discussions, strategies, and wagers, but they can see each other. That is where the “poker face” comes in handy. Host, Rogan communicates to each team what their wagers are against each other.
Categories include: “characters from Harry Potter”, “Meryl Streep Films”, “Mariah Carey songs”. Teams can bet on the amount of answers that they can give on a list. For example. One team can put in a wager, or “bid” that they can list five of the “100 Most Popular Stand-up Comics”. The other team bids ten. Then the opposing team can put-in another “bid” of a higher amount, or choose to make the other team complete the list of ten in hopes that they will get it wrong, or not be able to complete the list at all.
The two teams bet against each other for the duration of two money lists. After the second one, the winner goes on to the final round to complete a final list for $50,000.
“The Money Lists” gets their information for lists from the following sources: IMDB, Billboard, film credits, etc.
In the final round, the winning team must complete all fifteen list contents in order to win the grand prize of $50,000. The list is in increments of $5,000 , $10,00 $15,000 $25,000 and $50,000 in three answer increments.
If the winning team wins the final round, then they go-on to play a new team of two players to compete for more money.
“The Money List” is addicting, and allows viewers to play along by testing their own knowledge of what they think is on the lists. It’s a fun show, and hope to see it on GSN for a while.
Tags: Fred Rogan, GSN, The Money List Posted in
Starting Saturday, June 13th, the Game Show Network (GSN) will be introducing two new original game shows, “20Q” and “The Money List”, that give viewers the opportunity to play for cash and prizes.
According to GSN’s Senior Vice President of Programming, Kelly Goode, viewers can win either via phone, or online, as well as the studio audiences.
In the case with “20Q”, show contestants from the audience battle each other for a spot on-stage to play against, “Mr. Q”, the computer (voiced by “Queer as Folk”, Hal Sparks) to win a possible $20,000.
“20Q” recently wrapped filming at “The Hollywood Center Studios”, and is hosted by — last ten clues in “Celebrity” category: 1) has British accent 2) has Australian accent 3) gets mistaken for the “Orbitz” gum girl, 4) hosts a singing show, 5) hosts a dance show, 6) taller than 5′7″ 7) blonde, 8) brunette, 9) worked with Jay Leno, 10) British host. All true clues are numbers: 1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, and 10. Yes, the host of “20Q” is Cat Deeley, also host of “So You Think You Can Dance” (my all time favorite summer show!).
On “The Money List’, players must predict from a list, how many their game partners will know. List examples are: Tom Cruise movies, Las Vegas casinos, or Elton John Top 40 hits. The team with the most correct answers go on to compete for a shot at winning the $50,000 grand prize.
“The Money List” airs Saturdays at 6:30pm (PT) and again at 9:30pm. Check-out “20Q” at 5pm and again at 8pm (PT).
SEE our review of our on-set visit at “20Q” here:
http://hollywoodjunket.com/blog/2009/05/20/20q-first-day-back-on-set/
Tags: 20Q, Cat Deeley, GSN, The Money List Posted in
