Posted January 2nd, 2009
by Administrator
Great news! I just saw a casting notice that they have started casting for the second season of GSN’s original game show, “Catch 21″.
HOLLYWOOD JUNKET was on-set for the first season taping of this show. And, we didn’t have more fun than on the set of “Catch 21″. We look forward to coverage of the new season.
On-set photo of GSN’s “Catch 21″, hosted by Alfonso Ribeiro.
Here’s the contact info for those of you who are in the Los Angeles area, know how to play “blackjack” and would like to audition to be on the game show:
e-mail your name, age, phone number, occupation and photo to: bevgss228@yahoo.com AND Terrance at: foodgame04@yahoo.com ASAP.
Tags: Black Jack, Catch 21, game show, GSN Posted in GSN
Posted November 30th, 2008
by Administrator
This just in from “techguylabs.com”. Match Game host Dick DeBartolo was on the tech radio show today.Match Game is coming back to the Game Show Network. To celebrate the return of the popular 70’s game show, host, Dick DeBartolo is doing a show on “Stickam” called, “Match Game Memories” today at 5pm PST, in honor of Gene Rayburn, former host who passed away November 29, 1999.
DeBartolo wrote those suggestive questions that made Match Game a hit.
Questions about “Match Game” can be sent to: dick@gizwizbiz.com
Check-out the live show via stream online tonight at: www.stickam.com
Tags: Dick DeBartolo, GSN, Match Game Posted in GSN
Posted November 25th, 2008
by Administrator
While at a taping of the new season of GSN’s “Bingo America” with new host Richard Karn, I actually ended-up winning two Bingo games while sitting in the audience. The immediate prize was $25 cash per game won, and I had to fill-out a form to receive my other prize. I didn’t think anything else of it. Took my cash and was happy.
Well, just the other day what do I find delivered on my doorstep? Two DVD BINGO AMERICA DVD interactive games (for each game I won on the show) and a nice letter that accompanied it from GSN. Thanks GSN! 
Tags: Bingo, Bingo America, DVD game, game show, GSN Posted in GSN
Posted October 7th, 2008
by Set News
We just posted an interview with new host, Diane Mizota of GSN’s “Bingo America”.
She talks about changes on the show, and her career.
Diane on the set with Richard Karn. Photo: courtesy of GSN
Watch the HOLLYWOOD JUNKET video at:
www.HollywoodJunket.com
Tags: Bingo America, Diane Mizota, GSN, Richard Karn Posted in GSN
Posted October 6th, 2008
by Set News
We’ll be doing an interview with the lovely Diane Mizota, from BINGO AMERICA later today after “GSN LIVE”. I’d like to start the first of many more interactive interviews.
For fans out there, if there’s a question you have for Diane, please email it to: hollywoodjunket@gmail.com
The cut-off time is 3pm today. We’ll post it here when her interview is up on our site.
Tags: Bingo America, Diane Mizota, game show, GSN, GSN Live Posted in GSN
Posted September 8th, 2008
by Set News
Hollywood Junket host was a stand-in contestant on the new cat game show!
Written by: Charity C.
On your mark get set, MEOW! Ok, for all you cat lovers out there, there’s a new Game Show coming out on GSN called “Think Like a Cat”, hosted by Chuck Woolery!
Host of “Think Like a Cat” gameshow, Chuck Woolery
It was nice to see Chuck on stage! He was very cool, funny, and easy-going on set. I actually didn’t get to see live cats, I was a stand-in where I was just used for blocking for the new show. I used a stuffed pink pussy cat named “Wolfie”. My “contestant” name was “Stephanie”. I loved my made-up intro for myself and my little cat Wolfie! When Chuck asked about my cat, I told him I was single and that my cat Wolfie makes me feel that I don’t need a boyfriend. I also thought it was ironic that Chuck hosted “Love Connection” and if he was still hosting that, then maybe he could have forwarded me to casting for that show.
The first round of the show is called “Fast and the Furriest”. Eight cats and their owners put them in a track and race other cats. The cats are motivated at the other side of the track by “Meow Mix” cat food and their beautiful owners. Three of the fastest cats of that round get to go to the second round. The second round is cute because the show has it set up like “Jeopardy”, but they twist everything in cat lingo. For example: “Just Kitten Around”, “Let’s Get Fuzzical”, “Maw and Paw”, “Famous Felines”, “HISS-story”, and “Cat-tistics”. You could also double your points if you pick a block of points that contained “Pick A Litter”! You have to answer a question from a random celebrity. If you are the one that picked, “pick a litter”, you are the only one that must answer the question. You could also consult your cat for help! Third prize winner gets $10,000, one year supply of “Meow Mix” cat food, and they get to donate $1,500 to any animal charity!
The grand prize winner can win one million dollars as well as cat food and contributing money to an animal charity! Isn’t that great! You would get to bond with your cat and win lots of money. So for all you cat owners out there, start grooming and training your cats to be the next winner in “Think Like a Cat”!
Tags: Chuck Woolery, GSN, Meow Mix, Think Like a Cat Posted in GSN
Posted August 22nd, 2008
by Set News
GSN started back filming its interactive show, BINGO AMERICA Wednesday, August 20th. This new season will introduce a new way for studio audiences to play along, as well as a new host!
New host of BINGO AMERICA, Richard Karn
After a reportedly (by a Hollywood Junket host) slew of rough tapings last season, Patrick Duffy as the BINGO AMERICA host is out, and Richard Karn, best known for “Home Improvement”, and one of many hosts of “Family Feud”, is in as the new host of BINGO AMERICA. He is accompanied by an attractive brunette host, Diane.
Richard Karn on the set of BINGO AMERICA
Karn proves to be friendly, warm, and witty. He approached the front row of the audience and chatted with them. He made light of the slow pace of the show taping and cracked a few jokes one of which was, “they are actually making this into a claymation” as an explanation for the repeated “holds” on set that paused production time after time. During another game with a marathon runner contestant, Karn made another comment that she was doing well because she was in a “marathon” of a show. It was hard for the show to pick-up momentum on-set which I suspect resulted in the overall low energy of both hosts and studio audience.
Studio audiences are given T-Shirts to wear that display letters and numbers. Each T-Shirt is accompanied by two baseball caps, one red and one blue. When the ball is dropped out of the machine, the audience member wearing that correlating letter and numbered T-Shirt stands-up. Whichever contestant answers the trivia question correct, that audience member places the color that the contestant represents of the baseball cap on his/her head and becomes part of the “red” or “blue” team whichever one it may be. If the contestant answers the question wrong, then the audience participate sits down. The best part for the audience is once they become part of a team, if that particular contestant wins his/her game, then each member on that contestant’s team wins $25 cash! Two audience members were lucky enough to win two games ($50), and another one won three ($75)!
Audiences are also made to stand-up in groups at the beginning of each show taping to spell-out B-I-N-G-O.
Above photo: “Bingo America” hats provided to the audience by the show.
After two games, the winner of the most letters, goes onto the “Bonus Bingo Round”. If a tie occurs between the two players, then the game goes into a five question tie-breaker. Each category answer starts with the same letter to spell-out B-I-N-G-O. Example questions: “This ‘B’ was a favorite family dog” (Answer: “Benji”), “This ‘I’ is a great cold snack” (Answer: “ice cream”). Winner must answer three correct.
In the “Bonus Bingo Round”, the winning contestant plays a bingo board (not visible from the audience perspective) for $100,000. Each letter is worth different amounts of money, if they manage to avoid the “wrecking balls” in which twenty are hidden throughout the board. The number of wrecking balls increase per column as the contestant plays each “B-I-N-G-O” letter. If the contestant manages to get through the whole board without getting a wrecking ball, they win $100,000. If they get one wrecking ball, it wipes out everything they earned during that bonus round. But, they still get to keep the amount that they won in previous rounds.
Home viewers can play the “Bonus Bingo Round” at home as bonus numbers. Audiences at home can still download and print Bingo cards and play along throughout the rest of the game. Every Wednesday, TV viewers have the chance to win $250.
Tags: Bingo America, Family Feud, GSN, Home Improvement, Richard Karn Posted in GSN
Posted July 22nd, 2008
by Set News
HOLLYWOOD JUNKET host, reviews the new game show, “Catch 21″ after one full day of taping. Watch video below:
Also, check out AUDIENCE REVIEWS at “Audience Wrap” on HollywoodJunket.com
http://www.hollywoodjunket.com/audiencewrapCatch21.html
Tags: Alfonso Ribeiro, Catch 21, GSN Posted in GSN
Posted June 15th, 2008
by Set News
Recently wrapped as of yesterday, GSN just may have a new original hit game show on their hands. We’ll know better once it airs starting July 21st! The show is called “Catch 21″. HOLLYWOOD JUNKET was on the set for two full weeks of taping, and a sure sign is, crew members could be seen and heard playing along. The last time I witnessed such an event on a game show was during the first pilot of “Deal or No Deal”.
The show is very low budget and has a nostalgic 1980’s game show look and feel to it.
Actor, Alfonso Ribeiro makes a great host on “Catch 21″.
THE HOSTS:
“Catch 21″ is hosted by ex-”Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” co-star Alfonso Ribeiro who is a great host for this show. He has great energy, and just as much fun as the game show itself. His co-host is equally well casted, Mikki Padilla who fits the Las Vegas show-girl/dealer perfectly.
In between takes. Mikki Padilla (far right) deals cards behind her podium.
RULES OF THE GAME:
About the game. It’s simple enough, yet addicting. Three contestants are pitted against each other in this Black Jack style game. The object of the game is to reach a hand that is 21 or as close to that as possible without going over and keeping the highest number among the contestants. Each contestant is dealt a card as their starting number. After that, current pop-culture trivia questions are asked by Ribeiro, and the player who buzzes in first with the correct answer, gets dealt a card by Mikki. They can choose to either keep the card or pass it to another player in an attempt to “bust” them which is what happens when a player reaches a number over 21, as a result, they lose that round. A contestant can keep playing the game in hopes of reaching a score of 21, or they can choose to “freeze” which holds their cards at a number close to 21 and keeps them on hold for the rest of that round. The other two contestants keep playing until one of them gets a 21 or a higher number than the one frozen. If one of them reaches a number higher than the one frozen, without going over 21, they win the round. There are never any ties in “Catch 21″. Players with same scores must continue to answer questions and draw cards until one of them either “busts” or reaches 21.
Contestants on “Catch 21″. Game show viewers will also see Vivicca (far right) on an upcoming daytime episode of “Deal or No Deal”.
Once two players reach an over 21 score and “bust”, the third player automatically wins that round. If a number is passed to a contestant from another contestant in which, for example” occurs in a score of 18 or 19, that player can not “freeze” his or her score until they have control of the board (or basically, they need to answer a trivia question correctly). If a contestant buzzes-in and answers a question incorrectly, they loose their turn and may not answer again until the next question is asked. Players have multiple choice answers of three from each question. Once two players buzz-in with two wrong answers, the game moves on to the next question. The third player does not get to answer the obvious correct answer by default.
HOW THE GAME IS PLAYED:
The show consists of four rounds, moves fast and is a quality packed half-hour. The player with the lowest score at the end of the second round is out-of-the game for good. Two players play the third round. The contestant who wins the third round, goes on to play the final round where he/she has the chance to win up to $25,000. The bad news is, it’s very difficult, almost impossible to win the $25,000. The contestant plays three hands in the final round. They must achieve a 21 on each hand in order to win the $25,000. The contestant has the option of stopping at any point. If they stop after “catching 21 once” they win $1000; stop after “catching 21 twice” they win “$5000 (total of $6000). But, if at any time they bust one hand, they loose all of their earnings up to that point, except for their winnings during the previous rounds. Most players stop after the first 21, some after the second. Out of all of the 41 shows shot for GSN, only two players were able to catch 21 all the way across during the final round.
For each previous round the contestant won, they are given Catch 21 “power chips” that they may use to pass on an unfavorable hand.
BEHIND THE SCENES:
At the beginning of each show, host Alfonso Ribeiro announces that the cards have been shuffled and cut before the show start. Now, this is true. The cards are in plain view of audience members, and the Standards and Practices (S.P.) worker is clearly visible shuffling and cutting the cards. After the final cutting of the cards, half of them are placed in the podium for Mikki to deal, and the other half is taken off stage with Standards and Practices where they are placed upon a table and remain until after the third round. Before the final round starts, the S.P. worker shuffles and cuts the cards once again at the dealer’s podium.
The advantages of shuffling and cutting cards before the start of show are, saves valuable air time, but also, if someone wanted to shuffle a favorable or dis-favorable hand before the final round, that would be plausible. Even with Standards and Practices present, one other person (whom I will not identify) was seen shuffling and moving some cards around.
An official from Standards and Practices shuffles and cuts the cards before the game begins.
A mishap occurred during the start of one of the games. Mikki dealt one of the players a 7 card. Producers shouted “hold”. The cards were handled. When filming picked-up again, the same player was dealt an Ace card, then the next player was dealt the 7 card. No one ever questioned it, or made any comments to what had occurred. I think no one understood why the order of the cards made a difference.
Because the game was new, there were instances where when a tie occurred for the first time, or when a question or answer was worded a certain way, the producers and Standards and Practices had to stop the show and discuss the rules of the game. By the last week of filming, it was smooth sailing all the way. The show wrapped Saturday, June 14th at KCET studios in Hollywood. After the final episode was shot, hosts and executive producers spent a half hour playing the show themselves and having fun.
Padilla, Ribeiro and the show’s executive producer went on to play two rounds of the game after the shows final episode of filming wrapped on Saturday.
ONLINE:
For viewers who are sure to become faithful addicts, they’ll be able to play “Catch 21″ at home online at GSN.com. No mention if prizes or money is available to win.
Some of the contestants on the show were flown-in to Los Angeles to play the game by winning the trip on GSN.com.
Tags: Alfonso Ribeiro, Black Jack, Catch 21, GSN, Mikki Padilla Posted in GSN
