Looking Forward to
September 10th - September 4
This is Jason Block, and
it's now the unofficial end of summer. Labor Day has
come and gone, some kids are back in school, some kids
are going back to school...and all the parents are
happy! But for game show fans like myself, September
10 is a huge day for us. No less than 7 shows premiere
that day..and two of them premiere for the very first
time.
Let's take a look at the 5
veterans and 2 newcomers and see what they have in
store.
WHEEL OF
FORTUNE: This one
is making the biggest splash in syndication, as it is
celebrating it's 25th year in Syndication in a huge
way! First of all, in the end of September, Wheel
returns to my hometown of NYC to tape three weeks of
shows including "People Celebrity Week", "Best Friends
Week" and "Heroes Week" which celebrates police
officers, paramedics and firefighters. This of course
will air during November Sweeps. We will have
flashbacks, congratulatory messages from celebs and
others. You will be able to send your greetings to
Wheel's webpage.
We have new wedges like
the "25" wedge, where people can win prizes in
multiples of 25! We have the Big Money Round with the
first changing wedge with values up to $25,000! We
have new categories like "What Are you Doing", "What
are you making?" and Fictional Families" and the road
show will head to Chicago in 2008 to air in May. Plus,
I would expect a lot of home viewer sweeps, including
more uses of the SPIN ID. All in all, a huge year for
the Wheel this year.
JEOPARDY!: Don't
sleep on the sister show. We are going into
syndication season number 24. Expect the good things
like "Back to School Week" and the Teen Tournament, as
well as the College Tournament. These signature
tourneys along with the hope that another Ken Jennings
or Dave Madden comes along, will keep this show
rolling along.
FAMILY
FEUD: The little
show that could rolls on into it's 9th season in
syndication, with the 2nd Season of John O'Hurley at
the helm. O'Hurley brought a great breath of fresh
air, along with the new set. With the host search for
The Price is Right behind him, I think O'Hurley can
concentrate on making the show a continued success.
WHO WANTS
TO BE A MILLIONAIRE:
This show enters it's 6th season, coming off the
show's highest ratings to date. The big question will
happen at the end of this season. Will Meredith
Vieira--the voice and face of the syndicated version,
leave at the end of this year when her contract
expires? And if she does, who will host it? Bergeron?
Roker? Lane? Someone off the radar? My hope is that
the powers that be will work something out with NBC so
that she can do both "Today" and Millionaire. But this
story will play out later on in the year or early
2008.
THAT'S
THE QUESTION:
Believe it or not, this moderate GSN hit comes back
for season 2 with Bob Goen back again as host. Let us
hope that the quality control of the show is a little
better than last season, with spelling errors and
question errors kept to a minimum, if none at all. GSN
needs another hit in a big way and let's hope this
does the job.
And now, the two
newcomers:
MERV
GRIFFIN'S CROSSWORDS:
This is the one with the biggest hype,
Merv Griffin's death last week notwithstanding. We
have a show that got off the ground without a pilot
and is now here. The questions that will be answered:
Is Ty Treadway a good host? Is the show a good game?
And will the show live up to the high expectations due
to the name of Merv Griffin alone? My senses say this
one will live up to the hype.
TEMPTATION: THE ALL-NEW SALE OF THE CENTURY:
Of the two new shows, this one worries me. It worries
me a lot. First off, I am not sure of the
"Home-shopping Twist" where you can buy the items that
the contestants can. And two, I am not sure if they
are going to concentrate on that, or the gameplay. If
they keep the gameplay, fine. If not, they are going
to upset a lot of game show fans out there, myself
included. I hold out hope, though.
So there you have it. 7
shows...and I hope you guys have your DVR's ready.
Because this season looks like it's going to be a good
one.
You agree or disagree? Fire me off a letter at jb.regis@verizon.net. |