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Diddy Gets High - April 20

No, it's no accident that I got that title for today being "Diddy Gets High" on "4/20". But enough sick humor from the sick humor man. Let's get to the subject matter at hand...

That being the chronicles of Sean "Diddy" Combs. Here's a brief history.

His first big hit, "Can't Nobody Hold Me Down", exploded in 1997. "Puff Daddy" sampled Matthew Wilder.

His second big hit, "I'll Be Missing You," was a poignant tribute to this friend, Chris "The Notorious BIG" Wallace. He sampled Sting.

His third big hit, "Mo' Money, Mo' Problems," also exploded that year. He sampled Diana Ross.

His fourth big hit, "Been Around the World," was big in 1998. He sampled Lisa Stansfield... and the title of her first big hit.

Then he got into the fashion game with his Sean John line. He sampled Tommy Hilfiger's works.

Then he got into acting with an appearance on Broadway with "A Raisin in the Sun." He sampled Danny Glover's performance.

Then came "Making the Band 2", where he sampled Lou Pearlman.

(C-Note: If this is getting repetitive, don't worry. We're building up to something.)

Then came "Diddy Runs the City", when he sampled Rosie Ruiz.

Somewhere in between, he dropped "Puff Daddy" for "P. Diddy", later just plain "Diddy," sampling Nintendo and Rareware's joint magnum opus, "Donkey Kong Country."

Now comes his latest joint, "Celebrity Cooking Showdown," in which nine of Diddy's closest friends... or eight and Miss USA... come together in the spirit of culinary battle to be groomed and judged by experts in the field until one champion reigns over all.

That's right. Diddy has sampled...
a) Iron Chef.
b) The Pillsbury Bake-Off
c) That unwatchable game on Food Network with JD Roberto in it

And just like Diddy post 1999, everyone was hip on that fact. And no one cared.

Of course, Monday had some things going for it. For one, it had a killer lead in with "Deal or No Deal", which soundly beat everything in its path. Then comes 9pm. A whopping 30 percent of  "Deal's" audience (Which, for that night, numbered 9.2/15, meaning that, of course, 15 percent of all TVs in America were watching Howie and his 26 best friends). That left "Cooking" fizzling with a fourth-place 5.7/9. Which means that 91 percent of all TVs were tuned into... something better. And I've seen the show.. Yes, "Supernanny" is better than this.

The Tuesday show doesn't get any better. I was watching "Idol" (as were a quarter of all American households). Quisla was watching "Gilmore Girls" on the WB. What do they have in common? They both beat out NBC, who charted FIFTH. That's not first, not second, but FIFTH... with a 2.4/4. Now that would be desirable numbers on cable or syndication... but in the big leagues of network primetime? Not so much.

Wednesday, a bit of a perkup. It went from fifth to fourth, and finally gave Amazing Race and Alias fans something to laugh at. But still... 1.6 million viewers... That's roughly the population of Atlanta, Georgia. That's it. Sure it was big from last night, but if you compare it to last week, when "Deal or No Deal" was on... Well, you're picking up what I'm putting down, aren't you?

NBC's grand experiment to create the next hit a la "Deal or No Deal"... FAILURE. Stick a fork in it, Diddy. It's done.

And while we're on the subject...

Friday's "Deal or No Deal" was a rerun. Because it's Good Friday. Who watches TV on Good Friday?

A lot of people, it seems. "Deal or No Deal" beat out its competitors with a 7.0/14. Just a testament to the lasting power of this franchise.

And points to NBC for giving it a rest until next season. In effect... giving it a "next season". Sneaky, but satisfying.

Syndie land...

Again, only the big three were cranking out new shows, so we're going to focus on those.

For the week ending April 9, top seed "Wheel of Fortune" was down from last week, with an 8.4 with over 9.2 million viewers. Still very potent indeed. Jeopardy! was second, again down, with a 6.7 with over 7.4 million viewers. "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" is still at rung #15 with a 3.3, translating into 3.6 million. In the grand scheme of things? Level.

And now, the 4/20 pause for the cause...

The Weekly Rant, or Kellie Pickler. Either she's a real fake or a real idiot. Either way, she is an agent of the dark arts and must be destroyed.

Last week, I gave out a challenge to name someone who has never hosted a game show.. but should. And you guys, and thank you, first of all, for your responses. These were some really good ideas, so let's get right to it, shall we? Here's what you out there came up with.

First up, Tammy Warner... Howdy hi, Tammy!

"Howdy Hi Chico!

"In response to your challenge of "Who Hasn't Hosted A Game Show, But Should Have:"

"Here's a name that goes back quite a few ways: JIMMY O'NEILL!!!!!

"OK, you're wondering, "Who the "GONG SHOW" OOPS is she talking about?" Jimmy was the host of the classic rock & roll variety show "Shindig" during 1964-66. I have a whole collection of videos from that show that were on the market during the 1990s. He was a deejay at KRLA and later KFWB during the early '60s, which was how he got the "Shindig" job in the first place. He worked alongside some of our future fave GS hosts like Eubanks and the Winkster. Jimmy even guested in the classic 1965 episode of "The Flintstones" entitled "Shinrock A-Go-Go;" you remember, the one where Fred accidentally invents a new dance craze. If you have the Boomerang Channel, you might want to watch for it next time it plays.
 
"BTW, I actually met Jimmy face-to-face when he returned to KRLA in 1990. And I must say, he was a real sweetheart. He could have fit in as host of "Card Sharks" or "Press Your Luck;" or even "Talkabout!"

"You see, this is what comes from being born in 1962."

Thanks for writing, Tammy.

That's actually a really good pick. Out of all the game show hosts to come from the Golden Age up until the present day, a great deal of them were DJs. If you think about it, they had to deal with people on a day-to-day basis. And the really good ones know how to present themselves and to ad-lib, two benchmarks of a good game show host.  Bob Eubanks... Wink Martindale... Bob Barker... That Seacrest kid... Hell, even Casey Kasem was as adept those 13 weeks of hosting "100%" as he was hosting "American Top 40." Too bad no one watched.

And as for being the host of "Shindig," I can tell you that that was an excellent platform. After all, Dick Clark got his start on "Bandstand" before "Pyramid", and they had the same pedigree, so why not?

And I will catch that next episode of "The Flintstones" if it comes on again. I'm a big fan. And no, the birth name didn't have anything to do with it.

This next one comes from David Howell, one of our friends in the UK.

"As a UK reader (one of the DoND commentators at bothersbar.co.uk) I noted your comment on Richard Hammond with interest.

"And I have the germ of an idea. Hammond would make a good Jeopardy! host here. And boy, do we need a good Jeopardy! here.

"The UK Jeopardy! (or at least the one that is least forgotten, the one that ran at 9:25am for a while in the early 90s) was plainly awful. Seriously... playing for POINTS? With a flat £500 (yes, £500) for the winner? I know this was half-decent for a daytime show here at the time, but come on. The show works a lot better when there's decent money on the line and people are gaining and losing at least moderately significant sums with their responses, especially on Daily Doubles. This isn't Countdown, people. And I seem to recall a distinct lack of a live audience, too.

"ITV might still have the rights to the show, or at least could gain them back. (There have been versions on two other channels that were probably even cheaper.) They should, because we're sorely due a hard quiz here.

"Why the hell else would Millionaire and Weakest Link still get good ratings (heck, Link's still rivalling Deal) despite having jumped the shark at least three years ago, maybe five in the case of Millionaire? Why the hell else would Challenge (our GSN) be buying up reruns of the long-running rock-hard quiz Fifteen-to-One? Why the hell else do anal quizzes Mastermind and University Challenge (think: Quiz Bowl) get decent ratings in primetime (well, 2.5m is decent for minority channel BBC2)?

"Answer: there's demand for hard quizzes and it's not being satisfied.

"And there's one other thing.

"If you throw decent money at J! (taking the pre-doubled dollar values and converting them to sterling, i.e. £100-£500 in J! and £200-£1,000 in DJ!, should do the trick), you've got something that can compete with DoND without being unaffordable. (Heck, if ITV are putting TPIR in daytime, they can afford J! easily.) Better yet, throw in the unlimited champs rule, and you've got the potential for someone to win *more* than the £250,000 up for grabs on DoND. It could happen. All it would take is for whichever member of the quizzing fraternity here that hasn't been on Millionaire to go on a KJ-esque run, even a Maddenesque run, and Endemol/Channel 4 will be powerless. And with any luck, you'd get a cult following among viewers, but also among *contestants* - the show could gain the same intellectual kudos that it has in the US, resulting in some genuinely great quizzing, improving the cult following among viewers, and a cycle continues.

"And going back to where we started... Hammond could become the British Trebek. I never thought of it, but you gave me an idea, and... damn it seems conceivable now."

Thanks for writing, David. And you know, you're absolutely right. There is a demand for a hard quiz. That's why you're getting "Take It Or Leave It", right? That proves that the demand is there. Anyone with an economy chart can tell you that supply will often dictate demand.

I think Travis actually said it in his latest blog entry.

But yeah, I think a good version of "Jeopardy!" is long overdue over on your end... and if Richard Hammond isn't available? How about his Brainiac wingman Charlotte Hudson?

Now there's another idea...

Anyways, keep your ideas coming, and we'll revisit this question really soon.

In all seriousness, Chico Alexander would like to a) apologize to Daniel Powter and b) remind you that drugs are wrong. And if you do drugs, you're wrong. E-mail him at chico@gameshownewsnet.com.

 

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