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. |