Episode 19.12
December 8

Gordon: This is Gordon Pepper, and even though Thanksgiving was last week, it's always a good time to talk turkey.
Chico: Yum. Turkey sandwiches. Turkey gravy. Turkey a la king. Turducken. Gallons of turkey soup. Turkey sausage. Turkey jerky. Turkeys being jerky...
Gordon: Did you enjoy your giblets?
Chico: I enjoyed my giblets very much, thank you. But NOW...It's time for the main course!
Gordon: And I'm guessing we're going to enjoy this show too, as from somewhere in Chico Alexander's Thanksgiving Dining Room, this week's edition of We Love To Interrupt...is...on!
Chico: Yay! First of all, we hope you had a great Thanksgiving...As always, we're thankful for our family, our friends, and for you...and for the opportunity to bring this to you.
Gordon: We sure are. And as we have seen this week, some people have had a better Thanksgiving than others.
Chico: Got that right. We begin with ... let's begin with DOND, shall we? They had part 2 of their gigantic thanksgiving feast last week.
Gordon: Now in the past, Thanksgiving editions of Deal or No Deal have not gone over that smooth. In every edition of the show, the Top case has been found in the first selection of cases.
Chico: We know because we keep a tally of these things.
Gordon: However, this year, the results are very very different.
Chico: HOW DIFFERENT WERE THEY? I'm glad you asked. Ashley Otte was the player.
Gordon: And the top case was 2 Million Dollars. Oooh. Aaaah. What's her round of 6, Chico?
Chico: With six trays remaining..

PENNY / 1 / 500 / 1000 / 50K / 2M

Chico: Lauren at #12 opens.... GIBLETS!
Gordon: Tasty
Chico: That's what she said.

1 / 500 / 1000 / 50K / 2M

Chico: The offer is also tasty. $260,000. That'll buy a lot of gravy.
Gordon: That will buy a few Thanksgiving Dinners. While on a trip to Plymouth Rock. 30 times. Which would make it 30 Rock, but I digress.
Chico: Ba dum bum. But if we think about it from a game standpoint... purely...Thinking about it purely from a game standpoint... you are risking the chance at $259,999 LESS for a chance at more than $1.7 million more. So you have to weigh cost vs. benefit.
Gordon: It's a lowball offer, but if she finds the 2 mil, $210,000 goes away forever. But I'm guessing you'd go another case.
Chico: I would go another case.
Gordon: Ashley...does not go another case. Deal for $260,000!
Chico: Her mother wants her to deal. Her sister wants her to deal. It was her boyfriend that sealed this deal, though.
Gordon: Now this is a great deal...as long as her case does not contain the big money. Her case...DID. ASHLEY HAD THE TWO MILLION DOLLARS!
Chico: No profit for you.
Gordon: So Ashley leaves 1.74 million dollars at the table. It's not the record for doing that, but that gives us our first turkey of the week. We're not done with turkeys though.
Chico: Nope. Not by a longshot. Hey Gordon!
Gordon: Hey Chico!
Chico: You've traveled the world, right?
Gordon: Not as much as you, but I have left the country a few times, yes.
Chico: What two things do you NEED NEED NEED in order to travel outside the country?
Gordon: Well, I certainly need money.
Chico: If not money, then traveler's cheques... credit cards... or a good piece of snatch... you could hook your way through Europe.
Gordon: If I don't have money, then I need to find a free sanctuary and then maybe wind up in the middle of a nightmarish Eli Roth movie.
Chico: But enough about your last trip to a hostel :-)
Gordon: I also need a Passport. If I don't have that, then I could be detained and wind up in Midnight Express 2: Electric Boogaloo.
Chico: One team, the latest in a line of Amazing Race buffoonery... lost both.
Gordon: So this week, instead of Morons gone wild, we have 'The Amazing Race...Turkeys Gone Wild!'
Chico: Gobble gobble.
Gordon: And instead of eating turkey, Toni and Dallas will be munching on some crow, the crow being served when Dallas leaves both money and the passports in a taxi - which sped off with the items and Dallas separated from each other.
Chico: Shame too. I really liked them and they seemed to be real contenders up until that one... thing.
Gordon: That effectively ends their game. Because as bad as Andrew and Dan are, they weren't that bad that Toni and Dallas could recover. The extra task that Dan and Andrew had to accomplish was nothing compared to what Toni and Dallas had to now try to accomplish. Remember' find the clue in one out of a few hundred bales of hay' which killed a team a few seasons back? It's now 'find your belongings in 1 out of a few million taxicabs'.
Chico: And sure enough... they didn't. Now the final is set with the Cinderella story vs. the team you don't want to win vs. the team that theoretically played the best game.
Gordon: If Nick and Starr don't win, I'm throwing something at my TV set. They are the only team that deserves to win this game.
Chico: They are, and I'll tell you why. Because in a season rife with violations and misreads and miscues and downright bumbling...They're the best team in the bunch.
Gordon: I can deal with Ken and Tina, as they have shown some flashes of intelligence, but if Dan and Andrew win, the crashing sound that you will hear is the collective public throwing their TV out the window.
Chico: Big Board Me.

Chico: This one's called "They'll Win IF..." More or less what I do with J! tourneys... applied to the Amazing Race.
Gordon: Nick and Starr will win if...they don't screw up. Royally.
Chico: Can't put it any simpler... than that. Ken & Tina will win if they magically start to focus more on the finish and less on trying to outyell each other.
Gordon: That, and if Nick and Starr make an egregious error.
Chico: And then... there's Dandrew. Dandrew will win if the other two teams completely fall apart somewhere.
Gordon: If you have read the press releases before the season started, the releases said that 2 teams will be told that their race is over before they get to the Pit Stop. We saw the first team last week. My guess is that Dandrew will be team #2.
Chico: Which leaves Ken & Tina and the Super Spanglers to race for a million. My money's on Nick & Starr.
Gordon: Mine too. So now we have focused on the turkeys. But there was feasting to be had. And no one's table was probably more bustling than Brooke Burke.
Chico: You realize what you just said, right?
Gordon: Mmmmmaybe :D
Chico: Anyway, Brooke Burke... the judge's darling... ended up taking the whole shoot'n'match. Like I said she would. Because she's the judges' darling.
Gordon: Brooke Burke wins Dancing With The Stars. Now Chico, you know that every year, I always think that there could be some sort of conspiracy where the judges cook up the winner, right?
Chico: Yep. And this year, I'm right up there with you.
Gordon: HOWEVER this year...I can't.
Chico: ... wha?
Gordon: If you look at the judging, the judges had Brooke in first, Lance Bass in second and Warren Sapp in third. Warren Sapp...finishes in 3rd place. So at this point, the judges vote doesn't matter. whoever wins the popular vote wins the show.
Chico: Really.
Gordon: Because if Lance won the public vote, he wins the tiebreaker, as the public overrules the judges. So Brooke wins both the judges vote and the public vote, which means that I will agree with the results. Shocking, no?
Chico: Shocks me. All I can come up with is the judges leading on the public...I'm not going to say that Brooke wasn't the best... But in the end... was she REALLY?
Gordon: I can't. Brooke was the better dancer. I actually agree with the judges. FOR ONCE.
Chico: But you know, there's glowing reviews for her, and with everyone else, it's just... meh. But hey. Gordon agrees with the judges for once. MARK THE DATE.
Gordon: Do you think that Lance should have won?
Chico: Yeah. Lance should've.
Gordon: Really? How come?
Chico: He just seemed like he was giving it his all and even despite that ONE TIME...he stuck with it...That is a trooper. And besides, this is the same voting public that keeps Cloris Leachman in all those weeks back. (Almost said years... FELT like years)
Gordon: Brooke Burke won, but we'll be talking about Cloris Leachman. Anyways, congratulations to Brooke, who clearly deserves an MVP Trophy


Brooke Burke

Chico: Yay!
Gordon: Now sometimes we talk about how trivia is a family affair.
Chico: It is. I play trivia games with my family all the time and everyone should.
Gordon: So is winning a lot of money, because we have a family who takes home with them a quarter million dollars on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. The family was the Lawlers, from South Brunswick, NJ. The question is this:

Which of these common foods was unknown in Europe prior to the discovery of the New World?
A: Sugar B: Wheat C: Lemons D: Potatoes

Chico: I'm going to go with D.
Gordon: The Lawlers...didn't know. But they had an expert who did. The ask an expert: Ken Jennings, who says that he's 90-95% sure that it's potatoes.
Chico: I'd be too. Because it just makes the most sense.
Gordon: They go with it...and they are right!
Chico: That's a $250,000 spud.
Gordon: Sure is - they stop there, which is too bad because they would have gotten the $500,000 question right. Would you like to see it?
Chico: Yes I would
Gordon: For $500,000...

Which of these countries is not home to a Hard Rock Cafe?
A: Kuwait B: Bahrain C: Lebanon D: Syria

Chico: I KNOW this one. D. See, in my many travels around the world, I've seen this bag at every place I run into a Hard Rock... DC, New Orleans, Myrtle Beach, Cozumel... right...And on it are all the locations of Hard Rock Cafe. They list Beirut, Kuwait City, and.... some city in Bahrain.
Gordon: I knew it too. So did Wayne the psychologist, who the Lawlers call as a Phone-A-Friend. The Lawlers...don't pull the trigger. But $250,000 is a nice payday. So Chico, let's look up 2 months...into the future, shall we?
Chico: Yes we shall. NBC has just released its midseason schedule...
Gordon: Well, for January, anyways.
Chico: And much to the dismay of... well, everyone... Deal or No Deal ain't on it. No new episodes until after the holidays... AT LEAST. Now while most people are screaming bloody murder going "OMG it's the beginning of the end everybody panic."... you guys seem to panic a lot. Sometimes I think you LIKE IT!
Gordon: We do. Well, I do, anyways :D
Chico: Anyway, while they're doing that, I'm thinking, maybe this NEEDS to happen. Maybe it NEEDS to go back to "event" programming.
Gordon: Keep in mind that DOND hasn't had a home of it's own since last season. In the Fall of 2008 so far, DOND has been bouncing off the schedule more often than a pinball.
Chico: And quite frequently. It seems like the regular time for it is "Whenever we have a free opening and since we're NBC, there are no shortages of those." And because of that, and stunts, and natural progression of age...the ratings are diving.
Gordon: Does that remind you of some ABC network game show?
Chico: A little game....anyways, you look at something like Survivor or The Amazing Race or American Idol...You look at one of those shows, you noticed that they've been unmoved at their set times... and they're still doing reasonably well for themselves. Thus proving that no one has learned (bleep) from Millionaire... Pardon my Uzbeki. The point here... you find what works and you freaking stick to it.
Gordon: You can't bounce programs around and expect people to follow it. FOX did the same thing with 5th grader and Don't Forget the Lyrics, moving them from Thursdays to Fridays and it worked disastrously for all programs involved - their ratings are down by 50% and the replacement shows, Hole in the Wall and Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares, aren't even doing half of what both shows did. In fact. Hole in the Wall is no longer on the schedule.
Chico: You don't say "Hey, let's move it someplace for no apparent reason." Fox did that with the Thursday night on Friday. Hey Fox... how's that working for ya?
Gordon: Being that they are burning off the episodes, not too well.
Chico: I got your answer... not freaking well.
Gordon: Sometimes programming executives need to be saved by themselves. Let's move the 2 shows that worked to Fridays and put in Hole in the Wall and Kitchen Nightmares in the money spot on Thursday night? Huh?
Chico: WHA? Yeah. People were rushing for those remotes. So here's what you do if you want to basically ruin a primetime powerhouse. And I want EVERYONE TO PAY ATTENTION, BECAUSE I DON'T WANT TO HAVE TO GO THROUGH THIS IN ABOUT FIVE YEARS.
Gordon: 1. Bounce it around the schedule. 2. Bounce it to a dead night on the schedule
Chico: 3. Gimmick it to death.
Gordon: 4. Run it many, many times on the schedule. 5. Move it to Saturdays.
Chico: So to all those that are crying foul over this, I can only say "maybe this is what needs to happen. After all, how many times do you have to touch the fire to know it burns?"
Gordon: (shrugs)
Chico: Stop touching the fire! It burns. Burn = pain
Gordon: Something else that's coming down the corner bringing pain...an SAG strike. Maybe. And now, we're finding out, not as potent as the WGA one. Please explain.
Chico: Okay, well we have two little outs here. The first... many members of SAG are also members of AFTRA, which has ratified their agreement for the next three years. And those with memberships to both are required by law to report to work. The second, and the one that many people are going to be watching over the next couple of months, is that although a vote to authorize a strike is coming, an approval is "unlikely." Especially given the current state of the economy, which can now be called "State of Disaster".
Gordon: Especially if many of those people are going back to work via AFTRA. You need 75% to get a strike, and right now they don't have the numbers.
Chico: It's a simple numbers game. AFTRA has more. And people are not going to strike if they have to come into work already. It's what we call in the medical science industry an all-or-none reaction. You are not going to get 75% of all Hollywood actors and actresses to vote for a strike if they're legally tied to a job via AFTRA. It's just not going to happen that way.
Gordon: So it's not looking good for a strike, which is good for people who need to work in this economic climate.
Chico: Because people need to work right about now.
Gordon: And we don't need the hamsters to go out on strike. Again. Fluffy, stop revarnishing the picket sign.
Chico: I hope that's varnish.
Gordon: ....I'm not going to think about it. Roll That Beautiful Brain Footage.

(Doug: Live, local, and latebreaking... From the four corners of the globe to your frontal lobe, this is WLTI Brainvision News, and now here's Gordon Pepper, Chico Alexander, and the award-winning Brainvision News Team)

Chico: ... Thanks Doug! First up, let's go to the Greenlight.
Gordon: I painted some fireflies. Does that count?
Chico: Yep. Green fireflies... Neat.

NBC's not the only one with a midseason schedule as we have a bit of an extended Datebook...Survivor and Race return in February....American Idol and Hell's Kitchen return in January...CBS finally schedules "Game Show in My Head" with Joe Rogan on January 3 (a Saturday) and CW will launch "13--Fear is Real" on January 6.

Gordon: Saturday premiere for a stand alone game show, eh? Not a lot of confidence there, huh, CBS?
Chico: Saturday premiere...Just as a historical reference...The last time CBS had an original show on Saturdays, it was "The Will"
Gordon: That lasted a big...1 episode.
Chico: Just something to mull over.
Gordon: How did Monopoly grab you. You loved Monopoly, right?
Chico: I loved Monopoly.
Gordon: So you were the one.
Chico: Yeah. I was the one.
Gordon: Though ABC did pair it with Super Jeopardy, so I can't be that hard on that hour. And how did Vas or No Vas do again?
Chico: The less said, the better. And in Business news...

The bat has swung on Kelly Packard, who's leaving GSN Live...

Chico: Awwww.
Gordon: Boo.
Chico: I can't seem to shake that feeling that something was amiss.
Gordon: By the pricking of your thumbs?
Chico: Ah, you noticed.
Gordon: I did. And I noticed we have more dates.
Chico: Ok.

Superstars of Dance goes on January 4th. The Biggest Loser: Couples is on January 6th. If you want a new FOX show, try Secret Millionaire, which debuted this past Wednesday. And of course, A Shot of Love 3 this week.

Chico: Secret Millionaire is not a game show per se, but it does involve the exchange of money. And the rewarding of good deeds.
Gordon: A millionaire gives $100,000 to someone based on his judgment. Sounds like a game to me.
Chico: Sounds more to me like Extreme Makeover Home Edition...Only replace Ty Pennington with... millionaire du jour.
Gordon: What about Extreme Fully Loaded?
Chico: YEAH! *butts heads*
Gordon: ..ow.
Chico: .... Now THAT's extreme!
Gordon: You go talk while I get fully loaded with a stiff drink. *goes to get a drink*
Chico: Ok

This week, because it's the holidays, let's talk about giving back. Worldwinner is partnering with Toys for Tots this holiday. The site will donate 10 percent of each entry fee to the program from now until Christmas.

Chico: Not a bad exchange, I must say. You play for money, and Toys for Tots gets money. Everyone's a winner
Gordon: Hey....Chico...when's the last time we bought...the grape juice....?
Chico: Let's see... when was the last episode of "Identity"?
Gordon: So...it's a little...merfented?
Chico: A little.
Gordon: Oooooook....timmmme for a Blackboard...if it can stop spinnninnnng.
Chico: Hoo boy...

Are You Smarter than...Dallas, who leaves his Passport in a taxi and sees a million dollars drive away with it.

Chico: We went into detail about this earlier. That's just something you don't do.
Gordon: Even if they got there before Tina and Ken to finish in third, they are still done because there's no way they would get new passports in time.
Chico: Nope. Have a Haterade Chaser.
Gordon: (drinks) That chaser helped out a lot, thanks. What was in it?
Chico: ... Oh, just some B-vitamins and Haterade. Nothing special.
Gordon: Haterade. Guaranteed to work better than any Fisherman's Friend.
Chico: Word. Serve it up.

Let's say Hi to Zac. On Wednesday's Jeopardy, he had $10,600. He then had a Daily Double and bet the farm. Unfortunately, he lost the farm and winds up at the end of Double Jeopardy at -$1,200.

Chico: He doesn't get to play Final Jeopardy...
Gordon: Nope. That's a $21,200 swing.
Chico: Oh yeah. Even more when you consider the $1200 in the red.
Gordon: Make it a $23,600 swing if you include that. The beneficiary of this? Ben, who wins with $23,000.
Chico: That gives him a two-day take on Wednesday of $48,000.
Gordon: And with all that money, he could take a trip around the world
Chico: Let's go Global! Today, we're heading to France...

They're the latest country to pick up "Beat Your Host", which has been licensed around the world for a while.

Gordon: Oui Oui
Chico: C'est bonne.
Gordon: What can I beat my host with?
Chico: It's just your standard far of brains and brawn. The top prize: 100,000 euro.
Gordon: Awww (Puts mace away)
Chico: Actually, keep that. We may need it later.
Gordon: Oooh (Takes mace back out)
Chico: Because it's time for the booty call... but first, a Red Couch for the Red Sun. Season 2 of I Survived a Japanese Game Show!
Gordon: You're right. (Brings out mace)

You MUST be at least 21 years old, a US resident and have a US passport valid through May 2009 to participate.
http://www.realitywanted.com/call/3693-i-survived-a-japanese-gameshow 

Chico: We're also looking for Newlyweds for what I'm assuming is Here Come the Newlyweds season 2. Gimme that mace.
Gordon: (hands over mace)

Brand-new network primetime TV show is searching for fun, outgoing newlywed couples with BIG personalities who want to test how well they know each other. If you've been married 1 year or less, please let us know and our producers will fill you in on all the details of the show!
http://www.realitywanted.com/call/3686-newlyweds-needed-for-primetime-network-tv-show-now-casting 

Gordon: So either...1. The networks are convinced that these shows are going to be superstar or 2. The networks have zero faith in any of their new summer product. I'm leaning towards 2.
Chico: Me too. You know... it had the numbers coming out of Oprah's Big Give (as much as we hate to admit it), so that's something. And ABC needs something to plug their holes, soo...
Gordon: Let's see how it does when it's not covered by Oprah
Chico: (Thus proving my theory that they really shouldn't've cancelled Pushing Daisies, but that's just me).
Gordon: The networks need to cancel around 60% of their lineup. And they have no one else to blame but the WGA for their silly strike.
Chico: ... Yeah, that's about right.
Gordon: I mean did the WGA do the right thing? Maybe, but the damage, as we still see, is very severe.
Chico: It's like, you got what you want, but at what price to us? You're forgetting... We don't work for you.. you work for us...
Gordon: Something like that. Do media hoes work for us, too?
Chico: They always work for me. (plays "Pimpin' All Over the World")

In this week's Hodometer, Trace Eubanks (Bob Eubanks son) sells the ranch, David Cook's Album sells almost 280,000 units for 3rd this week, Simon Cowell finds a tracker on his car...Project Runway Christian Siriano teams with Payless, and Ivana Trump kept the breakup from her hubby secret so it could help him win Italian 'Survivor' - which he didn't.

Gordon: But none of them are your hoes of the week. We have a good ho...and a bad ho.
Chico: Nice. Good ho?
Gordon: The good ho - Merv Griffin, who will be heading posthumously to the Academy of TV Arts and Scientists Hall of Fame.
Chico: Yay!
Gordon: The bad ho - Gordon Ramsay - who has stopped production of his tv shows while dealing with an alleged uncovered 7 year affair with Sarah Symonds.
Chico: Oh dear. Apparently not down with OPP.
Gordon: More like she's down with GR's Pee Pee
Chico: Yeah, you know me.
Gordon: And those...are your hoes.
Chico: And that's Brainvision. Shut it down, G.
Gordon: (shutting down)
Chico: Still to come, what to get the game show geek in your life this holiday, but what do we have first, G?
Gordon: We do some comparing and contrasting when we come back.
Chico: This is WLTI, give us 22 shopping days, we'll give you a home game.

(Brainvision has been brought to you by The Search for the Next Carolina Hurricane Coach. Must deal with management, who are incompetent enough to fire the US coach with the most wins in the NHL and replace the only person who won Carolina a Stanley Cup with a friend of the General Manager, but hey, that's North Carolina Administrative politics for you. Coming to a dysfunctional ice rink near you.)

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