Chico: I'll pay you $20 to erase them.
Jason: Do I hear 40
Chico: 60 going once... 60 going twice... 60 going three times... EEEEEEE-RASED for $60!
Gordon: YAY!
Chico: YAY!! Welcome back to the WLTI Year End Show. Time to pick up where we left off with...

JULY 2007

Chico: Ended the month with Drew Carey and.... the announcement. At the Late Show to stump for Power of 10, he got an unexpected call from the network...

"During your Harry Potter bit... I'm guessing it was, oh, 15 minutes ago... I got the call, it's a done deal. I'm the new host of "The Price is Right."

Gordon: YAY!
Jason: And the game show community held it's breath...and praised Moonves for not picking Rosie. :)
Chico: The speculation train kept chugging on to how he would fare. We'd have to wait until October 15 to know for sure, but as for Power of 10... that was Drew's baby there.
Jason: And a cute baby it was.
Gordon: And the power of 10 show was what convinced CBS to make a play for Drew
Jason: And a little "leaked" tape on YouTube
Gordon: We also see Camouflage
Jason: You can't see Camouflage :)
Gordon: We also didn't see Evil Dick doing anything on Bog Brother, which also showed up in July. We also get...JAG-Gate. Jason, care to explain?
Jason: Joshua Adam Garcia a/k/a JAG was a contestant on the Next Food Network Star. And though raw with Talent, he made the Finals of the show. There was one slight problem... Please ask me what that problem was
Chico: What was the slight problem, Jason?
Jason: Thank you. :) According to the Marine Times and Army Times, research showed that his military and culinary background was for lack of a better term...full of...(^_^). Now, the Food Network COULD have let that slide. But, seeing this was the crown jewel of the Network. Bob Tuschman and Company called JAG on it. He couldn't explain it away and "resigned" for the good of the show. Making Amy Finley--The Gourmet Next Door. A huge story this year.
Chico: Oh yeah
Jason: Moral of the story...Liars get caught. But....let's hope the show does better background checks.
Gordon: A show that doesn't have to worry about that is Take the Cake, a call-in that showed up - and left a few months later. Speaking of call-ins, the head of which, Optimistic Entertainment, sought Administration protection - a move that would be problematic to QuizNation
Chico: It was marginally better than Midnight Money Madness... but that's like saying strychnine is better than absinthe.
Don: Heh.
Gordon: And we also have the first of the 2 Michael Davies tournament shows. The first one - World Series of Pop Culture #2, where Twisted Misters won it.
Jason: Pat Kiernan's first part of his breakout year.
Gordon: Premiering right after that - one of our favorite shows of the year that no one watched - Without Prejudice?.
Jason: Agreed. This was a great show.
Don: Definitely.
Chico: Totally. I had high hopes on this, but it didn't gel with GSN's audience.
Gordon: Great show. No eyeballs means one and done. Rich Goldhill takes over at GSN. Nick Cannon finally ends his 0-6 losing streak on Wild 'N' Out. Unfortunately, the same can't be said for Jimmy Kimmel as we witness Set for Life.
Jason: (shudder)
Chico: Jimmy, you should've known that was going to go over like a lead balloon.
Don: A game that is mostly just pulling lights out of tubes doesn't make for good TV, if you ask me.
Chico: And then there's the matter of the guardian angel. It means you're not really playing the game, you're just giving a show. This one was dead in the water.
Jason: As A Doornail.
Gordon: Also - the Game Show Congress East and West happened - East in NYC and West in LA. This was bridged between July and August. And yes, that all happened in July. Groovy, huh?
Jason: Groovy
Gordon: Moving on...

AUGUST 2007

Chico: August sees Power of 10 on the air...
Jason: Groovy
Gordon: and Jamie Sadler winning a million dollars on the very first episode of the show.
Jason: Groovy
Chico: And Grand Slam... Also groovy.
Don: Very groovy.
Gordon: and 2 shows that we also like that no one else did - Murder and Fast Money MBA Challenge
Jason: Way groovy
Gordon: Not so groovy - another loss of a legend. Merv Griffin passes away this month.
Jason: A huge loss
Chico: And one month removed from what would be his final opus.
Gordon: Major. We also get Cash Cab After Dark and Celebrity Bullriding
Chico: Meanwhile, Rock Harper was crowned winner of Hell's Kitchen, and Sabra Johnston won So You Think You Can Dance.
Gordon: and so we move on to...

SEPTEMBER 2007

Chico: *plays "September"* ... tradition :-) Brian Melo wins Canadian Idol... But all eyes would be on two new entries on the daytime circuit.
Jason: Merv Griffin's Crosswords....
Chico: ... and Temptation.
Gordon: Can we change that to not many eyes?
Jason: I agree.
Don: They ruined Temptation...
Chico: Combined viewership of the two... 1.5 million.
Jason: Not good.
Chico: Not that darn many.
Gordon: Both shows have yet to combine to a 2.0 rating
Chico: One we're still waiting for. The other... is Temptation. Which they SAVAGED. I don't usually use the word "savage" unless I'm talking about Fred Savage... the Savage Dragon... or Adam Savage.
Jason: Deservedly so.
Gordon: Randy Savage?
Chico: Him, too.
Gordon: Savage Garden?
Chico: Them, too.
Gordon: I like to savage both shows. One has a non developed concept, and the other concept has too much going on.
Chico: But it wasn't all bad news in September, as Wheel of Fortune begins its 25th season in syndication with a whole arsenal of surprises.
Jason: The 25 Prize, the Big Money round, Flashbacks, and tweaks that work.
Gordon: Yes. And Jeopardy, of course, is Jeopardy
Jason: With Season 24
Gordon: And our usual shows - Survivor, Dancing With the Stars, America's Next Top Model, The Bachelor. Beauty and the Geek again and MTV's Celebrity Rap Star
Chico: And your favorite show, Gordon... yeah, that.
Jason: Ughhhhh
Chico: I think we had the quote of the fall on this show... From judge MC Lyte... to one Jason Wahler of the fake reality show "The Hills"... "No wonder Lauren left your ass."
Jason: LOL
Chico: Unfortunately, we also had to say goodbye one more time, this time to Brett Somers. She of Match Game fame.
Jason: Yes.
Gordon: Evil Dick wins Big Brother
Chico: (insert joke here)
Gordon: Don't forget Millionaire
Jason: And before the season starts...Meredith signs for 3 more years.
Don: YAY!
Gordon: and The Amazing Race wins another Emmy.
Chico: And Ken Jennings wins another $100,000 as Grand Slam champion.
Gordon: He does. But September is only the tip of the iceberg.

OCTOBER 2007

Gordon: October is HUGE
Don: How huge is it?
Gordon: We start with by far the most important story of the month...or lack of, which is the lack of an agreement between the WGA and the AMPTP
Jason: Which becomes one of the most important stories of the year.
Chico: The fracas is over profits from new media... of which the WGA wanted their piece. They had until the end of the month to hammer something out. They didn't. As a result, we have a writers' strike on our hands.
Gordon: And it will last for...who knows how long
Chico: Right now, the strike has cost writers $1 billion. With a B.
Gordon: I still feel that we could be seeing this drag for a long, long, time - as long as the Director's Guild and SAG contracts aren't signed, the arrows pointing to a complete stoppage in Summer of 2008 are still looming.
Chico: Speaking of things that drag on for a long time... Who's up for a million dollar mission? Yeah, baby!
Jason: Right...sure...you keep thinking that.
Chico: Nah, it didn't work out like that. Deal or No Deal still hasn't given away the million, and they probably won't as long as people who BELIEVE they have it fail to follow through on said belief. It's called follow-through, people.
Jason: Which has happened more times than not.
Gordon: Something else that didn't follow through too well - The Next Great American Band, which debuted this month. Also falling short - Phenomenon. Yuck. Jason: When you need to force drama...no good.
Chico: Nope. And force on-air bitch fits.
Gordon: In better (sort of) news, we had Last One Standing, American's Smartest Model and I Love New York 2.
Chico: And something that did follow very well... Drew's debut on TPIR.
Jason: Drew who? :) October 15...the day in infamy for TPIR fans.
Gordon: And someone who a lot of people are breathing a sigh of relief over.
Chico: It's been said before... Drew Carey... HE GETS IT.
Jason: See the Halloween episode. And the fact he wished Rich a Happy Birthday--ON CAMERA.
Chico: Truly a blend of old-school class and new-school attitude.
Gordon: The Halloween episode was great stuff.
Gordon: And on October 31st, we say goodbye to Playmania/Quiznation
Chico: Awww...
Jason: Poor GSN
Gordon: but all of this bad leads to good in November

NOVEMBER 2007

Gordon: Because Viva Laughlin got yanked, we get...The Amazing Race.
Chico: And it's one of the better seasons to come down the pike in a while.
Jason: Good cast, good locales, good stunts, new twists...best ratings in a while.
Don: It's been a great race so far.
Jason: And in November...Wheel comes to NY
Chico: Celeste diNucci silences all opposition... and any doubters.
Don: And we saw a tiebreaker in Jeopardy for the first time in... how long?
Chico: I think it was 1997, Don. I don't know. But yeah, that was one of the best finals in a while.
Gordon: Project Runway shows up as well.
Chico: Meanwhile, 5th Grader's barely half a year old and we already have celebrities.
Gordon: Regis, Clay and Kelly - and we get a Million Dollar question on Millionaire - but it does not get answered. Crosswords gets a retooling as well - not that it helps much.
Jason: The "XBOX360" retooling.
Gordon: Someone wins $500,000 on Don't Forget the Lyrics, and we get repeat players on the Price is Right legalized. Still no new writing, because we still have the strike.
Chico: Which leads us to...

DECEMBER 2007

Chico: Aaaaand breathe.
Jason: (exhales)
Gordon: We get a very underwhelming Duel Vs. Clash of the Choirs
Chico: Seems like both shows had issues and both shows ended up underwhelming.
Gordon: And a complete TIPR wipe-out
Jason: What was telling was the least watched show of Duel...was the FINAL ep.
Chico: We'll get to that later. We also had... the Deal Wheel... oooohhh. You scurred yet?
Don: The Deal Wheel was better than Double or Nothing, at least.
Gordon: Todd wins Survivor, Helio Castroneves wins Dancing With the Stars... Mark wins a car on Temptation.
Chico: and someone wins $100,000 on Wheel.
Gordon: VJ cheats his way to win America's Most Smartest Model and Roger King passes away
Chico: As does Jack Linkletter.
Gordon: Crowned shows up to get crowned
Chico: Can't spell Crowned without "owned"... and that's what Crowned got.
Gordon: And we still have a strike
Chico: And it still shows no signs of ending. Saleisha won Top Model... and we're finally caught up. There you go, one year in 3 hours, 4 minutes. And we're still not done yet.
Gordon: Not much happened this year, huh?
Chico: Missed the year... missed a lot. Missed this week... we got that, too. But first, Gordon and I love to have a good time doing this... Turns out we weren't the only ones.

Don: #8 - On the subject of tournaments, I'd imagine that there's a lot of pressure when going for a million dollars in one, and even more with two million on the line in another. Was there any point in which you thought the pressure would get the best of you as you competed in each of those?
Brad Rutter: It's funny - the way it's worked out for me, the stakes have gotten higher as I've gained more experience on the show. For me, the experience factor has lessened the pressure more than the increased money has ramped it up. I was orders of magnitude more nervous for my 1st show ever than for the finals of the Ultimate Tournament.
Jason: Except when Alex came out pantsless :-)
Brad: That was more horror than nervousness:-)

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Gordon: #12. So are you getting an SAG Card anytime soon?
5th Grader: No way!  On the press releases for the show, they say that contestants will be competing against regular kids.  Regular kids don't have a SAG card. I am not an actor, I just wanted to play the game.

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Chico: First off... everyone who at least auditions has SOME idea of what they're getting into.
Ryan Vickers: As a Canadian Idol auditioner, I can say what Chico says is true

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Joe: #11. I've been hearing from people who attended the tapings of Grand Slam that the non-game portions were extremely dull. What exactly was going on between rounds?
Ed Toutant: I'm sure that's true for most people in the audience. There were long periods of nothing happening, punctuated by an occasional two minutes of intense competition. I think a lot of that down time was when they were shooting the commentary between Dennis Miller and Amanda Byram. None of that was audible to the people in the studio. There were also some segments shot backstage with the contestants, where they were interviewed at halftime and after the match. The audience couldn't hear that either. I'm sure some of the time was needed to work out technical issues. There are a lot of technical effects, and there are sure to be glitches with the initial production of any new show. If you want to hear some real horror stories, talk to the people who were at the initial taping of "1 vs. 100."
Joe: I hear Deal or No Deal has some, too

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