Ya gotta give Drew Carey a lot of credit. Going into his third season on The Price is Right, he's been able to step in the shoes of an icon, Bob Barker, and do a good job. He's also his part to drag the 38-year-old show into the 21st century, whether it wants to be here or not.
I could stay online all day long and watch clips from old game shows. Classic Television Showbiz posted this clip the other day of Orville Redenbacher on the originalTo Tell The Truth with Garry Moore. This was before all of those commercials and he wasn't as well-known as he would later become. Look at that panel! Bill Cullen, Peggy Cass, Kitty Carlisle, and Joe Garagiola!
The sad news just keeps on coming: comedian and impressionist Fred Travalena passed away yesterday, losing a battle with cancer at the age of 66. For those of you who have no idea who I'm talking about (and, believe me, those numbers are legion), Travalena was big on the talk show and game show circuit in the '70s, doing impressions of everyone from Robert De Niro to George Burns to Jimmy Carter.
As a nerdly kid who rarely left the house after school, however, Travalena is best known to me as a panelist during the latter years of my favorite game show, Match Game. After the jump is the only MG-related clip I could find with Travalena, where he does an impression of De Niro on the short-lived Match Game Hollywood Squares Hour in the early '80s. (Warning: you need to turn the volume up to hear it).
Contrary to what his album covers may suggest, Andrew WK is adorable. No, really. Adorable. I first learned this when I saw him on on MTV's Crashing With Andrew WK, a program in which the frontman hung out with some girls at a North Carolina Central University sorority (I found the first installment here, by the way). It's taken the rest of the world a little more time to catch on, but since Andrew WK kicked off his motivational speaking/performing career, people are starting to get it. The folks over at Cartoon Network saw something in his personality and evidently thought, "Hey! This guy should blow things up with kids!" And they're right. They're so right.
Next week marks the premiere of MTV's newest reality game show Silent Library, based on the game of the same name from the Japanese variety show Downtown no Gaki no Tsukai ya Arahende!!
For those who don't spend time watching videos forwarded to them by their friends and are therefore productive members of society, the game is played by six dunderheads in a "library." They each draw a card, five reading safe and one with a skull and crossbones on it. The player who draws the Jolly Roger has to do an uncomfortable or painful stunt, but must resist the urge to scream. It's the least intelligent use of a library since The Da Vinci Code hit the shelves.
If you're like me, then you're probably a mom. Although, I don't have children. In fact, I'm a quarter-century old dude built like an extra from a 1960's beach movie (that's not necessarily a compliment, especially if you think "compact" is a terrible description of body type, as I often do). However, when I'm at the gym, I seem to get along like gangbusters with all the mothers who take to the Stepper for a mindless lower-body workout in which one essentially climbs to nowhere.
In fact, every now and then, you'll catch me on the machine upwards of an hour, which is by no means an easy task when you have the attention span I do. But luckily, I've got plenty of friends to keep me going, and I don't even have to talk to them. Because they're inside the TV! (Sorry, moms!)
I'm not really sure if there's anything else to say about this clip from GSN's upcoming2009 Game Show Awards (this Saturday at 8). It's 70s pop culture icon Charo presenting at the ceremony as well as taking on Jeopardy champ Ken Jennings in a trivia contest that is obviously tilted in her favor.
Remember how we all used to cringe when a giant contestant would freak out when she or he won a prize on The Price is Right and try to hug, jump on, and/or pick up Bob Barker, and we thought his 80-ish body would break in half or he'd at least get a cracked rib? Looks like he was the wrong host to worry about.
Recently a contestant on the show kneed Drew Carey right in the groin. Not a glancing blow either; this was an "oh my God I can't breathe or talk but I'll try to smile as we go to break" slam.
By the way, the contestant is a former Survivor: Fiji contestant.
It's hard to imagine that anyone would consider TV's sweet-natured grandma Betty White as their "sworn enemy." Except, of course for maybe Mom from Futurama and the bizarro version of Bea Arthur.
But apparently that's the label that Price is Right host Bob Barker has bestowed upon the Golden Girl. It turns out the two aren't pals or confidants. Buzzer Blog reported that Barker threatened not to show up to GSN's 2009 Game Show Awards where he accepted a lifetime achievement award along with Mark Goodson and Monty Hall if White was there.
It gets weirder. The whole thing was caused by an elephant. This is starting to sound less like Hollywood gossip and more like a job for Mythbusters.
Last night was the season premiere of ABC's crazy game show Wipeout. I have to admit that it's one of my guilty pleasures. I ignored the show on its first run but started to watch repeats on Sunday afternoons and grew to like the show. The play-by-play is often annoying and I don't know why the contestants have to be so trash-talking and cocky, but it's fun. The new season has new obstacles for people to get through to the $50,000, and I think co-host Jill looks a bit different (though still hot!). What's your take on this show?
This clip is from 1993, but it's worth seeing again (or for the first time - I'm a huge Price Is Right fan and I don't remember this at all). A woman spins the wheel and gets 75 cents. She spins again and gets 25 cents, so that's a dollar, which means she gets $1000 and a bonus spin. Nope. Bob doesn't realize she got a buck and thinks its only 95 cents. They just go on with the show and no one says anything about it (though it's possible someone is tries to say something to Bob at one point but the sound isn't clear). Scandal!
First there was word that a new $25,000 Pyramid could replaceGuiding Light when it ends in September. Now comes word that CBS might do an updated Let's Make A Dealinstead (or perhaps "too"). Monty Hall is even doing host auditions this week.
What would you like to see replace Guiding Light? And no, "keep Guiding Light on" is not an option.
Maybe my home town should offer tax incentives to the networks. It's working for Connecticut. Not only did NBC announce that the half-hour syndicated version of Deal or No Deal is returning for a second season with host Howie Mandel, but it will be relocating and filming in Connecticut.
I guess with a game show it doesn't matter where you film since it's the same set all the time, but are there as many incredibly gorgeous chicks in Connecticut as there are in California? Isn't Cali where they all go to see their dreams of being an actress reduced to standing on a stage next to a briefcase?
Oh my God. Maybe the Unabomber was right, about how technology could weaken humanity and destroy us all. Not about sending bombs in the mail. That was and always will be a big no-no.
The system is being developed in the same vein as "Deep Blue," the computer that defeated chess champion Gary Kasparov. The Jeopardy! system nicknamed "Watson" is part of IBM's ongoing attempt to overtake humanity by whooping humanity's ass at their own games. An IBM spokesman estimated humanity's spirit will finally be broken when they perfect a computer system that can beat the world's greatest Chutes and Ladders player.
Remember when Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? was the prime time sensation, a timely game show that people actually talked about the next day, and then ABC ran it so much they ruined the whole thing? Well, ABC is bringing the show back for a limited run this August, and Regis Philbin will host once again. In celebration, here's a bunch of videos of people blowing easy early questions.
Ya gotta give Drew Carey a lot of credit. Going into his third season on The Price is Right, he's been able to step in the shoes of an icon, Bob Barker, and do a good job. He's also his part to drag the 38-year-old show into the 21st century, whether it wants to be here or not.
The sad news just keeps on coming: comedian and impressionist 
Just because 
If you're like me, then you're probably a mom. Although, I don't have children. In fact, I'm a quarter-century old dude built like an extra from a 1960's beach movie (that's not necessarily a compliment, especially if you think "compact" is a terrible description of body type, as I often do). However, when I'm at the gym, I seem to get along like gangbusters with all the mothers who take to the Stepper for a mindless lower-body workout in which one essentially climbs to nowhere.
It's hard to imagine that anyone would consider TV's sweet-natured grandma Betty White as their "sworn enemy." Except, of course for maybe Mom from Futurama and the bizarro version of Bea Arthur. 
Last night was the season premiere of ABC's crazy game show 
First there was word that a new 
Maybe my home town should offer tax incentives to the networks. It's working for Connecticut. Not only did NBC announce that the half-hour 
Oh my God. Maybe the Unabomber was right, about how technology could weaken humanity and destroy us all. Not about sending bombs in the mail. That was and always will be a big no-no. 
Seven greatest hand cannons in TV history
TV Squad previews NBC's new shows (part 1)
TV 101: How ESPN controls the world and what the other networks can learn from it
