The Game Show Forum
The Game Show Forum => Game Show Channels & Networks => Topic started by: SamJ93 on January 04, 2021, 12:18:03 PM
-
An odd choice, certainly, though I'm assuming the rights were dirt-cheap to pick up. Curious to see if it'll last longer than the last contemporary show they tried adding (Celebrity Name Game):
https://m.facebook.com/BUZZRtv/photos/a.1603821899834599/2720406351509476/?type=3&sfnsn=mo
-
Let's watch what we say, I'm sure Abell is waiting for Older Is Better Crowd fuel ;-)
I would of course have liked to see more rarities, or even something from Fremantle's library that hasn't been seen in awhile or at all (i.e. Shafer MG). But we'll see how it works out, I see it being in and out like CNG and Temptation.
-
Alex will be happy, for sure.
-
25 Words or Less was on that survey of potential BUZZR acquisitions we took a while back.
I'd find it hard to believe that it got more votes than a lot of the other options on there.
-
I mean, in many ways it makes sense. It requires no digitization. Like others mentioned, it probably cost next to nothing to lease (I mean, Tubi has a 25WOL channel and they upload their episodes to YouTube.) It’s a known, current commodity that resembles several of their popular shows (e.g., the Password franchise). I don’t know how well it will do, but I’m certainly not surprised.
-
It's also an opportunity for them to do some unintentional cross-show promotion considering Jon Bauman often asked returning MGHSH champions to tell us about themselves in 25 words or less.
-
Let's watch what we say, I'm sure Abell is waiting for Older Is Better Crowd fuel ;-)
Well, you mentioned him, so I’m sure we’ll get some more useless pub.
-
It's a newer show that still doesn't have a lot of publicity. Is it possible this cost them 0?
-
I wonder if they had to cut back on spending for new acquisitions due to the compromises the pandemic led to financially?
Or this could be the start of something else, who knows?
-
It's a newer show that still doesn't have a lot of publicity. Is it possible this cost them 0?
It does have enough publicity to have been renewed for two more seasons, but I get what you’re saying. Still, I doubt that this was a transaction in which Buzzr paid $0.
-
It's a newer show that still doesn't have a lot of publicity. Is it possible this cost them 0?
I doubt they're getting it free, but with the pandemic raging and in-office work still being minimized, here's a couple hundred episodes of new content they don't have to clean up or convert to digital.
-
I note that "25 Words or Less" is distributed by a division of Fox, and Buzzr's biggest group of affiliates is the Fox owned-and-operated stations.
-
Wow - this came out of nowhere. We'll eventually find out what time slot it gets on Buzzr.
-
According to TVPassPort listings, it'll be replacing the primetime airing of Card Sharks.
-
Also, the 9:30pm and 12:30am airings are different episodes (ex: 9:30pm on 1/18 is episode 1_0001, 12:30am on 1/19 is episode 1_0002, etc.).
-
It airs in the mornings here, so I'm usually never home*. The few times I've watched, I really enjoyed it, so I look forward to the evening airings.
*I know, I know. DVR.
-
PSA that the entire series is also available on the FOX-owned streaming platform Tubi. It's free although ad-supported. It's kept in sync with the current run of the show.
https://tubitv.com/series/300005479/25-words-or-less
-
PSA that the entire series is also available on the FOX-owned streaming platform Tubi. It's free although ad-supported. It's kept in sync with the current run of the show.
https://tubitv.com/series/300005479/25-words-or-less
I do believe all episodes are also on YouTube.
-
Well, that was sudden:
#BUZZR fans, an update on our schedule this month. We were excited to bring 25 Words Or Less to our network starting Jan. 18th. Due to unforeseen circumstances, we will no longer be adding it to our lineup. Thank you!
-
Well, that was sudden:
#BUZZR fans, an update on our schedule this month. We were excited to bring 25 Words Or Less to our network starting Jan. 18th. Due to unforeseen circumstances, we will no longer be adding it to our lineup. Thank you!
Oh wow...
-
Great, it's Wordplay all over again.
-
BUZZR seems to be striking out on non-Fremantle products. WordPlay, Strike it Rich on Prime, Bzzz...hmm.
Well, at least 25 Words was pulled before it aired at all. Can't say I'm disappointed, either.
-
BUZZR seems to be striking out on non-Fremantle products. WordPlay, Strike it Rich on Prime, Bzzz...hmm.
Well, at least 25 Words was pulled before it aired at all. Can't say I'm disappointed, either.
But I was going to make my Buzzr debut! Lol
-
BUZZR seems to be striking out on non-Fremantle products. WordPlay, Strike it Rich on Prime, Bzzz...hmm.
Well, at least 25 Words was pulled before it aired at all. Can't say I'm disappointed, either.
Would you count Supermarket Sweep? Probably not, as Fremantle did out and out obtain the rights.
Well Fremantle had a stake on I think the first two at least, just not a 100% stake. Which is also why we have to wait (indefinitely?) for Scrabble.
Bzzz! was a total new acquisition attempt on their behalf, no? (unless somehow Tribune ties into Fremantle)
I'm almost tempted to think that the "unforseen" circumstances is their way to acknowledge the online complaints, and that Buzzr isn't going to just go out and say "we're not airing it cause viewers said the idea sucked". Naaaaaaah....
(There is a precedent, kinda, though. As Buzzr flirted with credit crunching, or asked about it. Viewers said no, so no crunching)
-
Great, it's Wordplay all over again.
At least they figured out there was an issue beforehand this time.
BUZZR seems to be striking out on non-Fremantle products. WordPlay, Strike it Rich on Prime, Bzzz...hmm.
Well, at least 25 Words was pulled before it aired at all. Can't say I'm disappointed, either.
Would you count Supermarket Sweep? Probably not, as Fremantle did out and out obtain the rights.
Well Fremantle had a stake on I think the first two at least, just not a 100% stake. Which is also why we have to wait (indefinitely?) for Scrabble.
Bzzz! was a total new acquisition attempt on their behalf, no? (unless somehow Tribune ties into Fremantle)
I'm almost tempted to think that the "unforseen" circumstances is their way to acknowledge the online complaints, and that Buzzr isn't going to just go out and say "we're not airing it cause viewers said the idea sucked". Naaaaaaah....
(There is a precedent, kinda, though. As Buzzr flirted with credit crunching, or asked about it. Viewers said no, so no crunching)
Also, Concentration (it is still owned by NBC, isn’t it?) is doing quite well. Of course the Goodson tie probably helps.
And the half-owned Match Game/Hollywood Squares Hour still has a strong presence, though I can’t tell whether it’s an honest hit, or is being dragged kicking & screaming across the schedule. (Their social media fans would have us believe it’s the latter.)
-
I'm almost tempted to think that the "unforseen" circumstances is their way to acknowledge the online complaints, and that Buzzr isn't going to just go out and say "we're not airing it cause viewers said the idea sucked". Naaaaaaah....
I dunno, they stuck with Temptation long enough to show almost half the run, and that one got pretty heavy complaints throughout.
-
Let's say you're handling the programming and scheduling for Affiliate in Town, State. You're clearing 25 Words on your station in a decent enough time slot. The numbers are probably ok but not spectacular, but that's the dumpster fire that is syndication in 2021.
All of a sudden, you find out that the station across town is going to be handed practically new episodes of the same show on one of their subchannels. One of those kids down in digital mentioned something about the show being available on some streaming thing called "two bee" (tubi) but you don't quite know what that is. What you do know is that suddenly the show you're clearing is going to be airing in prime slots on another station. Maybe you've got a contract to air the show at 12:35am ET (many contracts have a general time window specified). Buzzr's running the show at 12:30a. Yeah, I'd probably be a little chuffed about that at the station level.
Could have been that; could have been the *fear* of that unpleasant conversation causing FOX to back out.
It's a known thing that the syndication contracts for first run shows make airing older episodes occasionally complicated. It's one of the reasons why J! and Wheel tend to come and go and more often are gone, why when they DO rerun the shows are a minimum 3 years dated, why Wheel has never streamed, and why even when J! streams it's only ever a small window of 40-60 shows and again always at least 3 years old.
-
Let's say you're handling the programming and scheduling for Affiliate in Town, State. You're clearing 25 Words on your station in a decent enough time slot. The numbers are probably ok but not spectacular, but that's the dumpster fire that is syndication in 2021.
All of a sudden, you find out that the station across town is going to be handed practically new episodes of the same show on one of their subchannels. One of those kids down in digital mentioned something about the show being available on some streaming thing called "two bee" (tubi) but you don't quite know what that is. What you do know is that suddenly the show you're clearing is going to be airing in prime slots on another station. Maybe you've got a contract to air the show at 12:35am ET (many contracts have a general time window specified). Buzzr's running the show at 12:30a. Yeah, I'd probably be a little chuffed about that at the station level.
Could have been that; could have been the *fear* of that unpleasant conversation causing FOX to back out.
That's what I'm leaning towards. If Buzzr is getting 25WOL Season 1 Episodes with full in-studio interaction, while local terrestrial stations are stuck with airing (due to the COVID restrictions) inferior no-touch "Skype" episodes, the latter stations would be getting cheated to a point ‐‐ especially if WXXX aired their season 2 episodes at the same time Buzzr scheduled their S1 reruns.
-
Yeah. The mentality of "Buzzr listened to its viewers to not run this show because it's too new, blah blah blah" is completely asinine.
-
Great, it's Wordplay all over again.
At least they figured out there was an issue beforehand this time.
BUZZR seems to be striking out on non-Fremantle products. WordPlay, Strike it Rich on Prime, Bzzz...hmm.
Well, at least 25 Words was pulled before it aired at all. Can't say I'm disappointed, either.
Would you count Supermarket Sweep? Probably not, as Fremantle did out and out obtain the rights.
Well Fremantle had a stake on I think the first two at least, just not a 100% stake. Which is also why we have to wait (indefinitely?) for Scrabble.
Bzzz! was a total new acquisition attempt on their behalf, no? (unless somehow Tribune ties into Fremantle)
I'm almost tempted to think that the "unforseen" circumstances is their way to acknowledge the online complaints, and that Buzzr isn't going to just go out and say "we're not airing it cause viewers said the idea sucked". Naaaaaaah....
(There is a precedent, kinda, though. As Buzzr flirted with credit crunching, or asked about it. Viewers said no, so no crunching)
Also, Concentration (it is still owned by NBC, isn’t it?) is doing quite well. Of course the Goodson tie probably helps.
And the half-owned Match Game/Hollywood Squares Hour still has a strong presence, though I can’t tell whether it’s an honest hit, or is being dragged kicking & screaming across the schedule. (Their social media fans would have us believe it’s the latter.)
I see what you did there.
And yes, take a drink every time a SMF says "Dear Buzzr, please finally take the MG/HS Hour off the schedule and replace it with [X]"
Two drinks if they ask for the "legit" HS versions. Three if they ask for Joker, Wheel, Jeopardy, etc. etc.
And said SMF were even less reasonable than anyone here ever was about the initial 25W announcement.
I guess they are doing something right, as MG/HS is still in the prime time block and in several other spots. (and as I've said all along, it wasn't a BAD show, warts and all. But that's another story for another day)
-
Let's say you're handling the programming and scheduling for Affiliate in Town, State. You're clearing 25 Words on your station in a decent enough time slot. The numbers are probably ok but not spectacular, but that's the dumpster fire that is syndication in 2021.
All of a sudden, you find out that the station across town is going to be handed practically new episodes of the same show on one of their subchannels. One of those kids down in digital mentioned something about the show being available on some streaming thing called "two bee" (tubi) but you don't quite know what that is. What you do know is that suddenly the show you're clearing is going to be airing in prime slots on another station. Maybe you've got a contract to air the show at 12:35am ET (many contracts have a general time window specified). Buzzr's running the show at 12:30a. Yeah, I'd probably be a little chuffed about that at the station level.
Could have been that; could have been the *fear* of that unpleasant conversation causing FOX to back out.
Yeah, it wouldn’t at all surprise me to learn that already, Fox First Run sent out a PR piece about it innocently trying to hype the show, some station managers saw it, called up their Fox reps & raised Cain.
I see what you did there.
Ha! ;D I honestly wasn’t thinking about that when I posted. Maybe it was in my subconscious.
I guess they are doing something right, as MG/HS is still in the prime time block and in several other spots. (and as I've said all along, it wasn't a BAD show, warts and all. But that's another story for another day)
Agreed. I will say that at times, they can be—what looks to us at least—a bit stubborn with scheduling (see Temptation). But they probably have access to some numbers that we don’t. Even without Nielsen, I’d be surprised if they’re not using a smaller ratings service (Comscore (https://www.comscore.com/Products/Television/National-TV-Measurement), GfK (https://www.gfk.com/products/media-measurement), etc.) that probably gives them the info they need. For that matter, I’d imagine they get some data from Pluto, STIRR, et. al. on who’s streaming. So I’m willing to think they’re seeing some info we’re not, telling them it’s a good idea to keep it where it is. And I agree with you about the show itself. I’ve said before that I thought it was more mediocre than outright bad.
-
Agreed. I will say that at times, they can be—what looks to us at least—a bit stubborn with scheduling (see Temptation). But they probably have access to some numbers that we don’t. Even without Nielsen, I’d be surprised if they’re not using a smaller ratings service (Comscore, GfK, etc.) that probably gives them the info they need. For that matter, I’d imagine they get some data from Pluto, STIRR, et. al. on who’s streaming. So I’m willing to think they’re seeing some info we’re not, telling them it’s a good idea to keep it where it is. And I agree with you about the show itself. I’ve said before that I thought it was more mediocre than outright bad.
Yes, which -- and this is just a theory -- why I think Family Feud is not used in accessible hours outside of marathons and specials. Perhaps it is just not as big a ratings grabber as say, Match Game.
/Unless the rumblings about Dawson and the female contestants being "problematic" were true.
//Coming from Social Media Fans, I'd take it with a grain of salt.