The Game Show Forum

The Game Show Forum => Game Show Channels & Networks => Topic started by: YKW03 on August 16, 2003, 08:05:32 PM

Title: New GSN Show: "Who Wants To Be Governor?"
Post by: YKW03 on August 16, 2003, 08:05:32 PM
As Dave Barry would say, I =swear= I am not making this up; of course, it =is= from the Reuters wire, so grab a grain o' yer fave salt and/or substitute before perusing:

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Diminutive actor Gary Coleman and porn actress Mary Carey were unveiled on Friday as two of the five candidates set to compete in the Game Show Network's \"debate\" ahead of California's unprecedented gubernatorial recall election.

The network is calling its program, \"Who Wants To Be Governor of California?\"

Game Show Network president Rich Cronin told a news conference that network on-air personality Kennedy would host the debate, to be taped Sept. 24 for an Oct. 1 airing.

Title: New GSN Show: "Who Wants To Be Governor?"
Post by: YKW03 on August 16, 2003, 08:07:06 PM
So much for using the \"insert hyperlink\" function this try..... the last bit was supposed to say:

(http://\"http://asia.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=entertainmentNews&storyID=3286486>\")
Title: New GSN Show: "Who Wants To Be Governor?"
Post by: YKW03 on August 16, 2003, 08:09:18 PM
One last try. It's =supposed= to say:

FULL STORY AT

(lemme skip a bunch of lines so that none of the text gets eaten again by the crazy javascript this place uses)

http://asia.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?...storyID=3286486 (http://\"http://asia.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=entertainmentNews&storyID=3286486\")
Title: New GSN Show: "Who Wants To Be Governor?"
Post by: Matt Ottinger on August 16, 2003, 08:25:33 PM
Congratulations on getting it right on the third time, though if you had noticed there's already a pretty long thread going on in The Big Board about this well-publicized special, you might not need to have bothered.

On a bigger issue, why is it that so many of you seem to see this one-shot special as some terrible abomination against humanity?  It's not like GSN doesn't KNOW that it's a goofy idea.  That is, in fact, the reason they're doing it.  And it's not as though they're causing irreparable harm to the democratic process.   No serious or \"respectable\" candidate is going anywhere near this.  And you certainly can't have a problem with the format, since you don't even know what it is yet.

GSN needs attention, and it got some with this special, even before the thing airs.  The local Los Angeles media were all over this story on Monday.  It's hardly as though GSN is the only one mining the humor here.  Jon Stewart and the other late night comics are going to live on the recall election for the next two months.  Do game shows really need to be taken so seriously?
Title: New GSN Show: "Who Wants To Be Governor?"
Post by: YKW03 on August 16, 2003, 09:01:21 PM
[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' date=\'Aug 16 2003, 07:25 PM\'] Congratulations on getting it right on the third time, though if you had noticed there's already a pretty long thread going on in The Big Board about this well-publicized special, you might not need to have bothered.

On a bigger issue, why is it that so many of you seem to see this one-shot special as some terrible abomination against humanity?  It's not like GSN doesn't KNOW that it's a goofy idea.  That is, in fact, the reason they're doing it.  And it's not as though they're causing irreparable harm to the democratic process.   No serious or "respectable" candidate is going anywhere near this.  And you certainly can't have a problem with the format, since you don't even know what it is yet.

GSN needs attention, and it got some with this special, even before the thing airs.  The local Los Angeles media were all over this story on Monday.  It's hardly as though GSN is the only one mining the humor here.  Jon Stewart and the other late night comics are going to live on the recall election for the next two months.  Do game shows really need to be taken so seriously? [/quote]
 1) I  didn't think to look in the non-GSN section of the board for an explicitly GSN-related piece of news. I'm completely anal about looking for things in their proper topic hierarchy. My bad.

2) Of =course= it's a goofy idea. Doesn't make it a =good= idea, though. It's bad, in fact, not so much because it's so \"goofy\", per se, but because it's a =worthwhile= idea being perverted to purely goofy ends.

Look, I was born and raised in Cali. I lived through the Moonbeam Era. I lived through the Duke Era. What I never lived through was an era where anyone really had any idea whether or not the people who were attached to those (or any other) eras had any idea what they were doing.

Now, here comes Cronin with his idea to test the candidates about their Great State with a contest about the Great State over whose governorship they're contesting -- in effect, proposing to verify their bona fides as sufficiently competent in the issues and the history to be minimally competent ifelected.

But who does he line up? Bustamante, McClintock, Simon, Huffington and \"Ah-Nuld\"?

Oh, no.... he gets a minor planet in the galaxy of porn -- and the \"other Arnold\", Arnold =Drummond=.

In other words, he takes something potentially momentous, and effectively writes it off. And he cheapens the political process by focusing on its fringe excesses, almost as an afterthought.

The people of California won't know whether Bustamante knows Barstow from Bakersfield, but they =will= know if five media hounds do. And it didn't have to be this way. GSN doesn't have to be thought of in this way.

I suppose the notion is that they're being thought of =at all=, and it doesn't matter why, if it means more eyeballs passing by and landing on the channel. But if you're going to make headlines with a special like this, why not do it with something less cringe-making? Why not with something that people won't feel slightly..... =unclean=..... about watching?
Title: New GSN Show: "Who Wants To Be Governor?"
Post by: WhammyPower on August 19, 2003, 01:23:03 PM
If you have RoadRunner, AOL, or CNN Newspass, there is a video at CNN (http://\"http://www.cnn.com/video/\") about the show, including some clips of interviews with Kennedy and the two candiates so far, and a part of a preliminary game.  (Note: The RealPlayer 300k video does not work yet as of this post.... try another player)
Title: New GSN Show: "Who Wants To Be Governor?"
Post by: PeterMarshallFan on August 19, 2003, 05:38:24 PM
This just shouts out to me \"Fleming and Tauber\" for some reason......

Maybe because it's about only one state?
Title: New GSN Show: "Who Wants To Be Governor?"
Post by: Jimmy Owen on August 20, 2003, 10:05:12 AM
I have a feeling by the time this show airs, people will be so burnt out on this story that there will be little interest.
Title: New GSN Show: "Who Wants To Be Governor?"
Post by: Matt Ottinger on August 20, 2003, 12:39:51 PM
[quote name=\'Jimmy Owen\' date=\'Aug 20 2003, 02:05 PM\'] I have a feeling by the time this show airs, people will be so burnt out on this story that there will be little interest. [/quote]
 See, I strongly disagree.  The total window of time is only two months, the end date is set (barring legal challenges), and every day brings something new.  The late night comics and the light maintream press will easily keep it in the national consciousness for such a short length of time.  If it were to drag on longer (say, if some busybody outfit gets the election day delayed) then I think you'd start to see burnout.

You can certainly make the individual argument that since you don't live in California you don't care what happens, but we are talking about leadership of the sixth-largest economy in the world.   And as for the GSN thing, I frankly see a chance for record ratings given all the attention it's already received.
Title: New GSN Show: "Who Wants To Be Governor?"
Post by: PeterMarshallFan on August 20, 2003, 12:48:18 PM
[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' date=\'Aug 20 2003, 12:39 PM\'] You can certainly make the individual argument that since you don't live in California you don't care what happens [/quote]
 Ahhhh...I do care, for my sister who still lives there's sake, but I honestly gotta agree with Jimmy. This is just getting beaten into the ground, and from the looks of it, this show is gonna be more of a circus than the election itself.
Title: New GSN Show: "Who Wants To Be Governor?"
Post by: Matt Ottinger on August 20, 2003, 01:15:14 PM
Quote
this show is gonna be more of a circus than the election itself.
Well, since the show is an entertainment program and the election, for all its faults, will ultimately decide something pretty important, I certainly HOPE the show is taken less seriously!

As for calling it \"a circus\", I can't see how it will be much different than, say, an episode of Celebrity Cram.  Five people looking for attention -- and nothing else -- are going to play a silly game on a channel that's all about playing games.  Again, I really can't see what it is that people are so up-in-arms about.
Title: New GSN Show: "Who Wants To Be Governor?"
Post by: Jimmy Owen on August 20, 2003, 02:00:41 PM
I'm up-in-arms because having politicians on game shows demeans game shows.
Title: New GSN Show: "Who Wants To Be Governor?"
Post by: Matt Ottinger on August 20, 2003, 03:04:40 PM
Now THAT'S an argument I understand!