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Author Topic: Video game programs coming to GSN  (Read 27830 times)

Shredder

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Video game programs coming to GSN
« Reply #30 on: July 01, 2003, 09:59:04 AM »
>If you don't want to watch the new shows, don't.>>

I don't know about anyone else, but I don't mind the new shows.  Half of them are good, half are bad.  At least in my opinion, 'RR', 'Whammy', 'Win Tuition', are good.  'Cram', 'Friend or Foe' and 'Funny Money' I could do without.  For some reason, I just find Cram to annoying, while the host is good.  Friend or Foe is good for an occasional tune in but not much else, and same goes for Funny Money and Lingo..


If GSN wants to expand, than I wish they'd at least treat their classics better.  Get rid of the squished credits, get rid of the  blue bar and speedups.  Maby air un-edited classics all throughout the morning hours instead of the infomercials?  Say, 12 AM starting with MatchGame, till about 12PM.  After that, it would be time for the newer stuff in 'prime time'.

beatlefreak84

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Video game programs coming to GSN
« Reply #31 on: July 01, 2003, 10:15:57 AM »
Quote
If GSN wants to expand, than I wish they'd at least treat their classics better. Get rid of the squished credits, get rid of the blue bar and speedups. Maby air un-edited classics all throughout the morning hours instead of the infomercials? Say, 12 AM starting with MatchGame, till about 12PM. After that, it would be time for the newer stuff in 'prime time'.

I know that this particular topic has been discussed many times before, but I think I'll cover for a lot of people when I say that the infomercials aren't going anywhere.  Just remember, though, at one point, there were six hours of infomercials on, and now there are only three.  They obviously make money for GSN, so why get rid of them?

Also, why would you air the classics in the wee hours of the morning?  Networks air things that they want their public to see; they won't air things to make tape hoarders and archivers happy!  Honestly, I'm still surprised that they air B&W shows overnight; do many people other than tape hoarders watch them?

Let's face the facts (no pun intended):  the classics are a dying breed.  To GSN, airing those few hours of classics in the morning and the afternoon is enough to make us happy, even though those who have GSN that I know want more CLASSICS, not ORIGINALS.  Also, when people ask me what's on GSN, they don't care about originals, they care about the classics.

It's quite a shame for GSN to move on like this, but people are in the business to make money.  If something other than classics is making money, wouldn't you give it a whirl?

Anthony
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urbanpreppie05

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Video game programs coming to GSN
« Reply #32 on: July 01, 2003, 10:23:39 AM »
I'm more or less intrigued. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out-it may be good, It may be bad. I'll try anything once.
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inturnaround

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Video game programs coming to GSN
« Reply #33 on: July 01, 2003, 01:48:57 PM »
Here's a link to the Hollywood Reporter's coverage of this.

GSN Acquires Video Game Programs
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Fedya

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Video game programs coming to GSN
« Reply #34 on: July 01, 2003, 02:01:39 PM »
Thad Dixon wrote:
Quote
Just curious, but what does RNN stand for? I don't get that channel.

\"Regional News Network\".  It was originally WTZA, channel 62 in Kingston, NY. Around 1996, they became WRNN, with an allegedly all-news format but in reality mostly infomercials (something like 18-hrs a day on weekdays, and 24 hours on weekends).  They now have a repeater station down in Nyack, for the purpose of serving the NYC market (this gets them on the NYC cable systems thanks to the must carry rules.

One of the local programs that got the shaft thanks to the change from WTZA to WRNN was \"Scholastic Match-Up\", a Quizbusters-like program with a simpler format (toss-ups only, 10 pts apiece, no penalty for incorrect answers).  WTZA was in the middle of airing the quarterfinals (IIRC), and none of the rest of that year's matches were ever aired, as far as I know, nor was there a program in succeeding years.

Also, Brian Kenny, who can be seen on ESPNEWS, cut his teeth as a sports reporter at WTZA.
-- Ted Schuerzinger, now blogging at http://justacineast.blogspot.com/

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Card Shark

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Video game programs coming to GSN
« Reply #35 on: July 01, 2003, 07:17:56 PM »
[quote name=\'beatlefreak84\' date=\'Jun 30 2003, 10:21 AM\'] (goes to bathroom to throw up, comes back)

Part of me should be happy that GSN is expanding its lineup to include other things, but isn't the network called "Game Show Network," not the "Games Network?"
 [/quote]
 I share in your sentiment. I don't see where this line of programming fits in with GAME SHOWS. This is, IMHO, is the worst programming move they've made since the Fleming days. If they really want to attract younger viewers, they should do something similar to what they used to do with kids game shows on Saturday mornings only sans Wheel 2000, JEP!,and that God forsaken thing that used to pop up on the screen during the shows and make commments. They could always revert to Joker! Joker! Joker! and kids week episodes from Card Sharks (any version) or Storybook Squares.
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zachhoran

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Video game programs coming to GSN
« Reply #36 on: July 01, 2003, 08:21:06 PM »
It's not known for certain that they currently have more than the one XMas 1977 ep. of Storybook Squares. They could also add WOF and J! teen and kids' episodes in the mix if they wanted to, and I guess they still have the rights to Click and Peer Pressure, no? ANy of that would be better than video game review programs, I think.

Chelsea Thrasher

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Video game programs coming to GSN
« Reply #37 on: July 02, 2003, 12:22:20 AM »
Interesting to note, is that the main thread about this on the GSN forums (laughs)...has been entirely deleted....

Guess they didn't like the reaction to the announcement

ilb4ever2000

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Video game programs coming to GSN
« Reply #38 on: July 02, 2003, 01:00:26 AM »
Quote
They could also add WOF and J! teen and kids' episodes in the mix if they wanted to, and I guess they still have the rights to Click and Peer Pressure, no?

I think they lost the rights to Click, which is why it was replaced by Bergeron Squares.

Timsterino

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Video game programs coming to GSN
« Reply #39 on: July 02, 2003, 04:06:10 AM »
[quote name=\'Seth Thrasher\' date=\'Jul 1 2003, 11:22 PM\'] Interesting to note, is that the main thread about this on the GSN forums (laughs)...has been entirely deleted....

Guess they didn't like the reaction to the announcement [/quote]
 I just questioned their deletion of the thread. It is their site and they can do what they please. They obviously do not have a problem with censoring opinions of fans.

Tim

zachhoran

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Video game programs coming to GSN
« Reply #40 on: July 02, 2003, 08:05:01 AM »
I'm not terribly sorry to hear they lost the rights to Click(for those that don't recall, Click was replaced for two weekends in 1999 by Now You See It '7x, and Click returned before even the whole premiere week of NYSI could be shown)

Matt Ottinger

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Video game programs coming to GSN
« Reply #41 on: July 02, 2003, 08:49:48 AM »
[quote name=\'Timsterino\' date=\'Jul 2 2003, 08:06 AM\'] [quote name=\'Seth Thrasher\' date=\'Jul 1 2003, 11:22 PM\'] Interesting to note, is that the main thread about this on the GSN forums (laughs)...has been entirely deleted....

Guess they didn't like the reaction to the announcement [/quote]
I just questioned their deletion of the thread. It is their site and they can do what they please. They obviously do not have a problem with censoring opinions of fans.

Tim [/quote]
 They probably didn't expect the overwhelmingly negative reaction this press release caused.  Frankly, I was braced for it and I'm STILL amazed at how riled up you guys have gotten.  I guess they thought that *especially* among computer users, devoting a tiny portion of their schedule to something that might cater to a slightly different audience would have been considered a good thing.

They don't typically go around censoring negative remarks on their forum, so this must really have hit a nerve.
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urbanpreppie05

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Video game programs coming to GSN
« Reply #42 on: July 02, 2003, 09:37:25 AM »
Did anyone actually read those posts about the shows? About 6 of the 8 pages were \"I'm right-You're wrong\" posts. I would have done the same thing.
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Dan Sadro

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Video game programs coming to GSN
« Reply #43 on: July 02, 2003, 10:42:25 AM »
[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' date=\'Jul 2 2003, 07:49 AM\'] They probably didn't expect the overwhelmingly negative reaction this press release caused.  Frankly, I was braced for it and I'm STILL amazed at how riled up you guys have gotten.  I guess they thought that *especially* among computer users, devoting a tiny portion of their schedule to something that might cater to a slightly different audience would have been considered a good thing.

They don't typically go around censoring negative remarks on their forum, so this must really have hit a nerve. [/quote]
 I'm not amazed.

The online portion of game show fans tends to be more traditionalist and don't like change.  When something new comes, they instantly dislike it, irregardless of the quality of the program or the positives linked to it.

The best thing that happened to this network are the new crop of originals.  Hollywood Showdown and Inquizition were good programs in their own right, although obviously lower-budget than they could (or should) have been.  After those originals, plus such stellar examples of early interactivity as Super Decades and Trivia Track, the online game show community (OGSC) was less than enthusiastic about hearing that the schedule was going to be half-originals.  After hearing the changes to PYL that would become whammy, it's not surprising that many people (myself included) were braced for the worst.  Ratings were high and quickly fell off, so the OGSC was hoping that this would fire a warning flare to Messrs. Cronin and Boden.  No such luck -- Friend or Foe and Russian Roulette came on board two months later, but amazingly enough, now most people had at least one show out of the three to like.  Then came Lingo.  That's the show that, despite its small flaws in gameplay, was fairly universally liked.  

At this point, the vast majority of the OGSC seemed enthusiastic about new originals and were optimistic about Cram and WinTuition, the former which was the quickest-renewed show out of this batch of originals and the latter which was the quickest-removed show.  More enthusiasm came from hearing about new pilots and new shows coming to the lineup.

The moral of the story:  This was a long process -- four months between whammy and Lingo.  Many people didn't like it at first -- I remember being linked to threads by friends at the GSN board with similar messages about GSN as were just deleted.  The difference is that this is a much smaller change than the half-originals/half-classics... it's just moving to a 48-48-4.  If it doesn't work... at all... it will be replaced as quickly as WinTuition was.  If it works, give it a few months and you might just like it.

P.S. The scope of about 225 fans at this board is nowhere near the eleventy billion at the GSN board.  When people get in large groups... it's not surprising that the thread would have to be deleted.

cmjb13

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Video game programs coming to GSN
« Reply #44 on: July 02, 2003, 10:53:00 AM »
Quote
Ratings were high and quickly fell off

Wonder why?
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