Hollywood Squares apparently is canceled.....

[ChuckNet]

I think the show was losing steam, and they tried to pick it up with the "double or nothing" bonus round. Worthy effort, wrong show.

Which, as per E! THS, was Whoopi's idea...notice how it was (thankfully) among one of the first things to go after her departure. :-)

Chuck Donegan (The Illustrious "Chuckie Baby")

[ChuckNet]

It's too bad that H2 is going down the drain. At least it lasted longer than John Davidson's.

Twice as long, in fact...a run which was actually predicted by our own John Fenner when the series premiered.

Chuck Donegan (The Illustrious "Chuckie Baby")

[uncamark]

[quote name=\'Card Shark\' date=\'Jan 13 2004, 07:01 AM\']     The producers succeeded in stemming the ratings bleeding but the damage appeared to be done when in January 2003, the CBS-owned stations agreed to drop Squares from prime access in 2004. Viacom moved the game to its co-owned UPN affiliate in Los Angeles in the fall of 2002 in favor of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (which will likely require a new outlet in fall 2004).[/quote]
Sorry, Steve, but KCAL is an independent.  Chris C. could tell you which station in LA is the UPN affil.  

And as for the "why are those dating shows still on?" question, demos, baby, demos.  The relationship shows may not pull big household numbers but get the key demos and are cheap to produce--cheaper to produce than "H2."  Also, in the late-night time slots many of the shows run in it's more economical for the station to run them and get the people who don't like the guests of Jay, Dave or Jimmy.

And they're not *all* staying on the air.  "Shipmates" got canned last year, "Ex-Treme Dating" is probably getting the ax this year (especially since Twentieth took care of their deal with the devil involving Jillian Bimbo-rie by renewing "Good Day Live," the strangest renewal of the year so far, which should be giving new hope to Jack Ford and Alexandra Wentworth) and "5th Wheel" is on the fence.  At least the trend towards how-to/makeover shows will probaby preclude any more new relationship shows next fall.

And I assume that in Chicago, the end of "H2" will probably mean news coming back to 11 a.m. on WBBM, with "Insider" probably going in at 4 p.m. and an attempt to get Dr. Phil away from WMAQ and into the corporate family if "Living It Up!" tanks.  (Martha Stewart's still around after Kilbourn, but I assume that this is her last season before eternal HGTV reruns.)

[HSquares2003]

[quote name=\'tyshaun1\' date=\'Jan 12 2004, 11:55 AM\'] Going by the headline on Mediaweek.com, H2 has officially received its walking papers. Unfortunately they have restricted access to the article, so I cannot confirm it yet, but it's in the headline. Has anyone heard similar news? I know it was considered only a matter of time, but this is the first I've heard on concrete word.

Tyshaun [/quote]
 I'm not surprised, it was dropped in many markets at the beginning of this season.

[ChuckNet]

And this all stems from its rule changes, I assume....

I knew that going to a "Best 2-out-of-3" idea was gonna hurt the show's ratings!

No, as others have pointed out, the show's fate was pretty much sealed after the CBS O&Os announced plans to carry that ET spinoff show starting next fall.

And if anything, the 2-out-of-3 match format helped the show, not hurt it...made for faster gameplay, combined w/the dumping of those time-consuming "Behind the Squares" bumpers going into breaks.

Chuck Donegan (The Illustrious "Chuckie Baby")

[Matt Ottinger]

[quote name=\'cmjb13\' date=\'Jan 13 2004, 12:11 PM\'] While we some of us have issues with Steve, has anybody actually e-mailed him or spoken to him face to face (maybe at a convention) to question his credibility? [/quote]
 I have no problem with his credibility.  He's every bit as credible as Chris Lambert, Marc Green, myself or anyone else who maintains a personal web site devoted to game shows.  My point is that while he certainly puts more hours into his hobby than the rest of us do, he's just a fan with some bandwidth.  He reads press releases, offers opinions and occasionally makes mistakes, just like the rest of us do.   If you see something on his site, it's probably legit but it is not necessarily "official".

[HSquares2003]

[quote name=\'cmjb13\' date=\'Jan 13 2004, 11:11 AM\'] [quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' date=\'Jan 13 2004, 10:01 AM\'][quote name=\'Card Shark\' date=\'Jan 13 2004, 08:01 AM\'] Well, here is the "official" story from our friend, Mr. Beverly. Take whatever you want from this. [/quote]
You put "official" in quotes, so you may already realize this, but for those who don't, there's nothing any more "official" about Steve Beverly writing about Squares on his fan page than there is about us talking about it here.  Unless he's attending the Television Critics Association tour (and believe me, if he was he'd let us know about it!) he learned the same way we all did, by hearing about it secondhand through another source.[/quote]
While we some of us have issues with Steve, has anybody actually e-mailed him or spoken to him face to face (maybe at a convention) to question his credibility? [/quote]
 Um,  let the "old timers" from ATGS direct you to the Google archives for some of Mr. Beverly's screw ups(cough cough)!

[SRIV94]

[quote name=\'HSquares2003\' date=\'Jan 13 2004, 11:25 AM\'] [quote name=\'cmjb13\' date=\'Jan 13 2004, 11:11 AM\'] [quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' date=\'Jan 13 2004, 10:01 AM\'][quote name=\'Card Shark\' date=\'Jan 13 2004, 08:01 AM\'] Well, here is the "official" story from our friend, Mr. Beverly. Take whatever you want from this. [/quote]
You put "official" in quotes, so you may already realize this, but for those who don't, there's nothing any more "official" about Steve Beverly writing about Squares on his fan page than there is about us talking about it here.  Unless he's attending the Television Critics Association tour (and believe me, if he was he'd let us know about it!) he learned the same way we all did, by hearing about it secondhand through another source.[/quote]
While we some of us have issues with Steve, has anybody actually e-mailed him or spoken to him face to face (maybe at a convention) to question his credibility? [/quote]
Um,  let the "old timers" from ATGS direct you to the Google archives for some of Mr. Beverly's screw ups(cough cough)! [/quote]
 Um, Matt **is** one of the "old-timers" from ATGS (having posted a good six years before I started posting there).

Doug -- soon to celebrate 300 posts

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' date=\'Jan 13 2004, 10:19 AM\'] I have no problem with his credibility.  He's every bit as credible as Chris Lambert, Marc Green, myself or anyone else who maintains a personal web site devoted to game shows.  My point is that while he certainly puts more hours into his hobby than the rest of us do, he's just a fan with some bandwidth.  He reads press releases, offers opinions and occasionally makes mistakes, just like the rest of us do.   If you see something on his site, it's probably legit but it is not necessarily "official". [/quote]
What he also has is a hunger for fame and the know-how to manipulate the media into thinking that he IS the ranking expert in the genre, moreso than the names you mention. (Who, IMO, would kick his ass any day of the week and twice on Sunday.)

It's kinda like watching James Lipton on "Inside The Actor's Studio" on Bravo. Patton Oswald hit the nail right on the head....the man has the STENCH of FAILED ACTOR emanating from every pore on his body. So now he's the dean of this school, and he schmoozes his way into this TV show so he can still Be A Part Of It. The Perfesser is the same thing. He didn't get to be Robert Q. Lewis, so he needs to be close to The Scene.

Now, I don't have a problem with this, if he's that hungry for the spotlight, he can have it, but I have enough questions about his integrity that I don't want him representing me, and that's what he's doing every time he fools one of these national news outlets into using him for a sound byte on a story.

[byrd62]

[quote name=\'uncamark\' date=\'Jan 13 2004, 11:44 AM\']
Sorry, Steve, but KCAL is an independent.  Chris C. could tell you which station in LA is the UPN affil. 

[/quote]
Maybe I'll give it a try.  Even though Viacom [CBS] owns Channel 9 in Los Angeles, its UPN programming airs on KCOP-Channel 13, owned by Fox, which not only also owns Channel 11, but also owns UPN affiliates in addition to Fox stations in New York [Fox-5, UPN-9] and Chicago [Fox-32, UPN-50].  I think Rupert had a package deal of sorts involving the UPN affiliations in those top 3 cities.

OBGAMESHOW:  KCOP's old studios were home to Barry & Enright's Tic Tac Dough and Joker's Wild from the late '70s through the mid-'80s.

[SRIV94]

[quote name=\'byrd62\' date=\'Jan 13 2004, 12:12 PM\'] [quote name=\'uncamark\' date=\'Jan 13 2004, 11:44 AM\']
Sorry, Steve, but KCAL is an independent.  Chris C. could tell you which station in LA is the UPN affil. 

[/quote]
Maybe I'll give it a try.  Even though Viacom [CBS] owns Channel 9 in Los Angeles, its UPN programming airs on KCOP-Channel 13, owned by Fox, which not only also owns Channel 11, but also owns UPN affiliates in addition to Fox stations in New York [Fox-5, UPN-9] and Chicago [Fox-32, UPN-50]. [/quote]
 I had thought Disney owned KCAL.  Or am I off base for the 478th time?

And as to why Mark suggested that Chris C. make the post, there's an in-joke in there somewhere.

Doug -- soon to celebrate 300 posts

[Thad Dixon]

[quote name=\'SRIV94\' date=\'Jan 13 2004, 01:59 PM\']I had thought Disney owned KCAL.  Or am I off base for the 478th time?[/quote]
From what I heard, Disney used to own KCAL, but they sold it a number of years ago;  I'd say it was probably around the time they bought ABC -- that would've given them channels 7 and 9 in L.A., and IIRC, at that time it was still a no-no for a major network (KCAL would've become an ABC O&O through the aforementioned merger) to own two stations in one market.

To get this thread back on its original topic, I STILL say H2 should be renewed instead of cancelled!  Unlike Davidson's version and the MG/HS Hour, it is AS GOOD AS the Marshall original, so it should be allowed to stick around for AT LEAST AS LONG AS the Marshall original did, regardless of cost AND ratings!  I would rather they cancel Oprah and Dr. Phil instead, then take all the money they've made off of those shows, and put it into the budget for H2 next season!

[SplitSecond]

Wow.  I'm not THAT enthusiastic about RENEWING the show, and I KNOW people who WORK on it.

[BrandonFG]

[quote name=\'Thad Dixon\' date=\'Jan 13 2004, 02:43 PM\'] [quote name=\'SRIV94\' date=\'Jan 13 2004, 01:59 PM\']
To get this thread back on its original topic, I STILL say H2 should be renewed instead of cancelled!  Unlike Davidson's version and the MG/HS Hour, it is AS GOOD AS the Marshall original, so it should be allowed to stick around for AT LEAST AS LONG AS the Marshall original did, regardless of cost AND ratings!  I would rather they cancel Oprah and Dr. Phil instead, then take all the money they've made off of those shows, and put it into the budget for H2 next season! [/quote]
 With a theory like that, you'd be laughed out of every TV executive's office in this country.

Do the show regardless of cost? They've already scaled down the bonus round prizes...instead of a $20,000 car, you now play for a $10,000 vacation on the first try. Second try is $10,000 cash instead of $25,000. At this rate, by next season, we'd have a bargain-basement H2, where the car offered is a Kia Rio. Why the hell would you WASTE, yes waste, money on a show when you're losing your audience, so now you lose money AND viewers. That's a double whammy, no pun intended. It makes absolutely no sense.

Also, I hate to bear bad news, but I don't think King World will touch Oprah or Dr. Phil, considering they're the two highest-rated talk shows. I don't watch neither one, but I know a hit show when I see it.

Am I sorry that H2 is being sacrificed for an unnecessary "ET" clone? Yes, but I enjoyed the six years it had, and I will move on with my life.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'Thad Dixon\' date=\'Jan 13 2004, 12:43 PM\'] regardless of cost AND ratings![/quote]
And this, for the 47,223rd time, is why you will never (and should never) work in television.

Your heart is in the right place. Love the heart. You need to catch your brain up with it.