BuzzSugar

Buzz In: What's Your Favorite Game Show of All Time?

BuzzSugar — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 15:30:32 -0700

While we've been busy trying to tackle all the awesome new series of the Fall, the networks are still adding fresh shows to their slates. NBC's most recent pickup is a new game show called Perfect 10, where contestants are challenged to quickly finish regular household chores for a chance to win a million dollars. Sounds simple enough, but so did Are you Smarter than a Fifth Grader.

Between Perfect 10 and the CBS reboot of Let's Make a Deal, it sounds like there will be plenty of new options for game show viewing this season. These days I can barely keep up with all of my favorite scripted shows, but I do catch an episode of Deal or No Deal every now and then. The Price is Right will also always hold a place in my heart - I was one of those kids who would be yelling "One dollar!" at the screen when I was home sick as a kid. What about you - what are some of your favorite game shows?

Buzz In: What Are Your All-Time Favorite Game Shows?

BuzzSugar — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 18:00:02 -0700

Get ready for another round of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire! ABC is officially reviving the franchise to celebrate its 10th anniversary in August as rumored, with original host Regis Philbin back in the chair. The show will air for 11 nights, starting Aug. 9.

That show's return got me thinking about other game shows I've loved in the past. While I'm not the biggest Millionaire fan these days, I definitely got caught up in the craze back in '99 and could see myself watching again. I also have a soft spot for the Bob Barker era of The Price Is Right, and of course my love for kids' game shows of the late '80s and early '90s is no secret. In more recent times, I've killed many an hour watching Lingo on GSN.

So, I'm putting it to you: What are your favorite game shows of all time?

Love It or Leave It: Hole in the Wall

BuzzSugar — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 08:30:17 -0700

When Fox's Hole in the Wall was first announced, I did my fair share of making fun of it. People dressed in spandex attempting to fit through little spaces? We're really going to use up valuable television space on that?

And then, well, the first promo aired. And I laughed really hard. It's not that I suddenly thought that it was going to be a quality show, but it would be fun to watch once. Or if I was sick on the couch. Or if I just needed something in the background when I was getting ready to do stuff . . .

Hole in the Wall officially premieres tonight, though two special preview episodes have already aired. Have you seen the previews? If you have, is it worth it? If not, check out the clip below and tell me if you think this is a show to love or leave.

Photo courtesy of Fox

Will You Be Watching Any of Tonight's Wacky Game Shows?

BuzzSugar — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 16:30:14 -0700

Tonight's a big night for game shows: Three new ones are premiering, two on ABC and one on NBC, all with different levels of zaniness.

NBC's entry, Celebrity Family Feud, is the most recognizable of the three, as it's the latest in a long series of Family Feud updates. Tonight's show pits Ice T vs. the Rivers clan and Raven-Symone's folks against Wayne Newton's. I'm holding out for The Office vs. American Gladiators.

More curious are the shows making their debut on ABC: Wipeout, otherwise known as that show where people fall all the time, and I Survived a Japanese Game Show. Both are based on common tropes of Japanese game shows, as this New York Times article explains, and both involve humiliation played for laughs.

I saw an extended preview of Wipeout during the upfronts, and the voiceover narration making fun of the mud-covered, dazed contestants made me feel extremely uncomfortable. But I am a little curious to see Japanese Game Show, which I hope will be more wacky and less mean-spirited.

Do you think you'll be watching any of these shows tonight?

The Best Game Shows of My Childhood

BuzzSugar — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 06:30:45 -0700

Ever want to "grab a piece of that glowing rock"? Or "take the physical challenge"? Some of my fondest TV memories from the late '80s and early '90s come from the spate of kiddie game shows that filled many of Nickelodeon's programming hours and even helped launch Fox. With game shows making a surge on TV, I wanted to take a look back at some of the competitions I remember so fondly from my childhood - both classic and ridiculous. Did anyone else obsessively watch GUTS or dream of battling video game heroes in Nick Arcade? To see all of my nostalgic flashbacks, just hit "Start."

View Slideshow ›

TV Tonight: The Moment of Truth

BuzzSugar — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 06:30:14 -0800

The previews for The Moment of Truth, the new Fox series that premieres tonight after American Idol, have been making me squirm - and I think that means they're doing their job. The series features contestants hooked up to lie detectors while being asked personal, potentially humiliating questions - "Do fat people repulse you?" and "Would you ever cheat on your wife?" among them. Answering honestly means earning money, with those who answer all 21 questions truthfully going home with $500,000. Hey, they might not have spouses or friends anymore, but at least they're rich!

I've been curious about the Fox version of this show ever since the Colombian game show it's based on was yanked off the air amid controversy over the summer. Now, after relentless promotion (which included a Truth Booth in Santa Monica where passersby subjected themselves to the show's prying questions without money on the table), it's finally making its debut. But will it be good entertainment that reveals interesting things about our culture - or will it just be too uncomfortable to watch?

Anyone else eager to see how this show plays out? You can watch a preview clip if you read more.

Photo and video courtesy of Fox

First Look: The Moment of Truth

BuzzSugar — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 10:30:00 -0800

Would you tell the truth about your darkest secrets if you could win $500,000? That's the central question of Fox's new game show, The Moment of Truth, which premieres in late January. The show asks contestants to answer a series of questions about their lives, from the relatively innocuous ("Do you really care about starving children in Africa?") to the deeply personal ("Have you ever cheated on your spouse?"). Those who make it through all 21 questions without lying go home with $500,000.

The series is based on a Colombian game show that became notorious earlier this year, when a woman admitted to hiring a man to kill her husband - and won $25,000 as a result. Colombian officials quickly stepped in and canceled the show, but it had already become a sensation, even prompting people to buy their own lie detectors. (Fox says its show won't ask about felonies, sticking to things that could be humiliating but not incriminating.)

This concept makes me very uncomfortable, but I've heard so much about it that I'll have to check it out come Jan. 23. What about you? To watch a preview, just read more.

Photo and video courtesy of Fox

TV Tonight: Duel

BuzzSugar — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 08:30:31 -0800

A battle of reality-show wills kicks off tonight when NBC's special singing event, Clash of the Choirs, faces off against ABC's week-long game show, Duel. The tournament-style Duel pits 24 contestants against each other in a battle of trivia and strategy, with the winners from each of the game's first five nights moving on to face each other in Sunday's finals.

Based on a French game show, Duel pits contestants head to head in a match that mixes Who Wants to Be a Millionaire with Vegas-style gambling. Contestants place bets on how sure they are that their answers to various trivia questions are correct, and right answers drive up the jackpot - while just one wrong answer gets a player sent home.

Questions cover a wide variety of pop culture trivia, from the number of eyelids on a camel's eye (three) to which footwear company uses Heidi Klum's designs (Birkenstock). Of course Duel requires knowledge, but there's also luck involved; I had several great rounds on the show's online game, then hit a string where I didn't know even the first question. Duel also adds in strategy, with the betting and the twist that each winner gets to choose his or her opponent in the next round.

In general, I've found TV trivia shows too drawn-out for their own good ever since Millionaire. But the fact that this one is only six nights long makes me want to see what it's all about. Will you be watching Duel? To watch a preview, just read more.

First Look: The New American Gladiators

BuzzSugar — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 07:00:00 -0800

Amidst the reality-television dreck the networks have planned for us in the new year (really, My Dad is Better Than Your Dad?), there's one show that legitimately has me excited to tune in: the new American Gladiators. The old, syndicated show was such a big part of my childhood Saturday mornings that I simply can't resist the new version, hosted by Hulk Hogan and Laila Ali. Besides, I want to see how far foam weaponry has come in the past 20 years.

The show will kick off with a two-hour premiere Jan. 6, then move into its regular 8 p.m. Monday time slot the next day (regular occupant Chuck will have run out of episodes because of the writers' strike).

The cheesiness of the old show was a major part of its appeal, and from the first promo, it looks like the remake is staying true to that over-the-top spirit. The ad - which premiered during Heroes, aptly - features warriors running through the desert holding their jousting sticks high. I've watched this ad at least a half-dozen times now, and it still makes me giggle. Also making me giggle: this NBC promo picture of Hulk Hogan. Yeah, I'm pumped for this one.

Are you ready to see the next generation of Storms and Geminis take to the ring? To watch the promo, just read more

Photo courtesy of NBC

Game Show Canceled After Woman Admits Murder Plot

BuzzSugar — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 16:44:44 -0700

Here's a new point for those who like to argue that TV has gone too far: A Colombian game show has been canceled after a woman confessed to hiring someone to murder her husband - and won $25,000 for it.

The woman was competing on a Colombian game show called "Nada Mas Que la Verdad," or "Nothing But the Truth," in which contestants are hooked up to lie detector machines and asked increasingly invasive questions for a chance to win up to $50,000 if they answer truthfully. She admitted she had hired a hit man to kill her husband, adding that the crime was never carried out because her husband was tipped off to the plot and fled.

The show had become a sensation in Colombia, so much so that spinoffs are planned for several countries, including the United States. Fox bought the rights to the show earlier this year and plans to make the stakes even higher, with $500,000 on the line for contestants who answer all 21 questions honestly.

American TV has done some pretty stupid things in its day - see: Darva Conger - but do you think the U.S. version of the show will go this far?

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