The Singing Bee's Joey Fatone with The Honey Bees by Trae Patton/NBC Photo
He dropped names as diverse as Norman Lear, Uri Geller, Isaiah Washington and Jerry Seinfeld. He teased an all-celebrity version of The Apprentice (with a half-joking promise to extend an invitation to Rosie O’Donnell). In describing his vision for NBC's immediate and long-term future, the network’s boyish new co-chair Ben Silverman showed his affinity for both packaging and programming TV in an enthusiastic debut performance in front of the nation’s TV critics on Monday morning.Though he took the stage alongside the relatively subdued co-chair Marc Graboff, whose expertise is on the business side, this was Silverman’s show all the way, and he wasted no time in announcing some surprising programming deals and a few aggressive scheduling changes, including turning Monday into an all-fantasy night and shifting Friday Night Lights an hour earlier on Fridays, so it’s now cozily hammocked between the strong franchises of a relocated Deal or No Deal and Las Vegas,...
read more
With a spin-off of Deal or No Deal slated to go into syndication next fall, sources tell the Hollywood Reporter that in addition to performing some double duty, Howie Mandel (remember when he and I rode the Ferris wheel?) may get an assist in hosting. Among the names being bandied about are Arsenio Hall (whoop-whoop!) and Mark Curry [Crickets]. Hey, what about that available up-and-comer named... Barker, is it? Bobby Barker?
read more
Question: What do you think of NBC's adding a second night of Deal or No Deal? Do you think there is a chance they could overdo it and ruin a good thing, the way ABC did with Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
Answer: Not being of the camp that considers Deal as much of a "good thing," as I once did Millionaire, I'd like to say I hope so. But honestly, given NBC's rather dire fortunes, I'm actually surprised the network is being as cautious as it is with this show. From the start, NBC and the show's producers have carefully weighed how often to air Deal to avoid the overexposure that killed Millionaire on ABC. That's why you're seeing a rotating "game night" of game shows other than Deal on Fridays in the fall. NBC has had great success with Deal on Mondays, but on both nights it's scheduled in the fall, it will be facing strong reality competition (Dancing with the Stars on Mondays and America's Next Top Model on Wednesdays). What we're really seeing is NBC trying to make the most of a ...
read more
Monday has the potential to be NBC's biggest night. Deal or No Deal is a game-show juggernaut. Heroes will have a make or break sophomore season and Heroes: Origins better not be too gimmicky. Journeyman will try to carry the futuristic vibe of Heroes, but will fare about as well as Studio 60. — Jon HeinTo read more of the Jump the Shark creator's thoughts on the NBC fall lineup, click here.
read more
Here's my quick take on the Fall 2007 primetime schedule that NBC announced earlier today....MONDAY8 pm Deal or No Deal9 pm Heroes10 pm JourneymanMonday has the potential to be NBC's biggest night. DOND is a game show juggernaut. Heroes will have a make or break sophomore season and Heroes: Origins better not be too gimmicky. Journeyman will try to carry the futuristic vibe of Heroes, but will fare about as well as Studio 60 did.TUESDAY8 pm The Biggest Loser9 pm Chuck10 pm Law & Order: SVUHistorically, this is the night where NBC shows go to die. The Biggest Loser has a small but loyal following. Chuck will be this season's failed attempt at government geek gone good. SVU just rolls on.WEDNESDAY8 pm Deal or No Deal9 pm The Bionic Woman10 pm LifeHey, it's another non-scripted show at 8 o'clock for NBC! DOND on Mondays and Wednesdays will wear thin. The Battlestar Galactica team is involved with The Bionic Woman, so I'll give Jamie Sommers the benefit of the doubt. Life is this ...
read more
Deal or No Deal's Claudia, Lindsay C. and Patricia
For a show that seems to be on every night, you may be surprised to hear that NBC's Deal or No Deal is only now hitting the 100-episode mark tonight at 8 pm/ET, with an outing that offers one past player a second chance to become a millionaire... or at the very least top the $10 he won the first time around. What else is on tap for this milestone Monday? Offered the chance to chat up not one but three of the show's 26 suitcase-brandishing beauties about that and much more, TVGuide.com said, "Deal!
TVGuide.com: What can we expect from this week's milestone episode? Confetti? Special guests? The Banker's silhouette is naked?Claudia Jordan: A naked Banker silhouette? Now that's a good idea!Lindsay Clubine
read more
Question: Last week you mentioned that NBC wanted to put cost-effective "alternative" programming in the 8 pm/ET slot, by which I presume you mean reality TV and game shows like Deal or No Deal. But doesn't the benefit of reality TV's low production cost get canceled out by the lack of syndication opportunity in the future? Sure, Heroes may be more expensive to produce than Deal or No Deal, but I'll bet that money is made back down the line when it comes time for syndication and DVD sales, which seems to be where the big money is these days. No one's going to watch a rerun of Deal or No Deal. But a daily syndication of Heroes and the Season 1 DVDs will probably make NBC some big cash. Doesn't that balance out the greater production cost?
Answer: When you've got a hit, you're absolutely right. But as you may have noticed, NBC isn't exactly overstuffed with Heroes-size success stories. Few networks are. The economic reality is that NBC is in a bind — it needs to keep overall costs down
...
read more
Topic One: Dancing with the Stars. One long grin, that show is. I’d forgotten what a fun lark it can be, after the last few months of watching American Idol take itself way too seriously. Nothing’s really at stake on the Dancing show, except minor issues like dignity and rescuing B-list reputations from the celebrity coal bin. Early front-runners: Joey Fatone (especially if he keeps shedding the pounds as he dances) and Apolo Anton Ohno, the closest thing the show has to a hottie. (Possible miscalculation of keeping up his skating schedule when he should be perfecting his dance moves. He wasn’t nearly as electrifying as he needs to be.) And because a female is overdue a win on this show, let’s not count out Laila Ali, an interesting mix of athleticism, aggression and (when it matters) unexpected grace and charm.Charm really is the selling point of this ABC phenom. Even a klutz like Billy Ray Cyrus probably earned a few pity points for being a good sport. And I...
read more
Question: While I realize Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? is not award-worthy and may be intolerable for some people, it is refreshing to be able to watch a television program with our children without having to worry about its content. That is the reason our family has watched this show three nights in a row, and that is also why we watch other shows like Deal or No Deal. Yes, Jeopardy! and its contestants are more intelligent, and yes, these game shows do drag things out (sometimes to the point of absurdity) and could move faster. However, isn't this world fast enough? Does everything have to be at lightning speed? I enjoy getting to know the contestants, seeing their families and cheering them on. My children are able to participate as well because they can contribute answers and decide if the contestants should gamble or play it safe. We watch it for pure escapism and to get away from shows that are inappropriate for kids. Our children work hard during the school year and learn ...
read more
Question: I just finished watching Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? There's a half hour of my life that I will never get back! It's not that the premise of the show was all that bad, it's just that there were too many commercials. In fact, there were so many commercials that they only got through five questions in the entire half hour. The same thing drives me nuts with Deal or No Deal (a game that literally could be played in less than five minutes). Why don't networks realize that they are killing their own shows with all of these commercials? I understand that shows are getting costlier to produce and that networks have lost a lot of their audience to cable networks, but I thought game shows were traditionally cheaper to produce. So why all the commercials? Is it simply corporate greed?
Answer: And this somehow surprises you? I agree. I find this new wave of prime-time game/quiz shows excruciating. Not because they're silly, which they mostly are (they're ultimately harmless). But
...
read more
