West Agrees to Sub for Regis This Summer In an effort to continue fresh episodes and still give Regis Philbin some time off for the summer, Adam West---fresh from his $250,000 celebrity triumph---has agreed to substitute host Who Wants to Be a Millionaire for two weeks in late June.
West could not be reached at his Idaho home for comment but ABC is said to be considering bringing in British WWTBAM host Chris Tarrant for a two-week period in early August.
During his four-night stint on the classic TV version of the quiz, WWTBAM producers felt West, 72, would have the calm and relaxed demeanor necessary to front the show. West is expected to return in early June to tape his eight episodes.
Inside the Games with Adam West III | Adam West II |
Adam West I Moment of Truth: Poundstone Out on TTTT GSCC has learned comedienne Paula Poundstone will not return as a panelist on To Tell the Truth for the 2001-02 season.
Poundstone, a big favorite with the Comedy Central and Lifetime crowd, was considered a catalyst to attract younger viewers to the remake. Placed in the old Peggy Cass panel position, Poundstone never learned the lesson of Cass (who had a similar personality to Poundstone but kept her occasionally abrasive humor out of the show to become an enduring favorite). Poundstone was panned in several circles for overpowering the show and spending too much time using comedy routine material rather than playing the game.
A source close to the show says the public story will be Poundstone opting not to return but "she was not asked back."
On Friday's encore shows, host John O'Hurley offered a coincidental response to the end of Poundstone's interrogation of Britney Spears choreographer Wade Robson. After Poundstone asked all three contestants an irrelevant question about whether they had seen an episode of The Waltons, O'Hurley said: "That was a total waste of 30 seconds of precious network time." Camloh Continues $2.14 Million WWTBAM Run Scott Camloh of Binghamton, N.Y.---who once took 1,763 licks to reach the center of a Tootsie Pop---is out of Lifelines but returns tonight for a crack at a $125,000 question.
At $64K, he knew the term checkmate derived from the Persian words 'shah mat,' which mean "the king is dead." The super jackpot purse will rise to $2.14 million tonight.
Friday night's episode scored a 10.4/18 to dominate the night in the Nielsen overnights.
Top 111 Network $$$
Winners ABC May Nab Street Smarts for Strike Insurance ABC, having apparent second thoughts over its declining ratings with Whose Line Is It Anyway?, is considering a bid for Telepictures' Street Smarts as a prime time entity, should an industry strike occur this fall.
Neither series spokesperson Brooke Landau, nor host Frank Nicotero could be reached for comment Saturday and executives for Telepictures and parent company Warner Brothers Television were not available.
The network is said to be looking at Smarts as a compatible companion show for Whose Line?, which has been renewed through 2004 but has lost 20 per cent of its audience since December. Grandfather Wins $1 Million on New Hoosier Spring has sprung for a retired Indiana grandfather. Charles Fultz of Gary still may not know what has hit him.
What hit him were the 100 balloons that fell from the ceiling when he found the pieces of the $1 million bill on Saturday night's New Hoosier Millionaire. After finding half the bill on his first selection, Fultz flirted with one of the "Stoppers" before finding the other half on his third pick. His grand total: $1,015,000.
Fultz becomes the series' second millionaire of 2001. Jake Holsten of Hartford City, In., won a "cool" $13,000 and a trip on ATA Airlines as runner-up.
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Randy West's Hollywood Showdown Line of the Day:
"Here's our host----the man who knows this page is a big April Fool....Toddddddddd Newton!"
Friday's Top Winner:
Scott Camloh, WWTBAM
$64,000 (but still at risk)
I've finally been released from the cage which is the broadcast booth of the NAIA women's national championship tournament and it's time to do a little forecasting for the summer and fall season of network and syndicated games. (Continued)
Stacey's Case Against CBS, Burnett Moves to Los Angeles Stacey Stillman's case against CBS and Survivor producer Mark Burnett is being moved from San Francisco to Los Angeles.
Tribune is reporting CBS attorneys produced a contract in which contestants agreed any legal disputes against the series would be heard in L.A.
Stillman, represented by attorney Donald A. Yates, did not challenge the change of venue. Stillman charges Burnett attempted to rig the first series by influencing fellow contestants to change their votes on the third episode, eliminating her in order to protect 72-year-old Rudy Boesch.
Burnett has filed a countersuit against Stillman, declaring her charges unfounded. CBS says Stillman was warned repeatedly she could not file her case in San Francisco but "devised a plan to seek an even bigger bonanza by promoting herself, while simultaneously attacking the show and its producers, in a coast-to-coast publicity campaign," according to a motion to move the case. Rudy's Combat Missions Series "Firm Go" for Fall on USA He may have emerged from the original Survivor as the most enduringly popular contestant and best-marketed. Now, he tacks on the role of game opera host.
This week, USA Network has declared Mark Burnett's Combat Missions a firm "go" for fall with the 73-year-old Boesch as host. Boesch will be referred to as "camp commander" for the Boot Camp-like 15-week series.
Boesch was a contestant on Burnett's Eco-Challenge before finishing third on Survivor. USA is considering a Monday night slot for Combat Missions, possibly in the old WWF wrestling time period. Top prize of $400,000 will be divided between the winning four-member team. Harris to Get Audition for To Tell the Truth Panel Slot No sooner than Pearson Television has ousted Paula Poundstone from the panel of To Tell the Truth will a top game show contestant receive an audition for the slot.
Former Greed champion Phyllis Harris, a veteran of six game shows, will have a test audition for the Truth panel April 26. Pearson executives say they're looking for a "fresh face" for the panel and will give Harris and approximately 20 others a run-through.
The audition reportedly will be done with production staff members simulating the other members of the panel and John O'Hurley's emcee slot. Fox Bans That 70s Show Star from WWTBAM Celeb Week For a show so many critics are so willing to write off, opposing networks still fear the power of WWTBAM.
Latest episode: one day prior to taping another round of celebrity shows for the May sweeps, Fox barred Ashton Kutcher of That '70s Show from appearing, which apparently angered Kutcher.
This follows the pattern in February of the opposing networks blocking their stars from appearing on the charity version of the ABC game. Kutcher was going to play for a University of Iowa medical facility which helps transplant patients, from which the actor's brother once benefited.
ABC even agreed not to air Kutcher's appearance in the hotseat opposite the Fox Tuesday comedy. Fox agreed to contribute the minimum guarantee of $32,000 the actor would have received to the Iowa hospital. No Surprise: Wheel, Jeopardy! Top Syndie Numbers This is almost a template: Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! atop the Nielsen syndicated numbers.
For the week ending March 18, Wheel was in its customary lead role at 10.2, followed by Jeopardy's 8.3, down nine per cent from the same week last year.
Syndicated game show ratings for March 12-18:
1. Wheel of Fortune, 10.2
2. Jeopardy!, 8.3
16. Hollywood Squares, 3.7 Family Feud, 2.6 Blind Date, 2.0 Change of Heart, 1.9 Street Smarts, 1.8 To Tell the Truth, 1.7 Sex Wars, 0.6
VH-1 Launches Bands on the Run Game Tonight The advance word is one will find more game in Bands on the Run than on either ABC's Making the Band or The WB's Popstars.
At least in this case, eleven bands will be competing for a $25,000 cash prize and a contract to make a music video.
With names ranging from Soulcracker (above right) to Flickerstick to the Josh Dodes Band, the groups will be shown performing at eleven different venues on the same night during the series. An online VH-1 site will allow viewers to vote on the winner.
The series premieres tonight at 10 p.m. (ET). VH-1 Bands on the Run Site Tritle to Host Pilot for Class Game for Midseason Almost a year after appearing on the final edition of NBC's Twenty-One, Ben Tritle may finally be getting his big break.
Tritle has reportedly agreed to do a pilot for a midseason quiz, based on the legendary Milton Bradley board game Go to the Head of the Class.
The game reportedly would include six contestants competing in as many as 18 different categories, climbing different plateaus until they reach the "head of the class." Producer Ruth Deutsch is pitching the game for both network and syndication berths and will be taping the pilot at CBS Television City April 29. History IQ to Return with Season Tourney Format The History Channel has full confidence in its History IQ game, enough so to give it a serious tweaking.
The Marc Summers-hosted quiz will return with new episodes in April but will now include an NCAA-style elimination tournament to last the entire season.
Top prize for contestants in the early rounds is $5,000. However, the season-ending winner earns $250,000. Two special editions in rating sweep months will include history professors and college history students.
The show is now at a new 6 p.m. time slot (ET/PT) with a repeat at 1 p.m. (ET/PT) the following day. Randy West to Host Three-Hour Weekend Radio Gametalk Popular game show announcer Randy West has been signed to host a syndicated three-hour weekend talkfest, tentatively titled Let the Games Begin.
Joining the increasing number of niche weekend talk radio outings, Games will feature interviews with contestants, emcees and weekly segments with game show experts Fred Wostbrock and David Schwartz.
West will also play on-air trivia games with listeners via phone. The announcer for Hollywood Showdown, All-New 3's a Crowd and Supermarket Sweep will begin the series Saturdays in 140 markets beginning June 2. Air time will be 12 noon-3 p.m. (EDT) but could be delayed in assorted cities.
Do not scroll below this point if you have not watched the day's shows and wish to be isolated from the outcomes.
SUNDAY, APRIL 1
You golden oldies to GSCC already know what we're up to....but for you newcomers, stories above about Adam West, Street Smarts, Ben Tritle, Phyllis Harris and Randy West are nothing but one big......
50 Years Ago This Week.... Beat the Clock begins a second season as Bud Collyer celebrates with a collection of the best stunts of the first season. 45 Years Ago....
Gene Rayburn's Saturday morning NBC game Choose Up Sides ends after 13 weeks. 40 Years Ago....
More than 100 markets begin a repeat prime time run of Home Run Derby. 35 Years Ago....
After two contestants miss 11 questions in a row, when the bell ends the day's game on Eye Guess, host Bill Cullen tells the players: "Well, we had three questions left....butttttttt, you would've missed them anyway." 30 Years Ago....
ABC's Dark Shadows ends a five-year run to make way for a revival of Allen Ludden and Password. 25 Years Ago.... Variety reports NBC will slot Fun Factory and The Gong Show from 12 noon-1 (ET) in June if a technicians' strike is settled in time. 20 Years Ago....
Roger Tharpe wins $50,000 and retires undefeated on Blockbusters. 15 Years Ago....
USA Network adds reruns of All-Star Blitz. 10 Years Ago....
Syndicators announce Trump Card and The Joker's Wild will not return in fall. One Year Ago....
Big-money winner of the last week: Michelle Bergeron wins $265,000 on Twenty-One.
In an effort to continue fresh episodes and still give Regis Philbin some time off for the summer, Adam West---fresh from his $250,000 celebrity triumph---has agreed to substitute host Who Wants to Be a Millionaire for two weeks in late June.
GSCC has learned comedienne Paula Poundstone will not return as a panelist on To Tell the Truth for the 2001-02 season.
Scott Camloh of Binghamton, N.Y.---who once took 1,763 licks to reach the center of a Tootsie Pop---is out of Lifelines but returns tonight for a crack at a $125,000 question.
ABC, having apparent second thoughts over its declining ratings with Whose Line Is It Anyway?, is considering a bid for Telepictures' Street Smarts as a prime time entity, should an industry strike occur this fall.
Spring has sprung for a retired Indiana grandfather. Charles Fultz of Gary still may not know what has hit him.
Stacey Stillman's case against CBS and Survivor producer Mark Burnett is being moved from San Francisco to Los Angeles.
He may have emerged from the original Survivor as the most enduringly popular contestant and best-marketed. Now, he tacks on the role of game opera host.
No sooner than Pearson Television has ousted Paula Poundstone from the panel of To Tell the Truth will a top game show contestant receive an audition for the slot.
For a show so many critics are so willing to write off, opposing networks still fear the power of WWTBAM.
This is almost a template: Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! atop the Nielsen syndicated numbers.
The advance word is one will find more game in Bands on the Run than on either ABC's Making the Band or The WB's Popstars.
Almost a year after appearing on the final edition of NBC's Twenty-One, Ben Tritle may finally be getting his big break.
The History Channel has full confidence in its History IQ game, enough so to give it a serious tweaking.
