Five Painful Game Show Revivals

[TMC]

http://www.manic-expression.com/five...show-revivals/

Whammy!

So here’s an idea, let’s take the old game Press Your Luck and rather than just return it, we’ll give it a spin and make it seem like a different show with a different board. This would be the equivalent of putting a fresh coat of paint on your car and pretending it’s something totally different. Why not just revive Press Your Luck? Well they would eventually but for a little while we had this which came off as a poor man’s copy more than a “revival”. I especially loved the CGI Whammy which went from being kind of funny to very creepy.

Let’s Make a Deal

This show has seen a bunch of revivals, including one that is currently airing on daytime TV, but there was one which landed with a thud. In 2003 NBC tried to bring the game back, and it didn’t even last three episodes. Featuring Billy Bush as the host, which was a foolish move, the show just didn’t grab fans. Even when they returned the original host, Monty Hall. Who also hated this version. It was a little more crude, which NBC probably wanted for some reason. Another thing that hurt it? NBC’s awful advertising for the show.

Twenty-One

Oh man, where do I begin? Let’s start with the fact that reviving this show was incredibly stupid. If you didn’t know, this is the game show in the middle of the game show scandal in the 50’s. In this game two contestants are put into separate booths, with earphones so they could hear the host. They would be given a category and asked how many point he wanted to risk. The first person to get to 21 won. Nice idea, until people starting feeding contestants the answers through the headphones. This was revealed and nearly destroyed the game show format. So when the game show revival was going on in 2000, it made perfect sense to bring it back! First of all, the show was fine for the 50’s but was way to slow for a modern audience. And second, Maury Povich was the host. Need I say more? And the fact that the contestants couldn’t hear or see the other was lame.

You Bet Your Life

This came up in the comments last time and I decided it was time to discuss. Some game shows are so great they should not be revived. There just isn’t any ways to do it that will recapture the magic of the original. When was last time Truth or Consequences got a revival? This classic show was hosted by the legendary Groucho Marx. To be honest, not a fan. But he was a legend with his dry wit and quick responses. The game is simple, basically a question and answer show. The fun part was Groucho interacting with the contestants. This was a classic. It started on radio and moved to TV for a combined 14 seasons! and then in 1992 as his show was winding down Bill Cosby decided to revive it. With him as host. Cosby is a fantastic comedian but he sucks at interviewing or ad libbing, with his slow delivery. Something so obvious it was referenced in The Cosby Show. And this show was boring. So boring most stations put it on at 1am, which is where I found it one night when I was in college. Awful.

The New Price is Right

Ok my friends, it’s finally time to discuss this one. Now of course the daytime version we still watch today was a revival itself. The first version came out in 1956. I want to discuss the new syndicated version from 1994. Yep, this happened. Don’t ask me why. To be fair a lot of daytime and primetime game shows will get syndicated spin-off’s, but usually it’s the same game just airing at different times of the day. This, not so much. First of all, to be fair, the fact Bob Barker wasn’t hosting was ok. The rest was all crap. Let’s start with the smaller and darker set. It looks like a nightclub! No contestants row, the contestants are called out of the audience and that’s it. The classic games were pointlessly tweaked and the new one’s pretty awful. The prices were higher making it harder to play along with. There was a showcase showdown but it was done very differently, with contestants bidding on the price of an old product (via vintage TV ad). Sure, why not? This was such a bad idea the big wheel eventually returned. The showcase had one contestant, making it a lot less fun, and used the Range Game to decide the final prize. I called Whammy an example of painting your car and claiming it’s all new. This was like trashing a car and trying to convince people it’s exactly the same. The worst thing is that unlike the other examples here-THE DAYTIME VERSION WE LOVED WAS STILL ON! So why watch this watered down nonsense when we could just watch the classic?
I’ve heard the revived Jokers Wild was awful to, but I don’t anything about that one. The 90’s version not the Snoop Dogg version. I just know it was canceled fast along with a revival of Tic Tac Dough. I also considered the Donny Osmond revised “Pyramid” for here but I guess that wasn’t so bad. But Donny Osmond was no Dick Clark.

[icecream]

I hate Maury Povich's talk show, but did like his Twenty-One revival.

[SledgeBarone]

The Doug Davidson version of TPIR was before TiVo was around, so unless you set your VCR to faithfully record the daytime Price Is Right, people who worked during the day couldn't just watch it. I really liked the nighttime TPIR set and pumped up theme, but half-hour versions of TPIR just don't feel right. (I know the early 70s TPIR revival was 30 minutes, but that was before my time.) It seemed unfair that the 3 contestants could all win their prizes, but one of them wouldn't advance to the showcases simply because their prize (which they have no control over) was worth less than the other 2 prizes.

Wasn't the Davidson TPIR on the same year that the OJ trial had everyone's attention? That would've been a big factor in its failure.

[howilu]

One revival that should have made the list was the Pat Bullard version of Card Sharks. The survey questions were gone and Street Smarts like elements were in. It was just plain awful.

[AMackII]

Whammy: The All New Press Your Luck & The New Price Is Right(1994) doesn’t need to be on that list of worst remakes but the 1998 revival of Match Game & the 2001 version of Card Sharks does.

[Mrgman]

I actually liked whammy. Todd Newton is better than Elizabeth banks

[rusty spike]

I liked watching twenty-one