‘Card Sharks’ returns for a second season on ABC
Place your bets: The high-stakes betting game show you’ve been waiting for is back! Airing on Sunday, Oct. 18, ABC’s “Card Sharks,” hosted by Joel McHale (“Community”), will make its return. Shooting a television show during the coronavirus pandemic was no easy feat but, nevertheless, with no live audience, minimal crew members and strict health and safety guidelines, the producers made it happen.
The show consists of two players competing head to head, betting on the cards and earning money. As the game progresses, the contestants have to decide if it’s worth the risk to keep betting or better to take what they’ve earned and go home a little richer. The original show, hosted by Jim Perry (“Gridlock,” 1980) and created by Chester Feldman (“Family Feud”) for Mark Goodson-Bill Todman productions, ran on NBC from 1978 to 1981 and was revived in 1986 for two seasons, then once more from 2001 to 2002.
Ever since ABC took the reins last year, fans are betting on many more seasons of this entertaining game show reboot. Season 2 of “Card Sharks” premieres Sunday, Oct. 18, on ABC.
The funniest families: We will never tire of ABC’s longest-running prime time entertainment show, “America’s Funniest Home Videos.” Back for another season, Sunday, Oct. 18, on ABC, “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” star Alfonso Ribeiro returns as host for a sixth consecutive season. In 2015, Ribeiro took over for Tom Bergeron (“Dancing with the Stars”), who had been hosting the show for 15 years. That being said, the series is widely remembered for being hosted by Bob Saget (“Full House”) during the first eight seasons.
In each episode, viewers submit their own home videos, showing off some of the funniest caught-on-camera moments in the hopes of winning cash prizes. Altogether, the show has given away about $16 million in prize money — great news if you think you have the funniest home movie!
If you can’t make it to the Season 31 premiere on Oct. 18, don’t worry. Episodes are regularly made available on Hulu and on-demand.
Grab your grocery cart: Going to the supermarket in 2020 has been no easy task. However, on Sunday, Oct. 18, it will finally be fun; ABC is launching a reboot of the classic game show, “Supermarket Sweep,” hosted by former “Saturday Night Live” cast member Leslie Jones (“Ghostbusters,” 2016). The show follows multiple contestants in a grocery store as they fill up their carts with the most expensive items they can find, in hopes of winning the $100,000 grand prize.
In a 30-second teaser of the show released on ABC, the lucky contestants are shown running around the store, grabbing diapers, grills, meat, pool toys — anything they can find that might be pricey. Toward the end of the tantalizing trailer, Jones looks at a contestant and says, “Don’t make me cry!” Oh man, it looks like this fun-filled game show is even going to get a little emotional.
The original show aired in the 1960s for three seasons. When it returned in the ‘90s and (again) in the early 2000s, it was hosted by David Ruprecht (“Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan,” 1982). The push for another reboot came when Netflix added the original episodes to their lineup and they quickly gained popularity. The difficulty with remaking the show now was, naturally, the guidelines stipulated by the coronavirus pandemic.
While difficult, the show was made possible with “frequent testing, handsanitizing stations, protective equipment and limited contact — all in compliance with suggestions issued by Hollywood’s unions, as well as state and local guidelines,” producers told the Los Angeles Times in an interview. “Electrostatic sprayers were used to disinfect the grocery items, allowing for a large swath of inventory to be sanitized more quickly.”
Will the many restrictions put a damper on the show’s gung-ho energy? Find out when “Supermarket Sweep” premieres, Sunday, Oct. 18, on ABC.
Ask the audience: “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” is another classic reboot that, this time around, features the comedic stylings of popular late-night talk show star Jimmy Kimmel (“Jimmy Kimmel Live!” 2003) in the hosting chair. The new season is scheduled to premiere Sunday, Oct. 18, on ABC.
Luckily for us, this season of the show just barely squeaked by as filming wrapped up the week of March 14, right before the pandemic’s quarantine went into place. While the original show was made especially with U.K. audiences in mind, the Jimmy Kimmel version was filmed in Los Angeles, with no studio audience and with all cast and crew following health and safety procedures, complete with physical distancing and mask-wearing.
In the original show, contestants were every-day people who had the knowledge and confidence to win big. In Jimmy’s version, the first season consisted entirely of celebrities. Instead of playing to win the money for themselves, each contestant was playing to win a donation to the charity of their choosing. Last season’s cast featured Eric Stonestreet (“Modern Family”), Anderson Cooper (“CNN”) and Kaitlin Olsen (“Flipped”), while the upcoming season is rumored to welcome the pandemic’s frontline workers as guests in the hot seat.
Make the newest season of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” your final answer and tune in to watch the premiere on Sunday, Oct. 18, on ABC.