Classic game shows seek love connection with fans
Networks go retro for their summer prime-time lineups
For classic game shows, it’s a case of gonged but definitely not forgotten. And look who’s hosting.
Summer brings a passel of prime-time games, including revivals of The Gong Show (ABC, June 22), with Mike Myers (in prosthetics as British comedian “Tommy Maitland”); Fox’s Love
Connection (Thursday, 9 ET/PT), featuring Bravo’s Andy Cohen, and music-centric Beat Shazam (Thursday, 8 ET/PT), with Jamie Foxx heading a spiritual descendant of Name That Tune. Snoop Dogg tries his hand as host in a revival of The Joker’s Wild this fall on TBS.
They follow other past daytime regulars that have recently jumped to prime time with bigname hosts, including ABC’s Ce
lebrity Family Feud (Steve Harvey), Match Game (Alec Baldwin), To Tell the Truth (Anthony Anderson) and The $100,000 Pyra
mid (Michael Strahan). Will Arnett, an executive producer and judge on Gong, will be joined by such guests as Zach Galifianakis, Jack Black and Elizabeth Banks.
Though he won’t confirm Maitland’s true identity — ABC’s press release describes him as a “cheeky monkey” M.C., a favored phrase of Myers’ Simon character — Arnett revels in the attention.
“I love that people are saying that,” Arnett says. “I say to those people: Come meet Tommy Maitland. He’s an amusing guy.”
Arnett loved the ’70s original, hosted by creator Chuck Barris, which featured absurd entertainment acts that could be “gonged” off the stage for outright badness, a tactic now employed by buzzers on NBC’s America’s Got Talent. The new Gong shoots for its predecessor’s zany factor with acts that include a couple who shoot banana pieces into each other’s mouths and a woman dressed as Little Bo Peep who puts her pet tarantula in her mouth while playing the harmonica.
Well-known titles cut through the TV clutter, allowing fans to instantly recognize familiar formats and embrace the nostalgia, says Sony Pictures Television executive vice president Holly Jacobs, who oversees new versions of Gong, Joker’s Wild and Pyra
mid. (Sony also produces top-rated syndication stalwarts Wheel of
Fortune and Jeopardy!) “The reason why some of these shows went on for years and years is because they were great formats. These are classics for a reason,” she says, adding that the whole family can watch.
Lower-cost game shows are appealing during the summer because they provide original programming and viewers “don’t have to be tied to a story line through multiple episodes. You can drop in and out,” says Stacey Schulman, executive vice president at ad firm Katz Media Group. As old shows live on via so many delivery platforms, “people are discovering (or) rediscovering old series” and may have interest in a newer version.
Modern technology frames the shows. Love Connection, which features a contestant “single” going on three blind dates and picking one partner for a romantic getaway, includes video confessionals shot by the contestants.
But its blind-date format, which seems a throwback in the Tinder era, has enduring allure, says Cohen, who “loves asking personal questions, awkward questions” to prompt post-date analysis.
“It’s the he-said/she-said about dating, hearing the two sides talk about first dates. It’s universal,” he says.
The update reflects the times with more diversity in sexual orientation, race and ethnicity, including interracial couples. Would Cohen look for a Con
nection? Absolutely not, he says. Cohen admires the blind daters, saying he would “absolutely not” have been a contestant.
“You’re putting yourself out there. It’s kind of brave of people to reveal you’re lonely and looking for someone. It gets to the core of your vulnerability.”