Back in 2002, The E! True Hollywood Story did a two-hour program on the game show Family Feud, whose hosts dealt with extortion, womanizing, bankruptcy, divorce, and suicide. It was dubbed the “curse of the Family Feud hosts”. Well, the curse has struck again! – somewhat. And unlike the Tonight Show situation, no one is getting stabbed in the back […]
The past week’s winners and losers… Kool-Aid Man style. Oh, yeah. Roe Conn. Roe Conn? Yes, you read right. Despite less-than-stellar numbers, Roe Conn is expected to sign a contract renewal with WLS-AM for a lower salary, despite parent company Citadel becoming the latest media company to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader. In […]
Dr. Oz debuts strong – and the rest of the week that was in syndication Family Feud has added a new element – all right, it’s not so new. The Debmar-Mercury syndicated game show has returned the “Bullseye” round to the start of the game, which started on the series’ eleventh season premiere on September 7. The round features contestants […]
“Is that your final answer?” is becoming a popular phrase in Chicago again. While Who Wants To Be A Millionaire has not caught fire in the ratings like it did in August 1999 when it first premiered, it has rekindled its love affair in the Windy City. According to Nielsen, Millionaire’s return to ABC’s prime-time lineup has paid dividends for […]
Fox-owned WFLD-TV here in Chicago (and sis station KTTV in Los Angeles) have picked up the half-hour syndicated version of Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader from Twentieth Television for this fall. The game show, produced by Survivor creater Mark Burnett and hosted by Jeff Foxworthy, has aired on prime-time on Fox to respectable ratings. The program has cleared […]
The president of Debmar-Mercury is calling out the first-run syndication business. In an interview with Broadcasting & Cable, Mort Marcus says we might be seeing more syndie cancellations coming in the next several months as the economy continues to become worse. Marcus, who runs the company responsible for syndicating South Park, Family Feud, Trivial Pursuit, and the upcoming Wendy Williams […]
Let’s reach into the bag today and see what we can scoop out… – New fall syndication updates: WPWR plays the Feud again: Debmar-Mercury’s Family Feud returns to WPWR-TV for the third time beginning on Sept. 8, airing back-to-back episodes at 2 p.m, while Debmar’s new Trivial Pursuit: America’s Plays airs at 3 p.m. Family Feud aired on WPWR from […]
Now the Favre watch never ends. Journal Communications’ WTMJ-TV in Milwaukee is adding a 3 p.m. newscast to its lineup beginning Sept. 8, as well as adding a 6:30 p.m. newscast at the end of August, which displaces the Warner Bros.-syndicated Extra from the time slot. The move brings the total number of local news hours at the NBC affiliate […]
After Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! became major successes in the mid-1980’s, games shows became a hot property in syndication. By 1988, more than ten of them were on the air, including Win Lose or Draw, and Wipeout!, and successful revivals of Hollywood Squares, The Dating Game, and Family Feud. But the game show boom went bust by 1991 after […]
For the first time in 25 years, Family Feud is headed to prime-time. A celebrity edition of the syndicated game-show strip is being planned by Fremantle for NBC in prime-time, although it’s being proposed as a series of specials. If you recall, ABC aired prime-time specials in the 1970’s and 1980’s, which pitted celebrity casts of shows for charity, i.e., […]
This week, Marc Berman in Mediaweek details what’s going on in the world of first-run syndication, in a report you can read by clicking here. (Adobe Acrobat required.) Among the findings: – Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! are still tops in syndication (of course), with Who Wants To Be A Millionaire still performing well, and Family Feud taking it on […]
– Debmar-Mercury has cleared 85% of the country for the ninth syndicated season of Family Feud, which was previously distributed by Tribune Entertainment. Debmar-Mercury has also recruited Twentieth Television to sell ad time for Feud and off-cable weekly sci-fi hour The Dead Zone. That program has also been sold to 85% of the country, including season two renewals for ABC […]
The continuing saga of the Tribune Co. continues to unravel: Fremantle Media, the producer of Family Feud, is dropping Tribune Entertainment as syndicator and is replacing it with Debmar-Mercury, a unit of independent film studio Lionsgate, Inc. effective immediately. It seems this program has been through more syndicators than hosts — John O’Hurley is currently the captain of this ship, […]
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