Goodies from GSN’s vault replace a couple nights of PlayMania

I was ecstatic to hear that GSN would be replacing a couple nights of Playmania with some true goodness from inside their vault. The shows would be airing early Monday and Wednesday mornings. They are Super Password (NBC 1984-89), Double Dare (CBS 1976-77), Beat the Clock (CBS 1979-80), Body Language (CBS 1984-86), Trivia Trap (ABC 1984-85), and Now You See It (CBS 1974-75).

One of the reasons why I am happy about this is that everything was done logically. They’re continuing to air the SP episodes that were skipped back in 2005. It being apart of this block really compensated for the hour on Sundays being replaced for the seemingly forever repeating Dog Eat Dog. Then Body Language came back after about a five month hiatus, and they started right from where they left off. I feared so much that they would start all over from the beginning, and it‘d take forever to complete the run. Now it’ll take a while, but not quite as long to continue on. Beat the Clock with Monty Hall hasn’t been aired in nearly ten years on GSN and same for Double Dare, so it made sense to start from the beginning with these shows. Though a lot of us online were expecting them to start about in the middle of the Clock run.

Monty Hall’s version of Beat the Clock is probably most known for one thing, reverting to all-star status permanently within a couple months of the show’s run. Now, personally, for the most part, when it’s done only a few times out of the year, or every other year or so, I love all-star special shows. They can really be a lot of fun. Especially on shows like Password, Pyramid, Family Feud, Wheel of Fortune, and Jeopardy. But some shows in the past had a major problem with this, and the problem was that it became an everyday or every week scenario. The prime examples of this are the early 2000’s American prime time versions of Millionaire and Weakest Link. I admit this was fun at first, I mean, I loved seeing the soap stars and comedians on Link, and the funnymen and supermodels on Millionaire, but this became such a habit, and it was becoming more tiresome than enjoyable, and eventually the lot of us got sick of it and we’d want to see the regular contestants again. Especially on Link. It was like they were just throwing together any theme week or special they could come up with. It really helped both shows lose their magic. But for some reason, 1979’s version of Clock was different. It was fun seeing the celebrities sometimes get a little dirty and do the entertaining stunts. The magic was still in the air, even though it remained on CBS's airwaves for a very short time.

Now You See It, Body Language, and Double Dare were also short-lived CBS daytime game shows, while Trivia Trap aired on ABC. Now You See It was a word search game at its absolute best. It's just like the announcers Johnny Olson, Gene Wood, and in 1989, Don Morrow say in the opening spiel: "Every answer is right before your eyes."

Language had celebrity-contestant teams of two doing charades, and it was similar to a short-lived show on ABC, Showoffs. Though the difference between the two shows were that Language's acted out words all fit into puzzles. For instance: If you look SUSPICIOUS as you (PASS) through (CUSTOMS), they might STRIP SEARCH you when they STAMP this BOOK. The answer: Passport. This show had some great stars on, including loyal game show friend and true legend Betty White. Other guests would include Charles Nelson Reilly, Vicki Lawrence, and Soupy Sales. The words were difficult to act out sometimes, but it's still fun to see the stars and the players act them out. For instance it was truly classic watching Lucille Ball act out the phrase "toss and turn" and Melody Thomas Scott of The Young and the Restless act out "raid the refrigerator." And their partners guessed those correctly, too. Tom Kennedy was a great pick as a host for this show. And before I forget, the words in parenthesis are un-acted.

The Double Dare that aired in 1976 would be completely different than the version that premiered ten years later on Nickelodeon. It involved daring, but it was a trivia game. I admit, it was hard for me to grasp at first when I saw the 1977 finale. But after watching more episodes, I can get the hang of it more easily. The host Alex Trebek has been known for saying that he enjoyed doing the show, but he also thought it was too difficult for daytime.

Trivia Trap was another trivia game, as you can plainly see. This one is really fun, well at least the first format was. It was about eliminating the wrong answers. And the categories were rather enjoyable. I preferred the original format over Fact or Fiction. The host was Bob Eubanks. And I must say, he was a GREAT fit for this show. And I know some people did not prefer him on Card Sharks. And for those folks I say, you should really like him on Trap.

These blocks along with ABC Millionaire on Tuesday replaced a couple nights of the GSN late night interactive show. Where do I begin with this show? You know, I admit, I did not watch the show every night around its inception, but I did support and respect this show initially. It was a success in the beginning, as it was much easier to get the opportunity to call in and win. The games were more fun to participate in. Unnecessary drama wasn’t added to make the game more crucial than it was supposed to be. But somewhere along the line, GSN decided to change things up and split the series up into two different shows, 100 Winners and quiznation.

100 Winners was a horrible show. The ambiance of the show was way too cold. But the major problem with me was that the questions were so ridiculously easy a 5 year old could answer them. On the first night, I could have sworn I heard the question "What's the color of an orange?" No, I'm not kidding. The prizes were also a major step down. Now, no doubt about it, the original Playmania's prizes and cash awards were never on the lines of Super Millionaire, but they were certainly not as low as say, $10 or a cheap GSN cap. The fun of the show was gone, too. This was one of the things that made Mania such fun to watch. They had e-mails from viewers, and they even got to interact with the callers a bit more. On Winners, it was all "Come on, for Pete's sake, no time for talk, let's hurry up and get it done already! We've got better things to do!"

quiznation seemed to have been alright. The fun and the interaction between the hosts and the viewers which was known on the original series stayed, and some of the newer games required a bit more thought. I like Alphabuck$ and Crossword. But that's not the problem I have. You'll see in the next paragraph.

Now, I've checked the show out recently to see how it is, since I've heard they're getting close to reverting the format (even the set looks more like the original show) and I've literally wanted to throw a brick at my screen in frustration because of how horrid things are now. It's just not fun anymore. Why is there any need to count down several minutes on a clock for ONE person to call in at a single time? Do they seriously know how many games could be completed in a night if they eliminated this inane feature? Also, the unnecessary drama that builds up after it's been over a half-hour, an hour, or even longer since the game was first initiated. The cheesy Millionaire-wannabe music in the background, with the host of the night whispering "You gotta call in now and get this right." Are they serious? For heaven's sake, this is an effing CALL-IN show with games where you can win between $50-$4,500. This is not Greed or The Power of 10. And while this show has much more fun than 100 Winners did, this is a big portion of the show, and the fun can easily be sucked away. Drama is not needed for this show. Period. It's GSN's own fault for messing with something that didn't need to be messed with.

This viewer has only two things left to say to GSN about this chain of events. One, for the next time they have a hit on their hands, PLEASE, PLEASE, leave it alone. As the age old expression goes, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." And as for number two, thanks for replacing these nights with something special. The majority of the replaced shows have not aired in a long time. And thanks for using logic in these blocks, and not just flip-flopping and playing musical time slots like they've done the past several schedule changes. Good job on their part.