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History of Fremantle Part 3: The Fremantle Years (2002-2007)
Originally posted: July 26th, 2015
By James
Fabiano
FREMANTLEMEDIA ERA
FAMILY FEUD (RICHARD KARN ERA) – Richard Karn is
maligned unfairly, in my opinion, for what he would become by the end of
his run on Feud.
When in
truth, his era of the show was where it started to change back into
something resembling its classic form.
The set update can be seen almost like it was morphing between the
’99 version and something traditional, as it was redone with blues and
browns, and the family name screens got bigger.
They even used a remix of the classic theme (and unlike today’s
Feud, they had a separate faceoff cue even!).
More importantly, Karn’s second season brought back the 300-point
goal and a double point round between the first two single rounds and the
final triple round.
Not to
mention, returning champions.
At the time, it was a breath of fresh air.
So what happened?
First, Karn fell into the same trap of being a bit too routine (you knew
he’d call the first round’s win “drawing first blood” every time) and
trying too hard to be funny (best seen in his attempt to go to commercial
making some crack based on the previous survey).
Second, the crowd was put on uppers and encouraged to cheer any
mention of the prize money, as well as what this era is “best” known for,
mentions of the point values being doubled/tripled.
Richard hamming this part up did not help matters.
Other than that, it was still the Feud for the most part, and as I
said, a lot of the changes really helped the atmosphere and the game.
We’ll go
0.75 good, 0.25
bad.
WHAMMY! – The return of cult favorite Press Your Luck
joined the GSN schedule in 2002, as part of one of Rich Cronin’s early
pushes to use new or dormant material on the network (this one included an
influx of other originals such as Friend or Foe?, and a package of
episodes from the original Hollywood Squares).
Despite getting a pilot, Peter Tomarken was passed on returning to
PYL in favor of Todd Newton, previously of then-PAX’s Hollywood Showdown,
which was seen on GSN as well.
The big board and Whammy animations had updated technology…yet
surrounded with leftover pieces of Card Sharks ‘01’s set.
And oddly enough, Whammy! did what that show attempted to do; that
is, make what everyone liked/remembered the best from the original show
more the star of the new one.
Or can’t you tell by the new name?
Anyway, what I mean is that the Q&A portions were downplayed to put
the Big Board and the Whammies in the limelight.
One question round was deleted in place of a variant on the BB
where contestants played with unlimited spins until they froze or
Whammied.
There were
other tweaks put in place on the show, some good, some not so good.
These include the Double Whammies, “interactive” Whammy animations
that ended up in a Nickelodeon-style mess; the Big Bank of the second
season, where a correct answer on one question could earn you everything
the Whammy took from contestants; and chances at earning a car by
collecting a key in Wheel of Fortune fashion.
Now it wasn’t a total disgrace of a revival, and in
fact had some good ideas and moments.
The “playing chicken” first round wasn’t the worst way to modify
the format, and the Big Bank was even more creative.
Though what the pilot did, giving the contestants a number of free
spins and playing traditional Press Your Luck, may have been a bit better.
Todd was decent as host, which is no surprise as he is one who is a
host first and foremost, a dying breed in the “let’s hire a former sitcom
star or standup comedian” world we live in now.
But I don’t know…something always seemed a little off.
Since it was a cable show, after all, the budget would not be
anything like the original series; as a result, you’d see more Whammies on
the board, less money, and unimpressive prizes.
So the game had less urgency.
As for the Whammies themselves, the cartoon shorts were all
right…but was anyone else bothered by the fact that the Whammy barely did
any slapstick/got destroyed in the end?
And I can see how people would consider Double Whammies unnecessary
too.
Still, it wasn’t a waste
of a show like past revivals, and always had the potential to get better.
0.75 good, 0.25 bad.
GAMESHOW MARATHON – Now was Fremantle’s chance to
right a lot of wrongs from its past, if only for one shot.
They imported a UK idea of having a weekly tournament of classic
game shows, which in our version included: The Price is Right, Let’s Make
A Deal (its first appearance under Fremantle ownership), Beat the Clock,
Match Game, Card Sharks, Press Your Luck, and the finals played on Family
Feud.
All of the players were
celebrities, and would play for charity as well as prizes for home
viewers.
The shows were
pretty much all retro yet updated, borrowing or downright copying the
classic sets and theme songs, but upping the ante along with some minor
rule tweaks here and there.
For instance, the PYL episode was what Whammy! could have been, in my
opinion.
($10,000 and a spin
being the top dollar value in round two)
And while Card Sharks was based on the Perry version visually, its
Money Cards was inspired by the Eubanks/Rafferty rules, along with a car
game played on a survey question, not unlike Eubanks car game #2.
Sounds pretty good so far, right?
Well hold your horses, and hide your weird, kinky secrets or
surprise relatives, cause here comes Ricki Lake.
Yes, the big hiccup in the format was hiring Lake, who oddly enough
was part of the talk show movement that ran game shows out of fashion in
the ‘90s.
She…wasn’t very
good.
And to rub salt in the
wound, Todd Newton was part of the presentation…as the delivery man for
the home players’ prizes.
Never mind that like I said, he is one of the few dedicated hosts right
now.
And furthermore, he had
experience with more than one of the formats, both on TV and on stage.
The celebrities were B-or-under, but I’ve come to expect that
nowadays…this isn’t the 60s or 70s, when stars didn’t think they were too
good to be on a game show.
Other than that, the formats were done right for the most part, but let us
not even get into the confusing way they tried for a half-sized TPIR, and
how they hit a major hiccup in the Big Wheel.
Say it with me…
0.75 good,
0.25 bad.
FAMILY FEUD (JOHN O’HURLEY ERA) – Here is where the
current version of Feud finally hit its stride, with its first real
all-around capable host and a flair for the retro, as the set was
redesigned to look like an updated version of the classic.
The game was consistent as always, though some would bring up
John’s version going out with a whimper known as the Bullseye format.
But even that didn’t feel as cumbersome as the Ray Combs version,
though still rushed.
Déjà vu
time again…0.75 good, 0.25 bad.
THE PRICE IS RIGHT (POST-BARKER) – And what a roller
coaster ride this was and to a degree continues to be.
Bob Barker had retired at the end of the 35th season of
the show, and CBS chose comedian Drew Carey as his replacement, based on
his hosting duties of their prime time game, “Power of 10.”
These last almost 8 years have included some new games, set changes
and updates at last, changes in announcers, but more than that, regular
attempts to run a lot of things up a flagpole and see what people salute.
Some have worked (certain themed episodes, set updates), others not
so much (the “Drewcases”, other themed episodes like Plinko Day…).
Drew is not quite as spontaneous as Bob was, but still is competent
and more often entertaining than not.
The show still has its basic premise and format down, which is a
very good thing of course.
This dollar will be made up of
(you guessed it)
0.75 good,
0.25 bad.
TEMPTATION – The other infamous flop in the history
of A-A/Pearson/Fremantle.
Though not as in-name-only as Card Sharks was 6 years earlier, this
attempt at reviving $ale of the Century was almost as much of a major
disappointment.
First there
was lazy host casting (hey, Rossi Moreale was on “Temptation Island!”
He’s a perfect fit!).
Then sexist contestant casting ($OTC had shopping elements, and only girls
and gay men like to shop!).
Watered down material (instead of general knowledge questions, they were
almost all pop culture).
Just
answering questions is “boring,” so let’s rip off at least two other
formats and make all straight questioning speed rounds.
(to be fair, they may have had to keep the show moving due to ad
time, hence the timed/quick rounds)
Stupid catchphrases like “Temptation Dollars” and “Lots of Love.”
Oh and no lot wins!
Fact is, when you earned the Temptation price (now I am doing it too…) for
the most expensive prize, you could buy that and ONLY that, or something
else.
Watered-down, dumb,
sexist…oh, did I mention that the show itself was a big vehicle for an
online home-shopping service?
After this, only time I saw Rossi working was on a Progressive commercial,
and even he wasn’t good enough to hang with Flo for long.
(but she DOES have a regular sidekick named “Jamie,” just saying…)
1 bad point.
Join us next
week as James wraps up the History of
Fremantle!
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