May 2012 Game Show Highlights

Teen Tournament champion Elyse
Mancuso with Alex Trebek.

In this week's article, I'm going to highlight some of the most interesting and most memorable game show moments that occurred during the month of May. This month's game show highlight compilation include clips from shows such as Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy!, the Australian and American versions of The Price Is Right, and Blockbusters. Enjoy!



May 8, 2012: The Premiere of Seven Network's Revival of The Price Is Right (AUS) 
This month, there were a few networks that felt nostalgic and decided to revive classic game shows in order to bring back the joy and excitement it brought to viewers back then. Australia’s Seven Network brought back The Price Is Right with host Larry Emdur on May 8. Emdur was the host of the 1993 and 2003 revivals of The Price Is Right and made a special guest appearance on CBS’s The Price Is Right in 2011. The format is similar to the 1994 syndicated version of The New Price Is Right with Doug Davidson with the exception of the Showcase Playoff and Showcase Round. Despite the show’s new brightly lit, electronic set and new announcer, the revival has received some negative feedback from various critics and viewers. The negative reception was mainly due to the show’s considerably cheap prize budget compared to the earlier version’s giving away over $500,000 in prizes just from the Mega Showcase round and a scandal concerning the show and its partnership with Big W. On a lighter note, the revived series has managed to discover their first Showcase winner over a week after the premiere episode. Check it out in the clip below. From the looks of it, this revival of The Price Is Right might not make it past the first season unless the producers increase the prize budget and find better sponsors. 

May 11, 2012: The 2012 Jeopardy Teen Tournament Finals

Alex Trebek and the Jeopardy Crew packed up the set and traveled to DAR Constitutional Hall in Washington D.C. for the taping of two special events: the Teen Tournament and Power Players Week. The semifinal and final rounds of this year’s Teen Tournament took place in Washington D.C during the week of May 7-11.  This year’s Teen Tournament champion hails from Omaha, Nebraska. Elyse Mancuso won $79,500 on her Jeopardy appearance, making her the biggest winning Teen Tournament champion in the show’s history. Click here to check out her moment of triumph. During the first week of the tournament, something interesting occurred during the last quarterfinal game that hasn’t happened since the 2007 Tournament of Champions. Check it out in the clip below. 

May 14-18, 2012: Jeopardy Power Players Week in Washington D.C.

Jeopardy concluded their Washington D.C. visit with the show’s third annual Power Players Week. Fifteen of the most influential people in today’s media including Anderson Cooper, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Lewis Black played Jeopardy for charity from May 14 to May 18. Over $350,000 were given away to 15 charities. The first game featured former White House press secretary Robert Gibbs, CNN correspondent Lizzie O’Leary, and MSNBC’s Hardball host Chris Matthews. Despite his previous appearance on Jeopardy, Matthew’s performance on this show was sub-par and a little humorous to say the least.  Check it out in the clip below.

May 14, 2012: Craig Ferguson Guest Stars on The Price Is Right  

On May 14, late-night TV talk show host Craig Ferguson stopped by the set of The Price Is Right to make a special guest appearance to promote his special week of episodes of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson taped in Scotland. Ferguson first appeared on The Price Is Right during the 39th season premiere of the daytime game show to present a showcase. On his encore appearance, Ferguson once again presented a showcase and also posed as one of the models, showing off a brand new car at the beginning of the “Pocket Change” pricing game. Will Craig Ferguson’s presence help this contestant win a brand new car Check it out in the clip below. 

May 15, 2012: Puzzleboard Panic on Wheel of Fortune 

For four weeks starting on April 30, Wheel of Fortune traveled to Portland, Oregon to tape a special series of episodes including “Going Green Week” (April 30-May 4) and “College Week” (May 14-18). From the eco-friendly set to the eco-friendly prizes, the “Going Green” initiative was pushed throughout the time the Wheel crew stayed in Portland. Wheel kicked off their series of Portland episodes with a bang with a $100,000 winner. Despite all the big bonus round wins, some contestants have shown signs of anxiety and nervousness when going toe-to-toe with the bonus round Puzzleboard. Zach Barron, a Reed College student from Elsah, IL, shows that you need nerves of steel if you want to win the money big money, even if you’re only a couple of letters away. Check it out in the clip below.    

May 18, 2012: First Retired Champion on Blockbusters 

Challenge TV revived the long-running UK game show Blockbusters on May 14 with Simon Mayo as the host. It has been almost three weeks since the premiere, and the new Blockbusters has received positive reception and excellent reviews from multiple critics and viewers. Within this three-week period, Blockbusters retired their first five-game undefeated champion last week. Check out Ben’s final game victory and fifth Gold Run win in the video below (starts at 10:12). 

May 21, 2012: A Close Call in "Clock Game" on The Price Is Right

Throughout the years on The Price Is Right, we have seen some impressive last-second and record-breaking “Clock Game” games played on the show, including a game where a contestant won $1 million for their superb effort. On May 21, Gwendolyn from Detroit, Michigan pulled off probably one of the most amazing Clock Game comebacks in the show’s history. Check out Gwendolyn’s 30 seconds of fame in the clip below.