“The $100,000 Pyramid” To Hold Open Casting Calls + Quick Q&A with Casting Director Melissa Miron Stewart

Starting in a couple of weeks, ABC’s The $100,000 Pyramid kicks off its first-ever open casting call for the new season. Beginning February 7, Pyramid will be holding open contestant auditions in three cities including New York City, Chicago and Atlanta. Check out the flyer posted below and castingpyramid.com for more information. I had a chance to get in contact with a member of the casting crew for the series and ask a few questions pertaining to what it takes to become a contestant on The $100,000 Pyramid. Take a look at my brief interview with casting director Melissa Miron Stewart below.

ABC Orders “Five To Survive” Ricky Gervais Game Show

To Tell The Truth, Family Feud, The $100,000 Pyramid, Match Game, Big Fan, The Gong Show and (possibly) 500 Questions – these are all the game shows that are scheduled to air on ABC in 2017. The network added Five To Survive to its vast collection of game show season orders earlier this week. Developed by comedian/actor Ricky Gervais and Banijay Studios North America, the hourlong game show has an adult contestant answer 10 questions for a chance to win the show’s top prize. Should they answer incorrectly, a panel of five kids will have a chance to save the contestant’s game from ending by providing the correct answer to the same question. Although Gervais will be asking the questions and conversing with the kids throughout each episode, the show is reportedly searching for an emcee to host the series. Robert Mills, Senior VP of Alternate Series, Specials & Late Night Programming at ABC Entertainment, was instantly sold with the Gervais-inspired concept. “When Ricky presented his idea for Five to Survive, we immediately knew this was a project that needed to land here at ABC,” said Mills. Banijay Studios North America is also producing the primetime game show Big Fan, based on the Jimmy Kimmel late night segments.

ABC Orders “Gong Show” Revival With Host Will Arnett

Yesterday afternoon, the network announced its decision to revive The Gong Show. ABC has ordered ten episodes of the once (in)famously iconoclastic and controversial talent game show and the new version will be hosted and executive produced by actor and comedian Will Arnett. Arnett will serve as executive producers alongside Evan Prager, Jesse Ignjatovic and Peter Principato, and Jared Morell, Jordan Barrow and Marc Forman will co-executive produce. The Gong Show will be produced by Electric Avenue Productions, Principato Young Entertainment and Den of Thieves in association with Sony Pictures Television. “The comedy culture we are living in has finally caught up to The Gong Show, so the timing is perfect,” said Holly Jacobs, EVP, reality and syndication programming for Sony Pictures Television. No word yet on casting call or taping dates.

"To Tell The Truth" (2016 ABC Revival) Review

Set Design- 7

Gameplay- 5

Show Flow- 9 

Potential Viewer Ratings- 9

Play-Along Factor- 10

Host- 8

Overall Rating- 8.0

Quick Review of the Second Season Premiere of ABC’s “500 Questions”

Often billed as the toughest game show ever devised, the endurance quiz show 500 Questions returned to ABC Thursday night with a two-hour season premiere. The second cycle of the week-long event brought new changes including new host Dan Harris, ABC News correspondent and Nightline anchor, and a slightly revised format. While some of the changes improved the show and addressed some of the format issues seen during the first season, there were still a few glaring gaps within the gameplay. Here are the pro and cons to last night’s season premiere of 500 Questions: 

Celebrity Match-Ups Revealed For Second Season of “Celebrity Family Feud”

In less than two months from today, Celebrity Family Feud will return to ABC’s primetime lineup for more laughs and gaffes with Steve Harvey returning as host. Feud will be a part of ABC’s “Fun & Games Night” along with The $100,000 Pyramid and Match Game beginning Sunday, June 26 at 8:00pm ET. Inquisitr has unveiled the list of all-star families and teams competing against each other this season for a chance to play Fast Money for $25,000 to the charities of their choice. Take a look at the star-studded match-ups in the list below and stay tuned this summer for fun and games on ABC. 

ABC Revives “Match Game” With Host Alec Baldwin

This summer will make you feel like you’re flashing back to the 80’s (at least on Sunday and Tuesday nights anyway) with ABC announcing its ten one-hour episode order of a Match Game revival to air on the network. The series, premiering June 26 at 10:00pm ET, will round out ABC’s “Sunday Fun & Games” block which includes the second season of Celebrity Family Feud with Steve Harvey at 8:00pm ET and the network revival and primetime premiere of The $100,000 Pyramid with Michael Strahan at 9:00pm ET. Alec Baldwin will be hosting the show, and will serve as the show’s host and executive producer alongside FremantleMedia North America’s Jennifer Mullin. ABC will be teaming with FremantleMedia North America to produce the series. No word yet on who will serve as the panelists on the revival.

ABC Orders Six Episodes of “Big Fan”, Based on Late Night Segment

In addition to To Tell The Truth, 500 Questions, The $100,000 Pyramid, BattleBots and Celebrity Family Feud, ABC has also added Big Fan to its roster of current/upcoming game shows with a six-episode, first season order.  Hosted by Andy Richer and executive produced by Jimmy Kimmel, Banijay Group president David Goldberg and Banijay Studios North America chief creative officer Caroline Baumgard, the show will have three super fans meet their celebrity idol and compete in a series of rounds with the eventual winner facing the featured star in the final round for a chance to win an experience of a lifetime with the celebrity. Super Fan is based on the popular, viral Jimmy Kimmel Live segment “Who Knows…?”. A premiere date has not been set yet. 

ABC Renews “500 Questions” For Second Season

Here’s some interesting and slightly surprising game show news for you this morning: ABC has decided to give the primetime hard quizzer 500 Questions another chance as the show was renewed for a second season. Created by Mark Burnett and Mike Darnell and hosted by CNN’s Richard Quest, the series is scheduled to return in 2016. ABC’s reason for bringing back 500 Questions is due to the network’s continuing effort to "repopularize the trivia-style game show format.” The goal of the game is for contestants, billed as “geniuses”, to answer 500 questions before getting three “wrongs” in a row. Contestants could win over $500,000 if they can complete the daunting challenge.

NeNe Leakes & Betty White To Star As Panelists on ABC's “To Tell The Truth”

ABC announced Wednesday that former Real Housewives of Atlanta star NeNe Leakes and veteran game show panelist/host Betty White will star as resident panelists on the network’s revival of To Tell The Truth. Six episodes of the revived series have been ordered by the network from FremantleMedia North America and will be hosted by Anthony Anderson. Also joining the core cast are Anderson’s lively mother, Doris, as the official scorekeeper and Cheche and his Band of Liars, the house band who will close every episode with a “show stopping performance”. Although the premiere date has not been announced yet, the show will be taping July 13-15 in Los Angeles, CA. Barry Poznick, Toby Gorman, Thom Beers, Jeff Gaspin, George Moll and Anthony Anderson will serve as the show’s executive producers. 

Celebrity Families Revealed For “Celebrity Family Feud”

Later this month, Family Feud returns to ABC for a special series of star-studded episodes. ABC revealed the celebrity teams who will be playing the Feud for their respective charities throughout the spinoff summer season last Friday. This season’s all-star contestants include Dr. Phil McGraw, Penny and Garry Marshall, Fred Willard, Mario Lopez and Niecy Nash. About six seasons ago in 2008, NBC developed their own version of Celebrity Family Feud, hosted by Al Roker, as a part of the network’s summer block of shows, which included NBC’s revival of American Gladiators. Unlike the NBC version, there’s a very good chance that the upcoming ABC version will last for more than one season because Steve Harvey will be at the helm this time around and the show is placed in a great weekend time slot. Stay tuned for the summer premiere of Celebrity Family Feud Sunday, June 21 at 8:00pm ET on ABC and Make sure you follow Celebrity Family Feud on Instagram @familyfeudabc. The full roster of celebrity teams/families and who they will be competing against is listed below. 

Game Shows To Watch For The Next Three Nights

This week is a pretty busy week for network game shows with Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader? and Bullseye coming to FOX, The Briefcase making its debut on CBS and 500 Questions closing out its first season Thursday evening with a two-hour finale. First, tonight on FOX, 5th Grader returns with host Jeff Foxworthy, a new set and a new cast of classmates to help the contestants make the grade and win the $1 million top prize at 8:00pm. Meet the honor roll kids who will be playing along this season in the clip below. 

"500 Questions" Review

Set Design- 9

Gameplay- 4

Show Flow- 4

Potential Viewer Ratings- 5

Play-Along Factor- 10

Host- 7

Overall Rating- 6.5

Afternoon News Updates For June 23, 2014

Today's early afternoon updates will recap some of the more prominent game show news headlines from this past weekend including Let's Make A Deal and host Steve Harvey winning their first Daytime Emmy in their respective categories, ITV possibly reviving Name That Tune and Wipeout returning to ABC for its primetime summer schedule.

Morning News Updates For May 15, 2014

Good morning, game show fans! Today’s morning news update will review some of the past, present and future events from the world of game shows including ratings updates for syndicated game shows and FOX’s new improv game show, The Price Is Right unveiling the new “Card Game” set and the upcoming season premiere of Bet on Your Baby.