Channel 4 Renews "Fifteen To One" For Seventh and Eighth Series

Channel 4's revival of the notoriously tough quiz show of endurance, strategy and general knowledge has been recommissioned by the network's Entertainment Team for two additional series. Channel 4 has ordered a total of 100 hourlong episodes of Fifteen To One from Remedy Productions, who is part of the Argonon super-indie production group. Both upcoming series will be produced from Remedy's Glasgow offices by executive producer Jim Regan and series producer Stuart Harrison. The episodes will be filmed at BBC Pacific Quay Studios and Sandi Toksvig, who will also be fronting the upcoming series of BBC's QI, will return to host both series. The show is currently in its 35th episode of the sixth series in search for a second contestant to become the £40,000 series Grand Champion this year alongside the previous series winner, Gareth Kingston. Both series will more than likely air in 2017.

Primetime Watch For Sunday, July 31, 2016

Since tonight is such a HUGE night for revived game shows and rare rebroadcasts, such as the Michael Larson episodes of Press Your Luck and the Tournament of Champions finale/series finale of Family Double Dare resurfacing on television, I have decided to list them all within this article rather than normally posting them on TBIR's Facebook page. Listed below are is tonight's "Primetime Watch" schedule along with detailed information about each show. All times are listed in Eastern Daylight Time. Stay tuned!

8:00pm: NEW! Celebrity Family Feud on ABC
                 Press Your Luck on BUZZR (Michael Larson)
                 Hollywood Game Night on NBC
8:30pm: Press Your Luck w/ Michael Larson on BUZZR (Michael Larson)
9:00pm: NEW! The $100,000 Pyramid on ABC
                 American Ninja Warrior on NBC
                 Press Your Luck on BUZZR
9:30pm: Press Your Luck on BUZZR
10:00pm: NEW! Match Game on ABC
                   Press Your Luck on BUZZR
10:30pm: Press Your Luck on BUZZR
11:00pm: Family Double Dare on The Splat (Teennick)
11:30pm: Family Double Dare on The Splat
12:00am: Family Double Dare on The Splat (Tournament of Champions Finale)

BUZZR To Air Michael Larson Episodes of “Press Your Luck” July 31 and August 6

Game show fans will be in for a special treat this weekend as the network will be airing the rarely rerun episodes of Michael Larson on Press Your Luck. BUZZR will be airing the iconic episodes that left everyone watching in a shock and awe on Sunday July 31 at 8:00pm and 11:00pm ET. To quote most As-seen-on-TV commercials, “but wait – there’s more!” BUZZR will also be airing episodes featuring other contestants racking up massive one-day totals from 9:00pm-11:00pm and 12:00am-2:00am ET. The three-hour event will re-air on Saturday August 6 beginning at 8:00pm and 11:00pm  ET and will include BUZZR Bonus Bites of trivia to provide additional insight into Larson’s incredible moment. 

VH1 and Ice Cube Revive “Hip Hop Squares”

VH1 and Ice Cube’s production company, Cube Vision, are partnering to bring Hip Hop Squares back to cable television. According The Hollywood Reporter from its sources, the network has ordered at least 20 episodes and the series is scheduled to resume this fall. Much like the original version, Hip Hop Squares has two contestants play a series of tic-tac-toe games  by earning squares based on whether they can correctly predict if the celebrities are giving right or wrong answers to trivia questions. The latest edition of the classic game show, originally developed by Merrill Heatter and Bob Quigley, first aired on MTV2 in 2012 with radio DJ Peter Rosenburg hosting the series for two seasons. Ice Cube will executive produce the show with Jesse Collins Entertainment, Jeff Kwatinetz’s The Firm and CBS Television Distribution.

Spike Orders Full Season of “Caraoke Showdown”

Originally ordered as a one-off special, Spike announced on Tuesday that the network has given a full 10-episode season order to the new game show. Scheduled to debut later this year, Caraoke Showdown will be hosted and executive produced by singer/actor/comedian Craig Robinson. The series, described as a “new, original, half-hour game show that is like Cash Cab meets karaoke”, Robinson engages unsuspecting passengers in a music quiz in which they must either sing their favorite songs, finish song lyrics or act out the songs for cold hard cash. Howie Mandel will also serve as an executive producer along with Alice Dickens-Koblin, Peter Herschko and Brian Veskosky. The show’s production company is Core Media Group.

Garcelle Beauvais Named Host of GSN’s “Window Warriors”

Earlier this week, GSN’s upcoming competitive reality series Window Warriors had signed actress and one of the hosts of Hollywood Today Live Garcelle Beauvais to host the new show. Produced by Michael Levitt Productions, the same team who developed Skin Wars, Window Warriors gives a group of window designers a chance to showcase their visual merchandising skills for a chance to win the show’s grand prize including $100,000, being featured in a retail design magazine, a one-year contract to design displays for a mall developer and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to design a holiday display at a major department store. Six episodes have been ordered for the show’s first season and Window Warriors is now filming episodes through August 12. Stay tuned for the series premiere later this year.

“Mastermind New Zealand” To Air Grand Final Sunday, July 24

As BBC Two’s Mastermind started its 45th series the weekend before last with slight graphics updates and the newly added 10-second countdown music cue to add more tension (much to the chagrin of a few viewers), Mastermind New Zealand will be airing its first Grand Final since 1991 next Sunday at 7:45pm on TVNZ’s TV One. Here are the four finalists who will be furiously fighting to win the iconic black chair and championship next weekend: 

ITV To Debut New Quiz Show “Alphabetical” In August

It’s summertime and you know what that means – summer fillers. ITV has ordered 10 one-hour episodes of its newest quizzer, Alphabetical. Hosted by former Countdown host and current Soccer Saturday presenter Jeff Stelling, the fast-paced general knowledge game show has three contestants compete against the returning champion in four rounds revolving around the alphabet in an attempt to earn as much time as possible to carryover into the end game. In the final, the remaining front game contestant and the champion must navigate their way through the entire alphabet by answering questions based on each letter. Both contestants will have 100 seconds – plus the time they have earned from the front game – to successfully complete the alphabet and win the day’s cash jackpot. If both contestants fail, the jackpot rolls to the next show. Alphabetical, set to premiere next month, is based on the ITV Studios format The Alphabet Game featuring the finale from the Spanish version of the series, Pasapalabra. The show was redeveloped by Adam Adler, the creator of The Cube and Managing Producer of Gameface Productions, and will be produced by Andrew O’Connor and Paul Sandler along with Adler .

News In A Flash!: Quick Game Show Updates #95

This week's update article will take a look at the some of the latest game show news from the past week in 200 characters or less. Highlights include the the celebrity lineup for Celebrity Family Feud, The $100,000 Pyramid and  a historic, last-minute bonus round win on ITV's Catch Phrase and ABC's To Tell The Truth revival wrapping up its first season this week.

Spike Orders “That Awkward Game Show” To Air This Fall

According to network’s announcement released today, Spike is set to jump back into the game show business with its 11-episode first season order of That Awkward Game Show. The one-hour series will be hosted by comedian and former host of MTV’s Money From Strangers and MTV2’s NumbNuts Jeff Dye. Scheduled to air this fall, the show will have three teams comprised of a parent and an adult child compete against each other to match which embarrassing fact is associated with their family member. The team who answers the most questions correctly wins a cash prize. Arthur Smith, Kent Weed, Christmas Rini and Peter Herschko of A. Smith & Co. Productions will serve as executive producers for That Awkward Game Show. 

Nickelodeon's The Splat Celebrates 30th Anniversary of “Double Dare”

TeenNick’s late night throwback programming block, The Splat, is celebrating the pearl anniversary of Nickelodeon’s first and longest-running game show by hosting a live edition at San Diego Comic-Con on July 22 and airing reruns of various incarnations of Double Dare on the network beginning July 25. Double Dare will be officially turning 30 on October 6. At Comic-Con, Marc Summers returns to host the live nighttime event. Lucky fans will be able to watch teams compete in trivia and physical stunt rounds in hopes of advancing to the famous Obstacle Course to take on classic challenges including Down The Hatch”, “The Wringer” and the seemingly impossible “Pick It”. The exhibition will be streamed live on The Splat’s Facebook page beginning at 9:30pm PT (12:30am ET). The Double Dare event is part of Nickelodeon’s activities at Comic-Con, which will also include a "25-year retrospective of Nickelodeon animation" panel, a "women in animation" panel and a "Back to the ‘90s reunion" panel. 

News In A Flash!: Quick Game Show Updates #94

This week's quick update article will take a look at the some of the latest game show news from the past week in 200 characters or less. This week's highlights include the the celebrity lineup for tonight’s Sunday Fun & Games game shows on ABC, GSN’s Skin Wars crowning its third season champion, The Price Is Right rolling out two holiday specials this week and The Chase giving families a chance to take on the clever Chasers.

"Match Game" (2016 ABC Revival) Review

Set Design- 10

Gameplay- 10

Show Flow- 9 

Potential Viewer Ratings- 9

Play-Along Factor- 10

Host- 7

Overall Rating- 9.1

BUZZR Celebrates 75 Years Of Game Shows With 24-Hour Marathon

Beginning early tomorrow morning, BUZZR will be airing a special 24-hour marathon of What’s My Line, I’ve Got A Secret and To Tell The Truth from the 1950s and 1960s. The episodes of all three shows will be aired in chronological order starting at 6:00am ET. This marathon is part of the network's yearlong celebration of the 75th anniversary of television game shows. The first television game show, Truth or Consequences, debuted as a one-time experiment on New York’s WNBT station on July 1, 1941. Truth or Consequences would not return or air regularly on television until 1950. Since then, game shows have become a staple in our society today and viewers have enjoyed hundreds of thousands of hours of watching their favorite hosts take the helm on their respective series, answering questions or solving puzzles from the comfort of their own home and cheering on contestants who are vying for life-changing sums in cash and prizes. Stay tuned for the special marathon tomorrow morning on BUZZR!

"The $100,000 Pyramid" (2016 ABC Revival) Review

Set Design- 10

Gameplay- 9

Show Flow- 10 

Potential Viewer Ratings- 9

Play-Along Factor- 10

Host- 8

Overall Rating- 9.3

BUZZR To Air Week-Long Vintage Crash Course Blocks Beginning Tonight

In honor of the pending ABC premieres of the second season of Celebrity Family Feud and the Match Game revival, BUZZR will be giving its viewers a “vintage crash course” to prepare for the summer game shows. All this week beginning tonight at 8:00pm ET, BUZZR will be airing two-hour blocks of featuring star-studded episodes of Family Feud from the Dawson era and new-to-BUZZR episodes of Match Game 73. Some of the Celebrity Family Feud episodes to be showcased include the TV’s All Time Favorites special with cast members from Petticoat Junction, Leave It To Beaver, The Brady Bunch and Your Hit Parade, and the Walk of Fame special featuring Mark Goodson, Dorothy Lamour, Caesar Romero and Betty White. BUZZR’s Vintage Crash Course two-hour blocks will air from today through Friday, June 25 at 8:00pm-10:00pm ET, with rebroadcasts airing at 11:00pm-1:00am ET, and concludes on Saturday, June 25 with an all-day marathon featuring all the episodes aired during the week lasting from 11:00am to 7:00am ET the following morning.

"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

News In A Flash!: Quick Game Show Updates #93

This week's quick update article will take a look at the some of the latest game show news from the past week in 200 characters or less. This week's highlights include the GSN Games unveiling a new head-to-head gambling gaming app, BUZZR debuting the previously unaired To Tell The Truth pilot tonight, Winsanity's premiere ratings, Idiotest airing an all-nude (no, that is not a typo) episode this week and latest in US, UK and Canadian game show casting calls.

"Winsanity" Review

Set Design- 6

Gameplay- 7

Show Flow- 8

Potential Viewer Ratings- 7

Play-Along Factor- 10

Host- 7

Overall Rating- 7.5

VIDEO REPLAY: “Wheel of Fortune” Rolls Out New Crossword Puzzle Round This Week

Coming off of a momentous episode last week, Wheel is making history once more with the debut of its brand new Crossword Puzzle Round on yesterday’s show. For this week only, contestants will be able to “test drive” the round throughout their respective games. Instead of a category, contestants are given a crossword clue and will attempt to solve the related words going across and down the puzzleboard. You can vote on how frequently you want to see the new round next season on Wheel’s website. Take a look at the clip below to watch the official premiere of the Crossword Puzzle Round.