Wheel of Fortune has been on over a quarter of a century, so there have been a lot of mess-ups and weird moments on the show. But there are few as weird as last night, when none of the contestants could get "Regis Philbin & Kelly Ripa," even AFTER the entire puzzle had been revealed!

So I'm watching Wheel of Fortune last night, the first new episode after Christmas. I was actually surprised that there was a new episode of the show (and Jeopardy). I thought they'd go into repeats like other game shows like The Price is Right and Let's Make A Deal this week.

Anyway, the show opens and Pat Sajak and Vanna White come out and greet the audience and the game is played. Then the duo come back for their banter before the show ends and they talk about Christmas and Pat asks Vanna how her Christmas went. She says it was good. And I sigh heavily and want to bash my head against my coffee table.

I'm watching the Price is Right Christmas episode right now and thought to myself, I wonder if there's any old Christmas episodes of the show online. OF COURSE THERE IS! Here's Part 1 of the Christmas episode in 1983 (you can watch the other parts here). The show really hasn't changed all that much.

The annals of the Game Show Hall of Fame has very few names inscribed on its walls: Press Your Luck's Michael Larson, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire's John Carpenter, Jeopardy's Ken Jennings. Now you can add Frank Zappa to that list. Yes, THAT Frank Zappa.

The man, the myth, the musical legend made a special celebrity appearance on the very short-lived '70s game show Make Me Laugh, a show that rewarded people for not laughing at comedians like Gallagher the way God intended. He never even cracked a smile, but you will when you watch it.

2009 was a good year for television. It offered the resurgence of the comedy on network television, and the continuing growth of original programming on cable. In all honesty, I don't think I could just do a list of what was great and what was horrible on television because I would need pages and pages.

Instead, I'm going to focus on the things that really stood out this year. Sorry, Mad Men fans, but even though this was a great third season and an amazing finale, I expect it at this point. It's the only way I could come up with to keep my list manageable.

Also, as a point of protest I did not include Jon, Kate or the balloon boy hoax. These events got more attention than they deserved already this year, and I feel bad I even mentioned them.

Are you the kind of person who watches Cash Cab (and you do because admit it, you can't not watch it when it's on) and thinks you could do ten times better than the dunderheads that Ben Bailey just picked up?

Do you know the answer to every question before they fly out of the host's mouth faster than a New York cabbie hurling a curse word out of his window during bumper-to-bumper gridlock?

Then prove it. Put your iPhone where your mouth is because Discovery and Capcom have released a new Cash Cab game app for the device.

Guy Fieri is one of those Food Network hosts that a lot of people dislike. I think it's the wild hair or the shorts he wears or the constant use of words like "awesome" and "dude," but he seems to be one of these people that Food Network fans either love or hate.

I don't dislike Fieri. I don't really get the hair and the clothes, but he seems cool and I really love two of the (many) shows he hosts, Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives and Ultimate Recipe Showdown (when is that coming back, by the way?).

Now he's about to host another show, and it's not a food show and it's not even on Food Network. Fieri will host Perfect 10, a new game show on NBC.

ABC's last attempts to revive the game show dynasty failed harder than Crystal New Coke. How bad were they? Not even the magic and majesty of William Shatner could bring them back from the dead.

Now ABC is taking another chance on giving people a chance to win fabulous cash and/or prizes by picking up a game show from Russia called What? Where? When?.

Game show powerhouse Merv Griffin Entertainment is behind the move and will most likely rename the show The Six. It's also fully interactive with the audience since it gives viewers the chance to win a prize. If ABC manages to produce a decent game show for a change, that would be enough of a prize for me.

I can't imagine the discipline and training it must take to be a top notch TV game show announcer. But whether it involves daily gargling, diction concentration exercises or repeating phrases like "My grandmother brought candy to the bigamist" over and over, it must take a toll on your sanity.

That's the only explanation I can fathom for The Price Is Right announcer Rich Fields' slow cognitive eradication as evidenced by this video. Let's hope gets a "brand new braaaiin" real soon.

It seems that Santa Claus got my letter after all: American networks are starting to notice the awesome comedic power of British panel shows.

Unfortunately, he didn't it read it very closely: that network is NBC. Hope you like Ex-Lax in your cookies, Santa.

NBC just taped a pilot episode of a remake of the BBC's most famous and classic panel quiz show, Have I Got News For You. It's being hosted by comedian and Air America host Sam Sedar and features Greg Giraldo and Michael Ian Black as the regular team panelists. Buzzerblog doesn't seem to have much confidence in the show being good, but Giraldo and Black and the fact that a network is willing to take a chance on real satire and comedy panel humor makes me want to give it a chance.

The sudden and shocking of passing of TV writer, producer and host Ken Ober turned a lot of heads. Here's one of Ober's head (ahem) getting turned, for a change.

Collin Quinn, Ober's longtime friend and Remote Control co-host, posted a hilarious picture on his Twitter page of himself, Ober and the uber-cute Kari Wuhrer on the set of their equally hilarious game show.

I'm tempted to let Bob use this for our weekly Subtle Subtitles post, but am worried the funniest of the comments will get us banned from every library in the country assuming, of course, that reading is still going on in America's libraries.

I remember when Wipeout premiered on ABC there was a lot of talk about what sort of contract the contestants had to sign because there was a very good chance that someone could get seriously injured getting punched in the face or sliding off of giant balls and ramps. Turns out they have to sign a pretty extensive contract.

And now comes word that a contestant that was taping an appearance on the show has died.

This might sound more overdue than According to Jim's cancellation, but one of TV's greatest creators is getting the Hall of Fame treatment.

Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry will join the ranks of the Television Academy's Hall of Fame next year at a special induction ceremony at the Beverly Hills Hotel.

Other inductees include Candice Bergen, production and art director Charles Lisanby, announcer Don Pardo, Tom and Dick Smothers and game show producer Bob Stewart. Is there anyone that they left off the list?

The term "adult video games" sounds admittedly dirty, so we'll steer clear of that and call CBS Consumer Products' upcoming line of TV series-based titles "grown up."

CBS announced in a press release that they're breaking out a line of games related to hit shows that aren't exactly on the kids' radars -- what with their rock n' roll and their Hula-Hoops and their "Beavis and Buttheads." You'd expect to see console or computer games based on The Clone Wars or Battlestar Galatica, but Diagnosis: Murder and Hollywood Squares? What would Paul Lynde say?

But, those latter two shows are on the list, with a PC & Mac game heading our way in 2010 for Diagnosis and an iPod Touch and iPhone game of Squares coming next year.

The Price is Right is full of bloopers, bleeps and blappers. But only one word can describe this: blooptastic.

One of the show's models (what are they called now? Drew's Dames? Carey's Chicks?) was modeling a prize, specifically a remote controlled skateboard, and...well, you can probably imagine what happens next. And if you can't, please get an imagination upgrade.


[via Buzzerblog]