game show

Mitchell Baldwin is one lucky guy.

After being called down to participate in Monday's 'The Price Is Right' (weekdays, syndicated on CBS), he correctly guessed the first retail price right down to the dollar. Then he spun the wheel, which landed on a dollar exactly. And finally, he came within $400 of guessing the right amount for the showcase, winning that as well. Uncanny? Total winnings for the Ohio university student: $31,699.

Mousbah Titilope was one very excited contestant on Tuesday's edition of 'The Price Is Right' (weekdays, syndicated).

When host Drew Carey called him down to the stage, the Nigerian man -- who's lived in Texas for 17 years -- bounded up to Carey and give him a nice bear hug.

When it was revealed that Titilope was up for a $10,000 prize, the happy contestant proceeded to turn cartwheels and jump around the floor, then broke into what Carey could only describe as a "Nigerian dance" -- which is as far from a Texas two-step as one could get.

It seems like only yesterday that Wayne Brady took over as host of the CBS game show 'Let's Make A Deal.' OK, maybe the day before yesterday, but still, he hasn't been host of the show long. Now he's talking about not staying with the show too much longer.

In an interview at Marilyn Beck and Stacy Jenel Smith's site, Brady says he doesn't want to become the "king of the game shows," he wants to stick with acting and music. Brady also hosted 'Don't Forget The Lyrics!' on FOX.

That would be too bad. Brady is a fine game show host: personable, quick-witted, wants the contestants to win, and he has a great rapport with announcer Jonathan Mangum. But if Brady is going to leave the show in the next season or two, who could replace him? Some suggestions after the jump!

Looks like ABC wants more and more game shows, eh? They already have 'Wipeout,' and several months ago they picked up 'Trust Me, I'm A Game Show Host.' Then they got the game where they throw you off a building if you get a question wrong and now they're picking up six episodes of an American version of a long-running Russian show where players get together to solve puzzles.

The original title of the game show was 'What? Where? When?' and I like that title better than the new one they've given the show, 'The Six.' Networks love having numbers in the title of TV shows for some reason. The premise: teams of players have to get together to solve a puzzle in one minute for a lot of cash. No idea how much money is involved yet but I bet it's at least $500. Merv Griffin Entertainment ('Wheel of Fortune' and 'Jeopardy') is producing the show.

Earlier this week, both 'Jeopardy!' and 'Wheel of Fortune' stay on the air through 2014 thanks to a new contract agreement between ABC and CBS Television Distribution. It also keeps hosts Alex Trebek and Pat Sajak in their respective chairs through the same time period.

Ho-hum, I know. Most test patterns have had shorter runs on TV than 'Jeopardy!' and 'Wheel.' How is that news?

It just got me thinking: what would the world of TV and really the world itself be like without daily doses of America's favorite quiz show and America's favorite wheel spinning and letter guessing show?

It looks like the networks have run out of ideas for reality shows and game shows that are set on the ground, so now they're thinking vertically. ABC has ordered a game show titled 'Downfall,' where contestants vie for $1 million by answering trivia questions on top of a skyscraper. If they miss a question, the money flies off the side of the building to the street below.

The part of the game that will get the most attention from viewers and the ABC legal department? Players might take a plunge off of the building too (wearing a harness, of course).

Everyone loves a good game show. Fans enjoy the spectacle of real people playing a game with the chance to win enough money to change their life, while networks enjoy the low-production costs that make those prizes cheaper than filming a scripted series. It's a win-win for everyone, except, of course, when the players lose. The only trick in a genre as old as the game show is to come up with a fresh new idea.

Or, you could just play the game on top of a big building.

Yes, according to the Hollywood Reporter, ABC has given the greenlight to 'Downfall,' a game show in which contestants vying for cash must complete tasks to prevent their winnings from falling off the side of a building. Just as 'Speed' was pitched to studios as 'Die Hard' on a bus, in Hollywood terms, 'Downfall' is 'Jeopardy' on a building.

Game shows used to flood the dial of my TV back in the 1980s and '90s. And that was when my TV could only pick up eight channels, three depending on the weather.

Back then, almost everything from daytime fare to the occasional prime time bit of airtime starred game show hosts. Their purpose on television was solely to wear smart suits, make sure their teeth reached the optimum level of whiteness and keep the game moving but entertaining.

Now that game shows are making a slow but steady return to television, it seems the traditional role of "host" has turned away from the traditional "game" emcee like Chuck Woolery, Wink Martindale, Bob Barker and Art Fleming and more towards lively hosting personalities from other walks of entertainment life like Drew Carey, Wayne Brady, Howie Mandel and Guy Fieri. Does this mean that the role of the traditional TV game show has gone to that great big "Curtain No. 2" in the sky?

Do you want to experience the awesome majesty of the 'Wipeout' obstacle course but without having to endure the painful humiliation of having to sacrifice your dignity on national television? Nintendo has the answer.

A video game version of the popular ABC game show is headed to the Nintendo Wii and the DS. An official release date has not yet been set.

David Oxford of Activision Publishing said in a released statement, "Watching ABC's 'Wipeout' on TV is outrageous fun, and viewers can't help but dream of trying the obstacles themselves. We designed the video game with this in mind. 'Wipeout: The Game' brings all of the challenge and laugh-out-loud hilarity without the pain."

I assume he means the emotional pain and not the physical, unless of course someone catches you playing it in public.

The cult hit CBS game show 'Press Your Luck' has long been a hotbed of television legends from the pre-celebrity appearances by the likes of talk shot hostess Jenny Jones and Myke Horton aka 'American Gladiator's' Gemini to the unstoppable force that was ice cream truck driver Michael Larson.

One that seems to have fallen under the radar is this epic "spin battle" between two contestants in the final throes of the episode. Both of these mighty Whammy warriors bring their scores to an astronomical amount that could rival the majesty of Mount Olympus, only to come crashing down to game show doom.

Check out this bit of "Game Show Thunderdome" where two women enter, but only one leaves ... and then, technically, the other but without any money or sense of personal dignity.

I'm a traditionalist when it comes to game shows. I don't really like anything that's too bizarre or wanders too far from the studio audience/stage/host with a mic/play a game format. So I didn't really like the new GSN show 'Instant Recall,' even if there were a few things that I found amusing.

The concept: host Wink Martindale and his crew stage a phony set-up to con someone into playing a game. This first episode featured two people who thought they were at a "love seminar" and a guy who found himself at a party that turned into an intervention for a woman he'd never met before (Wink and the sexy model are in another room as the con unfolds). So yeah, this is 'Candid Camera' with a twist. When it's time to let the victims off the hook, Wink comes in, introduces himself, and they play the game, which is to see if the contestants can remember what just happened to them.

If anyone was getting nervous that Neil Patrick Harris's new gig hosting the game show 'The Cube' might mean his interest in 'How I Met Your Mother' was waning, worry no more. On Tuesday, Harris Tweeted the answer to a question no one has asked yet, that he is staying put on 'HIMYM.'

Harris's (subtly scatological) message, referring to 'HIYMYM' and 'The Cube,' both of which are CBS projects: "I'm never leaving HIMYM. That job rocks. This would just have me doing double duty on the Tiffany Network. (Huh, huh. I said double duty...)"

It seems like there's something wild happening on The Price is Right every day. Last week we had the guy who just missed out on winning a new Porsche, and yesterday a woman fainted during the showcase. Why did she faint? Take a look. (By the way, she won the showcase.)

So, are you in the "love John O'Hurley as Family Feud host" camp or "hate John O'Hurley as Family Feud host" camp? I guess it doesn't really matter now. The show has hired a new host.

Steve Harvey will replace O'Hurley as host of the long-running syndicated game show. Officially, O'Hurley says that he is leaving the show to focus on the musical Chicago and other things.

Not sure how I feel about this. Actually, that's not true. I know how I feel about: ambivalent. I don't really watch Family Feud. I think the only time I watch it anymore is if I'm surfing around and happen to land on it and there's nothing else on.

Fox has pulled one of its reality game shows from its lineup. Is it because they felt the show was exploiting families and their gifted children by publicly humiliating them in front of a national audience for profit? Hell no, this is Fox, a network that would pit a bear against a roided bald eagle in international waters and call it "educational programming."

Producer Mark Burnett has temporarily pulled the plug on his newest venture called Our Little Genius because of the possibility that some of the contestants were coached before competing.

Burnett said he learned that some of the producers told the contestants the topics on which they would be quizzed and even some of the questions they would be asked. This doesn't mean the show is gone forever, just for the moment. Again, hello, it's Fox.