“The Pyramid” Debuts September 3rd on GSN
After over three years of constant pilots and announcements, the classic game show Pyramid is back. GSN has officially announced the 40 episode pickup of The Pyramid, a contemporary take on the Dick Clark quizzer. The new series, hosted by Mike Richards (Beauty and the Geek; executive producer of The Price is Right and Let’s Make A Deal), will bow on Monday, September 3rd, at 6:00PM ET on GSN. It will be stripped Monday through Friday. The Pyramid will be taping in Los Angeles very soon and we’ll be sure to alert you when tickets become available. The classic elements of the show including the game board, the celebrities, the game play, and the iconic Winner’s Circle will remain largely intact from the 1980′s version, as opposed to the Millionaire-esque revival in 2002.
The Pyramid sees two contestants face off against each other with the aid of a celebrity partner. Their job is to describe up to seven items in up to 30 seconds. Each time a team scores 7 out of 7 they will receive a $500 instant cash bonus plus they’ll add $5,000 to their Winner’s Circle jackpot which begins at $10,000. The team with the highest score will play the Winner’s Circle where one partner must describe up to six clues to the other in 60 seconds. If they do this successfully the contestant will win the jackpot which can be from $10,000 to $25,000. The game is played twice per show, so a contestant stands to win over $50,000.
The Pyramid is GSN’s second revival of a classic format currently in production, in addition to The Newlywed Game. The network is currently developing revivals of some fondly remember and not-so-fondly remembered game shows of the 80s in addition to other new programs like Beat the Chefs. We’ll keep you updated when we’re allowed to talk about what the other shows are. It took years and years, but we’ve finally got Pyramid back in good form. Everyone excited for it?
YES!!!
I’m upset. Because I’ll miss the premiere. When does the re-broadcast air?
Finally, GSN did something right. Pyramid will have a long run on the network if they did it right.
The Pyramid is premiering at 6 pm?
Well… at least it’s on at a time when nothing else interesting is on TV.
I think 6 and 6:30 are the best spots they’ll give a strip these days. Whether I’m right or wrong about that, my reaction is still: YESSSSS!!!!! (Cue “Tuning Up”.)
Scott: I think that’s precisely the reason why they’ve been airing originals (starting with Newlywed Game and Catch 21) in the 6 PM hour. With all the competition in prime time, it would be hard to attract viewers with a new game show, so they’re better off piling on Family Feud which is known to get viewers. But at 6 PM, they stand a good chance of attracting an audience.
So…. It’s daily, right?
Correct.
Thank god…Hallelujah…Amen…
People’s Reactions To The Return of Pyramid
YEEEEEEEEEEEES!!!!!
Much as I hate to be the stick in the mud, let’s not forget this is GSN, so as exciting as the return of Pyramid is, let’s reserve judgement until we actually see the show.
GSN airs the show… they’re not producing it… While networks do have a hand in some things, let’s focus on how the show is produced on who the producers are…
Patrick…you said it right there…networks have a hand in some things. I’m hopeful that things turn out well. I just hope they don’t mess it up like they did when “Lingo” came back. I agree with J.C. I’m reserving judgment.
It’s your watching enjoyment. You’re free to do whatever you want. Who is anyone to strip that from you or anyone? … :-\
This better NOT be as bad as the “Sony” edition. Oops, I mean Donny Osmond version.
Nice zinger, there, Donald. I completely agree with you.
I always thought Osmond was the only good thing about that show. The only bad part was the altered format, if you know what I mean.
Do we have any info on the theme song? Is it going to be “Tuning Up” or something else?
Why does he look like he doesn’t want to be there? Not only that, but you can tell that boy is PAINTED!
After the many Pilots and disappointments – it’s great to hear that Pyramid is coming back. My only regrets, is that Bob Stewart & Dick Clark, amongst others, are not with us to see Pyramid once again. I also wish it were NYC based…. but with Mr Davies at the helm, it could happen in the future. Regarding Mike Richards – I feel it’s unfair to judge, based on comments from his “other” show :). Why not be fair, and give him a chance to prove himself in The Pyramid Hosting role ? I’m hoping for the best. Congratulations to everyone at Embassy Row & Sande Stewart, on the series pick-up. GO PYRAMID !!!
Ooh, other revivals? I know that pigs would freeze over and Hell would fly before either of these got that treatment, but I’d love to see Go or Blackout come back.
Go!, or a game using that “two people build a question one word at a time” mechanic, may not actually be that far-fetched. GSN did revive Chain Reaction some years back to reasonable success, avec the original Cullen-era endgame format (which was one of Bob Stewart’s many prototypes for Go!). Rather than “impossible,” I’d upgrade the chances of that happening to “rather unlikely.”
“The Pyramid is GSN’s second revival of a classic format currently in production, in addition to The Newlywed Game.”
So…”Catch 21″ is dead?
It’s been out of production for some time, so that’s the assumption. (And Catch 21 is different enough from Gambit to be considered a separate series “inspired by” the original, rather than a revival. Just IMO, of course.)
Catch 21 is not dead. I would like to see a reboot of the show with Steve Harvey as the host. Steve Harvey has hosted Family Feud and he could do the same thing on Catch 21. I hope we will see a new set and a big new bonus roundwhere the top grand prize is $100,000. We would like to hear the bonus bells and whistles sound effect just like the one heard on the game shows Dream House, Singled Out, Sale Of The Century and Cram, followed by a balloon drop and some confetti falling down everytime a contestant wins $100,000 in the bonus round on Catch 21.
Definitely worth a look. I just think a “higher-profile” emcee” would’ve been a better move, but that’s just me.
Let’s hope they do something right for a change despite the absense of Mytery 7 and 7-11.
Do we know for sure there’s no bonus cards on this version? I could see a Mystery 7 happening, if nothing else.
The 7-11 and Mystery 7 were not in the pilot; in fact there were no bonus cards. The only bonus was there being $500 for getting all seven words out of seven.
Hmm, and then increasing the Winner’s Circle pot by $5,000 for that player if s/he makes it there. Disappointing, but not a deal-breaker. I can live with that.
Really? Because that’s the one point that’s really sticking in my craw. Depending on how good the celebrities are and (more importantly) how hard the words are, we might go weeks without seeing someone play for $25,000. It’s a pretty big budget cut compared to Lingo, which offered $100,000 every day for a feat (guessing 5 words in 90 seconds), that on it’s face wasn’t nearly as hard.
I would like to see the balloons and confetti to fall down along with a bonus bells and whistles sound effect just like the sound effect heard on the game show The Price Is Right everytime a contestant wins the bonus round. I would like to see a reboot of the current GSN game show Catch 21 with Todd Newton or Steve Harvey as the host along with a new dealer on the show. Make the bonus round more exciting by raising the grand prize up from $25,000 to $100,000 plus add a bonus bells and whistles sound effect just like the one heard on the classic game show Singled Out and of course add a balloon drop and some confetti falling down on the set of Catch 21 everytime a contestant wins the bonus round. Make the set of the game show a brand new set of Catch 21. If it can happen for a Pyramid revival, it can happen for a Catch 21 revival on GSN.
Todd Newton is getting ready to host a third season of Family Game Night ad Steve Harvey s busy hosting Famiy Feud and is getting ready to host a new daytime talk show.
I love the fact that Pyramid is returning, and judging by what the rules are going to be like, and the set, this has the potential to be really good; now it’s only a matter of whether or not the host and the celebrities are capable or not.
By the way, I love the part of the article that mentions “the network is currently developing revivals of some fondly remember and not-so-fondly remembered game shows of the 80s”.
That leads me to start thinking about what 80s shows might be candidates for revivals; personally I think with a few small changes in the scoring system that Bumper Stumpers would be a great revivial candidate(actually I thought of this for The Hub, but I doubt that will ever happen).
Another one I think would be perfect is Jackpot, although GSN had Hollywood Showdown years ago, so I don’t know if that will work or not.
Other then those, I think The Joker’s Wild or High Rollers would be definite candidates for revivals. I also was thinking Dream House, but considering GSN’s budget, I doubt it.
I’d also like to see a revival of The Joker’s Wild, but I really hope GSN considers reviving Greed, even though it’s from 1999. It’s one of my favorite game shows of all time.
To summarize what I’ve been hoping for:
Passable host
Enthusiastic celebrities with at least some clue, enthusisam being the more important element
Advertise the heck out of this, including anything outside of GSN (if they can afford it)
Bonus:
returning champions
the old clock sound with the darkness around the winner’s circle
a few of the old celebrities who were worth watching (heck, I didn’t know some of the celebrities at all on the various pyramid shows, but it didn’t matter if they were good players)-Kelly Packard? Markie Post? Teresa Ganzel? If they’re too far off the radar, Betty White? Stuart Damon? Michael McKean? Jason Alexander?
It’d cost an arm and leg to go to the more expensive cable package to get the channel, but this might be worth it, if the show is good.
I’m afraid some of the truly great celebrity Pyramid players from the 70′s and 80′s are probably beyond their reasonable playing prime by now, or are simply no longer with us.
David, I know what you’re saying, but age is relative. All of the celebrities from the past that I listed are still alive, and since one of the recent Pyramid recruited Betty White I think 2 years ago as one of the celebrities, she certainly is older than almost all the other celebrities. Some may be “over the hill”, but that can be determined by the show.
I’d admired Jason Alexander on both Seinfeld and a guest on Hollywood Squares. Istill would like to see Jason Alexander as a guest panelist on a Match Game revival hosted by John O’hurley in 2013. As of now, Jason Alexander deserves a Twix bar, and possibly host his own game show in 2013.
How do I go about trying out for ths?
Definitely excited!!!!
One idea they need to do (maybe for the premier or season finale) is a Dick Clark Tribute with members of the Clark Family in attendance (widow Kari and all Clark children). Maybe have that day’s celebrities be Dick Clark’s widow and/or his children.
that would be cool if dick clark family plays the pyramid but i don’t see that happening
Good to see we have an airdate for Pyramid (and a sneak-a-peek shot of Mike Richards at the podium, too!), but about the revivals: any hints or suggestions of what might come? This house still says “The Big Showdown”, “Three on a Match”, or “High Rollers”, though “Jackpot!” sounds like it could be a good get, too. (Any word on getting the rights to the new Canadian “Match Game”?)
Where did you hear about High Rollers? I’d like to see that one.
Wait, sorry. I misread your comment. I thought GSN actually said something about it!
High Rollers on GSN, not going to happen. MGM still has the rights to that show.
Not YET.
I disagree with you. Bring back High Rollers in 2013 with Todd Newton as a host, along with a big bonus round with the top grand prize is $20,000. Make sure the red dice is used in the best 2 out of 3 rounds and a green dice in the bonus round.
This makes me very happy.
Because of the UK revival, I would throw Blockbusters out there as a realistic chance for a redo. Plus it has been shown successfully in the past on this channel.
For the first week , they should pay tribute to Bob Stewart and Dick Clark. Maybe this would be oneb they both would like. Make sure they have celebs for the whole week and not change them day by day ( like they did in the Osmond version). Still lacks the 7-11 and the Mystery 7.
Wow!!! This September will mark the TEN years Pyramid came back. That version was affectionly known as Donnymid.
The Donnymid had all the energy of a wet sponge, and the set was horrendous.
A forty-episode run is good for eight weeks if my math is right, so hopefully they’ve got an instinct that this will be a winner.
I hope they go back to a more authentic implementation of the rules; the Donnymid seemed to play fast and loose with what kinds of “clues” were allowed in the Winners Circle.
It never ceased to amaze me that so many people wanted to bring Pyramid back, but wanted to screw around with its style and format. That style and format made it something worth bringing back. Very much looking forward to this!
WHO PICKED HIM AS HOST???!!! Mike Richards is the guy who fired announcer Rich Fields from The Price is Right! He also fired Kathy “Fingers” Greco & Brandi Sherwood. He is currently being sued by TPIR model Lanisha Cole for sexual harrassment. Such a shame he turned a classic game show into comical daytime garbage. No wonder the show hasn’t been nominated for an Emmy Award.
He better not become the executive producer of Pyramid.
Fingers was never fired. She retired. And the only reason TPIR hasn’t been nominated for an Emmy was because Drew Carey didn’t want to be nominated. Richards had nothing to do with it. All he did was dismiss Rich Fields, Brandi Sherwood, and Lanisha Cole, and try to set up games for more losses.
Yeah, TPIR has devolved rather drastically into a bunch of games that are basically nothing more than chance. Very little true “pricing knowledge” is useful or required. Even some of the classic games have been subtly altered in the same way. Unfortunately, that’s a sure sign the bean-counters have taken over so they can more accurately predict/control winning and, consequently, production costs. I realize its a show that has to make money, but somehow they did it for years without reducing most of the games to dice rolls.
I was watching a few episodes recently, and while Drew Carey has improved and made himself more comfortable in the role of host, he still IMHO doesn’t have the right energy.
I’d love to see PYL be revived. Would excellently compliment Pyramid. Since they were back o back on CBS in the 80s. but GSN as already tried t with Whammy!
So will Card Sharks. Add a Big Numbers bonus round after the Money Cards round of Card Sharks, where a contestant can roll the golden dice and try to knock off all 9 numbers and win a car. Make the special 52 card deck with a golden back in the Money Cards round on Card Sharks. Bring the game back in 2013.
This is AWESOME. How can we sign up to be contestants?!??