09Apr2013
Review: “Catchphrase” Good, Retro Fun
I don't think there's been a show that's been as retro as ITV's revival of Catchphrase in a while. There's no gambling your winnings, there's no empty-handedness for the second place finisher, there's no terrifying lights or music. It's just relentless game, puzzles, and what made the original so fun. If you liked the brief US version from the 80s odds are you'll get into this one, too. It picks up where the previous version left off, adds a few tweaks, modernizes it a bit, and delivers a very entertaining hour. Click here to learn more about the show, read our thoughts, and watch some of the first episode. Let us know what you think.
Read MoreView Comments (6)26Feb2013
Review: “Robot Combat League” Lives Up to the Hype, But Takes Too Long to Get There
Our most anticipated game show of the year so far has been, without question, Syfy's Robot Combat League. From the day it was announced, our interest was piqued. It's gigantic robots kicking the hell out of each other. How could you not be somewhat interested? However, yes, while the idea sounds interesting there was concern about how it would look on television. TV budgets aren't mammoth, especially cable budgets. Could Syfy pull off a game of robot boxing without it seeming dumb, corny, or uninteresting. The debut episode has been posted on Hulu (among other places) to preview before next week's debut. We're relieved to say Robot Combat League more than lives up to its hype, but it takes a bit too long to get there. Click here to read our very favorable, excited review and to watch the first full fight of the Robot Combat League.
Read MoreView Comments (121)17Feb2013
Review and Report: “The Price Is Right Live” Spins Its Way to My Area, Brings a Great Experience
You're probably not going to win a brand new car. You're probably not going to win a $20,000 cash prize. And, in all likelihood, you're not going to be called by announcer Andy Martello to "come on down!" If you come in accepting all of these things, The Price Is Right Live, a touring stage show based on the long-running CBS game show hosted by Todd Newton, is a heck of a lot of fun. I attended the 9:30 PM Friday night show at the Soaring Eagle Casino & Resort in Mount Pleasant, Michigan. They did four shows over two days, selling out a 3,000-seat theatre each time, showing how popular the prospect of seeing Price is in the mid-Michigan area. My party and I were provided tickets for the program and we all had a lot of fun with a reasonable facsimile of the Price Is Right experience. Click here to read the very detailed, extensive report and review of The Price Is Right Live in Michigan.
Read MoreView Comments (11)16Feb2013
Weekend Replay: “Face the Clock”
Airing now on Channel 4 in the UK is the new quiz show Face the Clock. Each show sees six contestants race against an unseen mystery clock in a game of quiz "hot potato." Have control when the clock expires and you're out and lose all your money. The day's champion faces the clock one final time to go for all the money won through the day. The show seems to be struggling and is losing its time slot this week for the new quiz The Common Denominator. Reception hasn't been great. However, what do you, personally, think? Here's a clip of the show. Our thoughts are after. I'm curious what you think though. Click here to take a look at the show and give us your thoughts.
Read MoreView Comments (10)13Dec2012
Review: New Apps Out Today, “Wheel of Fortune” and “You Don’t Know Jack” for iOS
Today, in a bit of happenstance, two new game show game apps have debuted in the App Store: Wheel of Fortune and You Don't Know Jack. While one is a companion to their Facebook counterpart and the other is a brand new stand-alone iOS game, they are both pretty fun to play in their own rights. Let's take a look at both of them, which you can download on your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad. Wheel of Fortune, developed by L4Mobile and Sony Pictures, is the third version of this property available on the iOS platform, being released in conjunction with the show's 30th season in syndication. This game is also currently available for Android in the Amazon store The game offers two modes of play: single player and pass and play. Pass and play allows you to play with multiple people on the singular device, but single player almost takes on sort of a "career mode." Click here to read more about Wheel of Fortune, including their "Decades"-style unlockables and to read a review of You Don't Know Jack.
Read MoreView Comments (7)11Dec2012
Review: “Take It All” Good for the First 50 Minutes
The long-awaited debut of NBC's newest primetime game show, Take It All, has come and gone. I don't think it's rude or a lie to say that we're extremely apprehensive and nervous about any primetime game these days. Out of the past seven or eight years I can count three good ones (1 VS 100, Million Dollar Mind Game, and Deal or No Deal) and the rest have fallen somewhere in the range of forgettable to god awful. Take It All has a great host, a good production crew, and a game that actually lets people play along some. We were pleasantly surprised to find that the show was actually pretty fun...for the first 50 minutes. Despite the needlessly tacked on prisoner's dilemma end game, though, it's still one of the better games we've seen NBC try in some time. Click here to read our full review and let us know any other thoughts you have on it.
Read MoreView Comments (82)14Nov2012
Review: “1001 Things You Should Know” A Simple, Fun Way to Kill a Half Hour
This week Channel 4 debuted their newest game, the daytime quiz 1001 Things You Should Know (3:30PM UK; 10:30AM ET). Hosted by comedian Sandi Toksvig, each show sees three contestants attempting to answer, as the title suggests, things they should know in an effort to be the day's champion, hopefully win all the money collected through the show, and return the next day. It took the place of Channel 4's long running game Countdown, which was pushed back to 2:40PM so eyes were on 1001 Things to see if it could liven up the pre-Deal or No Deal slot. The good news is for the most part it can. It's a well hosted, quick, and fun half hour to watch, if not ultimately a little forgetful by the end of the day. Click here to read the rules, our review, and to watch the first episode of the new series.
Read MoreView Comments (5)19Oct2012
Detailed Review: New “Wheel of Fortune” and “Jeopardy” Xbox 360 / PS3 Video Games Worth Your Time and Money
This week, well-known video game publisher THQ released "second editions," so to speak, of the two most well-known game show franchises in America, Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. I say "second editions" because in November 2010, THQ released these games for the Nintendo Wii and these new releases are based on those models. However, if you dismiss these automatically thinking they're just ports, you're very mistaken. Updates are present on many different parts of these games, making it worth a second look to purchase even if you own the Wii versions. If you want a review in one word, mine would be "yes." You should pick these games up. Click here to read the review of the Wheel and Jeopardy! games, view trailers plus find out how you can get your own copies of the games just for being a BuzzerBlog reader.
Read MoreView Comments (30)16Oct2012
Review: “Match Game” Canada Not a Home Run, Not a Strikeout
Last night, Canada's brand new Match Game revival premiered on the Comedy Network. Featuring such stars as Colin Mochrie, Yvette Nicole Brown and regular panelists Sean Cullen and Debra DiGiovanni, the show mixes the old spirit of the American series with the Quebec-based modern Atomes Crochus, an adaptation on the format for a French speaking audience. I watched the first episode and had a chance to review it. Let's talk about how the show works and what I thought of it. For some background, here's how the game is played. The show is based on the French-Canadian Match Game adaption Atomes Crochus, which in turn is based heavily on the 1990 version of Match Game. Click here to read more about how the new Match Game works, how I felt about it and a link to watch it if you have not yet.
Read MoreView Comments (32)11Oct2012
Review: “Weakest Link & Friends”
Just a few days ago, Ludia released Weakest Link & Friends in the iOS App Store. It was a pleasant surprise to see the game pop up after the U.S. version left the airwaves in 2003 and the U.K. version ending earlier this year. The game uses Facebook integration to keep track of your progress and to play against your friends. Ludia has already released a similar game engine for its Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader and Family Feud games for iOS, and Who Wants To Be A Millionaire on Facebook. Click here to read our review.
Read MoreView Comments (10)31Aug2012
Review: Did GSN’s “The Pyramid” Live Up to the Hype?
When GSN announced that The Pyramid was on their list of upcoming premieres, three questions went through my mind: Will this live up to the expectations of the original? Will this be a good show standing by itself? And will this be a show that I, along with the general, casual game show fan will want to tune in repeatedly? To be fair, we did only see one episode as part of GSN's promotional "sneak peek" of The Pyramid and there are still 39 more to go. But based on this week's taste of game show goodness, I think all three questions can be answered with a resounding "yes!" Click here to read my review of The Pyramid, watch some highlights from the show and to keep telling us what you thought of it!
Read MoreView Comments (136)19Aug2012
Sophie Shaw Wins “Red or Black?” £500,000 Jackpot; Show Debuts to Four Million Viewers
Red or Black?, ITV's controversial game show, debuted its second series last night and already gave away its jackpot. Sophie Shaw, a travel agent, won the £500,000 jackpot after playing the new end game "Vortex". She has to correctly predict which color the spinning ball would land on by the time it hit the floor...red or black? Sophie correctly predicted Red. Next weekend the jackpot will, again, be £500,000. The new series of Red or Black? debuted to millions less than previous series premiere. The 7:15PM show averaged 3.4 million viewers and the 9:15PM show had 4 million viewers. This is at least three million viewers less than the last series. Click here to watch the big win and to read our short review of the new series.
Read MoreView Comments (13)16Aug2012
Review: The CW’s “Oh Sit!” = “Wipeout” + More Talking – Excitement
Update: By The CW's standards, Oh Sit! didn't do as horribly as it could. The series debuted to 1.3 million viewers and a 0.5/2 in the key demographic. If nothing else this was 0.5/2 higher than what its follow-up, 90210, did. It also got quite a lot more viewers. Again, those numbers are nothing to cheer about in general and look bad, but for The CW's summer standards it's not that bad. Frankly compared to general Fall numbers it could be a lot worse. If nothing else, if it doesn't drop too much in the future, they could have some summer filler here. Just, please, get rid of Jamie Kennedy. Click here to read Chad's full review and see why he thinks you don't need to "sit" in front of the TV and immediately watch this one.
Read MoreView Comments (8)08Jun2012
Learn the Rules to The CW’s “Oh Sit”
There's some understandable worry, to put it nicely, about The CW's upcoming game show Oh Sit!, debuting Wednesday, August 15th. I can understand. The show is "Extreme Musical Chairs". The very notion of it sounds dumb. However, I've seen parts of the real show and the pitch film, and I can vouch it's not as bad as you might imagine. If you like Wipeout there's a shot you'll like this. It's practically the same show. The only downside is that host Jamie Kennedy is borderline insufferable as he is everywhere. However, mixed in the insanity of the show is an actual game. Maybe it would help if you knew the rules to the show, and you can work from there. Click here to read the rules and let us know what you think.
Read MoreView Comments (5)07Jun2012
“Take Me Out” and “The Choice” Debut Tonight on Fox; Write Your Own Review
Two new studio-based dating shows are debuting on Fox tonight. In our opinion one is really good and one is really bad. I'm sure you can guess which is which. First up, at 8:00PM ET, is Take Me Out. The American version of the international hit sees thirty single ladies, the "Flirty Thirty", fight over one single guy through three rounds. Then at 9:00PM ET is Fox's other new studio dating show The Choice. A play on NBC's popular singing competition The Voice, four celebrities try to choose someone for a date by only their voice. We watched both and Take Me Out is, by far, the winner. It's a funny and fun show. You can't ask for much more. However, that's just what we think. We want to know your thoughts. Be sure to write in the comments section and tell us what you think of both. Click here to give us your opinions on both.
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