Video: Hip-Hop to Be Square - A Preview of the show - What's Your Take?

[jus4hugs]

Hip-Hop to Be Square, Premires, May 22 - MTV2 puts a shiny new coat on an old game show and hopes the addition of hip-hop luminaries will make it a hit with young audiences.
http://video.nytimes.com/video/2012/...ref=television

Just another typical taping for “Hip Hop Squares,” a new MTV series that reboots the classic “Hollywood Squares” game show for the YouTube generation. MTV hopes the series — it has ordered 20 episodes, all filmed at Steiner Studios in Brooklyn — will attract the core audience of what it calls “male-ennials,” networkspeak for young men aged 12 to 34.

the original concept has been in the entertainment ecosphere for decades. “Hollywood Squares” began in the mid-1960s and, over the years, has hosted a wide roster of quippy celebrities and has-beens, Paul Lynde to Florence Henderson to Charo; some became mostly famous as squares. To come up with questions for its version, MTV drafted producers from the show’s last iteration, which began in 1998, with Whoopi Goldberg as center square.

But there are departures from tradition. For starters, the green room is on camera, complete with a stocked bar, and the celebrity players are invited to drink. Cocktail waitresses show up on the neon-blue-and-pink set; an in-house D.J. adds to the clubby vibe. A third of the players wore sunglasses during the taping
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/20/ar...pagewanted=all

Personally, I am NOT a Hip Hop fan or watch anything on MTV2...By having nieces, nephews, great nieces/nephews in this age group, I plan to watch that going to be interesting...

[TheKid965]

Almost lost amidst the hype of the "hip hop" aspects of the show is this interesting fact: Since Hip Hop Squares is being taped in Brooklyn, this means that there will be two nationally-carried game shows originating from New York. (The other, of course, being Millionaire.) The last time I can recall this happening, aside from special events, was during the 1980-81 season, when the Robin Ward incarnation of To Tell the Truth (taped at 30 Rock) was in syndication alongside The $50,000 Pyramid (ABC Television Center).

If I'm wrong, please correct me.

[matchgame74fan]

I still have my doubts about this, but I do hope that it's successful. The preview looked decent IMO.

[Lingofan97]

I saw the video and the show looks pretty good, and looks like the same type of format compared to the 1998-2004 Hollywood Squares. I might watch it. It would be more interesting for GSN to acquire Hollywood Squares again which they took off the schedule in 2011.

[patnvanna83]

I saw the video and the show looks pretty good, and looks like the same type of format compared to the 1998-2004 Hollywood Squares. I might watch it. It would be more interesting for GSN to acquire Hollywood Squares again which they took off the schedule in 2011.

which version: Marshall's, Davidson's, or Bergeron's/H2?

[TheKid965]

▲ It'd have to be one of the versions they already physically have the masters of, which rules out John Davidson. The last anyone heard of those tapes, which was about a decade or so ago, USA still had possession of the only known full-series run of that incarnation of Squares. (Key word: "Known." It's entirely possible, even likely, that other sources have all the episodes in one form or another, but USA's was believed to be the only one that was still in airable condition. It would almost certainly have to be converted to GSN's digital format before they could show it in any event, and the expense of doing that -- both monetarily and in terms of labor -- might not outweigh the cost of acquisition. There are, as they say, bigger fish to fry for this network.)

Of the versions currently at GSN's disposal, I'd say it's far more likely they'll pull the Bergeron run out of mothballs than Marshall's, if they do any version at all. I don't see it happening, myself. But this network's certainly done stranger things for stranger reasons, so you can never rule it out completely.

[patnvanna83]

▲ It'd have to be one of the versions they already physically have the masters of, which rules out John Davidson. The last anyone heard of those tapes, which was about a decade or so ago, USA still had possession of the only known full-series run of that incarnation of Squares. (Key word: "Known." It's entirely possible, even likely, that other sources have all the episodes in one form or another, but USA's was believed to be the only one that was still in airable condition. It would almost certainly have to be converted to GSN's digital format before they could show it in any event, and the expense of doing that -- both monetarily and in terms of labor -- might not outweigh the cost of acquisition. There are, as they say, bigger fish to fry for this network.)

Of the versions currently at GSN's disposal, I'd say it's far more likely they'll pull the Bergeron run out of mothballs than Marshall's, if they do any version at all. I don't see it happening, myself. But this network's certainly done stranger things for stranger reasons, so you can never rule it out completely.

thanks for the info!

[Lingofan97]

which version: Marshall's, Davidson's, or Bergeron's/H2?

I would like to see Bergeron's Hollywood Squares right now on GSN for weekends, since GSN doesn't have any game show acquired from that time period

[patnvanna83]

I would like to see Bergeron's Hollywood Squares right now on GSN for weekends, since GSN doesn't have any game show acquired from that time period

Goldberg era or Winkler/Levitt era?

[Lingofan97]

Goldberg era or Winkler/Levitt era?

Either, but preferably the 1998-99 or 1999-2000 season so we can have something from the 90's on GSN right now

[patnvanna83]

Either, but preferably the 1998-99 or 1999-2000 season so we can have something from the 90's on GSN right now

obviously you prefer the Goldberg era of the show!

[Lingofan97]

obviously you prefer the Goldberg era of the show!

Correct, it also lasted longer

[catnap72]

Almost lost amidst the hype of the "hip hop" aspects of the show is this interesting fact: Since Hip Hop Squares is being taped in Brooklyn, this means that there will be two nationally-carried game shows originating from New York. (The other, of course, being Millionaire.) The last time I can recall this happening, aside from special events, was during the 1980-81 season, when the Robin Ward incarnation of To Tell the Truth (taped at 30 Rock) was in syndication alongside The $50,000 Pyramid (ABC Television Center).

If I'm wrong, please correct me.

Dunno about the timeline but didn't both Remote Control and (albeit briefly) Double Dare tape in NYC at the same time?

[patnvanna83]

Correct, it also lasted longer

that's true from 1998-2002=4 seasons.

[Lingofan97]

that's true from 1998-2002=4 seasons.

Four seasons of the same era? I could see two or three but that's what I didn't like about Hollywood Squares.