What could have been hits for GSN in 2012: Catch 21, 1 vs. 100 and Lingo

[Lingofan97]

Even with the hiatus of originals from September until March, GSN could have kept producing more originals. The Newlywed Game and Baggage may have stopped, but instead of spending whatever they paid for Dancing with the Stars, some highly rated originals could still be airing.

Catch 21, a constant hit in new runs for GSN since 2008 continued for four seasons, and kept doing well in earlier time slots such as 6:30pm in 2009 and 5:30pm in 2010. Now cancelled and just in reruns on weekdays, Catch 21 could have gone through a few changes to keep the show alive. The top prize of $25,000 may have been cheap, but GSN could have offered more prizes and cash in the first two rounds like Lingo did in 2011.

1 vs. 100 may not have done well in first runs, but cycled through the schedule in reruns for a year and pushed strong numbers. 1 vs. 100 with Carrie Ann Inaba was on the cheaper side, and they could have had a better host. 1 vs. 100 is not a show like Lingo or Catch 21 that can look cheap. GSN should have never produced shows like Love Triangle and Instant Recall, and should have put more money towards this

Since Lingo was not mentioned in GSN's upfronts, it is assumed that it is cancelled, even though it still has 12 spots on the schedule. Since 2002, Lingo has been a good game show for GSN that has already worked out for the best, and in my opinion GSN made a big mistake by cancelling it in 2008. Back then if GSN changed the game a little bit, Lingo could have lasted on the network for a decade. Lingo with Bill Engvall without a doubt did better than any other GSN original in the Spring and Summer of 2011, besides The Newlywed Game. There still is time for Lingo to get a second season, but I don't think its likely, even though it has had many appearances almost every week in the Top 25 ratings, mainly in the midnight slot.

[phimat37]

Lingo would have worked out if GSN used the original setting, I think and a decent host. Maybe offer a prize ball still and the bonus round wasn't bad on Engvall's Lingo but, as I said if they just kept the Woolery setting or get a better setting, it could have worked better. I'm probably saying this because it's been rerun abuse on GSN. They need to get rid of it.

GSN is running out of ideas for 8am - 3pm ET I think. That's why Engvall's Lingo is there. Morning - Some parts in the afternoons should be classics. GSN doesn't have the money, I understand that but this is ridiculous. Classics can pull good ratings at that time.

I do wish GSN would produce new episodes of Catch 21 and maybe add that at 7:00pm because the block schedules need to go. 1 vs. 100 did pull good numbers but a different host would be good and maybe add that at 7:30pm. Just saying. The GSN schedule sure is stale.

[Lingofan97]

GSN is running out of ideas for 8am - 3pm ET I think. That's why Engvall's Lingo is there. Morning - Some parts in the afternoons should be classics. GSN doesn't have the money, I understand that but this is ridiculous. Classics can pull good ratings at that time.

On any given week Engvall Lingo usually beats out Match Game, Lingo (Woolery), Deal or No Deal and Super Password. Lingo (Engvall) gets the second highest daytime ratings usually from 12-3pm, usually the highest.

Here's how I would line up the prime time schedule with new originals and where they did best...
5:30pm: Catch 21
6:00pm: The Newlywed Game
6:30pm: Baggage
7:00pm: Lingo (Engvall)
7:30pm: 1 vs. 100

[phimat37]

On any given week Engvall Lingo usually beats out Match Game, Lingo (Woolery), Deal or No Deal and Super Password. Lingo (Engvall) gets the second highest daytime ratings usually from 12-3pm, usually the highest.

Here's how I would line up the prime time schedule with new originals and where they did best...
5:30pm: Catch 21
6:00pm: The Newlywed Game
6:30pm: Baggage
7:00pm: Lingo (Engvall)
7:30pm: 1 vs. 100

Not a bad line up there. Engvall Lingo may do better than some shows, but if that's the case, then it should get another season and GSN shouldn't crap on my favorite GSN original. I consider Lingo (Woolery) my favorite GSN Original of all time.

[Lingofan97]

Not a bad line up there. Engvall Lingo may do better than some shows, but if that's the case, then it should get another season and GSN shouldn't crap on my favorite GSN original. I consider Lingo (Woolery) my favorite GSN Original of all time.

I don't think any show has beaten out Lingo (Engvall) in better ratings in rerun abuse. I don't know how many times each show has cycled through the schedule since June, but if GSN didn't like Lingo it would have been off the schedule a while ago

[Melyssa56]

To have made the shows better:

Catch 21: People wouldn't try for the $25,000 because they would have to risk the $5,000 or $1,000 won thus far. It should have been like Match Game or Engvall Lingo -- free and clear whatever was won up to that point.

1 Vs. 100: Too cheap for the difficulty of the game -- a lot of those questions, especially after the first few, were not so easy.

Engvall Lingo: Drop the clues and the X-rated stuff.

[Lingofan97]

Catch 21: People wouldn't try for the $25,000 because they would have to risk the $5,000 or $1,000 won thus far. It should have been like Match Game or Engvall Lingo -- free and clear whatever was won up to that point.
.

Catch 21 was also more expensive since they had a host, a co-host, but the studio cost wasn't much. It was small compared to Lingo and 1 vs. 100

[espnews26]

Didn't Catch 21 end years ago? I thought I read somewhere on this or the old forum that they have episodes "still in the tank" and they were preserving them for a later day. Alfonso was loud in the beginning but, he toned it down later on and the show was still entertaining. After a while, it got dull because of the numerous $2,000 wins.

Lingo reruns from Woolery were strong and I remember they couldn't justify a new season or remake because the reruns would be getting the same ratings as new episodes. If they don't produce new episodes, they could show the neglected Season 1 of Woolery. That season gets a raw deal from GSN programmers.

As for 1 vs 100, maybe with Inaba there was some sort of secret deal. Get her to host but, she'll demand DWTS reruns on the network. That was a FAIL.

[Lingofan97]

Didn't Catch 21 end years ago? I thought I read somewhere on this or the old forum that they have episodes "still in the tank" and they were preserving them for a later day. Alfonso was loud in the beginning but, he toned it down later on and the show was still entertaining. After a while, it got dull because of the numerous $2,000 wins.

Lingo reruns from Woolery were strong and I remember they couldn't justify a new season or remake because the reruns would be getting the same ratings as new episodes. If they don't produce new episodes, they could show the neglected Season 1 of Woolery. That season gets a raw deal from GSN programmers.

Catch 21 had its last new episode at the end of June last year. Someone said last Summer that they believed there were still episodes to air, but they wouldn't have get held off that long.

GSN hasn't shown Woolery's first season of Lingo since 2007. Back in January they showed Woolery's second season (old set), and right now are up the the fifth season weekdays at noon. Seeing Woolery's first season again would be great, get the best daytime ratings, and haven't been seen in five years.

[DialgaChampion]

1 VS 100 could have performed much better than it did, but GSN should not have cancelled it.

The main problems with 1 VS 100 were the host, and the difficulty-to-money ratio amounts. I've said it time and time again -- 1 VS 100 deserved better.
Why is it that shows I enjoy always get cancelled quickly?

Whoever got the idea of having a top prize of $50,000 just wanted 1 VS 100 to fail.

Let me recap. The most amount of money ever won on 1 VS 100 by a single player, through all 40 of GSN's episodes, was $25,000. Only 1 person won the $25k, and it was during that special $100,000 week -- otherwise, that woman would've only won $10,000 on a regular episode.

With the difficulty of the questions, and 1 less Help than on NBC's version, GSN could've easily afforded a $100,000 or $250,000 top prize on EVERY EPISODE. Instead, they went the cheap route. Also, if you noticed, they changed the prize ladder throughout the season, because early on, the prize ladder was even cheaper. When GSN realized how little they were giving away, they had no choice but to up the prize ladder amounts. And then there was that one crazy person who left with only $1,000, because she thought that was a lot of money... but that's another story for another time.

If GSN could afford giving out $100,000 in a much easier manner on Engvall's Lingo, and can currently afford giving away $250,000 on American Bible Challenge, along with getting Foxworthy to host it, then you know that they intentionally gave 1 VS 100 the short end of the stick. Even the teams on Engvall's Lingo that didn't win the $100k won more money than 90% of the contestants on GSN's revamped 1 VS 100.

Just my two cents. But I want 1 VS 100 to return. With Bob Saget.

[Lingofan97]

I get your points. The 1 vs. 100 prize ladders were

At the beginning
$50,000
$25,000
$10,000
$5,000
$2,500
$2,000
$1,500
$1,000
$750
$500

Then a slightly better one was...
$50,000
$25,000
$10,000
$5,000
$4,000
$3,000
$2,000
$1,500
$1,000
$500

Which are all still considered cheap, and the top prize won was $10,000 by two or three contestants out of forty episodes. Another factor why 1 vs. 100 was cancelled is because the game was very slow moving. A lot of game shows today move fast. If 1 vs. 100 were renewed for a second season, they should have went with a money ladder like this...$500 $1,000 $2,000 $3,000 $5,000 $10,000 $25,000 $50,000 $75,000 $100,000

[DialgaChampion]

It just seemed like the money levels were intentionally set low, rather than GSN not being able to afford the higher amounts.

Like I said, only 1 person won $25,000 (which would've normally been $10,000 if it wasn't the special $100,000 week) and only a few people won $10,000 on the regular weeks. No one left with anything more than that.

On Engvall's Lingo, getting 3 of the bonus Lingo puzzles often won you close to $10,000, which was much easier than defeating 80 mob members.

[Lingofan97]

It just seemed like the money levels were intentionally set low, rather than GSN not being able to afford the higher amounts.

GSN at the time could have afforded a lot more, but also had the very expensive "Improv" project.

[JamesFF]

1 vs 100 would also have been better if they had a live mob instead of a video mob.

[Lingofan97]

1 vs 100 would also have been better if they had a live mob instead of a video mob.

That would have been too big of a project for GSN, so I give them credit for that. A $100,000 top prize would have done it all.