What went wrong with 1 vs 100? (part 1 of 5)

[Lingofan97]

1 vs 100 History

The NBC series may have been a two-year hit on NBC, but a new version only lasted on GSN for a few months. After 1 vs 100 with Bob Saget was announced by NBC network executives that it would not return for a third season in the Fall of 2008, GSN picked up the run of 28 episodes in June 2009. 1 vs 100, along with Deal or No Deal spread throughout the schedule in 2009 and most of 2010, and became instant hits. GSN noticed 1 vs 100's success, and then this happened...

GSN revival

In August 2010, It was unofficially announced that a revival of 1 vs 100 would be coming to some network, but most likely on GSN. It was official in October of 2010 that Dancing with the Stars judge Carrie Ann Inaba would become the new host, and the show will premiere on November 15, 2010.

Gameplay

GSN's 1 vs 100 ran for 40 episodes, with the money ladder format starting at $500, then the top prize would be capped at $50,000, instead of one million like the NBC format. For every ten mob members eliminated, the contestant would win a certain amount of money, usually gaining $1,000 per ten mob members up until the $5,000 level, where it went $5,000, $10,000, $25,000, $50,000.

On the second to last week of episodes, GSN aired a $100,000 week of 1 vs 100, which was most likely the best week in ratings in the whole series.

Problems & Cancellation
Since $50,000 was a cheap top prize, compared to the one week special episodes of a $100,000 top prize, there was a lack of interest in the show. In February of 2011, GSN's version of 1 vs 100 was pushed out of its primetime slot to weekends only. In Spring 2011, GSN's 1 vs 100 aired at 5:30pm, then a primetime slot in the Summer at 9pm to test out ratings. In August of 2011, 1 vs 100 ran weekdays at 2:30pm in the place of Chain Reaction. 1 vs 100 was completely taken off GSN on November 7, 2011 and was replaced weekdays by Deal or No Deal

Discuss issues with the problem of GSN's 1 vs 100

A different GSN original will be coming next week

[Lingofan97]

What would have been a good top prize? $100,000, $250K or more....

[matchgame74fan]

It's GSN so I wasn't expecting any prize value near what we saw on NBC.

But they could have gotten a better host. I was hoping Carrie Ann would improve but that wasn't the case. I thought she had potential. And I was not a fan of the video mob.

[Lingofan97]

The prize should have been at least $100,000. And Inaba got annoying, especially saying "$50,000" 10 times an episode

[phgellis]

The top prize was reasonable I thought....it was the ladder that was screwed up. If you knocked out half the mob you had still a really low figure on the ladder. And Carrie Ann Inaba was a terrible host.

[Lingofan97]

The top prize was reasonable I thought....it was the ladder that was screwed up. If you knocked out half the mob you had still a really low figure on the ladder. And Carrie Ann Inaba was a terrible host.

I just think whoever set 1 vs 100's top prize at $50,000 wanted the show to fail. The ladder was also a fail at one point going $500, $750, $1,000, $1,500, $2,000, $2,500, $5,000 and on.......

[phimat37]

The first two out of the three are what went wrong.

I just think whoever set 1 vs 100's top prize at $50,000 wanted the show to fail.

That is just so stupid. You shouldn't even put a show on the air if they intend it to fail.

[Lingofan97]

That is just so stupid. You shouldn't even put a show on the air if they intend it to fail.

Of course GSN wanted to make the show succeed in whatever way they could. Whoever made the rules for the revival didn't think too hard on the top prize, which should have been 100K. I also remember 1 vs 100 didn't have as much preparation as shows like Lingo and The Newlywed Game.

[SpeedAndStrategy]

I think a lot of it was that it was really hard for them to effectively scale down a big-money, highly produced show like 1 vs. 100 in order to fit GSN's budget. But for me, the worst aspect was Carrie Ann Inaba, who was very stiff and robotic while also shouting too much.

To be fair, though, the ratings really weren't so bad - especially for 7 PM, which tends to be a tough slot for GSN. Perhaps if they had put it in the 6 PM hour, it would have fared better. But then again, even in spite of the show appearing cheap compared to the NBC version, it might have still been too expensive for GSN. I think that reviving classic shows like The Pyramid will prove to be a much better idea, as they don't need big money to work.

[Lingofan97]

To be fair, though, the ratings really weren't so bad - especially for 7 PM, which tends to be a tough slot for GSN. Perhaps if they had put it in the 6 PM hour, it would have fared better. But then again, even in spite of the show appearing cheap compared to the NBC version, it might have still been too expensive for GSN. I think that reviving classic shows like The Pyramid will prove to be a much better idea, as they don't need big money to work.

At the time the 6pm hour had much success with The Newlywed Game and Baggage, so they weren't going to touch that hour. Catch 21 also had the 5:30 slot. The 7pm numbers for 1 vs 100 were pretty good, which is why I don't get why it was cancelled. I think 1 vs 100 started off well in November and into the month of December, then fell apart in January, even during the $100,000 week. 1 vs 100 did well in reruns throughout 2011, which is why I don't get why GSN didn't renew it, and try a new host.

[PrincessVinnie]

I remember watching 1 Vs 100 {The second episode} for the first time and I thought it was cool and The Mob bought a whole new style to game shows that people had never noticed before and I think that's the main reason why 1 Vs 100 was so popular in ratings for game shows. I was also familiar with Bob Saget who I saw on Full House and because of me being a Full House fan I would always refer to him as Danny Tanner when I would watch 1 Vs 100 and Bob really showed what talent he had as a game show host. With a small merchandise deal with items such as Nintendo DS games and board games and even a DVD game of 1 Vs 100 it seemed that the show would be more successful but the actual reason behind 1 Vs 100's cancellation was due to NBC adding the show Identity Christmas 2007 and Bob Saget doing a sitcom for ABC at the time. And now to use a phrase of the late Paul Harvey "Now you know The Rest Of The Story",
Vinnie

[Lingofan97]

Games for 1 vs 100 and Deal or No Deal keeping coming out/getting updated it seems like. Even if GSN never revives the shows, they've never going to die in the world of gaming

[Playmaniac001]

I didn't mind Carrie Ann Inaba too much, the only thing about her that I couldn't stand is how she said/yelled "Lock it in!" every question. It got to be very annoying.

The money seemed a little cheap, but this is GSN we're talking about, not NBC... although $100,000 or even $250,000 would be better. The top prize is so difficult to get, that I don't think it would break GSN's bank to offer that because very few people would win it.

The webcam mob didn't do much for me either. It was set up kinda cool on the big wall, though. The mob was just really quiet unlike in Saget's version where they would be taunting the "one".

1 vs 100 did decent in the ratings. It did keep a 2:30PM slot for a while, and I remember it getting some great numbers there even. I think 1 vs 100 is in the same boat as Engvall's Lingo, that with a couple of tweaks, the show can be really great.

[Lingofan97]

I didn't mind Carrie Ann Inaba too much, the only thing about her that I couldn't stand is how she said/yelled "Lock it in!" every question. It got to be very annoying.

The money seemed a little cheap, but this is GSN we're talking about, not NBC... although $100,000 or even $250,000 would be better. The top prize is so difficult to get, that I don't think it would break GSN's bank to offer that because very few people would win it.

Carrie Ann could have used different sayings, which Bob had used of the network version like "Answer now" or "Vote now", etc.

And the way GSN casting was going, they could have set the jackpot for half a million instead of $50,000. $500,000 would have still been good, with the way casting was going. Casting was VERY poor for the GSN version, and with the contestants they had, no one would eliminate all 100 mob members.

[phimat37]

I agree. $500,000 would've been better for a small network, or $250,000.