The Remote Island : game shows

Stay Classyfied: Looking For Young, Attractive Women For Reality TV/Game Show Pilot

Jake Kalish — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 20:44:00 GMT

So this classified ad is already shady, what with the extremely vague details, the "no experience necessary", and the claim that this show will be made by "a seasoned team of television professionals" who provide zero credentials. And then this line:

Full body shots are helpful and a description/location of visible tattoos.

Orange perv alert...

New Reality TV / Game Show: Open Casting (Upper West Side)

Reply to: job-r7r5f-1131208802@craigslist.org ^{[Errors when replying to ads?]}
Date: 2009-04-20, 12:09PM EDT

A seasoned team of television professionals is creating a pilot of a new, national reality T.V. series (Title to be determined).

We are looking for young, attractive women, 5'6" to 5'10" tall, with a pleasing, upbeat personality, a good sense of humor and a healthy, open attitude towards sex and dating. You must be able to speak openly about your past dating experiences (and PG-rated sexual experiences) on camera and you MUST be able to take direction. We are looking to hire between 4 and 6 applicants. No experience is necessary for the right candidates, but you should feel comfortable in front of a camera.

Please submit photos and a brief description of yourself (keeping the above description in mind) and all of your past work experience that might apply (if any). Full body shots are helpful and a description/location of visible tattoos.

Thanks.

Compensation: Auditions are non-paid, call-backs are non-paid. Pilot filming will include a day-rate of $250. per performer/per day. (2 day minimum)
This is a contract job.
Principals only. Recruiters, please don't contact this job poster.
Please, no phone calls about this job!
Please do not contact job poster about other services, products or commercial interests.

PostingID: 1131208802

PREVIOUSLY:

Stay Classyfied: Are You The Next Carrie Bradshaw?

Stay Classyfied: MTV Dating Show Pilot

Stay Classyfied: Looking For "Hot" Attractive, Single Females

Stay Classyfied: Seeking Elderly Couples For A New Comedy Game Show!

Jake Kalish — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 14:35:00 GMT

Are you old? Do you want to possibly be humiliated? Then you'll love this opportunity...

Seeking Elderly Couples for a New Comedy Game Show! (Manhattan)

Reply to: newyorkgameshow@gmail.com ^{[Errors when replying to ads?]}
Date: 2009-02-26, 1:50PM EST

We are a new comedy game show on a major cable network - seeking ELDERLY COUPLES who want to be part of our show!

Our game show consists of several challenges, performed by six contestants competing for a prize. This is where YOU come in, to help make the challenges over-the-top and difficult to complete! We are looking for outgoing and quirky people who have a good sense of humor.

This is a non-speaking role, must be available in New York City between 3/10-3/20, exact shoot date TBD.

Please send a recent photo & contact info ASAP to the above address.

Thanks!

Location: Manhattan
Principals only. Recruiters, please don't contact this job poster.
Please, no phone calls about this job!
Please do not contact job poster about other services, products or commercial interests.

PostingID: 1051635742

Stay Classyfied: New Game Show Needs "Great Girls!!!!"

Jake Kalish — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 22:55:00 GMT

That's with four exclamation points. So if you're only a three-exclamation point "Great Girl!!!", you need not apply. Here's the post. Be honest about yourself.

GAME SHOW $50,000 from producers of "Deal or no Deal" & "Wipeout" (LA)

Reply to: job-1041480395@craigslist.org ^[?]
Date: 2009-02-19, 10:08AM PST

WE NEED GREAT GIRLS FOR THIS!!!!

This show is for both people who are great at trivia and people who are athletic!!!
The show is called "The Whole 19 Yards" for major network and is for one of the Major Networks
5 people compete for $50,000.

We need whole personalities. Types that come to mind are but not limited to:

- Athletic girls who can kick some butt!
- Hot girls with athletic moves! Tuff girls
- Huge personalities
- People with abs of steel
- People with cool jobs
- People who make us laugh
- Moms

Looking for big energy people 21-99. You can win huge money.

This is a on stage game show. NO GROSS STUNTS

We need people with BRAINS and people who are Athletic. If you are both then great but if you brain that brawn or vise versa that is great also.

email ramseycasting@gmail.com

name
age
job
phone number
picture
energy level
How athletic are you
How smart are you
Are you more Brain or Brawn:

Location: LA
Compensation: $50,000 Grand prize
Principals only. Recruiters, please don't contact this job poster.
Please, no phone calls about this job!
Please do not contact job poster about other services, products or commercial interests.

PostingID: 1041480395

PREVIOUSLY:

Craigslist Gold: Are You America's Oldest, Creepiest Teenybopper?

Sexy Romanian Game Show Hostess Goes From Crazy To Kitten To Drum Up Business

Bryan Christian — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 16:34:00 GMT

We're pretty sure that we had a thing for this girl in college.

Click through for the amazing video!

The presenter of a Romanian phone-in TV show has been fired after throwing a tantrum when no one rang.
Adela Lupse threw her phone to the ground when calls to the live quiz show dried up and jumped up and down on it, screaming: "I want the phone to ring now. Now. Call me now."

Man oh man. This is like Shakespeare crossed with American Idol crossed with Maxim Magazine. What we particularly like about this spaztastic clip is how much psychodrama Lupse packs into 2 minutes. Heightened frenzy, followed by blind rage, followed by soft, cooing sex appeal. God, does this make us miss dating crazy people.

Note to Jeff Zucker: there is an alternative. And she's currently looking for work.

[via Fark]

PREVIOUSLY:

Drew Carey's Sedate Response To "Price Is Right" Miracle -- Too Calm?

"Million Dollar Password"??? We'd Settle For "Bus Fare Password"

Drew Carey's Sedate Response To "Price Is Right" Miracle -- Too Calm?

Bryan Christian — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 18:26:00 GMT

Our pals at Scanner brought our attention to a video of a Price is Right contestant winning the Showcase Showdown by EXACTLY guessing the estimated retail value of the final prizes. (Oh, we feel like Bob Barker just saying that! Get your pets neutered!)

They seem to think that Drew Carey, Barker's replacement, should have made more of a big deal about it... but we're not so sure.

OK, yes, it's a little surprising that Drew doesn't give a little "Wow!" or something. Barker totally would've. You got us there. But dig the professionalism! Carey had what, 12 seconds to wrap the show up? And he's gotta mention the sponsors and the removal of pet genitals! If he'd broke out and gone crazy, the whole place would have exploded. It would have been bedlam. There'd have been contestants making love in the aisles and eating each others flesh. You don't know what it was like in there. You have that luxury. Drew Carey didn't have that luxury! So his behavior, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, probably saved lives.

Besides, everyone knows the real test for game show hosts is when contestants lose their clothes.

"Million Dollar Password"??? We'd Settle For "Bus Fare Password"

Jake Kalish — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 14:35:00 GMT

Password is coming back? Really? What is this, an acid flashback to 1963? Or 1973? or 1987? Or earlier this year, before the economy totally cratered? Seriously, won't this show ever die? These are different, tougher times, shouldn't we have a different, tougher game show? Like Let's Get A Job?

And they're playing for a million dollars? In this economy? Guess so, since it's Million Dollar Password in this, the second season, hosted by Regis Philbin and premiering Thursday the 18th at 8PM with perennial Remote Crush Aisha Tyler and the Great William Shatner -- yep, just going right on like this financial collapse never happened, tossing money around willy-nilly. What, CBS didn't have any money in the market?

Full disclousre, though: if Reege manages to get contestants like Rajeev Vindaloo, we're so there. The answer, always, is "chocolate babies."

Sped-Up "Millionaire" Changes for the Better

Ben Kallen — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 19:55:00 GMT

The daily version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire began its new season yesterday with some changes -- and we have to say, we like 'em.

There are new lifelines, including a chance to get help from a celebrity "expert" instead of just calling your idiot brother-in-law. (Although there are some kinks to be worked out in this area -- such as how to get Bill Nye the Science Guy to stop talking long enough for you to ask him the question.)

But the best part is that the questions now come with a time limit. We used to watch this show with a finger on our TiVo's "30-second skip" button to get past the seemingly interminable periods between the questions and answers, plus all the really dumb early questions and the chatting in between. (The good part was that you could watch the whole show in eight minutes.) But now it moves along twice as fast, zipping through the filler and putting the emphasis where it really belongs: on letting the viewers prove how smart we are just because we know what a tangelo is.

Now, if we could only get Wheel of Fortune to dispense with that "buy a vowel" nonsense....

Watch Someone Finally Win a Million Bucks on "Deal Or No Deal"

Ben Kallen — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 14:25:00 GMT

We admit to watching Deal Or No Deal when nothing else is on. Sure, it's kinda weird to see 25 models turned into a pack of identically dressed fembots. And it's sad when, time and time again, deluded players open one too many briefcases and end up with virtually nothing. (Meanwhile, on the nighttime version of The Price Is Right, Drew Carey hands out million-dollar prizes as if they were toasters.)

So it was nice to see a contestant on Deal finally win all the marbles Monday night. Jessica Robinson, a Utah housewife and mother who was pregnant at the time, was given the benefit of five million-dollar cases to start out with. She ended up with a final pair worth $1 million and $200,000, respectively, so she could gamble with the assurance that there was no way she'd leave without a significant chunk of change.

Anyway, click through for the mildly exciting video:

Previously:
Reality-Show Hosts To Head Up the Emmys

The Weekly Rewind: We Want Our Fun TV

Ben Kallen — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 21:35:00 GMT

The Olympics are coming to an end, and the new TV season hasn't started yet. What the heck can we do with all that extra free time? Maybe we should just sit back, relax, and spend it on the highlights of the week:

We learned that George and Izzie are TV's most annoying couple, but then we remembered Ross and Rachel.

We were alternately thrilled and disappointed by Michael Phelps, and Bigfoot.

We heard Hurley sing, and it was awesome.

We remembered the most terrible game shows of all time, and it kind of made us want to watch them again. But the most memorable moments in TV history? Eh, seen 'em.

We heard that Kelly Bundy's just fine, and that made us happy.

We saw what The Bachelor's ex Shayne Lamas is like at a party, and it's pretty much what we figured.

We discovered that many TV stars don't watch TV, because they're too busy sipping expensive champagne with fashion models.

We figured out how to get MTV's original stars cable-ready again.

We wondered why this statue of Fonzie looks so much like Christopher Walken.

We learned why Canadians think the beaver is a proud and noble animal.

We learned who might be on Dancing With the Stars this season, and hoped Kim Kardashian wouldn't have center-of-gravity issues.

We discovered that the Internet is nothing but a gathering place for Knight Rider and Baywatch fanatics. But then, we knew that already.

Previously:
The Weekly Rewind: The Thrill of Victory, The Agony of TV

TVCrunch Peers Into Present, Future For "25 Worst Game Shows Of All Time"

Bryan Christian — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 16:31:00 GMT

The Weakest Link is only number 23. Yeah.

Maybe you were thinking that a rundown of the worst game shows ever would be full of abominable oldies-but-baddies, relics of the insensitivities and ignorances of a long-gone age? Well, think again, pal; most of the unwatchable crap on Popcrunch's exhaustive list went up in the last few years. Heck, Number One just started!

Wanna know what makes the worst of the worst? Click on through for all the greatest misses.

25. Classic Concentration
24. Card Sharks
23. The Weakest Link
22. 1 vs. 100
21. Legends of the Hidden Temple
20. Sale of the Century
19. Distraction (comedy central)
18. The Singing Bee
17. Shop ‘til You Drop
16. Supermarket Sweep
15. Win, Lose or Draw
14. Dog Eat Dog
13. Identity
12. Rock & Roll Jeopardy!
11. Amnesia
10. Scrabble
9. My Dad is Better Than Your Dad
8. Set For Life
7. Hole in the Wall
6. Bowling for Dollars
5. Temptation
4. The Moment of Truth
3. The Chair
2. Yahtzee
1. Hurl!

Game Show Mania: What It's Really Like To Appear on "Jeopardy"

Ben Kallen — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 20:25:00 GMT

Like most Jeopardy fans, you may have wondered what playing the game is really like. Is it fun or nerve-wracking? Would you do well or forget everything you ever learned? Is Alex Trebek a creepy know-it-all or a funny know-it-all?

Josh Fruhlinger, who writes the hilarious Comics Curmudgeon blog, recently appeared on the show, and he's provided a thorough account of his experience. We recommend that you read the whole thing, but here are some highlights:

Trying Out

Everyone else in my tryout group -- there were about 20, and we were the third group of the day -- was funny, personable, attractive, and, of course, terrifyingly smart. This obviously made me nervous, but it was still a fun event. Jeopardy’s team of contestant wranglers, led by Maggie and Robert, are really great -- funny and nice and warm. And why wouldn’t they be? They have a great job. They put us through our paces, playing a fake game, doing a fake interview-with-Alex segment (“Tell us what you’d do with the money… not anything boring!”), and generally assessing our TV-worthiness. We also had to take another written trivia test (the logic being that you could have had all of your smart friends in the room with you when you took the online version), which felt pretty much the same about as I did the online test. Then they staple your paperwork to Polaroid of you and bid you good luck. I was in the pool for the next 18 months, and if I hadn’t heard from them in a year, I could sign up to take the online test again. Don’t call us, we’ll call you.

I headed back to the Baltimore not sure how to feel -- I thought I had done well, but I didn’t feel like I was an incredible standout. I knew that they had hundreds of other potentials from around the country. I knew that one of the other people at my D.C. tryout was there for his second go-round. I hoped I’d get on, but at some level I didn’t think it would happen, and as the months went on, I resigned myself to signing up against next year.

Then, in March, I got The Call.

Buzzing In

You know how sometimes you’re watching the show at home, and one of the contestants just never seems to ring in, and you think, “Gee, they’re not so smart, how’d they get on this show?” will pretty much guarantee you that they’re having problems with the buzzer.

Buzzing in is not just a matter of being fast (which is just as well, as I wouldn’t have done well with that either). The clues are very easy to read from where you stand behind the podium, so you’re probably going to finish reading in your head it before Alex’s mellifluous voice gets even halfway through it. But you can’t just buzz in and interrupt him; that would be rude! And if you tried, nothing would happen. There’s a real live person sitting at the judge’s table, and he or she throws a switch that activates your buzzer once Alex is done talking. This also turns on a set of lights on either side of the board, which you can’t see at home; that’s your cue to buzz in, though some people on the Internet advise just listening for the last word in the clue instead. If you buzz in too early, you’re blocked out for a half-second or so, which is invariable enough time for someone to beat you to it. You’re supposed to pump the buzzer repeatedly rather than just pressing and holding it.

The whole thing just made me anxious.

Playing the Game

The game itself is still something of a blur to me -- when I watched it later, I was surprised at how little of it I actually remembered. But what I definitely remember was how hard it was for me to buzz in. It took what was probably only three or four minutes, but what felt like me to be an eternity, to get my first chance to answer a question, and that threw me. Once I got started, though, I did OK. I answered several high-value clues in the first round and ended up in second place at the end of it -- closer to Joanne, our third opponent, than to [returning champion] Mark, but still in second.

The second round was more of the same: I did better than Joanne, but not as well as Mark, and Mark slowly pulled away from me, helped by the fact that he found (and got right) all three Daily Doubles. At the end of the Double Jeopardy round, I gave my first wrong answer, in the “State Fish” category: I said “swordfish” when I should have said “sailfish.” Yes, I do know the difference, and I swear the thing I was visualizing in my head was a sailfish, but there it was. This had me frantically checking my score (which you can see, by the way, above and to the left of the game board). I was worried that by losing that $2,000, my score had dipped to below half of Mark’s -- which would have meant that I would be unable to catch him unless he bet very stupidly in Final Jeopardy, something he had shown no inclination to do to that point. Fortunately, the round ended with me at $12,800 and him at $25,200. If I got the Final Jeopardy clue right and he got it wrong, I would still win.

Final Jeopardy

When the clue was finally revealed, this was it:

Born in Kiev & later a U.S. citizen, this leader became Prime Minister in 1969 of a country founded in the 20th century.

This is in many ways a typical Jeopardy clue, in that it’s packed with information -- there are at least four different data points in it from which to construct your guess. And I drew a blank. I saw “Kiev” and “country founded in the 20th century” and my mind immediately went to the ex-USSR. Then I saw “1969″ and knew that that couldn’t be right, but my mind stubbornly refused to leave Eastern Europe. What Eastern European countries were founded in the 20th century and existed in 1969? Poland, but I couldn’t think of any Polish prime ministers; Yugoslavia would have also fit the bill, but it didn’t occur to me at the time. What about Czechoslovakia? 1969 … Prague Spring… maybe Alexander Dubcek, the reformist Communist leader who was ousted by the Soviet invasion and replaced by people more loyal to Moscow? As that famous music, which I was hearing for the seventh time in two days, was hitting its last note, I scrawled his name out as fast as I could.

I should say that, even as I went through this chain of circumstantial logic, I knew -- knew with absolute certainty -- that I was wrong. And in fact later research revealed that Alexander Dubcek met virtually none of the requirements of the clue. He had never been a U.S. citizen (though he was conceived in the United States); he wasn’t born in Kiev; he wasn’t Prime Minister (his title wa “First Secretary of the Communist Party”); and he came to power in 1968, not 1969. But at least wrote down something.

I ended up in third place. Joanne hadn’t gotten the answer either, but had bet small (smart, in her position). Mark, as he had been doing all week, got it right: the answer was Golda Meir.

Photo: yellojkt via JoshReads.com

Previously:
Sarah Silverman, Norm MacDonald Sign Up for New Match Game

Accused Of Ripping Off TV Show, ABC Proves Innocence By Destroying Evidence

Bryan Christian — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 14:24:00 GMT

At least so says MXC co-creator Larry Strawther, who created that "MXC vs. Wipeout" video that we mentioned a few weeks back -- and, yes, which is currently unavailable.

Within five days, ABC lawyers induced YouTube to block the video for copyright infringement. The video is obviously covered by the copyright act's fair use provision (Section 107) which explicitly allows usage for criticism, comment and parody. ...
YouTube did not once notify me or ask for a response before taking action to block the video. Even more disturbing to me is they have apparently altered the search results algorithm to benefit ABC and punish MXC. Whereas before Tuesday, June 24, if you typed in both "MXC" and "Wipeout" you would have seen at least hundreds of fan-generated videos showing clips from our show MXC. Now if you type in MXC and Wipeout, you are taken to results for motocross — which uses MX as an acronym.

Here's the best part about this, though. Stawther's actually also pissed at Spike, MXC's home network, for failing to pay him for what the thinks he's due for five years of reruns. Wonder if all this moaning will net him any scratch? (Yeah, we're thinking not.)

Ah well, you can find the video at Strawther's statement and at Defamer, should you feel the need.

UPDATE (7/16/08):
Strawther writes in to say that he's not at all angry about any possible sleights against him by Spike or ABC, which we totally believe -- the guy sounds pretty Zen, actually, so bravo for that -- and obviously we regret the mischaracterization. Which we suppose leaves us the only ones angry about this whole sordid affair -- but maybe that's because last night, we actually tried to watch Wipeout. Man, that shit is awful.

PREVIOUSLY:

New ABC Shows Tonight: ‘Wipeout’ A Blatant Rip-Off (Of Yet Another Show)?
"Wipeout": We're Not The Only Ones Pissed About ABC Ripping Off "MXC"

[via Defamer]

ABC Decided To Ruin "MXC"?

Bryan Christian — Fri, 30 May 2008 18:16:00 GMT

We don't care that ABC decided to make yet another reality show, this one involving ridiculous physical challenges. We don't care they decided to put smart-ass play-by-play guys on it. What we do care about -- what makes us crazy -- is that they so clearly decided to make it a rip-off of MXC: Most Extreme Elimination Challenge -- our favorite show on Spike TV -- but forgot to make it funny. Like, totally forgot. Have you seen a promo for this? The one that we saw was so unfunny that, like, they might have had a first version that was funny and then a guy was like "Mmmm... can we do something about all that funny stuff?" and then they cut it all out.

This in the same season that they're premiering I Survived a Japanese Game Show? What's next? Pimp My Tuk Tuk?

The Remote Island : game shows

Stay Classyfied: Looking For Young, Attractive Women For Reality TV/Game Show Pilot

New Reality TV / Game Show: Open Casting (Upper West Side)

Stay Classyfied: Seeking Elderly Couples For A New Comedy Game Show!

Seeking Elderly Couples for a New Comedy Game Show! (Manhattan)

Stay Classyfied: New Game Show Needs "Great Girls!!!!"

GAME SHOW $50,000 from producers of "Deal or no Deal" & "Wipeout" (LA)

Sexy Romanian Game Show Hostess Goes From Crazy To Kitten To Drum Up Business

Drew Carey's Sedate Response To "Price Is Right" Miracle -- Too Calm?

"Million Dollar Password"??? We'd Settle For "Bus Fare Password"

Sped-Up "Millionaire" Changes for the Better

Watch Someone Finally Win a Million Bucks on "Deal Or No Deal"

The Weekly Rewind: We Want Our Fun TV

TVCrunch Peers Into Present, Future For "25 Worst Game Shows Of All Time"

Game Show Mania: What It's Really Like To Appear on "Jeopardy"

Accused Of Ripping Off TV Show, ABC Proves Innocence By Destroying Evidence

New ABC Shows Tonight: ‘Wipeout’ A Blatant Rip-Off (Of Yet Another Show)?"Wipeout": We're Not The Only Ones Pissed About ABC Ripping Off "MXC"

ABC Decided To Ruin "MXC"?

New ABC Shows Tonight: ‘Wipeout’ A Blatant Rip-Off (Of Yet Another Show)?
"Wipeout": We're Not The Only Ones Pissed About ABC Ripping Off "MXC"