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  Rejoin Stu Shostak Aug. 25 on SIR Wes, author of "The Encyclopedia of Daytime Television," "Kicking off the Week: A History of Monday Football" and "Emmy Award-Winning Nighttime Television Shows: 1948-2004," and I will pony up again for "The Stu Shostak Show," August 25 from 7 to 9 p.m. (EDT)/4 to 6 p.m. (PDT). This time, Stu plans to wear us out. He is planning to grill us on the following: ---The gradual collapse of the soap opera as a network daytime stapleWe're going to wire up and gear up and invite all of you to join us at shokusradio.com on the 25th. Stu may even sing the theme from "The Bob Cummings Show" coming out of a commercial break.  Shelley Says Let's Do It! With the announcement nearly three weeks ago that GSN was severing ties with former singer and talk show host Carnie Wilson as host of The Newlywed Game, immediate speculation from New York magazine had The View's Sherri Shepherd as "in deep conversations" to take over the relationship game. Whether the New York story is accurate or another of the many name drops of agents and managers to New York media, game show writer Shelley Herman says GSN needs to stop the experiments.  "I just started a group on Facebook named 'Bring Back Bob,'" Herman told us. "It is a site devoted to bringing back Bob Eubanks as the next GSN host of The Newlywed Game."Shelley is hoping for an influx of fans to join the Facebook group and send the same kind of message to GSN that NBC received from viewers who pushed Betty White into the host spot on Saturday Night Live. Wilson's "Carnie Unstapled" reality series on GSN did little to ignite her career or credibility as a host. Media Life Magazine offered: "Wilson comes across as likable and levelheaded, but the premiere gives us no other reason to want to tune in again." On TWP.com, a reviewer wrote: "What does Carnie's constant weight struggles have to do with game shows? Gah. Why do all these cable networks insist on doing reality shows that have nothing to with the premise of their existence?" Wilson's series was the second stab GSN has made in the last decade at a reality documentary of an emcee. In 2003, GSN's "Chuck Woolery: Naturally Stoned" ended in embarrassment as, after the fourth of six shows, published stories surfaced that Woolery's then-wife was seeing another man. Woolery told The Associated Press his suspicions were confirmed when he had her followed by a detective. Then-GSN President/CEO Rich Cronin told TVgameshows.net that had he realized domestic strife was in the offing "we would not have done the show." Eubanks, the original Newlywed Game host dating back to its premiere on ABC 44 years ago, has presided over four versions of the show over five decades. Viewers soundly rejected his abrupt replacement, comedian Paul Rodriguez, in a poorly-transitioned switch after executive producer Chuck Barris sold his production company to what is now Sony Pictures Television. In a 1996-97 revival of the game, Gary Kroeger was tapped as host for a Newlywed makeover so drastic that viewers did not recognize the show. "We shouldn't have called it The Newlywed Game," said Kroeger in a later interview with TVgameshows.net. "It should have been called Second Honeymoon or some other distinguishing title. People tuned in expecting the old Newlywed Game. They saw something else and what they saw, they didn't like." Eubanks was brought back as host and executive consultant the following season. The show managed to stay in mostly late night time slots for two years and a third year in repeats. "Sometimes, you can take a show and redo it to the point that viewers will tell you, 'Why'd you do that?,'" Eubanks told TVgameshows.net in a 2002 interview. "(Sony) put the show in the hands of a company executive who really didn't understand the magic of The Newlywed Game. So when they called me about coming back, I said I wanted creative control over the show because I didn't want some 30-year-old looking over my shoulder and telling me what focus groups are saying. They agreed." During the current GSN series, Eubanks returned as host of a May 18 episode with Wink and Sandy Martindale, Monty and Marilyn Hall and Peter and Laurie Marshall as the contestants. He became the first emcee ever to host a game show in five different decades. In recent years, Eubanks has traveled the country as a motivational speaker. The network has precedent for a senior-age emcee. At 75, Martindale hosted the network's Instant Recall earlier this year. Woolery was in his sixties when he took to the podium for GSN's Lingo, the channel's longest-running original series. TheGameShowFix.com is a non-incorporated news website. The material used is the creation of the webmaster, unless otherwise noted. Use of stillframes from broadcasts is part of fair use news arrangements. Any reproduction or other use of the accounts published here without the expressed written consent of TheGameShowFix.com is strictly prohibited. At no time has TheGameShowFix.com or its predecessor, TVgameshows.net, ever been offered for public sale, such as in a stock offering or any financial transaction. Any attempt to engage in such practice is illegal and strictly forbidden. |
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