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 May Take Years For Final Answer However, don't count on The Walt Disney Company writing that nine-figure check just yet. First off, Disney is going to appeal the verdict. If the case goes through a lengthy appeal process, possibly even to the Supreme Court, you might not see a final decision until mid-decade or later. Celador accused Disney and ABC of using creative accounting methods (often called "Hollywood accounting") to camouflage actual revenues from the show. Celador's attorneys argued the accounting procedures denied the company tens of millions of dollars in unpaid profits. ABC's lawyers and Disney chief executive Bob Iger continue to deny the company deceived Celador and promised a vigorous appeal. If you've followed the aftermath of the jury's decision, you've probably read of similar cases----most notably Don Johnson's suit against Rysher Entertainment for a share of the profits of the CBS series Nash Bridges. However, Johnson's is far from the first of its kind. Paramount continued to show an accounting loss on the series Hart to Hart for years after the series went into reruns, which denied Robert Wagner a share of the series profits. He sued Aaron Spelling Productions over a failed attempt to revive Charlie's Angels and over the Angels theatrical movies. Several other instances are documented of actors who own a piece of their series and find themselves delayed for years in receiving profit percentages because of studio-reported losses. What typically happens is an inflated level of what studios refer to as "below-the-line" costs of television series (promotional expenses, so-called deficit financing of episodes during network runs, agency payments, etc.). While the studio may have grossed significant revenues on a long-running series, its books may show losses for years on the series based on controversial accounting procedures. In the case of Celador and Millionaire, Disney personnel are saying Celador was paid a commensurate and contractually-agreed to share of the series' profits and attorneys contend Celador's beef should be with the William Morris Agency for not negotiating a better deal for the production company. One of the controversial e-mails revealed during the case was one from then-Disney chairman Michael Eisner, a big champion of Millionaire, who wrote WWTBAM had an estimated value of $1 billion to the company, based on its television ratings, ancillary licensing options, merchandising and potential syndication revenues for the game. Based on this jury's verdict, that---in and of itself---may well send a chilling effect to network and studio executives who may have in the past communicated revenue and value estimates in private memos or e-mails, only to find those subpoenaed for court cases. Three likely scenarios in this case: (1) Disney will probably attempt to have the next appeal heard in federal court in California, rather than state court, in order to expedite the appeal process; (2) if that occurs and Disney were to lose the appeal, this case would almost certainly end in a negotiated settlement with Celador, rather than an expensive appeal to a federal court of appeals or the Supreme Court; (3) once these kinds of cases reach a federal court, judges often significantly scale back the amount of a jury's award.  Replaces As the World Turns I know, I know. A few blind loyalists to Mrs. Chen-Moonves I occasionally hear from become cranky with me because I have stated publicly I believe she is one of the most overrated personalities in the modern history of CBS News, as well as one of its least credible. If you love Julie on the air, you probably don't like me, or at least my opinion. CBS had on the table revamps of Password and Pyramid (though with another standup comic in Andy Richter as the host of the latter, we're probably better off without that one), as well as a new cooking game show with Emeril Lagasse as emcee. Valerie Bertinelli, who has ridden the coattails of Jenny Craig into TV Land's new Hot in Cleveland, offered a talk show pilot. A couple of other offbeat ideas were considered. A knockoff on The View received the nod and if you don't believe Julie Chen as one of the stars was the prime reason, you're capable of walking outside today in west Tennessee and claiming to feel no humidity. Let's Make a Deal has not been a runaway hit but has done what was expected as the replacement last year for the ageless Guiding Light. Deal is drawing a total audience about eight percent higher than Light (and that increase is higher in markets where LMAD airs in the mornings as a companion to The Price Is Right). Naturally, optimism ran rampant among game show enthusiasts that CBS would pick another game to supplant the 54-year-old saga of Oakdale. Not this time. When your husband (Les Moonves) is the chairman of CBS Corp., as is Julie Chen, you're going to get the job and the show. Actress Sara Gilbert (remember her as the whiny, troubled kid on Roseanne?) is creator and executive producer of this talkfest. CBS is denying this is designed as a clone of The View but the blueprint appears to be the same----a politically correct mix of five babbling babes (yep, I don't apologize for using that term because The View is little more than a yellfest before lunch). Ms. Chen is being billed in the early publicity as the "anchor" of the group, much in the same fashion as Meredith Vieira provided the ABC hour before she left for NBC's Today. I've had people argue with me, "But she's done Big Brother for 10 years. She's been on The Early Show for a long, long time." I can answer each of those in a snap. In the years Julie Chen has been on The Early Show, the ratings have not moved any moreso than for any of CBS's array of morning show failures that now date back 56 years. As for Big Brother, one of the most embarrassing series in the history of the CBS Television Network, that program continues every summer because just enough of a demographically-favorable audience exists that enjoys watching contrived immature adult behavior. You could bring Melissa Sue Anderson out of retirement and stick her in Julie Chen's slot and the same audience would be there. Further case in point why Big Brother is strictly CBS's modern-era version of Mike Stokey's Pantomime Quiz as a summer standby: remember the writers' strike we had in 2008 that had the networks scrambling for inexpensive replacement shows? Les Moonves could not wait to serve up a cheap midseason round of the "houseguests." That gave his wife another 13 weeks in prime time. That round of Big Brother was mauled in the ratings and could not even deliver a 2 rating in the coveted 18-49 age bracket. In 2002, I was awarded a summer faculty fellowship by the Radio-Television News Directors Association Foundation. The 24 fellows spent a week in Washington in seminars to prepare for our month in local newsrooms across the U.S. At midweek, we had a forum with a key producer from CBS News. During the question-and-answer period, I asked pointedly why if CBS still touted the credibility and elite status of its news division that Julie Chen, as anchor of the news segment of The Early Show, was allowed to moonlight as the host of Big Brother. The producer answered: "Well, I would be lying if I didn't say that topic hasn't come up at CBS News, but my official answer has to be, 'No comment.'" I have long since abandoned Big Brother but I still cannot get out of my mind its first season a decade ago. An early fortyish woman, Karen Fowler, openly discussed her marital struggles from the opening episode. On at least two specific evenings in which Ms. Chen appeared as the on-camera host, edited one-sided features were presented that served to lynch Ms. Fowler's husband's reputation with no balance to the pieces. On the evening Ms. Fowler was banished from the modular home, Ms. Chen engaged the departing contestant in an interview with more softball questions than Larry King asks in a half-hour. I still wonder about Karen Fowler's husband, who was served up as a piece of raw meat for weeks. My favorite sports talk radio host Tim Brando frequently talks about athletes or sportscasters who "move the meter." You cannot find any specific evidence in her career of more than a decade at CBS that Julie Chen moves the ratings meter.....but when your husband authorizes the payroll and he wants you on the air, you're going to be there. If Julie had expressed the slightest interest in hosting either Pyramid or Password, I'd wager a mint condition copy of Wink Martindale's "Deck of Cards" that one of those shows would have replaced As the World Turns. In a future blog, I'll offer up an argument as to why a cooking game show may have been the best alternative, based on what I feel is some of the most compelling contest programming on television today. Instead, we'll be treated to another female gang of five in the afternoon. Since Ms. Chen-Moonves is going to be at the head of that table, I have no doubt this network talk show will be given far longer to prove itself than any of the other rejects would have. CBS has long coveted the prospect of its own version of The View. So, here it comes. If it fails, Julie needn't worry. The expensive experiment with Katie Couric as anchor of The CBS Evening News appears to be heading for a negotiated end. If it does, Julie can always ask her husband for that job. Or if not that one, perhaps a daytime version of Big Brother?  It's a Different Day I co-hosted the annual Game Show Congress Legends Luncheon three times with Rich. At least twice, we had conversations about life after Bob Barker on TPIR. The former weathercaster told me he and Barker broke bread on a few occasions and Barker hoped he could help pave the way for Rich to have a shot at taking over the show when the legend retired. If life in TV game shows followed the traditional pattern of the fifties and sixties, Rich would probably be emceeing Price right now. I even advocated it on TVgameshows.net as a smooth transition from Barker to someone who was a known quantity and a young personality to whom viewers would have little trouble warming. Most of you remember, heart of hearts I wanted Todd Newton to have the job because no one could have prepared any more to become the host of The Price Is Right, to the extent of going himself and sitting in the audience just to study Barker. Newton also had developed experience hosting the stage version of Price in Las Vegas. I had someone tell me during the auditions to succeed Barker that a strike against Todd may have been that he had done too much of the stage show and was not toned down enough for the TV version. I don't buy that for one minute. More on that in a couple of paragraphs. In 2007, when we held the Game Show Congress Legends Luncheon for Wink Martindale and Bob Stewart, Drew Carey still had not been named host of Price but the buzz was heavy that Drew was getting a strong look-see from CBS. At GSC, Rich never demonstrated any disappointment, though one knows human nature suggests any of us in the same position would have felt at least a twinge of internal frustration. Before we left the Beverly Garland Hotel that day, Rich offered his thanks for my public endorsement. He learned that more than 30,000 viewers sent e-mails or other correspondence to the show to support Rich taking over as host. When Carey was named, Rich was ever the company man and continued to perform his announcer role as an on-air professional would. I am convinced Rich has done the best he possibly could to mesh with what has been, at best, an awkward transition to a host whom I still believe was not the right choice. The Price Is Right is no longer appointment TV for me but when I do catch an episode, I feel a flashback to Christopher Plummer in "The Sound of Music" when he told Herr Zeller: "I was under the impression....that the contents of telegrams in Austria were private....at least the Austria.......I know." Watching The Price Is Right today brings on a wistfulness to say: "A lot of this just does not feel like The Price Is Right......at least The Price Is Right........I know." We have witnessed a slow three-year evolution from Drew Carey stepping into Bob Barker's studio to finally making The Price Is Right Drew Carey's show. Replacing Rich Fields as announcer is the final step. Reading Rich's post that Price executive producer Mike Richards and FremantleMedia executive Jen Mullen want the next announcer to be an improv comic does not surprise me one iota. In case you haven't read it at www.richfields.tv, Rich wrote: "Mike explained to me that he loves having the 'house bands' and 'live performers' all the time on TPIR and that he hopes to make it more of a 'variety show within a game show.' He believes that having a comedian at the announcer's position from now on will enhance this new change in direction." We are no longer living in an era where an Art James could pay his dues as an announcer on Concentration and vault to an emcee role on Say When. No more Bob Claytons getting the nod from offstage to succeed Hugh Downs on Concentration. No more shots for a Jack Narz to jump from the sidekick to Bob Crosby to the hosting chore on Dotto. No, we are now living in a day where the standup comedians have taken over game shows. As good as he was in his role, Howie Mandel's success on Deal or No Deal actually destroyed the prospects for young potential emcee talent who have paid their dues in the conventional ad-lib centers of radio or local television. The networks have become obsessed with comics, post-Howie, and now they are infiltrating the announcer jobs. I hate to become a pessimist. Yet, I truly believe until the current crop of network executives are swept out with a tidal wave, the day is over on game shows for the Rich Fieldses or the Todd Newtons or any other young host or announcer unless they can develop a fast-track comedy act. Drew Carey's comfort zone is going to be to make The Price Is Right more like the atmosphere of a comedy club. So, bring on another comedian as a sidekick. Why not go further? Bring on Kathy Griffin as one of the models. On second and third thought....... Lest we forget: Nielsen is reporting the median age of the Price viewership is 63, so all of these changes have not succeeded in bringing in a wave of younger viewers. Nor will bringing in some young funnyman. Rich, it's a shame. You just weren't funny enough. You didn't swear enough during the commercial breaks. You didn't tell enough tasteless or dirty jokes to the audience during the warmup. You just aren't enough of a party guy for Drew's or Mike Richards' or Jen Mullen's tastes. You just tried to do your job and you tried hard to blend in with this new Price Is Right. That's not good enough in today's game show climate. A dear friend of mine said to me last summer, "When I see Drew Carey and the way he does The Price Is Right, I want to go take a walk." I just hope I don't wake up one day about five years from now and discover Brad Garrett doing Wheel of Fortune and Conan O'Brien hosting Jeopardy!. TheGameShowFix.com is a non-incorporated news website. 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