Since GSN debuted its version of Pyramid it's been bleeding viewers, struggling to keep itself relevant. Even with a lead-in from the uber-popular American Bible Challenge, the show just isn't doing well.This seems strange to me, since there was a lot of anticipation for The Pyramid and by most accounts it's a decent enough adaptation of the game. I really enjoy it and find Mike Richards to be an enjoyable host (then again, I really liked him on Beauty and the Geek as well). So why aren't the ratings reflecting this?
One theory is that American Bible Challenge is bringing in an audience that doesn't normally watch GSN (which is a good thing - bringing in new eyeballs is always a plus), but since they're tuning in to see that show, they're not necessarily going to stick around for Pyramid. Beat the Chefs wasn't exactly a great match either, but that's another story. Could it be as simple as a scheduling issue? I don't know.
Whatever the reason for the declining viewership, the show is in danger of not being renewed for another season. That's really a shame, because this kind of thing is what GSN is all about, and even the die-hard GSN fans (and critics) should be pleased with the show.
So let's hear it - do you think The Pyramid will/should be renewed for a second season? Are you enjoying the show? And if it does come back, are there any changes you would make?
Logo courtesy GSN
Comments
It really should be. It’s a great revival of a great show. I think you might be right on the money about the scheduling issue. Hopefully GSN realizes this and gives it another shot.
The show is horrible because they have not had celebrities on who are good at playing the game. I would be p***sed if I had to play with either of the Turturros or the lady from Greys Anatomy and the heavy set white guy(don’t remember his name or his show) because they are horrible at giving clues or guessing. This show will stink and be cancelled if they don’t get some celebrities who know how to play the game—-where’s Betty White?
Yes, it should be renewed, but only if they will get celebrities AND contestants who can actually play the game.
I’m sure the ratings are fine for a GSN original show. The Bible Challenge has a special audience, and what GSN doesn’t know and can’t find out is how many of that audience are watching GSN at any other time.
What I haven’t seen is a comparison of ratings of Pyramid to Catch 21–the previous resident of the time slot.
It should absolutely be renewed. It is the best of the GSN revivals (which isn’t saying much), but the problem is the best celebrity clue giver in this edition (Megyn Price) can’t be on every week and the celebs they have had are mostly awful. You can tell how bad it is that it is rare that a celebrity is the giver in the winner’s circle, which used to be the norm. My other problem with the show is Richards’ constantly referring to the increase in the winner’s circle bank. If you have to manufacture drama, you get what you get. That said, I actually like this edition. Some of the words to guess are silly, but this is my favorite game show of all time and this edition is fairly true to the original. I wish it had more viewers and I suspect it would if you had better celebrities of the Vicki Lawrence ilk but there aren’t many of those left sadly.
I was fortunate enough to be house-sitting when Pyramid premiered, and thus was able to watch the first episode (I don’t get cable, myself). I absolutely loved it, and would totally be watching it now if I could.
But while I was there, the biggest turn off to GSN was it’s current “all Family Feud, all the time” schedule. Seriously, over 80 hours a week! That’s ridiculous, and until that problem is solved, GSN is going to keep bleeding viewers for pretty much ANYTHING they do, save for the odd example like American Bible Challenge, which apparently isn’t getting anyone to stick around after they’ve come to watch THAT….
OH, and the afternoon time slot (for those of us on the West Coast, but even 6:00 pm for Eastern is hardly prime time) is hardly a vote of confidence….
Well, I turned on GSN this evening at 6pm, and NO Pyramid.
Has it been cancelled already?
No, Josh…GSN is still promoting it’s Friday night block of The Pyramid. But it hasn’t been renewed yet, either.
I think what we’re seeing is more than just a struggling game show…it’s a struggling game show network.
First, 6:00p is a killer slot in the eastern time zone…it’s up against local news in New York, Boston, Philly, Cleveland, Miami, Atlanta. And it only gets worse as you move west. Thursday nights are the most competitive on TV, so while The Pyramid got some decent numbers coming out of the Bible Challenge (decent for GSN, anyway), they still weren’t great. HUT levels on Friday nights are very low, so you’re reaching the older game show fans who stay home…many of whom would remember the original fondly…but not enough to make a remake a hit.
GSN is carried on digital or sports tiers on many service providers, not basic cable, making it less accessible to many customers. GSN has done next to NO outside promotion for this show, so a lot of viewers may not have even known it was on. No full episodes are available on the website to help non-subscribers find it.
GSN is still milking reruns of a few of their originals till they dry up. Whammy is 10 years old, for Pete’s sake! Chain Reaction is still on, too. GSN is also still running the Clark Pyramids, which makes me ask why they even bothered making a new Pyramid if the repeats are still performing.
The Pyramid was widely regarded as the best game show franchise not currently on the air before GSN picked it up. If GSN can’t make THIS show work, I have to wonder, in a very fractured audience market, if a game show network can survive long-term. It may just be too “niche” to be profitable.
Of course, what may be worse…the Davidson and Osmond versions only lasted 2 seasons each…and neither was as good as The Pyramid. If this version doesn’t work, it’ll likely be a long time before another attempt is made to revive it.
I still believe it could work on GSN. There are a couple of tweaks I would suggest:
1) Bring back the tournament. I originally thought that The Pyramid could work without the tournament, but if it gets a second season, they need to up the stakes to draw attention to the show. We’ve been teased with “The $1,000,000 Pyramid” for years. Give us one, already!
2) Make the show a weekly, not a 5-day strip. A 40-episode order for a strip is spent in 8 weeks. Once-a-week makes each show more of an event that lasts most of the typical TV season. You can use more celebrities. And if you do the tournament with $1M at the end of the season, every episode builds to the big finish.
3) Buy some promos on other shows. Sony owns Wheel and Jeopardy, too. Michael Davies is still associated with Millionaire. Do some cross-promotion!
I hope it gets another season. I think Michael Davies did a great job. If only it was on a broadcast network or syndicated.
Agreed that the time slot isn’t the best, especially for those not on the east coast. It’s on during my drive home, so I have to DVR it.
But the frequent lousy celebrity playing may be a bigger part of it. Sure, they’ve used celebrities for all of the other editions, but are they necessary? They’re usually D (or E) list celebrities…I heard of next to none of them), and most play lousy games. Two teams of two contestants might make it more exciting.
The show should definitely be renewed but the time slot was a killer from the beginning. The debut of the show was on Labor Day when many people were off from work. I could only catch the reruns on Friday. The game play suffered recently, as well, but that is an easy fix.
Doug,
I’ve always thought that Pyramid could work without celebrities. Most of the people who oppose that idea assume that the teams would be made up of family members or friends who would give each other “inside” clues (It’s Mom’s favorite flower, etc.). But I think that if they paired players at random from the contestant pool, it’d work. Civilians are usually better at the game than celebrities, simply because they practice more. I’ve noticed MANY more civilians are giving the clues in the WC on The Pyramid than in the previous incarnations. And the risk of blowing $100,000 for someone is a lot of pressure to put on a celebrity.
But many believe that the third bananas from sitcoms can still be a draw..and yes, the 80s Pyramids were loaded with D-list celebrities whose main claim to fame was that they appeared on Pyramid. But, for the most part, those were D-listers who could really play the game!
Those that couldn’t play well usually weren’t asked back.
Fully agree with Myke25 about not having celebrities, I’ve said it many times.
I have no problem with random pairings of people to play, and they could still switch partners with this setup.
I also have no problem with family or friend pairings as the “inside” clues everyone whines about would really not happen all that often to matter or ruin the show.
The TV viewing arena is a very crowded and very competitive landscape now. When you bring back a successful program and do a remake of it nowadays, you get ONE SHOT to make it fly; so, you have to ensure it is a gangbusters hit upon its revival. The new Pyramid did not “wow” people, for a myriad of reasons. I’m rooting for GSN to can this program and move onto something else that they can invest more time and resources into make it a success out of the gate.
Justai–ratings do not equal success in television anymore, profit does. This is a show that can be profitable; and that alone would normally determine if it comes back.
However, as I believe GSN is Sony’s loss leader, it won’t matter if it doesn’t lose enough money.
This version was tad better than The Osmond but really no where near the oringal. First, I miss the contestants returning as they did in the past show.
I also have to agree with the fact that the playing is rotten!. It was seldom in the classic game that they couldn’t pull at least 5 of the 7 answers and here it’s lucky if they get 3 or 4. Where we just much smarter 25 years ago?
Mike Richards is blah also…..Not AS bad as Osmond..but when 3 or 4 points are scored don’t be “Oh that was great”! Dick clark would scorn if they didnt’ get at least 5….
All in All I don’t care if THIS version comes back or not, and I guess neither do many others. I do wish for the OLE show to return however!
It should definitely be renewed. I’m a huge fan of the Dick Clark show, and I like this show even better! True, the celebrities should be a little more Dick Cavett and a little less Aida Tuturro. But I enjoy the challenging questions and answers of the new show. I love the host; he’s cute and quite amiable.
The reason the show is doing poorly in the ratings is the celebrities are atrocious game players. In the Dick Clark years, most rounds ended with both teams close to 20. Now, final scores are commonly below 15–for both teams.
They need to get celebrities who actually understand the game. And the judges need to be consistent. They let way too much go.
The new Pyramid sucks. The celebrities are so awful–they don’t even bother to describe the clues in words; they just pantomime every clue as if it were a game of charades. No thought whatsoever. Nick Turturro is the WORST, he is an absolute MORON!!
The new Pyramid sucks. The celebrities are so awful. Nicholas Tuturro is a complete MORON! So is The guy from the Office (the Latino guy). Danny Pudi also sucks balls.
I agree with luc about the judges too. They let way too much go. Of course, the celebs are so stupid that they’re lucky just to get one or two out of seven.
GSN is pathetic! Legendary games shows that are no longer in production should be left to rest. Dick Clark was the catalyst for the various pyramid versions that he hosted. Dick was the perfect host for the show, and Bill Cullen was his usual fantastic self when he hosted the $25,000 Pyramid from 1974-1979. The major problem today is that there aren’t any great hosts to do the job anymore. All of the truly great hosts are either deceased or retired. So where does that leave reviving a classic game show? Another part of what made the original versions so entertains we’re the celebrity guests. The celebrity guests nowadays are a bunch of who’s that person? And many are inferior game players. Just go to YouTube and watch the old versions of The $10,000, $20,000 and $25,000 Pyramid and you’ll see just how great those old shows really were. After Dick Clark left The 25,000 Pyramid and John Davidson took over as host the ratings plunged and the show ultimately left the air; the Donny Osmond version of Pyramid was ghastly. Needless to say the show expired very quickly. These shows should be left to rest because they were the best in their original form, and that’s how they should be enjoyed.
the old show offered more money – they should use the same format from the original show. also the contestants should come back if they win for that day. Not enough money – not worth watchiing.
It’s better than the awful Donny Osmond version, but the new Pyramid is still very drab. I think it’s been canned from production. I’m a Dick Clark fan and the old Pyramid is the only one that’s got oomph to it.
The problem with the new pyramid show is that though Mike Richards is a good host they should have made some kind of effort to bring back some of the celebrities from the original Dick Clark version Markie Post, Betty White and Martha Smith to just name a few are still working in show business today and were great players of the game and would bring back the excitement of the Dick Clark version.
Having modern celebrities from modern shows who do not know how to play the game well did not help this new version of pyramid.
Bring back some of the original celebrities and then I think you’ll see the ratings good up.
It’s really sad that most of the original CBS $10,000 Pyramid have been destroyed. Also to the fact that most of the ABC version of The $20,000 Pyramid suffered the same fate. Fortunately the good folks on YouTube who’ve uploaded those precious studio masters from the ABC era are available to enjoy. It’s believed that the entire run of the syndicated Bill Cullen era (The $25,000 Pyramid) are all intact. Why won’t GSN run those since they have rights to the Pyramid name? And who could ever forget that great, original theme song to the original version of The $10,000, $20,000, $25,000 and $50,000 Pyramid “Tuning Up” by Ken Alman. GSN PLEASE go back to your archives! You are banishing a large viewing audience with the junk you’re showing so much of. And don’t get me started on the blocks of Family Feud shown day and night! ARRRRGH!
I certainly think it should be returned, like others, I highly anticipated it. I can agree with number 2, Robin, I got so frustrated with those celeberities just thought they were dumb.
Also seems to me it’s time was changed around a few times and I had a hard time finding it. Let’s get it back.
Louiie
yes I like Dick Clark but I was nuts about this version with Mr. Richards. It was exciting and funny. It just makes me sick that this show and Deal and No Deal is off the air. Im so mad right now I could pop and the people I don’t want to see playing the Pyramid or any game again is the cousins, I never wanted to puke so much in my life other than that I would have watched all day long. And to the cousins I dont mean any disrespect, I am sure you are really nice but the way you played the Pyramid was …….whatever description you can use in the negative sense. Please bring back these games.
The Pyramid game show would be more popular if they got celebs that played the game better. Just watched the two episodes shown on April 7, 2013. I’ll bet Dick Clark is spinning in his grace.
I was just watching some of those original era pyramids on YouTube with Dick Clark and Bill Cullen. It sure takes me back to my childhood watching those classics. There will NEVER be another Dick Clark or Bill Cullen. Man, those guys were good. Darn good! That kind of talent doesn’t exist anymore. It really doesn’t. And when a classic game show is revived if the host is running on low octane then the show will bomb.
I can’t believe The Price is Right still has reasonable ratings with Drew Carey being as banal as he is. Drew has his place as a improvisational comedian ( he can be quite comical), though he’s not game show host material.
I wonder if The Pyramid would’ve stuck around longer if someone like Chuck Woolery had been the host? Get some of the celebrity guests out of the past to play (June Lockhart, Betty White, Rob Reiner, Penny Marshall, Billy Crystal, Anita Gillette etc).
Well, I have to say, The Pyramid was at least a good attempt at the original version, but flawed nonetheless. By far the worst version was with Donnie Osmond. Now that was terrible! Everything about Donnie’s pyramid was egregious. Why did that last for 2 seasons?
For now I’ll just go to YouTube and get my fix of Dick and Bill and the great celebrity guests, while Bob Clayton does his announcing , while the smooth sounds of Ken Aldin’s “Tuning Up” delivers the unforgettable theme.