‘Tic Tac Dough’ Revival, ‘Beat the Bridge’ Adaptation Among New Originals Set for Game Show Network

Michael Schneider
·3 min read
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Game Show Network is bulking up its stable of original series, adding three new strip series to its lineup. As announced on Tuesday morning as part of its 2024 upfronts pitch to advertisers, Game Show Network revealed it has ordered a new version of classic gamer “Tic Tac Dough,” this time hosted by Brooke Burns (“Master Minds,” “The Chase”), as well as a U.S. version of the U.K. format “Beat the Bridge,” to be hosted by Cameron Mathison (“General Hospital,” “Home & Family”).

Also at GSN, the network will air episodes of the recently announced syndicated game show “Flip Side,” hosted by Jaleel White (“Family Matters”). News comes as Game Show Network also recently launched the comedy gamer “Blank Slate,” hosted by Mario Lopez, in January, as well as new episodes of “Split Second,” hosted by John Michael Higgins, and “Switch,” hosted by Jeff Hephner.

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“Beat the Bridge” will premiere in June, with “Tic Tac Dough” in August and “Flip Side” in September.

“In keeping with Game Show Network’s strategy, we continue to produce originals to keep our pipeline fresh, which resonates with our viewers,” said Stuart Zimmerman, executive vice president, ad sales, Sony Pictures Advertiser Sales. “As the overall marketplace faces headwinds, Game Show Network has weathered the storm better than most of its counterparts in both viewership and distribution. Our audience is highly engaged with our programs and our client’s commercials are viewed in a trusted environment.”

“Tic Tac Dough” hasn’t aired on TV since 1990; it previously aired on NBC in the 1950s, CBS briefly in 1978 before moving to syndication. (A previous attempt to revive the show in 2021, with Tom Bergeron as host, didn’t move forward.)

The show, which was created by Robert Noah, comes from NBCUniversal’s library; this edition is produced by Village Roadshow Television, along with Game Show Enterprises Studio. Like the original, “two contestants compete to place three of their marks in a row on the giant trivia board. Both players must try to avoid the dragon, who lurks to steal their turns and stands in their path to victory. After three rounds, the winning player moves on to face the dragon in the grand prize round, where the dragon moves strategically on the board to block the player’s ability to make three-in-a-row and take home $10,000.”

Harry Friedman is EP on “Tic Tac Dough,” along with NBC’s Brenda Milinkovic and Village Roadshow’s Shannon Perry; Rane Laymance is also executive producer with Sabrina Hybel Snow as co-executive producer.

“Beat the Bridge” is based on the BBC series “Bridge of Lies” and comes from format creator STV Studios, with Game Show Enterprises Studios producing for GSN. Ed Egan is executive producer and Sabrina Hybel Snow is co-executive producer, while Josephine Brassey, Gary Chippington and David Mortimer are EPs for STV Studios.

Here’s the explainer for “Beat the Bridge: “An enormous interactive bridge dares players to cross by stepping on the right answers to challenging trivia questions. Each step forward puts money in the team’s bank, with bonus money for each successful crossing. However, the team gets to keep the money only if it can ‘beat the bridge’ by returning one of its players back across before time expires in an exciting end game.”

CBS Media Ventures distributes “The Flip Side,” which follows two teams of players as they guess how two different groups of people feel about the same issue. Teams choose from multiple choice answers, and the right answer wins the pot. Game Show Enterprises Studios also produces, with Jay James, Corin Nelson and Rich Sirop as EPs, as well as Cleve Keller and Dave Noll (of Keller/Noll, which created the format) and Ken Ross as EPs.

 

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