Crazy idea

Readers of this blog know that I've long wanted Buzzr to emerge from the oldies ghetto.

So while I was watching the diginet today, I got a crazy idea. Why doesn't Sony lease a few of the old GSN originals to Buzzr? Right now the eps are only accumulating dust on Sony's shelf. The company might as well make a few bucks off them. Even Buzzr's hardest-core oldies freaks might not mind seeing good shows like Whammy, Lingo or Russian Roulette. In fact, these shows are getting pretty old themselves, but at least they would take a few years off Buzzr's hoary schedule. And I doubt that the leases would break Buzzr's admittedly fragile bank.

A couple leases already go the other way, as Fremantle rents out Family Feud and Match Game to GSN. Sony might be fearful of building up a competitor to GSN, but a minor diginet like Buzzr wouldn't suddenly turn into a fearsome threat with several slightly newer shows.

Buzzr already runs Supermarket Sweep eps that are about as old as the three GSN originals I mentioned. The schedule would not immediately leap into - heaven forbid! - very recent shows. Why not give it a try? Sony would get a few more dollars, and Fremantle might get a few more viewers beyond the usual handful of oldies fanatics.

When casual game show fans happen across Buzzr, they almost always see something that looks (and is) really, really old. Sure, for the oldies hardcores that's a feature and not a bug. But for everybody else it's a trip to a dusty and rather frayed-looking museum. Why not freshen up the product line a little - at what would probably be a very affordable price - and try for a something more than an antiquarian audience?

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