R.I.P. $250,000 Game Show Spectacular

I guess it wasn't that great an idea after all. I thought it would be.

With no publicity at all, the Las Vegas Hilton shut down the $250,000 Game Show Spectacular, a daytime production featuring a rotation of hosts including Chuck Woolery, Jamie Farr and Bob Eubanks. We had Chuck and Bob on "The Strip" last fall; I only found out that this show was no more when I tried this week to reach Jamie Farr for a future episode.

Ira Sternberg, the Hilton's spokesman, said the producers of the show, which opened on Oct. 8 and lasted about 6.5 months, pulled the plug. It was apparently a four-wall deal, meaning the producers were essentially renting the room.

There are no plans for another daytime show right now, Sternberg said. Having a show in that room during the day created conflicts with Barry Manilow and other performers who needed to rehearse for their nighttime gigs. And speaking of nighttime gigs, the band Phoenix, featuring Aerosmith guitarist Jimmy Crespo, performs every Thursday in that same theater starting tomorrow night. Tickets are only $19.99.

And since I know you're wondering: Nobody ever won that $250,000 prize. Bummer.

Game Show Bafflement

I’m still a fan of the idea of the $250,000 Game Show Spectacular at the Las Vegas Hilton, an hour-plus afternoon program hosted by one of three TV legends, Chuck Woolery, Bob Eubanks or Jamie Farr, in which audience members get to hop on stage and win prizes for playing a variety of games, many of which were seen in some form on old-time TV shows. I’m just a little concerned about some of execution of it.

Is it really smart, for instance, to have a game in which three husbands must try to guess their wives’ weights? Yes, they do this. Then they weigh these women on stage -- the audience, thankfully, isn't able to see the actual tonnage -- and the host tells everyone which of the men came closest or is, per the game, the "most honest." Now, I have three sisters and a mother, none of whom would have ever let me see their scale results in private, much less on a Vegas stage!

The show I saw, the third woman was pretty hefty and the poor schlub she’s married to didn’t know what to say to ease her inevitable humiliation. How long until some modest woman runs off stage in tears? Why not, if they're so committed to this idea, switch it around and have the women guess their men's weights? I doubt the men would be nearly as embarrassed.

There’s also a version of the Newlywed Game in which husbands are sent away while wives are asked questions and then the husbands must answer the same way. In a reminder that this is a live show in Vegas in 2007 and not the quaint TV show of the last millennium, the first woman’s answer to “Where is the oddest place you and your husband has made whoopee?” was, uh, a sex club in New York City. And the guy came on stage and confirmed this! Woo hoo! The Hilton has outed swingers! Fun! Or something.

Finally, the press material claims they give away prizes to 50 audience members. It may have just been the show I saw, but they only had 40 on stage. The prizes were good ones, though, mostly money for the winners and tickets and gift certificates to Hilton shops and restaurants for the losers. Not a bad deal.

And one more thing: I wonder if, in this day and age, they might not invite same-sex couples up to play these games as well?

Interrupting the Fossett Stream For Vegas News!

I had to break in amid my ongoing chronicle of my Minden-Fossett adventures to send out a hearty kudos to the Las Vegas Hilton for the absolutely ingenious show concept they just announced. And I am totally, completely serious.

The Hilton launches a twice-daily regular live game show "The $250,000 Ultimate Game" on Oct. 8 with -- get this -- legendary game-show hosts Chuck Woolery, Bob Eubanks and Jamie Farr!!! OK, Jamie Farr isn't a legendary game-show host but he's appeared on a lot of them and he's a former wacky sitcom sidekick who has not gone on a vicious racist rant, so that's fun! The three of them will rotate as hosts for the show, which will cost $42 per ticket and will run at 1:30 pm and 3:30 pm with a total of nine shows. I know, that math doesn't add up right, but I'm going by what they sent me and more details aren't on LVHilton.com yet.

Also unclear is what the game itself will be, but the release promises that an audience member will have the chance at each show to win $250K. If he/she does, all the audience members also get $100. They're also promising more than 50 winners per show and at least $50,o00 given away each week. That works out to an average of at least $111 per winner.

This is genius. I knew that "The Price Is Right Live" at Bally's has been doing decent business, but it's amazing that nobody's figured out until now that there's nothing Vegas visitors like more than to WIN MONEY. And that's a pretty decent gamble when you break down the numbers: $42 to be in an audience of, let's say, 300 people, 50 of whom will leave with an average of $111? You do the math; I can't. I'm still trying to comprehend what a 10,000-square-mile search area looks like.

Not to mention, $42 to see a live game show with a reasonable chance of winning something and with these guaranteed-to-be-fun stars? That's even a good entertainment bargain.

Now why don't they do this at night, too?