On The Air: Catch 21 (2008)

You can never keep a good card game down.

Catch 21, airing on Game Show Network (GSN), is a 21st century reincarnation of the popular 1970's series, Gambit, with three individual contestants playing instead of two couples, as in Gambit's 1st run (1972-6).

Catch 21 originally launched in 2008, with actor Alfonso Ribiero (ex-The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Silver Spoons) as host, partnered with Nikki Padilla as the dealer. Four "seasons", spread out over two years (2008-10) ensured it would remain in rerun cycle whenever GSN needed to fill time.

Then, last year, with Ribiero now hosting ABC's America's Funniest Home Videos, GSN decided to bring Catch 21 back. Ribiero found the time to return as host, but now with a new dealer, one who happened to already have some chemistry with Ribiero. That would be Witney Carson, who teamed with Ribiero to win Dancing With The Stars a few years back, a run that took Ribiero back to his Broadway roots ("The Tap Dance Kid").

Clips from the 2008-10 series are only available on YouTube after being recorded on camera phones. Instead, let's take a look at the new, improved (?) Catch 21, which returned last fall. Reruns currently air weekday mornings.



GSN has its own YouTube channel.

Rating: A.