To think this all started with a pilot produced for CBS by Merrill Heatter & Bob Quigley in 1965.
In 2025, Hollywood Squares is coming home.
The series' latest revival begins in January, in primetime, and, following the current trend, in a hour-long format that the franchise hasn't used since the ill-fated Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour (1983-4) for NBC. Actress-turned-talk show host Drew Barrymore will occupy the center square, with former NFL player-turned-sportscaster Nate Burleson (CBS Mornings, The NFL Today) as moderator.
Burleson, it seems, is obsessed with copying the career trajectory of Michael Strahan (Fox NFL Sunday, Good Morning America, The $100,000 Pyramid), the only difference being that Burleson has no acting credits----yet (Strahan fronted a short-lived Fox sitcom).
The downside is that the plan is for Squares to air at 10 pm (ET), starting January 29, meaning CBS wants this to be more ribald and rowdy than ever. The original series' primetime iteration on NBC was usually around 8:30-9:00 on a Friday or Thursday night.
CBS-Paramount is hoping this sticks, after the flop that was Nashville Squares in 2019 for CMT, and 2 iterations of Hip Hop Squares between 2012 and 2019.
Stay tuned.
And the late, slightly lamented "Celebrity Squares" on VH1 and BET in 2023-24, essentially "Hip Hop Squares" with a somewhat broader pool of Black entertainers and a decent host in DC Young Fly. It was a bit too steeped in "the culture" that I barely knew what they were asking about, but my inner scholar appreciated the "Is the Math Mathin'" questions involving some tricky equations, most expertly solved by the Squares. Bottom line: it kept the classic format and gave me some solid material to add to my pop culture bucket list.
ReplyDeleteI forgot about that one. Like Nashville Squares & Hip Hop Squares, it was aimed at a specific audience.
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