Game Show

Bob Stewart, a television producer who created such popular game shows as "To Tell the Truth," "The $10,000 Pyramid," and the enduring daytime hit "The Price Is Right," has died. He was 91. Stewart died Friday of natural causes at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, said a son, Sande. "He was brilliant at creating game shows that America gravitated to," said Fred Wostbrock, a friend and game-show historian. "Bob was a really bright guy. He saw the commonality in everybody.

Bob Stewart, a television producer who created such popular game shows as "To Tell the Truth," "The $10,000 Pyramid," and the enduring daytime hit "The Price Is Right," has died. He was 91. Stewart died Friday of natural causes at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, said a son, Sande. "He was brilliant at creating game shows that America gravitated to," said Fred Wostbrock, a friend and game-show historian. "Bob was a really bright guy. He saw the commonality in everybody.

Jasmin Bryant, a 34-year-old out-of-work television producer, was checking job listings when she came across an ad soliciting prospective contestants for the Game Show Network's "Catch 21." After reading the ad's hook -- the possibility of winning up to $25,000 -- Bryant was intrigued. "I thought, 'Oh, my God, $25,000 would really help out a lot.' Even after taxes it would help pay for my car, my rent, my insurance, the whole nine yards. I'd be able to fly back East to visit my family for the holidays."

TV game show host Bob Eubanks and his wife, Deborah James, have sold their Westlake Village house for $1.982 million. The Normandy-style home, built in 2006, sits on 3.5 acres at the end of a cul-de-sac. The single-level house features wood and stone floors, custom built-in cabinetry, French doors, an office, four bedrooms and 41/2 bathrooms in 4,972 square feet of living space. The grounds include a swimming pool with spa, a two-story play fort, an outdoor covered loggia, stone walkways and fountains.

TV game show host Bob Eubanks and his wife, Deborah James, have sold their Westlake Village house for $1.982 million. The Normandy-style home, built in 2006, sits on 3.5 acres at the end of a cul-de-sac. The single-level house features wood and stone floors, custom built-in cabinetry, French doors, an office, four bedrooms and 41/2 bathrooms in 4,972 square feet of living space. The grounds include a swimming pool with spa, a two-story play fort, an outdoor covered loggia, stone walkways and fountains.

Allegations that Fox's shelved game show "Our Little Genius" might have been rigged has prompted an inquiry by the Federal Communications Commission into possible violations of federal rules that govern quiz shows. Revelations of the FCC probe follows the News Corp.-owned network's decision last month to yank the highly promoted program from its schedule only a week before it was supposed to premiere. Fox took the unusual step after reality-show titan Mark Burnett, who was producing the program, informed the network that there was a problem with how the young contestants had been coached for the competition.

You wake up early to watch "The $25,000 Pyramid" and everything's excellent for the rest of the morning. "Card Sharks." "The Price is Right." "Super Password." Just excellent. But, by noon, you're in trouble because all they show are soap operas and old movies and the "Newlywed Game" doesn't start until 3. The evening is worse. Catch a little "Jeopardy!" at 7:30, then some "High Rollers." Wait for "Truth or Consequences" at 11:30. There just aren't enough game shows.

"Jeopardy!" champion Ken Jennings and top prize winners from other TV game shows will face off against one another in a prime-time series for the GSN channel, "Grand Slam." The eight-week series, which will premiere Aug. 7, will pit 16 winners from shows such as "Wheel of Fortune," "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" and GSN's own "Lingo" in a contest to win $100,000. Comedian Dennis Miller will host.

Paramount Television Group is investing in a new game show company created by the former management team and employee group of Mark Goodson Productions, the producers of "The Price Is Right," "Family Feud" and a host of other popular game shows. Co-founders of the new company are Jonathan Goodson, the former president and chief executive of Goodson Productions, and Harris Katleman, its former chief operating executive and 13-year head of Twentieth Television.

Baseball has one, of course; so do most other sports, rock 'n' roll and even the beer and trucking industries. Come Saturday, there will also be an American TV Game Show Hall of Fame. The first inductees will be veteran game show hosts Monty Hall of "Let's Make a Deal," Peter Marshall of "Hollywood Squares," Wink Martindale of "Tic Tac Dough" and Hugh Downs of "Concentration."

What would a world without free enterprise look like? The U.S. Chamber of Commerce says the answer is as close as your local theater, where the "The Hunger Games" shows the perils of big government. The dystopian future nation of Panem, in which the movie is set, highlights the dangers of a lack of free trade, innovation and competition, the business group said. That would be economic competition, not the fight-to-the-death contest that gives the blockbuster movie its name.

As anticipation for the opening of "The Hunger Games" reaches a fever pitch, a central element is absent from every trailer, television ad and online video: the games themselves. It's impossible to imagine a commercial for a "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie that doesn't show a single buccaneer or a "Transformers" trailer without any robots. In an unusual and risky strategy, Lionsgate studio has crafted a $45-million marketing campaign that shows none of the titular combat, in which teenagers fight to the death while their futuristic society watches on TV. The stakes for the Santa Monica company could hardly be higher with next Friday's opening.

Tempe, Ariz. -- Shane Demmitt, the Angels' assistant equipment manager and trivia savant, was the featured attraction in Friday morning's daily team meeting, as Manager Mike Scioscia presented him with the Wimbledon-like trophy he received for winning the MLB Network's "Baseball IQ" game show. A large contingent of club officials, fellow clubhouse employees and a handful of players joined Demmitt at a Tempe-area restaurant to watch him beat New York Mets statistical analyst Ben Baumer in the final round, which aired Thursday night.

UNDERRATED Max Von Sydow in "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" : Though much of Stephen Daldry's well-intended adaptation of Jonathan Safran Foer's Sept. 11 recovery novel comes off heavy-handed and a bit precious, this veteran actor adds a grizzled note of genuine humanity as a mysterious figure from young Oskar Schell's past. Von Sydow doesn't speak a word of dialogue, but his warm, quirky performance says more than any other in the film. Blockbuster video stores : With a '90s revival in full swing, there may be no more vivid time capsule of the decade than these blue-and-gold relics, if you can still find one near you. With most rentals a Red Box-fighting 99 cents, it's a surprisingly workable option when all else fails.

Sushil Kumar's job entering data into a computer earns him $120 a month. His 50-year-old home is in serious need of repair. His family owes $8,500. But his life, so similar to the hardscrabble existence of fellow Indians, has taken a decidedly Bollywood turn for the better. The rags-to-riches story that unfolded in the 2008 Oscar-winning film "Slumdog Millionaire" came to life this week when the struggling government clerk from eastern India won $1 million on a TV game show.

A house in Glendale that "Wheel of Fortune" host Pat Sajak and his first wife, Sherrill, once lived in has been redone and flipped back on the market at $699,000. The two-story Craftsman, built in 1911, has been remodeled while retaining much of its period look. Updated rooms include the kitchen, all three bathrooms and the laundry room. Including the master bedroom, which has a walk-in closet and a balcony, there are four bedrooms and a total of 2,600 square feet of living space.

A million-dollar cash prize? Any game show producer can hand out one of those. How about a trip into space? That's what a Russian TV station, Channel One, will offer after paying millions of dollars to reserve a spot with the cash-strapped Russian space agency, BBC News reports. The winner will get a seat on a flight to the International Space Station late next year. The only requirements will be that the contestants are in good health and can speak English. -- Lee Margulies

NBC, which found a hit by premiering "Deal or No Deal" last December when there was relatively little original programming opposing it, is hoping a game show hosted by comedian-magician Penn Jillette can do the same for it this December. In "Identity," a contestant can win up to $500,000 by correctly determining the identities of 12 strangers. The program will air at 8 p.m. Dec. 18-22, following the same weeklong introductory strategy that worked for "Deal or No Deal."

The game-show "Password" premiered in daytime on CBS 50 years ago. Hosted by game-show veteran Allen Ludden — who met his eventual wife, Betty White, when she was guest starring on the series — "Password" arrived on Oct. 2, 1961, and continued weekdays on the network through Sept. 15, 1967. (The nighttime version made its debut Jan. 2, 1966.) The series featured two teams, each consisting of one celebrity player and one contestant. A password was given to one player on the team who would then try to get their partner to figure it out using one-word clues.

Christiane Desroches Noblecourt Pioneering Egyptologist saved antiquities from Aswan flooding Christiane Desroches Noblecourt, 97, a pioneering French Egyptologist who helped salvage Nubia's vaunted antiquities from flooding caused by the construction of the Aswan Dam, died Thursday at a hospital in Epernay, east of Paris, after a stroke. Born Nov. 17, 1913, in Paris, Desroches Noblecourt developed an early passion for Egypt after reading about the discovery of King Tut's tomb in the early 1920s.