GSN had plenty to announce at Tuesday’s upfront, held on a chilly but bright day on the 35th floor of NYC’s Sony Center. First up was GSN president and CEO David Goldhill, who touted the net as “a terrific value to affiliates, with a passionate and engaged audience.” 2013 was GSN’s most-watched ever, reported Goldhill, and in February hit new rating records (up 22 percent year-over-year among P25-54 and 26 percent in W25-54 in total day).
Among the new shows on tap at GSN is Idiot Test, based on the poplar app game, with teams answering rapid-fire questions. Host Ben Gleib put The Chase team, host Brooke Burns and the show’s trivia expert, Mark “The Beast” Labbett, in the hot seat to solve a mind-twister. (“Duh,” said Labett, and pointed to the answer.) Also quizzed: Rebecca Romijn, host of greenlit body painting series Skin Game, and Mind of a Man’s DeRay Davis. The Chase was renewed, along with The American Bible Challenge, which will get a two-hour season premiere.
Dating show It Takes a Church (“the anti-Bachelor,” said EVP of development Amy Introcaso-Davis) will also return, on June 5 at 9p, with church members playing matchmaker to congregants looking for love.
Introcaso-Davis announced a pilot order for App Wars, offering hopeful app creators a chance at stardom, and Say What? (wt), based on the childhood game of telephone.
In development: The Line, a traveling game show that has contestants waiting to answer questions in “The Tent,” and culminates in a live season finale; diet competition Heavy Betters (wt), trivia contest The Tunnel and dating game Star-Crossed Lovers.
