CANDY CRUSH TO BE A $1 MILLION GAME SHOW ON CBS.

- CBS has ordered CANDY CRUSH, a new one-hour, live action game show series based on the globally renowned mobile game franchise. CBS, Lionsgate (NYSE:LGF) and King will join together on the new format created and executive produced by Matt Kunitz that will be distributed domestically by CBS Television Distribution and internationally by Lionsgate. 

In the game Candy Crush Saga, players match colorful candies in combinations of three or more to win Candy Crush Saga and its sister title, Candy Crush Soda Saga, are two of the top 10 grossing mobile games in the U.S. On average, 18 billion game rounds are played every month around the world.*

points, defeat obstacles and progress through more than 2,000 levels.

In the series, the game that has become a worldwide phenomenon comes to life as teams of two people use their wits and physical agility to compete on enormous, interactive game boards featuring next generation technology to conquer CANDY CRUSH and be crowned the champions. A host will be announced at a later date.

"We are huge fans of Candy Crush and, like so many others, we know the 'rush' of advancing to the next level of the game," said Glenn Geller, President, CBS Entertainment.  "We're excited to work with Lionsgate and King to adapt one of the world's most popular and entertaining game franchises for television and make it available to its massive, passionate fan base who can watch and play along at home."

"The Candy Crush franchise is a world-renowned property, so when the head of our interactive and games division, Peter Levin, brought this IP to Lionsgate, we instantly knew it would make an incredibly visual, physical and fun TV program," said Kevin Beggs, Chairman, Lionsgate Television Group. "CBS is a leader in unscripted television, which makes it the ideal home for CANDY CRUSH, and we're very happy to have Matt shepherding the production as we partner with the team at King on this series with the tremendous second-screen potential."

"We have a very entrepreneurial culture at Lionsgate, so we look for awesome worldwide IP like Candy Crush and work together across divisions to bring it to fans on every platform possible. Everyone who has played it knows that Candy Crush is an exciting, visual switcher game with great characters, and Matt and our alternative television team are working closely with Sebastian Knutsson and his creative team at King to bring it to life on CBS," said Peter Levin, President, Interactive Ventures and Games for Lionsgate, and executive producer on the series. Levin worked with Striker Entertainment's Russell Binder, King's licensing agent in the U.S., to facilitate licensing Candy Crush IP for this television show.

"The Candy Crush franchise lends itself perfectly to the kind of larger-than-life, physical game shows that I love to produce and CBS is the perfect home for it," said executive producer Matt Kunitz ("Wipeout," "Fear Factor"). "As a Candy Crush Saga player myself, I am excited to amp up the action and visuals in our huge Candy Crush Arena."

"The Candy Crush franchise has been loved by players around the world on mobile so it's very exciting to be working with Matt and the team to bring the fun and challenge of theCandy Crush games to television. We hope our players will be entertained by what is set to be a high-energy, challenging game show," said Sebastian Knutsson, Chief Creative Officer, King, and executive producer of CANDY CRUSH.

CANDY CRUSH will be produced by Pulse Creative in association with Lionsgate Television, King Ltd. and CBS Television Studios. Matt Kunitz, Peter Levin, Russell Binder, Nicki Sheard, VP Brand at King, and Sebastian Knutsson will serve as executive producers.  Knutsson is King's Chief Creative Officer and is one of the founders of the company.  He created Candy Crush Saga.

*Candy Crush Saga average monthly game rounds as of Sept. 2016.

WILL TAGS SUCCEED, WHERE TRACKS FAILED?

GSN'S NEWEST HIT GAME SHOW?: THE NERVE!

CELEBRITY Q and A: SEAN HAYES.

Data Hard: What will the cash grand prize be on your NBC game? Can U avoid the pitfalls of over so-called celeb games?

Will and Grace's Sean Hayes: Actually, I think we're gonna shoot for the pitfalls. LOL. Of course, we're gonna try and bring some fun TV, back to prime time.

REESE WITHERSPOON GETS TO GET WALKED ON, IN HOLLYWOOD.

FOX TV ASKS- CAN PLAYERS KEEP A MILLION DOLLARS?

FACE THE CREATIVE BLACK HOLE, ON FOX'S STUPID BUT FUN NEW GAME SHOW.

EXPOSE: CAN CROSSWORDS BE SAVED AND BEING INSIDE THE BOX JUST MIGHT WORK.

Program Partners confirmed, the firm has plum run out of money for producing- the quick and smart quiz show, Merv Griffin's Crosswords. Even though the game reached its target audience of 1 million+ younger viewers, the show burned through many rules changes, that ate up the show's budget and Merv's company refused to add any more cash to the producer's till.

This left stations that renewed it with two options: air reruns until 2009 (which it is already doing) or air reruns of pretty good Canadian show quizzer called Inside the Box.

I've seen the clips of Box on You Tube and they are awesome, its like Remote Control as 20 Questions. If the producers were smart they would take the GSN route and hire a crew, U.S. Host and American budget plus U.S. contestants and shoot on their Canadian set, as a on-air dry run. If it works well, as the GSN found out with Lingo and That's the Question, they could have a bona-fide hit on their hands.

As for Crosswords, I'd suggest reaching back to the golden age of TV and hiring a deep pocketed, single sponsor to underwrite the show. Microsoft would be perfect, as they could give away XBox 360s (as parting gifts) and get plugs all show along (Vista Crossword Extra and the Excel Crossword Getaway.) Yes, this would mean selling the show out to a perceived evil from the audience. Still, this would only be temporally until the firm gets on its feet.

PRES. BUSH DECIDES TO DESTROY DEAL OR NO DEAL, AS BADLY AS HE DID IRAQ.

DON'T FORGET THE LYRICS MC SINGS THE TUNE OF DIVORCE.

Wayne Brady is filing against, his one-time better half- Mandie last Friday. They've been unionized for seven years, & share a four year old daughter called Malie, which in Hawaiian symbolizes the leaf found in most flower leis, departing the plane at the airports.

Both have requested to pay their own legal bills, but for the sake of tradition- the wife is asking for spousal support from the signing game show host's coffers.Brady's new prime-time, reality game commences July 11Th at 9:30PM ET/8:30 Central.