NOTE: As has become our custom since we launched this endeavor, we are devoting the last ten days of the year to reprising what we consider to the best of what we’ve mused about in the 355 preceding trips around the sun. But since we’re evolving and we pride ourselves on having a foundation steeped in the reality of actual numbers, as a new wrinkle we’re making our choices with an emphasis on which were outlier performers in terms of Instagram and Substack views.
Last week, among other far less consequential events in the real world, a brand new syndicated game show called SCRAMBLED UP premiered. You’re forgiven if it was something you missed. In fact, if you noticed it at all you’re likely an insomniac, a TV addict or, more than likely, both.
Creatively, SCRAMBLED UP is a pleasant little half-hour (well, 19:40 after commercials) that arguably could appeal to fans of timewaster games like JUMBLE, WORDLE or even SCRABBLE which involve moving letters around in one’s head to form winning words. As I learned during my development days with those exact or similar formats–and me a huge fan of them anyway–I learned first-hand it’s anything but a universal skill set, and anyone who lacks the ability is only nominally interested in watching someone else do it. For that reason alone, I’d be bearish on the likelihood that this was ever going to be even close to a breakout show. Still, I wanted to at least sample it, fan and nerd that I am.
Imagine my surprise when my DIRECTV search mode couldn’t find a single telecast anywhere. It was only after a deep-dive search for the show’s website (a Google search on title alone will merely take you to several pages of articles just announcing the launch) that one could even find an episode, and it was there I learned that the show’s single clearance in the Los Angeles market was on something called KCAL +. That’s a digital channel extension of a duopoly channel that I believe might be available on cable and via antenna but is nowhere to be found on my provider or even Paramount Plus. No, I didn’t know it existed until that point either.
But at least those that can receive it can watch it weedays at the reasonable hour of 1 pm. New Yorkers need to rise at 4 am to have that option on WCBS’ sister station WLNY; CBS Philadelphia gives one the option of two different episodes before (1:30 am) or after (4:30 am) a night watchperson’s catnap. And at least those are actual D-1 signals readily available anywhere. Chicagolanders need to seek out something called WMEU. a low-power companion to upstart independent WCIU that’s apparently another D-2 outlet.
In the wild world of syndication, these sorts of time slots are referred to as “phantom clearances”. In the struggle to reach a national lineup large enough to attract advertisers. distributors have employed these kinds of tricks to get to a coverage percentage that will satisfy their demands for decades. In overcrowded marketplaces dating back to the ’80s, many shows accepted graveyard time slots with the pious hope of upgrade; the first season of JEOPARDY! clawed its way out of a post-David Letterman slot in New York to find its eventual post-sunrise slot on WABC which it still has four decades later. Most of the others who tried that approach never even came close. But at least they had some more viable slots in quality time periods on full-power stations in markets that provided overnight ratings so that there would be some indication of the show’s potential.
And since cable networks began to become acceptable co-minglings in syndication, there was always that fallback to ensure sufficient coverage and an opportunity for shows (and more importantly their ads) to be seen. Indeed, I was part of plenty of those collaborative efforts as both seller and buyer. I get how these games are played.
Take a look at the SCRAMBLED UP lineup. To even a less educated eye, what you see is a compendium of phantom clearances in all but the smallest and least consequential markets. And take it from this more educated eye–this is a recipe for disaster.
Many of these time slots and stations are similar to the ones I audited when a show called LET’S ASK AMERICA that had been created for the Scripps television stations as a replacement for WHEEL OF FORTUNE or JEOPARDY! when they opted not to pay the king’s ransom that CBS Distribution was seeking was offered around the country. During the waning days of my tenure with Game Show Network I had seen enough of the show’s then 300-ish episodes and encouraging ratings in a couple of the stronger Scripps markets to make a deal for the cable network window with the show’s national distributor MGM/UA. What I didn’t count on was my superiors neglecting to even watch a single minute of any of the sample episodes MGM/UA provided us several months earlier before we premiered the show on our air. And let’s just say their esteemed esoteric take was not positive. I believe the term “what the f–k were you thinking” was sneeringly used in several meetings that followed the disappointing ratings that premiere night–not that GSN had all that many brighter spots at the time, including the relatively expensive originals my superiors were obsessively championing.
I was ordered to immediately downgrade the show to a graveyard slot, an option we negotiated in case the show was a turkey–though no one reasonably expected that would happen after one night. Needless to say, the MGM folks weren’t happy, and threatened a lawsuit. They were not making national ratings available publicly at that point, a tactic many syndicators employ when they know their show isn’t doing well and want to delay the inevitable as much as possible. But we had the option to purchase our own proprietary ratings run (as does any Nielsen client), which includes a list of stations and time slots that contribute to the number.
What we saw was a lot of call letters and time slots very similar to what SCRAMBLED UP went forward with, as well as our overlay. A whole bunch of secondary digital stations with similar availability handicaps in major cities to boot. All of that added up to a 0.06 national HH rating, and by extrapolation the local station component was a rounded 0.02.
SCRAMBLED UP doesn’t have a deal with GSN of its own. Which is curious considering its producers, Dave Noll and Cleve Keller, have previously supplied them with one of their few successful strips of recent years, AMERICA SAYS. And they’ve somehow used a combination of determination and grit to sell some 30-odd shows to various cable networks, most notably the Food Network hit CHOPPED. When one reads Noll’s LinkedIn posts or listens to his podcast one gets a sense of someone with drive and ambition akin to an evangelical priest. When you merely have to convince one end user for a shot, that’s arguably an effective M.O. When you have to find a couple of hundred end users, the odds are heavily stacked against you. And it’s pretty darn evident that in this case no bookie anywhere on this planet would sell you a ticket against these kinds of odds.
If you’re a content creator who’s hell bent on getting something out there, it might be argued that finding a sucker willing to offer it for you and throw a few shekels your way is a win. The sucker in this case appears to be a company called Big Fish Entertainment, who had previously rolled out such little fish like CUTLER’S COURT, CELEBRITY PAGE and RELATIVE JUSTICE to stations. Its principal is someone named David Bulhack, described in a press release as someone who previously served as GM/SVP Sales for IMG, where he spent a decade overseeing a diverse portfolio of syndicated properties and programming. I would have provided an image of what the seemingly appropriately named Bulhack looked like, but even his LinkedIn and IMDb pages don’t provide one. Color me surprised.
It sounds like the checks for Keller/Noll might clear, but no one can be totally sure. One can only hope they made sure to be paid upfront in cashier’s checks before they commenced production on 160 original episodes–a hefty order in any marketplace, especially one this fractionalized.
But in a bigger picture, this sort of approach is to me remarkably short-sighted. If even a normally cooperative GSN didn’t think this show was worth their while from producers they’ve previously supported, that’s a signpost. If even a company like CBS which supports other first-run game shows such as the ones they produce like FLIP SIDE and THE PERFECT LINE (both of which also air on GSN) and Byron Allen’s venerable FUNNY YOU SHOULD ASK with actual time slots on actual stations and fails to provide even a equivalent baseline support to this show, that’s a signpost as well.
And based on the track records of Bulhack’s previous syndication staples, I truly wonder where he’s getting the money to keep this Big Fish afloat. I worked with a similarly sized company shortly after my parting with GSN that turned out it was deeply involved in a Ponzi scheme that was ripping off even the relatives of its principal owner. The last word I had on the whereabouts of this alleged heir to an aerospace company’s fortunes was that she and her boyfriend were gallabanting around Dubai, and I’d be among the last to know since she wasn’t able to cajole what she demanded from me and my family to remain part of her venture during my our brief collaboration.
It’s experiences like this that drag down what’s left of that end of the industry and certainly should give some caution to those who might attempt to wade into this cesspool at some future point. In a world where uploading videos to YouTube often produce far greater viewership and often even monetization, I’d strongly advise folks like Keller/Noll to take that route going forward.
Or just simply heed the advice of a far more successful producer I recently worked with named Norman Lear. When something he launched was a bomb (and yes, it happened to him a few times) he’d tug on his omnipresent hat and say “Over and next”. Judging by the boys’ penchant for ideas, there’s gotta be something else cooking in their kitchen. This scramble sure looks like it’s already been chopped.
Until next time…
POSTSCRIPT: We learned through back channels that the show has been averaging a 0.1 national rating since launch, which given this lineip and our experience we’d lay a nickel on the likelihood that’s significantly rounded up from something in the neighborhood of a 0.045. (Not that anyone in what’s left of the syndication world does this any more, but the fact that even that is more than double what LET’S ASK AMERICA was able to eke out without a national network overlay should have been seen as mildly encouraging). Perhaps more telling is the fact that after failures at both the local (the CBS-owned stations lost the “plus” extensions of their morning and evening newscasts when the “new breed” abruptly cancelled them) and national (GSN’s two “big bets” of 2025, TIC TAC DOUGH and BINGO BLITZ, were removed from the schedule due to underperformance) SCRAMBLED UP didn’t even get a shot at an upgrade by default. While no official cancellation has been announced, what little we’ve heard from Dave and Cleve surrounds the return to production for new episodes of AMERICA SAYS! which GSN is scheduled to debut at some point in 2026. I think you can guess when it comes to the chances for this to follow suit what side of the table I’d plunk a second nickel down onto.
As to exactly where that audience might otherwise be, I cannot more strongly recommend what THE NEW YORK TIMES’ John Koblin dropped yesterday. We will definitely be following this phenomenon in greater detail moving forward, and I would urge anyone who still thinks game shows and soap operas define a housewife’s life to do same.