Flip Side, the new syndicated game show hosted by Jaleel White, will be produced in a cost-sharing partnership between CBS Media Ventures and Game Show Enterprises Studios with both entities sharing distribution windows. TV stations, including anchor group CBS Stations, will air the show’s first run with Game Show Network airing those episodes one week later.
“Flip Side is a project that we have been developing for over a year for the syndication marketplace,” Wendy McMahon, president and CEO of CBS News and Stations and CBS Media Ventures, said in a statement. “Bringing Game Show Enterprises Studios on as a creative partner was an intriguing proposition to us — it creates a new business model for a daily syndicated show and will boost the show’s exposure out of the gate with the second run on Game Show Network. We’re excited to work together to make Flip Side a success on both platforms.”
“We are delighted to partner with CBS Media Ventures in bringing Flip Side to the marketplace and to our viewers at Game Show Network,” added John Zaccario, president of GSN, also in a statement. “CBS Media Ventures understood right away what Game Show Enterprises Studios could add to this creative partnership and to the commercial success of this show.”
Game Show Enterprises Studios also produces People Puzzler, starring Leah Remini, in partnership with Start Entertainment and Dotdash Meredith’s People Magazine. Debmar-Mercury distributes People Puzzler to TV stations in off-network all-barter deals and just renewed the show for a second season.
Syndicators and TV stations are increasingly working with partners to help cover the upfront costs of new shows, such as Judy Justice airing first on Amazon Freevee before being sold to TV stations in all-barter deals. Prior to this, producers frequently sold shows to stations and then to cable and streaming networks in second windows; however, having the production costs covered can be preferable to trying to find new revenue streams on the back end.
Hosted by White (Family Matters), Flip Side is based on a format created by Keller/Noll (Chopped, America Says). The easy-to-play-along game pits two teams of players against each other to guess how they think two different groups of people feel about the same issue. The teams compete for a shot at $10,000 by guessing the top answers based on anonymous surveys.
Jay James, Corin Nelson and Rich Sirop executive produce along with Cleve Keller and Dave Noll (Keller/Noll) and Ken Ross. T. Jones serves as co-executive producer.
