Goin' wild on GSN

You may be bored stiff with all the GSN posts. And I don't blame you. But I can't help myself. So once more about the network's current direction and new programming exec Amy Davis (I'm using what I assume is her married name because what I assume is her maiden name is too easy for me to misspell)...

Best as I can figure, some big classics fans on the GSN Internet boards thought that a very traditional-minded game show person was about to become the network's new programming director. That's why they were posting happy messages on the boards and talking about which old game shows GSN would bring back.

I have no clue if this idea was based on genuine information or was just pleasant fantasy. I've never talked to or even corresponded with GSN president David Goldhill, and I have no idea who he was interviewing for the PD job. I assume he interviewed a number of people and considered many more. But that's just my uninformed opinion. Maybe he really had settled on this very traditional-minded person, whoever that person may be (and assuming that person even exists).

Now that Amy Davis has become the new PD instead, those same classics fans seem to be having nightmares over what she'll do. Again, I have no idea if this fear is based on any real information, or is just a reaction to their favored person not getting the job. But then I have no idea if that “favored person” was interviewed, offered the job, or even existed.

All I can go on is what's been happening with GSN's schedule lately. The undeniable trend has been toward more traditional, less edgy and, yes, older material. This direction runs directly counter to what previous PD Kelly Goode (Carnage, Love Triangle, Improv-a-Ganza, Late Night Liars, etc.) seems to have preferred.

Which may be the real lesson here. We do know from published information in financial statements that Sony assumed day-to-day control of the network earlier this year. The new direction on GSN's schedule followed, and Kelly Goode did not last long as PD under the new regime. Is all this a coincidence? Maybe, but I doubt it.

After all, no PD can fight City Hall for very long. If Goldhill and his corporate superiors at Sony want a more traditional direction for GSN aimed at that now-famous "core audience of adult females", that's what we’ll get. Regardless of who holds the PD job.