ABC has just ordered a revival of The Gong Show, the game show that ran on NBC from 1976-78. Will Arnett will serve as executive producer, The Hollywood Reporter has revealed.
The network has ordered 10 episodes as of now. Taped in front of a live audience, each episode will feature internet talent and performers who are placed before a panel of Hollywood judges who will, of course, judge the contestants – and gong them.
Sony Pictures Television, which produced the original series, will be producing this revival alongside Arnett’s Electric Avenue Productions, Den of Thieves, and Principato Young Entertainment. Arnett will executive produce with Jesse Ignjatovic, Evan Prager, and Peter Principato, with Jared Morell, Jordan Barrow and Marc Forman co-exec producing.
“ABC has tapped into the nostalgia and excitement of primetime game shows,” said Rob Mills, ABC’s senior vp, alternative series, specials and late-night programming. “We are thrilled to add The Gong Show to ABC’s schedule spearheaded by the incomparable Will Arnett.”
“The comedy culture we are living in has finally caught up to The Gong Show, so the timing is perfect,” Holly Jacobs, SPT executive VP, reality and syndication programming, said Monday. “We’ve found just the right partners to bring back this iconic original.”
The Gong Show is the latest game show to get to be revived at ABC, after Celebrity Family Feud, Match Game and $100,000 Pyramid, renewed in August. The talent show genre has found recent success as is evident by NBC’s Little Big Shots.