NEWS: Game Shows, Sheridan, McDonough, P&G, Snow

B&C: Price Is Right for Game Shows
Soap operas typically remain in production year-round, driving costs up. The downward trend for soaps sent network execs looking for new models for daytime. CBS found an old one instead by re-imagining PRICE IS RIGHT. “As we looked to expand our daytime ratings, one of the first places I looked was at this core business that we've had on the air for 38 years,” says Barbara Bloom, CBS' senior VP of daytime.

LET'S MAKE A DEAL, hosted by Wayne Brady, has improved its time period in households by 13% (1.7 versus 1.5), in adults 18-34 by 67% (0.5 versus 0.3) and women 18-34 by 20% (0.6/0.5).

CBS' success with game shows may indicate that the network is leaning toward picking up a third game to replace AS THE WORLD TURNS, but Bloom remains mum on what will replace the soap.

DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES alums get TV roles
Former HOUSEWIVES star Nicollette Sheridan is set as the lead opposite Paul Kaye in Ant Hines' comedy pilot presentation for CBS. Meanwhile, Neal McDonough, who played Sheridan's psycho husband who ultimately led to her character's demise in a freaky car accident, will star opposite Virginia Madsen on ABC's dramedy series SCOUNDRELS.

P&G and Wal-mart team up for a second movie
Two months before the premiere of NBC's two-hour movie/backdoor pilot Secrets of the Mountain, the network has teamed with Procter & Gamble and Wal-Mart for another project, The Jensen Project.

ABC Family Is Coming of Age
A college-based guerilla marketing program created at the network called Fambassadors—which launched, perhaps not coincidentally, at the same time as the current crop of hit originals—is now catching the attention of other Disney divisions. The ABC broadcast network is among the Disney companies thinking about adopting the program to promote its own fare.

Snow causes more CORRIE disruption
Filming for Norris Cole's new CORONATION STREET storyline was yesterday halted due to snow, it has been confirmed. A location shoot in the Yorkshire Moors for scenes involving Norris and his admirer, Mary Taylor, was abandoned after poor weather conditions made it too difficult to film. Norris's new Misery-style plotline sees Mary holding the newsagent captive in a remote cottage near Haworth after they go off on holiday together.