GSN Announces Revival of Classic Game Show Split Second

Today, GSN has officially announced a revival of the classic 70s quiz show Split Second. Originally hosted by game show legend Tom Kennedy, and revived in the 80s by TV’s Big Dealer Monty Hall, Split Second is a fast-paced trivia game where three players face off in a variety of trivia challenges. Players answer in the order they buzz in, and points are distributed based on how many players get a question right.

GSN is reviving the show and has announced that America Says host John Michael Higgins is emceeing this program, which we think puts the final nail in the coffin for any new episodes of America Says.

BuzzerBlog has an exclusive look at the rules of the game, which are impressively faithful to the original game. Three players compete in three rounds of play for points. Each question has three possible prompts, and players that buzz in will have a chance to choose one of the prompts to answer. In Round 1, if only one player gets their prompt right, they score 100 points. If two players get their prompts right, they’ll each score 50 points. If all three players get their prompts right, they’ll score 25 points.

In Round 2, the points double: 200, 100, 50. The third round is the Countdown Round, just like the original format. The game then converts players’ scores into an amount of correct prompts answered needed to win the game. The player in first place going into the Countdown Round needs 4 correct responses to win the game. The second place player needs 6, while the third place player needs 8. The player that answers all their required responses first wins the game and $1,000. (In the event of a tie for first place, the tied players will each need 5 correct responses. In the event of a tie for second place, the tied players will each need 6 correct responses.)

The new addition to the show is GSN’s unique bonus round, which if you’ve seen any other GSN shows, you can probably surmise you have to answer a certain amount of questions in 60 seconds to win $10,000. In this case, each question will have two possible prompts, and the player has to answer one of them. If they can answer 7 in 60 seconds, they’ll win an additional $9,000 for a top prize of $10,000.

Fans of the original will probably enjoy this revival, as it’s been a very long time since this format has been attempted, although I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that Split Second is one of the fan favorites played at the 24-Hour Game Show Marathon. We know that episodes are currently being filmed but we don’t know exactly when the show will premiere, outside of “April 2023”. If GSN continues their trends, we’ll probably see a full preview episode on their YouTube before the show premieres. Keep an eye out and let us know what you think!