Drew Barrymore will serve as the centerpiece of an updated version of “Hollywood Squares,” which CBS has picked up to air in January. The Eye network announced the reimagined “Hollywood Squares,” with Barrymore as the center square, on Thursday as it unveiled its schedule for the 2024-2025 TV season. CBS Entertainment president Amy Reisenbach and CBS president/CEO George Cheeks revealed the news at a news conference with reporters.
The gamer will run on Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET starting in January, paired with “The Price is Right at Night” (hosted by another Drew — Drew Carey, that is) at 8 p.m. and a new season of “Raid the Cage,” hosted by Damon Wayans, Jr. and co-host Jeannie Mai, at 9 p.m. The three shows will air during a midseason break for CBS’ regular Wednesday schedule of “Survivor” and “The Summit” (fall) and “The Amazing Race” (spring).
Jesse Collins (for Jesse Collins Entertainment) and Barrymore (via her Flower Films) are the producers on this new “Hollywood Squares.” Much of the format remains the same: “The ‘board’ for the game is a vertical stack of open-faced cubes, each occupied by a celebrity seated at a desk and facing the contestants. The celebrities are asked questions and the contestants judge the legitimacy of their answers to win the game.”
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Barrymore hosts the first-run syndicated talk show strip “The Drew Barrymore Show,” which CBS stations air in major markets, for CBS Media Ventures.
“Drew’s already a part of our CBS family,” Reisenbach said. “She’s adorable, she’s engaging, she’s going to bring her friends under the squares. We think this is going to be a great 10 o’clock show for us. We now have a really solid Wednesday night of game shows to bridge the ‘Survivor’ seasons.”
Added Cheeks: “We’re reimagining ‘Hollywood Squares.’ We’re going to be true to to the the old school elements, but like having an anchor of somebody with that personality, those relationships, and just someone who actually is so such a diehard fan of that franchise. We’re super excited about her in the center square.”
It’s actually been two decades since “Hollywood Squares” ran in its regular form, with a syndicated version hosted by Tom Bergeron from 1998 to 2004. The series originated on NBC, where it aired in daytime from 1966 to 1980 with host Peter Marshall. A later syndicated version, hosted by John Davidson, ran from 1986 to 1989. In recent years, Paramount cable networks have run off-shoots of the format, including “Hip Hop Squares” on MTV2 and VH1, and “Nashville Squares” on CMT.
