‘Scrabble’ Game Show Picked Up By The CW As ‘Trivial Pursuit’ Moves Up The Board

The CW is officially in the Scrabble and Trivial Pursuit business.

The network has closed deals on a pair of game show bases on the classic board games.

Both have been in the works for some time; Deadline reported on Trivial Pursuit being in the works last summer. The CW declined to comment but an official announcement is expected shortly.

They both come from Hasbro Entertainment, Lionsgate Alternative Entertainment, which acquired the eOne assets from Hasbro last year, and The CW. Scrabble is also produced by Mattel Television Studios.

There are no hosts currently attached to either project, but LeVar Burton has previously been attached to the adaptation.

Scrabble and Trivial Pursuit are the latest unscripted orders from The CW’s reality chief Heather Olander, who last year told Deadline that she was looking to launch a gameshow with “some IP along with it”.

Both games have been adapted for the screen before. Freeform precursor The Family Channel ran a Trivial Pursuit series hosted by Wink Martindale in 1993/94 that was loosely based on the game, while a syndicated version, Trivial Pursuit: America Plays ran in 2008/09.

Meanwhile, Scrabble ran on NBC between 1984 and 1990 and again in 1993. A different version, Scrabble Showdown, launched on The Hub, the Hasbro and Warner Bros. JV, in 2011.

The CW’s unscripted slate currently includes FBoy Island and spinoff FGirl Island as well as The Great American Bakeover, The Force from Jersey Shore creator SallyAnn Salsano and Patti Stanger: Millionaire Matchmaking.

This is on top of long-running shows such as Whose Line Is It Anyway?, Penn & Teller: Fool Us and Masters of Illusion.