Lionsgate’s Debmar-Mercury To Offer ‘People Puzzler,’ To Stations For Fall 2023

Lionsgate’s Debmar-Mercury will offer Game Show Network’s People Puzzler, hosted by actress, best-selling author, producer and television personality Leah Remini, to TV stations for fall 2023.

Debmar-Mercury is distributing 325 episodes of the game show combining pop culture with fun facts as a back-to-back Monday-Friday strip. It will be sold on an all-barter basis, with the syndicator splitting the national advertising time with stations. People Puzzler, which returned for a third season in August, is one of GSN’s top-rated original game shows. It is produced by Game Show Enterprises, Start Entertainment and People’s parent company, Dotdash Meredith.

Based on the iconic crossword puzzles in People, People Puzzler pits three contestants in a three-round battle requiring them to put their pop culture knowledge to the test. The contestant with the most points then moves into the “Fast Puzzle Bonus Round,” where they have the opportunity to win a cash prize.

Debmar-Mercury Co-Presidents Mort Marcus and Ira Bernstein said: “The biggest ingredients needed for success in television today are high brand awareness and proven talent. With People and Leah Remini, whose audience favorability ratings are through the roof, we have an abundance of both. We believe People Puzzler’s proven ad-friendly format, strong household and adult 25-54 demo performance will attract an entirely new audience to broadcast, while giving stations a tested alternative to pair with originals in this dominant syndication programming genre.”

“Game Show Enterprises makes game shows that lead the industry in quality and volume. There is a strong appetite among TV stations for gameshows and we are happy that People Puzzler will help meet that demand,” added John Zaccario, president, GSN.

Remini, a two-time Emmy winner and Daytime Emmy nominee for Outstanding Game Show Host, is most recognized for her portrayal as Carrie Heffernan on the long-running CBS comedy The King of Queens. She also created, produced and hosted the critically acclaimed documentary series Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath, and most recently appeared as a judge on So You Think You Can Dance.

She is an executive producer of People Puzzler, a production of Game Show Enterprises, with executive producer Rane Laymance, along with Scott St. John and Neal Konstantini for Start Entertainment and Rachel Feinberg for Dotdash Meredith.