Bob Boden


Bob Boden is an American television producer. Known for his work in game shows and reality television, he is the Executive Vice President of Production and Development for Byron Allen's company Entertainment Studios.
Shows he has developed, supervised and produced include Funny You Should Ask, Family Feud, The $25,000 Pyramid, Press Your Luck, Card Sharks, Home & Family, Family Game Night, The Game of Life, Scrabble Showdown, To Tell the Truth, Don't Forget the Lyrics, Match Game, Solitary, Penn & Teller's Sin City Spectacular, American Idol Extra, Househusbands of Hollywood, The Academy, Paradise Hotel 2, The FOX Reality Channel Really Awards, Lingo, Friend or Foe?, Whammy! The All-New Press Your Luck, Russian Roulette, Cram, Greed, and The Chase, which received a Daytime Emmy nomination.

Early life and career

Boden was born on 21 January 1959 in The Bronx, New York, the only child of Hannah and Kenneth Boden, who were both registered nurses. He grew up in Flushing, Queens, where he graduated from John Bowne High School and moved to Los Angeles, where he graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1981.
He began his work in television as a cue card associate for Barney McNulty, then as a production assistant on the game show Temptation, before working at Paramount Television in research. This led him to CBS, where he eventually was selected for the management training program, which resulted in a job at CBS as program executive in daytime programming. In this role he oversaw shows such as Press Your Luck, The $25,000 Pyramid, and Card Sharks. He left CBS to work as director of development for Barry & Enright Productions, then moved to ABC as director of Daytime Development, then to Buena Vista Productions, and as VP, Development at Mark Goodson Productions. He helped launch the Game Show Network in 1994 and later served as programming chief, from 2001-2003.
His later executive positions included VP, Daytime Programming for The Family Channel, VP, Development and Production for FX Networks, Sr. VP, Production and Development for dick clark productions, Sr. VP, Programming for the FOX Reality Channel, and Sr. VP, Reality and Game Shows, for Hasbro Studios.

Production work

''Greed''

In 1999, Boden was asked to co-create a new game show for FOX with Dick Clark. He then served as showrunner, executive producer and writer on Greed. The show aired on FOX and was hosted by Chuck Woolery.

''The Chase''

Boden is also known for The Chase, an adaptation of the British game show on ITV, where he was showrunner and Executive Producer. This version aired on Game Show Network and featured British "chaser" Mark Labbett, and host Brooke Burns. The Chase was nominated at the 41st Daytime Emmy Awards for the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Game Show. Professional sports bettor James Holzhauer appeared on the show in 2014, years before his appearance on Jeopardy!. The Chase regained attention with Holzhauer's appearance on Jeopardy!, and Boden was featured as a game show expert in several interviews.

''Funny You Should Ask''

Boden is currently an executive producer on the syndicated celebrity comedy game show Funny You Should Ask, produced by Entertainment Studios. The show begins airing its third season on September 9, 2019.

Other

At FOX Reality Channel, Boden served as Executive Producer on Solitary, American Idol Extra, The Academy, Paradise Hotel 2, Reality Remix, Reality Binge, Househusbands of Hollywood, the Really Awards, My Bare Lady, Battle of the Bods, Night Club Confessions, among others. Boden was also Executive Producer on Challenge of the Child Geniuses, Co-Executive Producer of BOOM!, consulting producer on To Tell the Truth and Superhuman, supervising producer on Family Feud, Bumper Stumpers, Pictionary and The NOVA Quiz and a writer on Jeopardy!.  Other shows that Boden consulted on include Ellen, America’s Funniest Videos, The Tonight Show with Jay leno, Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader, Million Second Quiz and The Wall.

Personal life

Boden lives in Van Nuys, California with his wife and daughter. He serves as a Governor for the reality peer group of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, and is an adjunct professor for the Los Angeles campus of Syracuse University.