ABC’s nostalgic game show block gets a little bigger this summer, and Elizabeth Banks will be there, as the actress and director has boarded the reboot of Press Your Luck as the new host.
Press Your Luck, due back on the air June 12, is a game of wits, strategy, high stakes and strange bankrupting cartoons called “whammies.” Each episode features three contestants making a play for cash and other prizes, though the whammies often get in the way of that.
“Elizabeth Banks is exactly the type of woman we want on ABC,” network entertainment president Karey Burke said Thursday in a statement. “She’s a big star who’s smart, strong and funny. She has everything we need as the host of Press Your Luck, one of our signature summer game shows. If anyone can ride herd on the Whammy, it’s Elizabeth!”
Press Your Luck joins Celebrity Family Feud, The $100,000 Pyramid, To Tell the Truth and Match Game on the throwback-heavy summer schedule.
The original Press Your Luck, which aired on CBS for three bizarre years in the early 1980s, was hosted by Peter Tomarken. The look of the new whammies has yet to be revealed.
