Summertime’s here, and that means very little scripted content on broadcast TV. In years past, you’d find reruns all summer. That’s still sort of true, but unscripted content has really taken over the summer. It makes sense – who needs reruns when you can get all the shows you want on-demand? But in the last few years, it seems that summers and winters alike have become overrun by primetime game shows. Is it time for the trend to slow or stop?
I grew up on prime time game shows. Not only traditional shows like Match Game PM and the evening The Price is Right, but early reality/competition shows like Beat the Clock. In fact, you’ll have to look long and hard to find someone with more adoration for game shows than I have. So, if I’m telling you there might be too many of them, that should tell you something.
The problem is really not that there are too many game shows, it’s that there aren’t enough different kinds of game shows. It seems like most game shows fall into predictable patterns: two or three people competing head-to-head behind podiums, one person making a journey that ends in a large sum of money, or the latest trend where a large number of people completes the same task until all but one of them fail. They can be guessing games, trivia games, or games that take a little bit of skill, but in the end they feel very similar after a while.
Sometimes you’ll find shows that are just way too similar. Is there really much difference between Name that Tune and Beat Shazam? The vibe is different for sure, but the basic tasks and the journeys are the same. It makes the whole genre seem a little stale.
Name that Tune, Password, Match Game, Press Your Luck… the real allure of these shows is nostalgia. They’re the truest form of comfort food TV. You might remember watching these shows while home sick as a kid, and now they remind you of those days. I think that shows like this are entertaining and fun, but has the trend peaked? Match Game seems to be off the schedule, but that might have more to do with host Alec Baldwin and his travails. Other reboots like Card Sharks didn’t really catch on at all.
See, one of the things that made those old game shows so charming is that they just barely skirted the line separating things you can and can’t say on television. Back in the 1970s, that line was a lot sharper and drawn a lot more conservatively. Most of these shows won’t be as much fun because there’s not that element of naughtiness baked into them. Or, I should say, every show has that element baked into them.
Even if you’re giving away a million dollars once a season, game shows will always beat out scripted shows in terms of cost. Find a celebrity who is a little older and might work for less, add a bunch of contestants who don’t get paid until they win, maybe a band made up of session players, and you’re on your way. You can get a lot of the set design done with video panels and motorized lights, too. These shows have to be among the most economical to make. That’s why they are so popular especially in the summer when ratings are even lower.
But without something to really distinguish a game show it just won’t succeed. Most of these shows not only have similar themes, they look about the same too thanks to that video-panel-and-lights formula. If you’re flipping through the guide, it’s increasingly hard to remember if you’ve even seen one show or another.
I want to say yes, it can. Prime time game shows have been left for dead before. The 1980s and 1990s had practically none of them, and it took Who Wants To Be A Millionaire to revitalize game shows. They’ve become a fixture since then, as they’re largely immune to production strikes and they’re cheap. But, it’s been 20 years since Millionaire and it’s time for a new formula. I’m not sure what that formula is — if I knew I myself would be a millionaire. But there has to be a better formula that will bring game shows back to their former glory.
At least… I hope so.
The post EDITORIAL: Enough game shows already appeared first on The Solid Signal Blog.
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I love game shows, I do
I grew up on prime time game shows. Not only traditional shows like Match Game PM and the evening The Price is Right, but early reality/competition shows like Beat the Clock. In fact, you’ll have to look long and hard to find someone with more adoration for game shows than I have. So, if I’m telling you there might be too many of them, that should tell you something.
The problem is really not that there are too many game shows, it’s that there aren’t enough different kinds of game shows. It seems like most game shows fall into predictable patterns: two or three people competing head-to-head behind podiums, one person making a journey that ends in a large sum of money, or the latest trend where a large number of people completes the same task until all but one of them fail. They can be guessing games, trivia games, or games that take a little bit of skill, but in the end they feel very similar after a while.
Sometimes you’ll find shows that are just way too similar. Is there really much difference between Name that Tune and Beat Shazam? The vibe is different for sure, but the basic tasks and the journeys are the same. It makes the whole genre seem a little stale.
Game show reboots might be played out
Name that Tune, Password, Match Game, Press Your Luck… the real allure of these shows is nostalgia. They’re the truest form of comfort food TV. You might remember watching these shows while home sick as a kid, and now they remind you of those days. I think that shows like this are entertaining and fun, but has the trend peaked? Match Game seems to be off the schedule, but that might have more to do with host Alec Baldwin and his travails. Other reboots like Card Sharks didn’t really catch on at all.
See, one of the things that made those old game shows so charming is that they just barely skirted the line separating things you can and can’t say on television. Back in the 1970s, that line was a lot sharper and drawn a lot more conservatively. Most of these shows won’t be as much fun because there’s not that element of naughtiness baked into them. Or, I should say, every show has that element baked into them.
I get it, game shows are cheap
Even if you’re giving away a million dollars once a season, game shows will always beat out scripted shows in terms of cost. Find a celebrity who is a little older and might work for less, add a bunch of contestants who don’t get paid until they win, maybe a band made up of session players, and you’re on your way. You can get a lot of the set design done with video panels and motorized lights, too. These shows have to be among the most economical to make. That’s why they are so popular especially in the summer when ratings are even lower.
But without something to really distinguish a game show it just won’t succeed. Most of these shows not only have similar themes, they look about the same too thanks to that video-panel-and-lights formula. If you’re flipping through the guide, it’s increasingly hard to remember if you’ve even seen one show or another.
Can the genre be saved?
I want to say yes, it can. Prime time game shows have been left for dead before. The 1980s and 1990s had practically none of them, and it took Who Wants To Be A Millionaire to revitalize game shows. They’ve become a fixture since then, as they’re largely immune to production strikes and they’re cheap. But, it’s been 20 years since Millionaire and it’s time for a new formula. I’m not sure what that formula is — if I knew I myself would be a millionaire. But there has to be a better formula that will bring game shows back to their former glory.
At least… I hope so.
The post EDITORIAL: Enough game shows already appeared first on The Solid Signal Blog.
Continue reading...
