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 This
article was originally published in Calafia magazine.
It is
far and away the most addictive form of recreation ever known. It offers
the thrill of conquest, an element of fantasy, and the promise of an
exhilarating climax every 30 minutes. Thousands of men and women do it
every day, often for hours at a time. In fact, it’s been one of America’s
most popular spectator sports for nearly 60 years.
We’re talking TV game shows, broadcast entertainment’s most durable
format. Game shows
(or "quiz shows," as they were first known)
have been around since the advent of commercial television in 1941. Among
the first ever broadcast were
Uncle Jim’s Question Bee
and
Truth Or
Consequences.
Over the next decade, as TV took the country by storm, game
shows quickly emerged as the most popular form of programming on the
airwaves. More than 500 game shows have made their way into our homes
since then. Not a day has gone by in the last 50 years without at least
one game show airing on local, network, syndicated or cable television.
TV game shows had two things going for them from the very start. Firstly,
audiences took to them because they had a built-in familiarity. Most of
the early shows were, like Truth and
Uncle Jim, adapted
from popular radio programs of the same name: You Bet Your Life, What’s
My Line?, Name That Tune, Beat the Clock. Secondly, program
executives have always loved game shows because they’re inexpensive to
produce, they have no regulars except the host (and perhaps an assistant)
and the prizes are usually donated by sponsors. Though the names of the
games may have changed over the years, the object has always been the
same: getting the viewers to tune in again . . . and again . . .and again.
Which leads us to the $64,000 question: what is it about TV game shows
that makes them so irresistible?
"People have always liked to play games," says David Schwartz,
co-author of
The Encyclopedia of TV Game Shows,
the definitive book on the genre. "It’s in our nature to compete
against others, be it physically or mentally. We "also like to be
rewarded. The very idea of a game show is to offer a prize to the best
person or team that’s playing."
PEOPLE LIKE TO WATCH GAME SHOWS for the same reasons they watch other
sporting events. Pure and simple, it’s unscripted drama. We may know how
the game is played, but we never know quite how it’ll end until the
final buzzer. More often than not, we find ourselves rooting for one
contestant over another.
Game show producers - the Mark Goodsons, Merv Griffins and Chuck Barrises
of the world - create these programs with four things in mind. Rule 1:
Keep it simple. Think of the longest-running game shows.
Wheel of Fortune
is basically "hangman" with prizes and Vanna White. Both
Hollywood Squares
and
Tic Tac Dough
are variations on tic-tac-toe.
Rule 2: Find a host who fits in perfectly with the format. "The show
where the host was most important was
Family Feud,"
according to game show icon
Jim
Lange, emcee of The Dating Game
and many other classic shows.
"That show probably would not have worked without Richard Dawson, who
was a little irreverent, who could infuse humor at any time, and who
always knew how to interact with each different family,"
Rule 3: Keep it interesting. There has to be some twist to the game beyond
questions and answers. Maybe it’s the risk factor. Maybe it’s the
chance to be kissed on national television by Richard Dawson.
Finally, Rule 4: Keep the audience involved. A really good game show is
almost impossible not to watch, and usually hooks the viewer on a number
of subliminal levels. Take
Wheel, for instance. You really don’t
have to know anything, except how to say, "I’d like to buy a vowel,
Pat," You can usually solve the puzzle long before the studio
contestant does. Tune in for just a minute, and you can’t help thinking,
"Hey, I can do that."
But say you’re actually on the show. You’re pretty sure you know what
"AARD__ARK" spells, but you’re still down $100. One more spin,
and you’re the champ. But there are three "Bankrupt" squares
on the wheel -- land on one of those, and you’re finished. You have
maybe half a second to make up your mind. It’s one thing to watch from
the comfort of home and say" Go for it." It’s totally
different standing under those hot studio lights, before millions of
viewers worldwide. That split-second decision could very well change your
life. What would you do?
The contestant spins. Back at home, you’re practically on the edge of
your seat. When he lands on "Bankrupt" you can’t help yelling,
"Oh no!," "Damn!" or perhaps even "You
moron!" Moments like these -- when you’re literally screaming at
your television set -- are what game shows are all about.
WHAT KIND OF PEOPLE GO ON GAME SHOWS? "Just about anybody," says
Schwartz. "Everybody wants to win a brand new car, or $100,000 - I
mean, that’s why we go to McDonald’s and play those scratch-off games.
That’s why we play the lottery. Everybody wants to win something."
"Certain games will always appeal to contestants who look like they
could use a little extra cash and audiences who want to see such people
rewarded," adds Maxene Fabe, author of
TV Game
Shows,
the
very first history of the genre." Whether it’s college students,
servicemen and women, people just starting off in marriage or a career,
retired folks – these are the people who are deservingly needy, yet not
desperate."
 Also, since most game shows originate in Los Angeles, you’ll find that
many contestants are either "actors or would-be actors," says
Lange. "We never had problems finding contestants for
Dating Game
- not that these people needed a date, but because, for many, this was an
opportunity to get their face on national TV." In fact, Steve Martin,
Farrah Fawcett, and Arnold Schwarzenegger were all once
Dating Game
contestants, long before they hit the big time.
Exactly what game shows look for in contestants "depends on the
show," says Lange. "On
Dating Game, we needed people
who could answer provocative questions, like "If I were a monkey and
you were a tree..." without being stupefied. Whereas on Jeopardy!
you’re looking for very knowledgeable people, who don’t need to be
expressive - and who, by and large, aren’t expressive. You don’t see a
lot of jumping up and down on Jeopardy!"
INTERESTINGLY ENOUGH, while
Jeopardy! contestants do maintain a
certain decorum on-camera, the show apparently looks for something
completely different during the screening process. "The real judging
takes place when a staff member orally goes over the answers,"
recalls Fabe, a one-time Jeopardy!
contestant. "People like
me who irresistibly waved their hands, going "Oooh, oooh! I know, I
know!" made the show. Stone-faced individuals didn’t, despite their
perfect scores."
Game shows have also endured by changing with the times. The beauty of
cable TV’s
Game Show Network is that it affords
the game show junkie (or, if you’d rather, game show scholar) the
opportunity to experience several different eras of game shows all in the
same day. Each show mirrors its own decade -from the buttoned-down 1950s,
to the colorful sets, neon lights and tacky buzzers of the 1960s and
1970s, to the high-tech graphics and interactive components introduced in
the 1980s and 1990s.
Bottom line: We’re addicted to game shows because they appeal to our
nature; networks love to make ‘em because we find them so addictive. So
long as that formula holds true, game shows aren’t in jeopardy of ever
disappearing.
Text (c) 1999 by
Ed Robertson. All rights reserved.
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Ed
Robertson's articles appear in
MediaLifeMagazine.com,
The Wave Magazine,
Bell TV Magazine,
TV Party.com,
Television Chronicles,
Reel Talk,
San
Franciso Giants Magazine,
and the British magazine
Calafia,
as well as media venues like
Columbia
House,
the world’s largest direct marketer
of music, DVDs and videos.
Related
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