) I guess the next on will be Poland then...
Post by pylguy on Jun 13, 2015 18:25:43 GMT -5
With the lacklustre performance of ABC's "500 Questions” and NBC’s “Million Second Quiz”, I have been thinking a lot about television game show events beginning to go the same way as traditional game shows? The almost ceremonial status which surrounded game shows almost certainly began in the 1990's with the advent of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" in the UK. When Challenge TV earlier in the year decided to rerun the very first episodes of WWTBAM, I got to experience a glimmer of the excitement which those who were tuning into the show for the very first time felt in 1998. From the very moment when host Chris Tarrant appeared in front of a black background explaining that tonight television history would be made, it was evident that this game show was going to be very different from traditional game shows of the past.
The first series of Millionaire was only commissioned for a ten night event plus a 1998 Christmas special. The first ten episodes of the show was a rating success, becoming one of the most popular tv shows on television. In its heyday, WWTBAM was able to attract 19 million viewers. However, as the years went on the success of the show began to wane, not just in the UK but in other countries such as the USA. Many have argued that the decline in Millionaire’s popularity was as a result of tv networks overexposure of the format. Indeed many criticised tv network ABC from relying too heavily on WWTBAM for success. In the USA, in an attempt to rejuvenate the format, ABC commissioned “Super Millionaire” which raised the jackpot from $1 Million to $10 Million dollars. Such a format change did manage to attract but only temporally and Super Millionaire only survived for 12 episodes in 2004.
In recent times there has been a greater move to televised gameshow events. The biggest in recent years being NBC’s 2013 series entitled “ The Million Second Quiz” which from the outset made the bold claim that it would offering the “largest prize in gameshow history”. This gameshow was entirely different from anything that preceded it, since the game did not end when its allotted time slot on NBC came to an end. Instead the game’s “bouts” were played and broadcasted 24 hours a day for the entire million seconds on nbc.com. With much hype and excitement surrounding the launch of such a unique gameshow, one would assume that it would be a ratings success. However, the show on its premier episode attracted around 6.52 million viewers but by the mid way point of the event, on night 6, only 3 million viewers tuned in. Many critics including Sonia Saraiya of AV Club suggested that the show’s lack of viewers was as a result of the show’s lack substance. While it is also true to say that the general viewing public found the entire concept of the show rather hard to follow, with the numerous rules and oddities which accompanied the show. The Million Second Quiz ended up being far from a television success it wanted to be, partly due to the flawed nature of its gameplay. However, the show will always be remembered for its unique perception of gameshows in the digital age.
Finally I come to the most recent tv gameshow event, in the form of ABC’s ‘500 Questions’. In all honestly, I was very looking forward to the show. The opening of the first episode of the show almost appeared to mimic the opening of the first episode of WWTBAM in the UK. Have a look for yourselves:
Personally, I loved the presentation of the show for the most part. Host, Richard Quest, in my opinion did a really good job of maintain the atmosphere required for a gameshow such as “500 Questions”. The rules of the show were fairly simple try to answer 500 questions without getting three wrong in a row. My only slight problem with 500 Questions was the speed of the game play. Throughout the shows 7 episode run only 371 questions were answered by only 9 contestants. Indeed, one tweet from during an episode of “500 Questions” from @possessionista vividly sticks in my mind when thinking about the lack of energy and viewer engagement which the show sometimes provided
One of the reasons for such slow gameplay was host Richard Quest’s incidence in explaining to the contestant that they would be gone if they got three wrong in a row they would be gone. I understand he was merely attempting to form a catchphrase for the show but his constantly stating it meant made for cringeworthy viewing. In terms of ratings the show consistently preformed adequately, attracted around 5 million viewers each night. Only time will tell if these ratings warrant a second series of the show.
~~~~~~~~
What do you guys think? Do you think that televised gameshow events are a thing of the past consigned to the history books, or do you think that such events are due a come back?
As always, thank you for reading.
PYLguy
The first series of Millionaire was only commissioned for a ten night event plus a 1998 Christmas special. The first ten episodes of the show was a rating success, becoming one of the most popular tv shows on television. In its heyday, WWTBAM was able to attract 19 million viewers. However, as the years went on the success of the show began to wane, not just in the UK but in other countries such as the USA. Many have argued that the decline in Millionaire’s popularity was as a result of tv networks overexposure of the format. Indeed many criticised tv network ABC from relying too heavily on WWTBAM for success. In the USA, in an attempt to rejuvenate the format, ABC commissioned “Super Millionaire” which raised the jackpot from $1 Million to $10 Million dollars. Such a format change did manage to attract but only temporally and Super Millionaire only survived for 12 episodes in 2004.
In recent times there has been a greater move to televised gameshow events. The biggest in recent years being NBC’s 2013 series entitled “ The Million Second Quiz” which from the outset made the bold claim that it would offering the “largest prize in gameshow history”. This gameshow was entirely different from anything that preceded it, since the game did not end when its allotted time slot on NBC came to an end. Instead the game’s “bouts” were played and broadcasted 24 hours a day for the entire million seconds on nbc.com. With much hype and excitement surrounding the launch of such a unique gameshow, one would assume that it would be a ratings success. However, the show on its premier episode attracted around 6.52 million viewers but by the mid way point of the event, on night 6, only 3 million viewers tuned in. Many critics including Sonia Saraiya of AV Club suggested that the show’s lack of viewers was as a result of the show’s lack substance. While it is also true to say that the general viewing public found the entire concept of the show rather hard to follow, with the numerous rules and oddities which accompanied the show. The Million Second Quiz ended up being far from a television success it wanted to be, partly due to the flawed nature of its gameplay. However, the show will always be remembered for its unique perception of gameshows in the digital age.
Finally I come to the most recent tv gameshow event, in the form of ABC’s ‘500 Questions’. In all honestly, I was very looking forward to the show. The opening of the first episode of the show almost appeared to mimic the opening of the first episode of WWTBAM in the UK. Have a look for yourselves:
Personally, I loved the presentation of the show for the most part. Host, Richard Quest, in my opinion did a really good job of maintain the atmosphere required for a gameshow such as “500 Questions”. The rules of the show were fairly simple try to answer 500 questions without getting three wrong in a row. My only slight problem with 500 Questions was the speed of the game play. Throughout the shows 7 episode run only 371 questions were answered by only 9 contestants. Indeed, one tweet from during an episode of “500 Questions” from @possessionista vividly sticks in my mind when thinking about the lack of energy and viewer engagement which the show sometimes provided
One of the reasons for such slow gameplay was host Richard Quest’s incidence in explaining to the contestant that they would be gone if they got three wrong in a row they would be gone. I understand he was merely attempting to form a catchphrase for the show but his constantly stating it meant made for cringeworthy viewing. In terms of ratings the show consistently preformed adequately, attracted around 5 million viewers each night. Only time will tell if these ratings warrant a second series of the show.
~~~~~~~~
What do you guys think? Do you think that televised gameshow events are a thing of the past consigned to the history books, or do you think that such events are due a come back?
As always, thank you for reading.
PYLguy
