Does the premise exist that is too simplistic, too based purely on greed for money, too devoid of any actual rudimentary skills, too nakedly exploitative of women, to be appropriate for a TV game show? I’m stumped.
I mean, even a show where you had attractive women remove articles of clothing if the contestant guessed their value to within 10 dollars, say, would require the skill of knowing the prices of women’s clothing, right? You could have her wearing ten or twelve items of dress, and the risk increases as she gets closer to nakedness, and if you get her completely undressed, you win the grand prize (as her pixiliated body jumps up and down with sheer joy for you).
Is this stupider than DeAL OR NO DEAL? I’m not sure. Your go.
A game show where people allow themselves to be terrorized, ridiculed, made ill, and disgusted for monetary gain. In short, half the programming already wildly popular.
What about the parody of this they had on 30 rock? The briefcase was filled with gold, and the contestant had to guess which one it was. The joke on the show was the model was holding up the case, and it was very obvious which one was full of gold. Looking at this joke, maybe 30 rock should be considered dumber.
The old Saturday morning cartoon Garfield and Friends had a running gag about a game show called Hit the Buzzer, Win a Cookie, the rules of which are pretty much summed up by the title.
I don’t know if anyone’s traced this concept out but it’s as if the TV execs said, “‘Millionaire’ is great–but we need to eliminate all that ‘knowing the answers’ shit and all that ‘3 lifelines’ stuff and just go to the pure greed itself. Also more pretty girls. But mainly greed. Greed and pretty girls and no skills, yep, that[s the formula. Also that Regis Philbin is too subtle and sophisticated. Let’s find a way to get a dorkier host, okay?”"
A big hole is dug in the ground and hosed down to make it slimey with mud. A million-dollar diamond is tossed into it. 10 contestants jump in together. Whoever can climb out the pit with the diamond is the winner. No other rules apply. Sticks allowed.
The worrying thing is that a game show such as you surmise could actually be a big world-wide hit, and earn the inventor a fantastic sum of money through licensing.
So I shall keep my goofy ideas to myself!
Now what was the address of that TV company again?
I know! Give a girl three guys to choose from: one is gay, one is straight but unattached, one is taken. The girl has to guess which one is the available straight guy.
At this point it would seem appropriate to recommend the final scene of “The Magic Christian,” in which a large number of veddy proper British banker types go diving into a large tank filled with piss, shit & blood to retrieve bank notes from the bottom-fighting each other for the privilege.
After that, everything looks a bit tame-and the movie came out in 1969!
No pretty girls over here but a certain amount of greed.
The show is a dumb premise for the viewer. It’s a brilliant premise for the production company. Deal or No Deal remains newsworthy to the extent that the programme continues to be discussed ad nauseum on message boards, including threads passim on this one, as well as in the newspapers.
The producers of Deal or No Deal and the broadcasting channels must be rubbing their hands with glee (sic). If we all ignored the programme perhaps it would go away.
Having said that, I do believe I’ve contributed to every thread concerning the show over the past 9 months or so.
Really stupid entertainment acts come out on stage and attempt to perform. Three judges have the option of hitting a very large and annoying gong when the performance gets beyond what they can stand. The entertainer wins if he/she completes the act without being gonged.
