Gameshows and Channel Branding

Game shows fascinate me. I don’t actually watch any, but the history of the game show on television is really interesting, especially since people have been making that argument that they fill public service mandates for decades.

Since we were talking about the boring/super-informative versus compelling/fun-to-watch distinction between BBC and ITV game shows, I decided to look to see what other game shows each channel airs. Keep in mind, the game show genre to me is very broad. I don’t distinguish between (as Jim Collins would say) the “stupid human tricks” shows and the “I need to use my brain for this” shows because the goal is the same: get on the show, do something (with your brain or with your body), win something, and usually leave and never appear on another episode again. To be honest, I just don’t like making this distinction because of shows like Deal or No Deal (which, as we all might remember, aired on NBC for every single day for what seemed like an eternity) which really had nothing to do with learning something useful OR getting through an obstacle course. (Fun fact: Deal… is on Channel 4 in the UK if for some reason you can’t get enough.)

Something that surprised me was that the BBC, with its plethora of informative game shows like Mastermind, adapted ABC’s Wipeout (called Total Wipeout) and aired 101 Ways to Leave a Gameshow before we brought it to the States. The argument can be made that there is a Q&A component of 101 Ways…, but I’m almost positive that those questions are not going to be about luxury cruise liners from 1939-1979. It’s great to learn about other things and I’m sure it’s much more exciting, but it still seemed like an almost complete shift from what seemed in class like the typical BBC gameshow. Now: Total Wipeout. Can someone please leave a comment and explain why it’s on the BBC? Seriously. I suppose it can be said that it works for mixed broadcasting, but is it enough to just explain it away like that? Maybe it’s on because it teaches you that balance and a high pain threshold are important parts of survival. Are game shows exempt from the public service remit?

The ITV shows reflect how unregulated and fun the channel is. Shows like Odd One In featured celebrities and Divided featured general knowledge questions. They’re fun, informal, entertaining and potentially compelling. The best show I found was called Golden Balls (made fun of by our pal Charlie Brooker below), a 2007 game show that was 10% strategy and 90% euphemism, which I think is the very essence of the high-tension, slightly complicated, but weirdly entertaining brand of ITV game shows.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bR9QVI04v3M&noredirect=1

Overall, I felt that the ITV game shows had a clearer, more consistent brand than the BBC ones. Again, this could be because the BBC wants to reach a diverse audience, but if over half of your shows are going to be informative, why not be consistent? I am honestly very intrigued, especially because of the distinction that was mentioned in the Hills article and seen in the clips we watched in class. Strictly talking game shows, why is it difficult to pin down a BBC brand or, alternatively, why do a number of show swerve so far from it? (And, perhaps a question for another time, why is there so much Deal or No Deal in the world?)