Game Shows are Better Online
So, last week, Dropout debuted the 7th season of it's comedy game show Game Changer. Called “One Year Later”, it involved 3 contestants from an earlier game, “Sam Says 3” to go on the stage and play a second game.
This game involved a dossier of 15 different tasks and one year to complete them, and then as they returned a year later.
Game Show nerds would immediately suggest this is Taskmaster, but as the episode progresses, it becomes less of a copycat, and more of a cerebral battle of power in a way that I would argue is one of the best moments in television.
It made me so happy to be a fan.
One of the cameos, was that of Zach Kornfeld, from TryGuys and their new 2ndTry channel.
Trolley Problems is a comedy game show that's based on would you rather dilemmas. Their audience voted on the A/B choices and whatever got the highest percentage is the correct answer, picking the right match earns a point.
However, some are “hills to die on” where the contestants have to put their money where their mouth is, and perform the feat to get the point.
This, along with its Cooking Competition Escape Room show (Escape the Kitchen) is showing that the 2ndTry streaming is going into Unscripted media even more (I mean, they have a show where they just eat the entire menu of a chain restaurant, so why not)
And Nebula just finished it's most recent season of Jet Lag: The Game, a travel game show where the turn countries and train tracks into a real life board game.
The most recent season saw Tom Scott (Lateral Podcast) try and claim the most European Countries with Sam Denby against “The Evil” (Comedy nerds) Ben Doyle and Adam Chase.
It's free on YouTube, with Nebula people getting it one week later (and a behind the scenes podcast about the making of the show and what goes into it)
While also doing a COMEDY SHOW called “Abolish Everything” featuring a good chunk of the Brooklyn comedy scene as they stand their ground.
And of course, there is a new season of Taskmaster coming out, however this is on normal television, through Channel 4 in the UK (but also shared around the world through YouTube)
And longtime viewers know, I'm a huge fan of Taskmaster.
It's been in the best game shows list constantly, because while it could just be a straightforward “do the stunt” game, the open interpretations, judgements and comedy banter lean it into the panel game category, even though the scoring is “real” as well as the really shit prizes.
So that got me thinking….
What the fuck is this?
Game Show Network brought back Tic Tac Dough, and don't let this thing fool you, it's just a giant LED panel and two people and a host and that's it
and like President Trump using his government power to do publicity stunts for Tesler, EVERYTHING IS COMPUTER
If you have a laptop and a TV, you have a game show. That's nothing new, that's actually most game shows. Immediately, Camouflage and Lingo spring to mind on GSN. But that's Don't Forget The Lyrics, that’s Smarter Than a Celebrity, that's most shows.
However, the contestants dont get to see the CGI board, they see this. And it looks REALLY HOKEY.
This also has the same set and design as BINGO BLITZ, based off the popular app game.
Now I am just using my Instagram photos on this page, but wait till you see the audience!
A virtual CGI audience on a virtual CGI set. We are truly living in the future, if that future was on Xbox 360.
If you need to know the rules for both of these shows
There's questions with multiple choice
They get points (yes even tic tac dough is points)
Round 1 is single
Round 2 they double the points
Round 3 is the bullshit catch-up round
And you guessed it the bonus round has a winner who gets $1,000 and plays for $10,000.
IT'S THE SAME OLD SHIT. IT NEARLY BROKE ME LAST YEAR WHEN I WATCHED EVERY GSN ORIGINAL. PLEASE STOP
It leads me to this question
This isn't a joke, or trying to be funny. What is the purpose of these shows?
I understand new shows to lure people to watch, but from all accounts, GSN just wants two types of people
Grandmas in the Midwest who still somehow own a premium cable membership, and doesn't want to watch “anything mean” and has nobody to help her get Buzzr for Free, or get a Roku TV to watch Bob Barker Years episodes of The Price is Right. Or even if they somehow LOVE these one note shows, Game Show Channel is right there!
And people who are in waiting rooms and lobbies where it's just in the background. You can ”play along” to this channel on mute, while waiting to find out if your family member is going to be okay! Enjoy the distraction of dental hygiene as you hear John Michael Higgins in another game of Split Second.
Which then, what's stopping you from getting headphones and on the phone you already have, watch literally enjoying else or hear anything else.
My Theory:
Nobody is really paying for premium game shows these days. If you're paying for TV at the moment, it's strictly live sports and news.
Game Show Nerds, like myself aren't clamoring that much for these shows. They all feel the same, Nothing about them stick out, and if it comes down to it.
They would rather watch any of the big five current shows (Let's Make a Deal, The Price is Right, Family Feud, Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy!)
Or even “old stuff” from places like Buzzr or even the Wink Martindale YouTube channel. With Wink’s passing, these people will quickly try and find episodes of High Rollers, Debt, and his version of Tic Tac Dough.
And, modern game shows, like The Floor, like Raid the Cage, like The Wall, aren't even good fits. (Reruns of The Wall aired on GSN, to little to no fanfare, Big Money Quiz Plinko wasn't enough!)
And that's not forgetting TONS of Reality Competition shows that have hardcore audiences. Survivor, Big Brother, RuPaul’s Drag Race, The Challenge, even The Traitors have all these big fanpages and group chats all about these game shows.
If you break them down, it's just game shows. And that's just millions and millions of people forgotten about (I miss you, Fox Reality Channel, you were always very kind to me, even when I was a younger, more annoying, teenage TV Dipshit —- you also still owe me a Solitary Floor Mat BTW)
Streaming Services, like Hulu and Netflix have brand new formats that are more interesting and enjoyable.
Million Dollar Secret, by Glenn Hugill, sees contestants be guests in a fancy hotel where one of them has a million dollars, and it's up to the rest to vote them out (so it shuffles and goes to a new person) with a few overplayed challenges (put the snake in the box) however Peter Serafinowicz does an excellent job playing the consierge, and the sinister tone at the half beat with “…millionaire”
Got to Get Out, by Glenn Hugill, sees 20 people living in a big house and through a ticker tape, luck, or a challenge, they get secrets about the house and how to exit (the window in the red bedroom will open when the money clock is at $165,000). It is trying to also be humorous with the escapes (if they get past a gate finish line, they win, otherwise they go back to the house with this DUNDUN DUNDUNDUH stinger) it is hosted by Simu Liu, but surprisingly only through voice over and the occasional post-production shot of him outside the house. Which was a little disappointing, because I REALLY love Simu and feel like he could've been more incorporated than just the silly v/o like on The Circle.
However, both these shows have rented a house, had producers, loggers, and didn't feel like I'm watching the most sterile game shows ever devised.
No, game shows are not dying, streamers are picking it up with Reality Competitions, genre bending shows (Guts & Glory on Shudder is coming soon, feels like “a horror movie come to life” as well as Netflix having a Monopoly reality show, after 2 decades of different companies trying their hand at it)
I'm not saying Game Show Network should adapt or change, I'm saying it's a sinking ship and they are trying to make all these shows as cheap as they can for the purposes of profiting through Syndication rights, and FAST Channel management. Because less and less people are buying cable, or can afford cable.
I'm saying, the future is on streaming, and i think the best way forward is simply doing what ABC did with Summer Fun and Games (and then royally dropped the ball)
Record 10 episodes of a game show, like a reboot of Press Your Luck or Supermarket Sweep and have it on your network, but also same day/next day on demand through a streamer like Hulu.
I'm not ashamed to say that is how I normally watch most primetime game shows these days (Disney+ having these shows right next to the star wars and marvel, and it's selection of anime is really smart!)
It is a niche genre, but viewers watch more than one thing, they enjoy multiple things.
I love watching De Mol, because it's a spy movie I love watching these comedy game shows, because it doesn't take this that seriously, but you, the viewer, can laugh with the contestant.
Anything that just feels like a paint by numbers, I've seen before game show, should probably not exist anymore.
Because you'll be losing out to Bonus Round Canada, with The Mad Dash, Talk About and Definition. And instead of a Casio Keyboard theme song, it's the Austin Powers theme (before Austin Powers)
And that's surprise, surprise — also available as a streamer on YouTube!
When game shows are great, like a Game Changer, or a The Price is Right, it's escapism, but also a serotonin blast of joy. You feel good.
Watching GAME SHOW NETWORK, in an all the saddest reasons, is like eating stale bread when you want a hamburger, a hot dog, French Toast, a BLT, anything extra.
