Free #5: Television: Game Shows

(Game Show Network Icon)

The reason why I was curious about this topic is the fact that I see my parents every single night change the channel from the news to "Wheel of Fortune" and then "Deal or No Deal" and my dad gets so excited about it that he will pull me away from doing something semi-important in my life just to watch somebody we dont even know on TV win a huge some of money. My question is "Why do viewers get so addicted to game shows on television?". I researched many peoples' blogs on what they think about game shows and also watched this credible interview from Bob Boden (Vice President of Programming Fox Reality Channel) about game shows.


Game Shows: All About Game Shows

As Bob roughly puts it, people find a way to watch television to relax escape from reality of hard work like school or a tedious tiring job. Bonnie Gillipse, a blog writer from spynetwork.org thinks the reason why she is addicted to the "Game Show Network" is because "It's always happy there. No matter what silliness is going on in the world, there is something very sweet going on on GSN, and it's just enough to remind me that life is good." Like the "Brady Bunch" is a escape of reality to the American Dream simple family lifestyle, game shows are an escape for the viewers who want to get away from their own reality, and imagine themselves in someone elses telivised "reality" on tv that has just won a million bucks to make them feel at ease that anything really can be possible. In a way, they see these winners on TV percieving the American Dream in a 30 minute time period of money for almost free.

(American Dream Comic)

Game shows such as "The Price is Right" or "Deal or no Deal" have a minimal amount of thinking to do for the contestant to win big bucks. Most people in America do not want to work the rest of their lives for a decent amount of earnings. So people, like my dad, get sucked into game shows with the curiousity and imagining what it must be like to be in the lucky contestants shoes.

(Wheel of Fortune Logo)

For example, "Wheel of Fortune" has been on the air for 26 seasons and still poplular and some often wonder why. The "Wheel Watchers Club" offers the people at home to win what the contestant just won if their spin id is shown from their own comfort at home. You have to keep watching the show and be updated online with the club to have your Spinner ID even considered to be shown on the screen. "Deal or No Deal" offers the audience on the edge excitement which proves peoples' greedy nature. Bill Owens, a contestant on "The $25,000 Pyramid", states "What I loved wasn't just the lure of instant riches, although that was pretty cool. I loved and admired the knowledge, the trivia, the imagination that game show contestants had to have to win. This is what started my passion for odd and obscure trivia, which endures to this day." Shows such as "Who Wants to be a Millionare?" and "Jeopory" offer this curiousity/ trivia format.

It's also interesting how reality TV shows have formed from game shows. "Survivor" to "Big Brother," "The Bachelor" to "Joe Millionaire," "American Idol" to "Fame" and "Extreme Makeovers" all are examples of reality shows which are more intense and dramatic than a normal game show. A blogger screennamed theMatrix from associatedcontent.com quotes his opinion on reality TV after game shows, "I guess the appeal of these shows isn’t that hard to understand. I mean, they’re kind of like game shows on steroids, giving away millions of dollars and soul mates instead of dishwashers, furniture, and new cars."

People become addicted to the suspense of not knowing what could happen next and the simplicity of a humans knowledge lures almost anybody into networks like the "Game Show Network." Wtih todays technology, people could not only get recaps and any other bit of infomation about a game show on the shows web page, but also play the game to get a feel of what it is really like. The audience can get involved. It would be interesting to be able to talk about game show television in class for a better understanding, but I guess after discovering all this, I still wonder where game shows get money and funds to give away all the time besides sponsors.

HW# 5: Television after 1990, Late Night with Conan O'Brien

Late Night with Conan O'Brien is a American late-night talk show involving stand up comedy with various popular comedians, musical performances, interviews with celebrities, and making simple humor out of comedy material. It was on NBC from 1993 till this recent February 20th 2009 as the host Conan O'Brien headed towards The Tonight Show for Jay Leno's position. The new host for his own themed Late Night series is Jimmy Fallon.

(The Broadway Open House famous picture)

Conan's show imitates and spins-off from 1950 to 1951's Broadway Open House which was the original idea of throwing out a variety of comedy at late night hours with tap dancing, vocalists, comedians but it did not succeed very well because people in the early 50's with few television sets were not convinced they should stay up at 11 pm to watch tv. Over time though, after viewers began to warm up to television, VP of NBC tried it again and developed The Tonight Show with host Steve Allen. Ever Since 1954, The Tonight Show and Late Night Shows which was each hosted with a new host whenever thier contract was up were devoloped and successful to this day.

(the set of Broadway Open House)

Late Night Show with Conan O'Brien was unique in its own ways and also innovates from the other Late Night shows based on the way his stage was set up, doing shows outside of the set in areas like Finland, Canada, New York, the U.S. etc making fun of events going on in time. Conan did some episodes based on "time traveling" in Ancient Greece, the 80's, The Civil War and the future, plus he also was the first on Late Night to use clay animation for an episode.

(animation, cartoon work)

He took the opportunity of new technology to make clay animation along with showing quick clips of other television and comedy to prove his humorous points. Back in the 50's they could only record the humor of dancing, human acts, and visuals of posterboards to make the show successful. Conan had limitations based on the theme of his set up with a stage, desk, and audience with vaudeville stage performances, but he could travel, record his show, and bring it back to enertain people with his experience somewhere else. He was also the first on Late Night to be able to Broadcast his show in 2005 through iTunes where he could make a profit from selling episodes on the iTunes website. Now over time it was broadcasted to hulu.com where it is free and the Late Night Show with Conan O'Brien's web pages gives ingternet users the opportunity to explore recaps, fan pages and more. This helps the audience get involved at a faster and more dedicated pace. There were the most fans and viewers tuned into Conan's farewell show this February than any other host has had before with 3.4 million viewers.

Society and culture forced and influenced the Late Night Show to make fun of what actually happens in society. But in a way, it is a resistance to what is going on in the world such as war, poverty, politics, economy, family life, etc. for the meir fact it makes fun of it all. It has the same affect to viewers such as the show "M*A*S*H" was a light comedy about war. The Comedy in the television show lightens the weight of the world on people to show that this is just life and this is the crazy stuff we have to live with everyday so we could laugh at ourselves every once and a while for the mess we got into. It is not as mind numbing as the Brady Bunch life for example, but it does draw the viewers away from the serious and emotional side of politics, economy, and more to relax it out. Conan's show went for 16 years and even put up with history such as 9/11, the Blackout, and presidential elections of Clinton, Bush, and Obama.