From J.R. Ewing to Cindy Nobody: The Rise of Game Show Contestants as Characters on Television
Who Wants to be a Millionaire is one of the greatest game shows in the history of television. After its debut in North American, millions of viewers sat glued to their television sets for the first few weeks of its initial run. It had an incredible impact on the culture of the day and continues to influence present game shows. Almost every game show since has taken something from Millionaire whether it be set design or color scheme. Even the way audiences are lit and how dramatic music plays in the background can be traced back to Millionaire. Overall, the show single-handedly rejuvenated interest in prime time game shows. However, there is one aspect of Millionaire that must be considered negative. It allowed contestants to speak. That was the moment game show contestants started to evolve from regular people to characters on television – and game shows have never been the same.
In the old days, game show contestants were given limited air time to share what was on their minds. Players on Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune had about twenty seconds to introduce themselves. There was little time spent getting to know contestants on The Price is Right aside from finding out how excited they were to be there. This allowed the focus to be on the game itself which in turn allowed audiences at home to play along. This meant the game had to be engaging and smart, or at the very least, intellectually stimulating. This all began to change when contestants on Millionaire started to share their thinking processes, and no one bothered to stop them.
Despite all the talking done on Millionaire, the structure of the show itself remained sound. The effects of the “talking contestant” wouldn’t be fully felt until new game shows appeared. For a while, a lot of the copy-cat shows still featured games that were decently playable. But then reality TV struck it big and network executives saw that there was money to be made by making stars out of nobodies. This is when the shift of games shows started to gear towards the contestants rather than the games. Contestants were given ample time to share their histories, perspectives on life, and anything else they had on their minds. By making contestants more compelling, it was hoped that it would increase the audience’s desire to follow along with the show. This was a good theory, but something horrible happened along the way.
By fleshing out contestants with back-story and personal interjections, they started to become characters. But there only ever seems to be one type of character. Every game show contestant today is loud and extroverted. They talk to the host as if they are long- time friends and reminisce about events that only they care about. Sometimes you might get a contestant who is a sweet old lady. But more often, you get folks who yell and scream, and they don’t talk like regular people do. You will also see that people are chosen for their attractiveness. Gone are the days when a contestant can have a big nose and be slightly awkward. Quite simply, you don’t get the average person anymore and that makes game shows of today a whole different entity.
This is worst thing that has happened to game shows in recent years. It’s a lot cheaper to run a game show with these “real people” than to produce a fully scripted drama programs with well-written characters. So not only do we get more game shows, we get more that feature the same types of people. Producers want audiences to feel engaged by the contestants as if they are watching a scripted show. However, they have forgotten about structuring shows based on quality games. They rely too much on a fascination with contestants to hook viewers and forgo any effort to make games that are challenging for audiences at home. If you try to play along with Deal or No Deal, you will soon realize that you can’t. The game is all based on luck, but people watch because they want to see what the contestant does. And why do they care? It’s because the contestant has already told you his or her life story. They’ve even trotted out their entire family for emotional support. The game itself becomes secondary and after a time, unwatchable.
In order for television to remain healthy, there needs to be a distinction between genres. It seems as if game shows have become a form of reality TV, which itself is a version of drama. Let’s bring back the days when game shows were challenging and fun. Leave the character development to writers who have the freedom to develop proper arcs and stories on scripted shows. This all started with Who Wants to be a Millionaire but that show also gave us a great game that was fundamentally smart. If network executives focussed on that part, we might be able to get back to the days of quality game shows.
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