A game show involves members of the public or celebrities, sometimes as part of a team, playing a game, perhaps involving answering quiz questions, for points or prizes. In some shows contestants compete against other players or another team whilst other shows involve contestants striving alone for a good outcome or high score. Game shows often reward players with prizes such as cash, or holidays and goods and services provided by the show's sponsors. Early television game shows descended from similar programs on broadcast radio.
There are several basic genres of game shows with a great deal of crossover between the different types.
• The simplest form of game show is a quiz show whereby people compete against each other by answering quiz questions or solving puzzles. Quiz shows usually involve members of the public, but sometimes special shows are aired in which celebrities take part and the prizes are given to charity. Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! are examples. Some quiz shows, such as the word games Password and Pyramid, pair celebrities and non-notable citizens.
Television's most successful quiz, The Price is Right (premiering in 1956), revolves mostly around how much a merchandise item costs, though the modern version mixes the retail element with games of chance. Indian examples: Bournvita Quiz.
• A panel game usually involves a celebrity panel answering questions about a specialist field such as sport or music and is often played for laughs as much as points. Match Game, which dates from the 1960s but is best known for its CBS daytime run of the 1970's, is one such example. Other examples include What's My Line? and Have I Got News for You.
• The third kind of game show involves contestants completing stunts (Fear Factor) or playing a game that involves an element of chance or strategy in addition to, or instead of, a test of general knowledge. Deal or No Deal is an example of this format, combining both luck and strategy.
• Dating game shows, the original reality games, in which the prize is typically a well-funded dating opportunity that one can only pursue with the individual one has 'won' on the show. They are also a type of date auction where competitors compete for dates not with money but with seductive powers or attractiveness or the promise of an enjoyable date or even ultimately marriage. In the middle of the 1960s, Chuck Barris conceived a new genre in which the competitor's personal life became part of the show.
They were the forerunners of today's reality game show. The prize was typically romantic opportunity (The Dating Game) or fame (The Gong Show) rather than cash. One of his famous shows, The Newlywed Game, actually led to some divorces. This genre virtually disappeared from US screens in the 1990s. Blind Date, the British version of The Dating Game, remained popular in the United Kingdom.
• Reality game shows have become popular in recent years. In a reality show the competition usually lasts several days or even weeks and a competitor's progress through the game is based on some form of popularity contest, usually a kind of disapproval voting by their fellow competitors or members of the public.
The reality game shows concept really took off in the 2000s with shows like Survivor, Big Brother (Bigg Boss in India) and their clones. Planet 24 television (owned by Bob Geldof) devised the concept of Survivor but were unable to sell it to a British or American broadcaster. It was eventually taken up in 1997 by Sweden as Expedition Robinson.
The format was an immediate hit in other Scandinavian countries and it soon caught on around the world. These shows combine elements of reality show and older reality game shows with traditional game-show elements of physical competitions by contestants.
• In India Music Game shows like Antakshari and Sa Re Ga Ma Pa are very popular. Variations on this are the Dance Game shows like Naach Baliye and Boogie Woogie.
• Some shows (e.g. Weakest Link shown as Kamjor Kadi in India) exploit a disapproval voting system similar to the reality game show, and play up the realistic confrontation between contestants, but are in fact just conventional game shows, where no bodily torture or emotionally stressful situation is created, other than the failure to answer some question or impress hosts. Dog Eat Dog was even publicised as a reality show despite being basically a revamp of The Krypton Factor with a variant of disapproval voting added. However, this kind of show has not found favour amongst Indian viewers.
There are several basic genres of game shows with a great deal of crossover between the different types.
• The simplest form of game show is a quiz show whereby people compete against each other by answering quiz questions or solving puzzles. Quiz shows usually involve members of the public, but sometimes special shows are aired in which celebrities take part and the prizes are given to charity. Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! are examples. Some quiz shows, such as the word games Password and Pyramid, pair celebrities and non-notable citizens.
Television's most successful quiz, The Price is Right (premiering in 1956), revolves mostly around how much a merchandise item costs, though the modern version mixes the retail element with games of chance. Indian examples: Bournvita Quiz.
• A panel game usually involves a celebrity panel answering questions about a specialist field such as sport or music and is often played for laughs as much as points. Match Game, which dates from the 1960s but is best known for its CBS daytime run of the 1970's, is one such example. Other examples include What's My Line? and Have I Got News for You.
• The third kind of game show involves contestants completing stunts (Fear Factor) or playing a game that involves an element of chance or strategy in addition to, or instead of, a test of general knowledge. Deal or No Deal is an example of this format, combining both luck and strategy.
• Dating game shows, the original reality games, in which the prize is typically a well-funded dating opportunity that one can only pursue with the individual one has 'won' on the show. They are also a type of date auction where competitors compete for dates not with money but with seductive powers or attractiveness or the promise of an enjoyable date or even ultimately marriage. In the middle of the 1960s, Chuck Barris conceived a new genre in which the competitor's personal life became part of the show.
They were the forerunners of today's reality game show. The prize was typically romantic opportunity (The Dating Game) or fame (The Gong Show) rather than cash. One of his famous shows, The Newlywed Game, actually led to some divorces. This genre virtually disappeared from US screens in the 1990s. Blind Date, the British version of The Dating Game, remained popular in the United Kingdom.
• Reality game shows have become popular in recent years. In a reality show the competition usually lasts several days or even weeks and a competitor's progress through the game is based on some form of popularity contest, usually a kind of disapproval voting by their fellow competitors or members of the public.
The reality game shows concept really took off in the 2000s with shows like Survivor, Big Brother (Bigg Boss in India) and their clones. Planet 24 television (owned by Bob Geldof) devised the concept of Survivor but were unable to sell it to a British or American broadcaster. It was eventually taken up in 1997 by Sweden as Expedition Robinson.
The format was an immediate hit in other Scandinavian countries and it soon caught on around the world. These shows combine elements of reality show and older reality game shows with traditional game-show elements of physical competitions by contestants.
• In India Music Game shows like Antakshari and Sa Re Ga Ma Pa are very popular. Variations on this are the Dance Game shows like Naach Baliye and Boogie Woogie.
• Some shows (e.g. Weakest Link shown as Kamjor Kadi in India) exploit a disapproval voting system similar to the reality game show, and play up the realistic confrontation between contestants, but are in fact just conventional game shows, where no bodily torture or emotionally stressful situation is created, other than the failure to answer some question or impress hosts. Dog Eat Dog was even publicised as a reality show despite being basically a revamp of The Krypton Factor with a variant of disapproval voting added. However, this kind of show has not found favour amongst Indian viewers.