In defence of game show flop
The Age
Thursday March 31, 2011
I WATCHED a lot of game shows this week and I'm prepared to admit that the flashing lights, noisy applause and nerve-racking dynamite timers threatening to explode might have done something to my brain, because I've been quite enjoying Million Dollar Drop (Mondays, 8.30pm on Nine).The reports of how badly the show is rating surprise me because I think the premise is strong. Contestants start with $1 million and over eight questions try not to lose it. If you try to find a deeper meaning behind the show, it's a nice sentiment, really: instead of focusing on acquisition, it's about holding on to what you've got. (The show also encourages greed and the satisfying of shallow, despicable dreams but we can agree to overlook that.)The "drop" referred to in the title is a ludicrously dramatic chute the cash drops into if the contestants get a question wrong the floor opens up with all the pizzazz of a gallows trapdoor, just like in the good old days of public hangings when people really knew how to entertain.Million Dollar Drop wants to be the suspenseful one-hour drama of the game-show world, which is why we're watching it during prime time. But earlier in the day, we find that the afternoon model is still happy to be a sitcom. Deal or No Deal (weekdays, 5.30pm on Seven) is repetitive as clockwork: a flurry of colour and movement but I can see why people get hooked on it, despite contestants needing no other skill except the ability to read numbers out loud. The host, Andrew O'Keefe, allows contestants to perform in a sort of double act with him, so with the right contestant, the result can be almost vaudevillian. There is also something so excruciating as to be mildly entertaining in watching how much enjoyment contestants get from turning to the camera and booming defiantly: "No deal!"The Hot Seat (weekdays, 5.30pm on Nine) is the spawn of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and is also hosted by McGuire, which is lucky because I have no idea what contestants would do if they couldn't repeat the word "Eddie" at the end of every sentence. The rotation of contestants on the "hot seat" is supposed to quicken the pace and the drama but it's either too fast to get to know anyone's stories enough to want to barrack for them, or not fast enough, with only enough information given about these people for us to suspect they're profoundly boring. Which brings me back to Million Dollar Drop, which features just one couple, so you almost do feel like you get to know them.By screening Million Dollar Drop during prime time and getting McGuire to host, the network is trying to echo the success of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire but I don't think the tone of this show fits within the same family.The difference, subtle though it is, is that Drop is about not losing money rather than winning it, so I can't help but wonder if the show needs a more sympathetic gazillionaire host so this delicate philosophical difference is more clearly defined.McGuire is too choreographed and this wasn't good when last week's couple lost more than $600,000 over a question about M&Ms. The contestants were aghast but Eddie's shoulders are not made for crying on, are they? You'd risk poking an eye out on his expensive, sharp, block-shaped suit if you even got close.lvashti@fairfaxmedia.com.au
© 2011 The Age
