I found out that Wednesdays were the most popular days for quiz and game shows on the terrestrial channels I also found that there were no quiz and game shows on the terrestrial channels on Sundays, and there was only one show including all of the digital channels, which was at 9:25pm, which was Who wants to be a millionaire. This shows me that Wednesdays are the most popular days for shows and Sundays are the least popular days.
The first game show I watched to analyse was Call My Bluff. The host of Call My Bluff is Bob Holness aged in the 50s. He was wearing a red jacket and tie, and was quite smart and formal. He dressed fairly old fashioned and spoke politely. He also seemed well educated and quite boring with his speech. He was friendly and made the audience laugh, but most of the audience were of the older generation. The guests were mainly older sports people who would not be appealing to the younger generation. The catch tune was very boring, and the set was a very plain coloured blue, with letters randomly placed over the background. I didn’t like the style of this game show as it seemed very old fashioned, and not what the market needed, as it wasn’t modern and up to date.
The second show I analysed was Friends Like These. The host of Friends Like These is Ian Wright, who was a famous footballer, and is now a well known celebrity. HE is aged in his late 20s, and is dress was very casual. He was very friendly to the audience, and ran onto set with lots of cheers. The language was very modern and informal, and would appeal to a younger audience. The guests were normal members of the public, and ran onto set, cheering and clapping. The music was very modern, and quite spooky and dramatic. It gave a tense and pressurising feeling. The set layout was very modern, using silvers, blues and lots of bright lights, appearing through the smoke. The set seems to build up excitement and the lighting and music builds up the atmosphere. The show was giving away holidays to the teams. I liked the idea of this show, as it was very modern and appealing to a younger audience. The idea of the show being very informal was good and as the teams were members of the public, the audience could get more involved.
The third show I watched to analyse was 15 to 1. The host was wearing a grey suit at white tie and was very formal. The guests were members of the normal public, but were of the older generation, about 40+. The music was in an old style, and wasn’t very catchy or modern. The set was light blue, green and purple, which is the same as Call My Bluff, which was also in an older style set and layout. This show had adverts in the breaks as it was showed on channel 5. You could tell the show was aimed at an older audience as the adverts included Denture Grip, Over 50s motor insurance, Home base, Credit Cards, Vision Express and Loans. These adverts would not be aimed at young people as they would not be needed or used. This show would appeal to an older audience, and did not appeal to me. I think a new show would have to be more modern than this type of show.
The last show I watched to analyse was Supermarket Sweep, which is hosted by Dale Winton. He was dressed in very bright clothes, even though he was wearing a suit. He was very friendly to the contestants, who were general members of the public. He chatted to the contestants for a long period of time, and there was no in set audience.
By looking at each of these game shows, I can see that the most interesting show is Friends Like These, and I think there is a gap In the market for an audience of ages 15-30 years old. Friends like these is a modern show, which appeals to the younger audience. The show also has members of the public, which appeals more to the audience as they feel like they are involved.
I then saw that the games need to be challenging to capture the audience, and keep the audience hooked. They need to be fun but challenging so people also want to play the games, and people want to watch people playing them.
The set needs to be quite modern, and the lighting I am going to use is going to be blue and white and will have smoke. The set will be made with metal so it looks very modern. The audience will be sat around the edge of the arena, so they can participate in the games and there will be a lot of relating with the audience throughout the program.
The prizes need to be good and make people want to play on the game, and the better the prizes, the more people push to get better scores. This makes the game more exciting and challenging. The prizes I have decided to have in my game is money and a holiday.
The contestants seem to work better with the audience if they are general members of the public, as they are the same people and can relate with the contestants. For my game, I have decided to have my contestants and two teams, one girls and one boys, so then this will create tension between the sexes.
As there is a gap in the market for people aged 15-30, I have decided to set the game to an audience of this age group. It will be people of both sexes as the teams are both sexes as well. This means the adverts shown will have to be aimed at these age groups such as CDs, shops and days out.
I am going to use music which is quite scary but modern, so it brings tension and a thought of challenge to the game.
By looking at which channel is best, I have decided that ITV will be best for my game show. This is for many reasons, one of which is that adverts can be shown on this channel, so money can be made from this for the TV channel. It is also more watched than channel 4 and 5. It will be broadcast on Wednesdays, as this time is where a lot of people seem to watch game shows. The time it will be broadcast will be at 8 o’clock, as this time is a popular time for people, whereas Fridays, and Saturday nights would not be as good for this age group because a lot of people from this age group will be out at this time.
This is my idea for my whole game show.
The game consists of two teams hosted by Ant and Dec where the teams collect money and the team with the most money goes onto the second half of the program with the chance to win a holiday. The two teams take on challenges, testing their skills, logic, and general knowledge. Each team play challenges, and collect money to try and be the team with the highest amount by the end of the first half of the program. Then, the team with the highest amount goes on to play more challenges and question rounds. The challenges in the first half consist of the whole team, but the challenges in the second half are only played by one person. If the challenge is completed, the player is safe, but if the challenge is not completed, the player is locked in the game, and cannot come out until the end of the round. Each player can only play once, but there is only enough games for all but one of the players, ensuring one player is in the safe. The safe players are the only players who can play for the holiday, unless the other players are bought out for £100 each. If 3 players are locked in, and only £200 is owned, then the free player has to choose which player/players do not go. The money collected will be shared out at the end of the game between the remaining players, unless all money has been used to buy out locked players. Even if all the money has been spent to unlock all the players, the holiday may not still be won, as a game has to be played and won before the holiday is won.
I think my game show will be successful because there are no other games like this on the market at the moment and there is room for this kind of show on the TV.