tv game shows - how are game shows made and what secrets do they hide from the contestants and viewers

What Your Reality Show Isn't Telling You
By KEDON WILLIS

1. "Step aside, crime dramas. There's a new sheriff in town."

In case you haven't noticed, reality shows are staking out more and more space in network lineups. In 2001, according to Ted Magder, chair of NYU's Department of Media, Culture and Communications, major networks devoted three hours a week of their prime-time schedule to reality TV and "challenge" game shows. The number increased to eight in 2002 and jumped to more than 20 in 2007. Today reality TV accounts for 20% of prime-time programming on network television.

Fueling the trend is the format's comparatively low production costs: typically less than a third of what it takes to produce hour-long dramas. But the bottom line behind the reality boom is ratings. In a Nielsen report for the 2006-07 season, reality shows accounted for six of the top 10 most-watched programs, including all of the top five.

What's behind our fascination with reality TV? Robert Thompson, a Syracuse University communications professor, says an "evolutionary quirk" compels our curiosity about how others live and function. "It's why we peer into other people's medicine cabinets," he says. "We can't help it; we're naturally voyeuristic."

2. "The reality is, it's fake."

Seasoned viewers know that what gets called reality on these shows is often fairly contrived. But few fans know the extent to which the producers mold both people and situations to fit their scripts. It's common, for example, to feature actors in the role of supposedly real people, says Jeff Bartsch, a freelance editor who has worked on reality shows: "Producers have to do this sometimes because they're looking for a specific type of person to fit a role."

But it's in filming and editing where the magic truly unfolds. Using endless hours of footage, editors often craft whole sequences using a technique called "Franken-biting" to weave together disparate clips, or they'll dub in contestants' words out of context -- something Patrick Vaughn knows all too well. A former contestant on CBS's The 'Amazing Race,' Vaughn says he was surprised to hear his own voice encouraging the group to find cabs to finish a leg of the race, and recalls that producers were the ones who instructed them to take taxis. A spokesperson for CBS says the change in transportation was "a safety precaution" and that the dubbing of Vaughn's voice "was done to better describe the scene to the viewer."

3. "Once you sign our release, we own you."

Reality TV Watch



It's no joke, according to Jameka Cameron, a recent contestant on the CBS reality show 'Big Brother': "When you sign that document, you're basically signing away all of your rights -- everything." (Cameron refused to be more specific, due to legal concerns.) So what exactly does she mean by "everything"?

A look at the participant agreement form from CBS's controversial 'Kid Nation,' in which unaccompanied minors struggle to create a society in a desert town, sheds some light on the extent of control the makers of these shows wield over contestants. For example, producers have sole discretion in determining what, if any, medical procedures should be sought in cases of injury, even though they don't guarantee the credentials of their medical staff.

Furthermore, producers are not liable in cases of death or injury of a contestant during the course of filming on location, and they can't be held responsible if a child contracts an STD or becomes pregnant. Says CBS: "The series was filmed responsibly and within all applicable laws in the state of New Mexico at the time of production."

4. "Our background check's a joke."

The way reality shows examine the backgrounds of their participants is an area of concern among legal experts. And for good reason -- producers love characters who are great at creating conflict, and they'll overlook important personal information to get them. In 2001's 'Big Brother,' contestant Krista Stegall had a knife held to her throat by another cast member who, it turned out, had previously been arrested for theft and assault charges. (Stegall sued; the case was settled out of court.)
Shhh! There's more out there that you might not know about. See what your DMV, hospital, restaurant, vet, gas station, plumber, dentist and more aren't telling you.
10 Things Your DMV Won't Tell You
Larry Waks, an entertainment lawyer in Texas, says background checks are "still an evolving area" in reality TV and that the big networks are getting stricter. But the problem is far from fixed. In October, after one of VH1's 'America's Most Smartest Model' contestants was arrested for allegedly groping a woman at a party, it was revealed he'd served time for assault, harassment, criminal contempt and trespassing. ("We do thorough background checks," says a spokesperson for the show. "We're continuing to investigate the matter.") Los Angeles entertainment lawyer Neville Johnson doesn't like what he sees. "I'm concerned about the characters they recruit for the sake of drama," he says.

5. "Even our crew members don't know what they're in for."

Participants on reality shows aren't the only ones who don't know what to expect from the experience -- crew members are often subjected to highly unpredictable situations as well. Osvaldo Silvera Jr., a director of photography who's worked on shows including 'Top Chef' and 'Miami Ink,' says the first rule he learned on a reality set was "always keep your camera rolling no matter what." That included the time he followed a subject into a room only to have the door slammed in his face, hitting his camera and knocking him to the ground. Cinematographer Aaron Schnobrich recalls filming a reality pilot in Red Square during a demonstration. "One of the camera operators was hauled off by officers in front of me, and I barely escaped from being caught," he says.

How do shows prepare crew members for such crazy working conditions? Mostly, they don't. "Not in the sense of confrontation management or anything like that," Schnobrich says. And since the cameras are usually manned by freelancers rather than union labor, producers face little if any resistance. "Especially in reality TV, everyone works freelance," Schnobrich says. "It's the trick of the industry."


6. "Ad execs are the new producers."

Product placement is the big thing in TV advertising, and reality shows are the main vehicle. Leading the way is 'American Idol', whose sponsors spend millions to sew their products into the show -- which is why, for instance, the Coca-Cola brand on the cups at the judges' table faces the camera. "Reality TV is rife with it," says Mark Andrejevic, author of 'Reality TV: The Work of Being Watched.' It's "selling you something without trying, and it works." Advertisers spent $1.5 billion on product placement in 2006, according to PQ Media, a 58% increase from 2005. And double-digit growth is projected over the next five years.
Reality Show Secrets


The real reality: Do TV home renovators even have licenses? Were 'American Gladiators' stars on drugs? Take a look at these and other "secrets."
Some advertisers even want to design whole shows around their products. Last fall, for example, MTV premiered 'The Gamekillers,' whose concept was developed by Bartle Bogle Hagarty, the agency that pushes Axe deodorant for Unilever PLC. The basis of the show was to see if male contestants could "keep their cool" under pressure -- while wearing Axe. Don't be surprised if you start seeing more of these ad-minded concepts, says Andrejevic. "This may be the direction marketing starts going."

7. "Go ahead and sue us -- you'll have a hard time winning."

Reality-based shows are famous for subjecting participants to intriguingly dangerous situations. But creators hardly ever have to pay up in the event that someone gets injured or even killed. It's not that people haven't tried to sue -- they have -- it's just that they virtually never win, according to Eric Robinson, staff attorney for the Media Law Resource Center. Robinson has tracked 14 such cases. Half were dismissed outright, and only one resulted in an arbitration award for the plaintiff.

Just ask Jill Mouser, who in 2003 filed suit in Los Angeles for battery and gross negligence after being held in a harness for 40 minutes for CBS's reality show 'Culture Shock.' She claimed that producers failed to warn her just how physically taxing the show would be. The release form she signed said differently; she lost. According to Larry Waks, release forms have gotten increasingly broad to ensure that networks and producers are indemnified from any claims of liability. So if you're intent on participating in a reality show, the most you can do is be aware of the risks and read all the waivers very carefully. Because, says Waks, "they've all stood up. The releases I see have all been found to prevent suits."


8. "Reality TV? You mean celebrity TV."

The landscape for reality TV has changed rapidly over the past few years. Competition shows and unscripted dramas once dominated the landscape, but it wasn't long before celebrities began infiltrating the reality format. "When reality TV started, its whole appeal was that 'these are not stars -- it's unscripted!'" says Robert Thompson. "Then all of a sudden, we have 'The Osbournes' and 'Surreal Life.'" And it wasn't long before network stalwarts like CBS and NBC began catching on to the trend, with celebrity versions of shows like 'The Apprentice' and 'The Mole.'

Elayne Rapping, professor of American studies at SUNY Buffalo, says that the influx of celebrities into the genre makes sense, because "it became something they could do to keep their careers going." As for viewers, "we want to see [celebrities] being real," Rapping says. "This is a country that's addicted to celebrity." Case in point: ABC's 'Dancing With the Stars' drew an impressive 22 million viewers for its first season's finale, in 2005, and it was the No. 1 show in all of television during the fall 2007 season.

9. "We steal a lot of our best ideas from Europe."

If you happen to sally forth across the Pond and catch a show on British TV that's exactly like 'Dancing With the Stars,' it means you're watching 'Strictly Come Dancing,' the popular U.K. progenitor of the U.S. hit. In fact, of the nine reality shows listed in the top 50 of Nielsen's ranking report for the 2006-07 season, only three were developed by domestic production companies -- and they were among the lowest rated. The reason? Foreign studios have been mining the reality-TV vein for a lot longer than American studios, and they soon started packaging and reselling concepts at a frenzied pace.

Netherlands-based Endemol, the force behind such reality hits as 'Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,' 'Deal or No Deal' and 'Big Brother,' farms out formats to other countries, stripping away cultural nuances and tweaking shows so they better suit their new home. The company even throws in a coach with the deal to consult with local producers on how to successfully adapt the show's basic elements. The goal, says David Goldberg, chairman of Endemol in the U.S., is to "exploit our content across as many markets as we can." Indeed, 'Big Brother' has variations in almost 40 countries. "It's as if there's nothing original about reality TV," author Andrejevic says.


Shhh! There's more out there that you might not know about. See what your DMV, hospital, restaurant, vet, gas station, plumber, dentist and more aren't telling you.
10 Things Your DMV Won't Tell You

10. "Get used to it -- we're not going away anytime soon."

Since the 1990s, network television has been strained by the expense of original programming. According to NYU's Magder, producing an hour of original dramatic television averages a cool $3 million and can run much higher (ratings darling 'ER,' for example, cost $13 million an episode in its heyday). Compare that with the cost of producing reality shows, which generally run less than $1 million per hour, and you'll understand why networks won't be abandoning the format anytime soon. "They can't do without them now," says Magder. "The writing overhead is much less. They're easy to produce. It's a good economic model."

Another boon: As the writers strike aptly demonstrated, reality shows help hedge against union and labor demands related to producing scripted shows. Does that mean reality programming is destined to take over prime time completely? Not necessarily, says Magder. There may be a short-term increase at present, but don't expect the networks to abandon scripted dramas altogether. "The new model of scripted and unscripted shows is too good," he says. For networks to survive, "there must be a mix."

casting for duel

Reply to: castingduel@gmail.com
Date: 2008-02-22, 9:55AM PST


Do You Have What it Takes to “DUEL!”

ABC’s hit game show “Duel” is back! If you’re a trivia buff with a competitive flair we want you! Please respond with”

1. Name, Age, Occupation
2. Contact Info
3. Recent Photo
4. What would make you a great “Duel” contestant

please note:
you must be 18 years old

tv game shows - Can a TV game show kill you?

Can a TV game show kill you? The affect tv game shows have had on people who have competed are mixed. While some lose because of greed, others win and are disgusted with themselves, by the way they have been edited and portrayed. Are they really like that? I encourage all past winners and losers of tv game shows to send us an email and tell us your story.

SEE ENTIRE MOVIE AT WWW.CRISSMOTHERS.COM "If You Steal My Sunshine" is a reality movie about Cris Smothers ending her life because of the treatment by FOX's new gameshow, "The Moment of Truth," and the people that produce the show at Lighthearted Entertainment. This production company has already been responsible for one real suicide. We made this movie to show the tactics and deceit used by these producers, how they treat people as disposable items, and how bosses use and abuse their employees. Something has got to change. The audition, detective, and psychologist interviews were re-enacted, but everything in the movie was true and real, except the suicide in the end. Please download this movie, pass it on to others, upload it to other sites, and spread the word about the story that FOX does not want you to hear. Our constitution gives us the right to stand up for our beliefs... the religious people do it all the time. "If You Steal My Sunshine" A REALITY MOVIE was our freedom of speech. There have been many movies made about suicide, and they are not apologizing. This was a reality movie and we played ourselves. We can and will always continue to write and make movies about issues we are passionate about, regardless if some of you like it or not.

tv game shows - what would you do for the money?

How far would you go to get on TV? would you throw up to win a million dollars? How to get on any tv game show...

tv game shows - moment of truth ratings

Fox’s MOMENT OF TRUTH
Sets Rating Records!!

I am – Hercules!! Fox’s new game show “Moment of Truth,” which features people providing embarrassing answers to personal questions, beat both “Terminator” and “American Gladiators” as highest-rated series premiere of the season. It retained 94 percent of lead-in “American Idol’s” audience, an all-time record. Read all of TV Week’s story on the matter here.

tv game shows - moment of truth

No Lie: Fox’s 'Moment of Truth' Opens Huge

Moment of Truth (Fox)For the third time this month, the season's highest-rated new series premiere record has been shattered: Fox’s provocative lie detector game show opened with a massive Nielsen rating thanks to an “American Idol” lead-in and plenty of viewer curiosity.

“Moment” was seen by 23 million viewers and scored a 10.2 preliminary rating among adults 18 to 49, retaining 94% of its “Idol” audience (10.8). That’s higher than previous record-setting freshman debuts this season by NBC’s “American Gladiators” (5.9) and Fox’s “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles” (7.6).

The "Moment" premiere is the largest retention ever of an “Idol” lead-in, and the highest-rated premiere on any network since last February's "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader" (11.2) -- Fox's previous game show to debut in a post-"Idol" slot. Drop off between the first and second half hour of "Moment" was 13%, which is nominal considering the large influx of “Idol” viewers. The "Moment" rating could shift slightly in the nationals later today since there’s one minute of “Idol” bleed into the program.

The show was not sent for review to critics, but TV Guide’s Matt Roush had an early critique this morning: “Who with a brain or a soul could do anything but despise Fox's new bottom-of-the-reality-barrel time-waster.” Viewers posting on the blog were more intrigued, though several said the show’s pace needed to speed up.

Once again, an NBC unscripted effort held up best against “Idol.” Continuing its “Million Dollar Mission,” last night’s “Deal or No Deal” hit a 15-month high in this time period (3.7). The “MDM” (where suitcases containing $1,000,000 keep being added to the board until a contestant finally wins the top prize) has played like a sweeps stunt, only placed in January. The play has given a more serialized nature to the show that has boosted tune-in, not unlike Ken Jennings’ famed winning streak on “Jeopardy.”

NBC also had “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” (2.2) and “Law & Order” (3.0).

Other competitors didn’t fare nearly as well against Fox’s duo.

Third-place CBS’s entire lineup hit series lows, including “Power of 10” (0.9), “Criminal Minds” (3.2) and “CSI: NY” (3.3, winning the 10 p.m. hour).

ABC’s “Wife Swap” also hit a series low (1.9), followed by “Supernanny” (2.7) and a season low “Cashmere Mafia” (2.0).

The CW aired “Crowned” (0.7) and a “Gossip Girl” repeat (0.5).

UPDATE: Fox's Mike Darnell on "Moment of Truth" ratings and critic reviews. "They thought it was everything from boring, to vile, to boring and vile. But generally speaking, if you have a critically acclaimed reality show, it's not a big hit..." More ...

tv game shows - interactive tv game shows from netplay

NetPlay TV in agreement with Parlay to extend Big Box Bingo and casino offerings

LONDON (Thomson Financial) - Interactive TV gaming company Netplay TV PLC said Canadian bingo software developer Parlay Entertainment Inc has agreed to develop 76 web-based games for NetPlay users to play as part of Netplay's Big Box Bingo and SuperCasino.com services.

The new games will be launched by the end of the first quarter of this year.

Big Box Bingo's interactive TV game show was launched in July 2007. The show allows viewers to play along with an interactive bingo game from their homes.

The addition of these web games will allow its customers to play a variety of bingo and casino games online as well as on the TV.

Financial details were not disclosed.

'It is a natural progression to extend the offering online, allowing our customers to play bingo and other online games any time they please,' said Martin Higginson, chief executive of NetPlay TV.

NetPlay TV was formerly known as Stream Group PLC.