FOX orders another reality pilot

[tvrandywest]

Well this FOX up some of the optimism that we might be close to burn-out on these kinds of shows.

In "Panic Attack," contestants face their greatest fears -- heights, snakes, tight spaces -- with the help of a pair of therapists. What's interesting to me is that this is amazingly close to the format of Endemol's "Now or Never", a pilot I worked, also for FOX, which I believe pretty much morphed into "Fear Factor".

January 2000, Jerry Springer hosted as people deathly afraid of snakes and rats, dentist visits, heights, and tight spaces were all brought to tears as they crawled around with snakes and rats, were taunted with dental tools, were suspended from buildings, or were buried alive in a coffin at 1040 N. Las Palmas. This new incarnation is not an Endemol show, which seems to confirm that there is little protection for what can be loosely called "'Intellectual' Property".

So is the appeal of this kind of show similar to what keeps horror films a thriving genre?

While I always enjoy work, I remember taking a long shower after that pilot.

Randy
tvrandywest.com

[Brig Bother]

I think the "will they/won't they conquer their fears" thing is or was compelling, certainly ten-twenty years ago when it hadn't really been done on television before, and certainly it was the sort of thing I found very interesting to watch whilst growing up - certainly mainland Europe beat us Brits to it (Fort Boyard's been playing Indiana Jones for twenty years now and still going, Now or Never would have been what, mid 90s? (although the episode I've got is a bit gentler than your pilot, by the sounds of it), Il Grande Giochi/El Gran Juego de Oca again early-mid 90s). Then I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here became a massive hit, thanks to a) Ant and Dec and b) the Bushtucker Trials.

These days it's much less of a draw, because surely everything's been done by now? Fort Boyard has been struggling to come up with anything interesting for its adventures the last few years (but at least has a strong non-fear based element as well), and I can't help but think coming up with new Bushtucker Trials year on year must be one of the hardest jobs in the world to do. Ratings are down across the board. Both of these shows are hindered (although in other ways it's also their strength I should add) by their location and format, Fear Factor's genius, if you like, is that it had creative freedom to dress its tasks up anyway they like to keep it interesting. Ditto Japan's legendary Za Gaman (Endurance), which also had slightly more nuance to it than clip shows would suggest.

ITV recently did a show called The Door, hosted by Chris Tarrant and Amanda Holden. They were trying to promote it as "the new Crystal Maze". It really wasn't, it was two hours of celebrities trying to find things in containers full of awfulness. I might have found it entertaining if I was 15 and hadn't seen the like before, but I'm not, I have and it largely wasn't.

I think what Panic Attack needs is twenty years or so where nothing similar has been on since. Failing that, it's going to need a lot of compelling scenarios - never lose sight of the fact there is entertainment in watching others do things you would not and could not do.

[rjaguar3]

[quote name=\'tvrandywest\' post=\'240080\' date=\'Apr 27 2010, 11:46 AM\']January 2000, Jerry Springer hosted as people deathly afraid of snakes and rats, dentist visits, heights, and tight spaces were all brought to tears as they crawled around with snakes and rats, were taunted with dental tools, were suspended from buildings, or were buried alive in a coffin at 1040 N. Las Palmas.[/quote]
(emphasis added)

The address seems to tell me that Stone/Stanley were behind this pilot.

[tvrandywest]

... 1040 N. Las Palmas.
(emphasis added)
The address seems to tell me that Stone/Stanley were behind this pilot.

Fair guess but no. It was Endemol with The Gurin Company. The lot has been active since "Burns and Allen," "Perry Mason," and a season of "I Love Lucy". I stepped into something left by Arnold Ziffel from when "Green Acres" was there. You can see the lot in its splender in the film "The Player."

Stone/Stanley was there for some stuff. Games I worked there included The Challengers and Sweethearts, and next door to the pilot being discussed was that Dick Clark-hosted / Chuck Riley-announced thing with something like 30 players stacked to the rafters. Quite a set.

Randy
tvrandywest.com

[WarioBarker]

Stone/Stanley was there for some stuff. Games I worked there included The Challengers and Sweethearts, and next door to the pilot being discussed was that Dick Clark-hosted / Chuck Riley-announced thing with something like 30 players stacked to the rafters. Quite a set.

(emphasis added by me) The only show that comes to mind on that description is Winning Lines, which had stacks of players and quite a set indeed.

[tvrandywest]

[quote name=\'Dan88\' post=\'240103\' date=\'Apr 28 2010, 12:32 PM\'][quote name=\'tvrandywest\' post=\'240093\' date=\'Apr 28 2010, 12:35 AM\']Games I worked there included The Challengers and Sweethearts, and next door to the pilot being discussed was that Dick Clark-hosted / Chuck Riley-announced thing with something like 30 players stacked to the rafters. Quite a set.[/quote]
(emphasis added by me) The only show that comes to mind on that description is Winning Lines, which had stacks of players and quite a set indeed.
[/quote]
THAT'S the show.

Randy
tvrandywest.com

[TLEberle]

[quote name=\'Brig Bother\' post=\'240088\' date=\'Apr 27 2010, 01:46 PM\'](although the episode I've got is a bit gentler than your pilot, by the sounds of it)[/quote] Our Conquer Fort Boyard thing was really Outward Bound/American Gladiators and terrifically uninteresting except for the treasure room bit, and even that wasn't all that great, because the clue thing was left out.

These days it's much less of a draw, because surely everything's been done by now? Fort Boyard has been struggling to come up with anything interesting for its adventures the last few years (but at least has a strong non-fear based element as well),

Having seen Crystal Maze, I was very excited to see what the original article would be like, and I was pleased with what I saw. I don't think FB needs to have freak-out scary games. The jars of fear and the myriapod conveyor belt game were plenty. I much preferred the earlier games that took strength, ingenuity, and all those other happy wonderful traits that should be represented in game show contestants.

[Brig Bother]

[quote name=\'TLEberle\' post=\'240189\' date=\'May 2 2010, 08:40 AM\']

These days it's much less of a draw, because surely everything's been done by now? Fort Boyard has been struggling to come up with anything interesting for its adventures the last few years (but at least has a strong non-fear based element as well),

Having seen Crystal Maze, I was very excited to see what the original article would be like, and I was pleased with what I saw. I don't think FB needs to have freak-out scary games. The jars of fear and the myriapod conveyor belt game were plenty. I much preferred the earlier games that took strength, ingenuity, and all those other happy wonderful traits that should be represented in game show contestants.
[/quote]

It's interesting, FB has never really had anything that's horrendously awful - many of its adventure games are just large scale physical challenges really, and the nasty creature based games are very much in the spirit of overcoming the fear rather than being eaten up by the horror of it all - but at the time the sorts of things it was doing was and to a lesser extent, is still a big part of the show's attraction.