Does It Need To Pay Out To Sell?

[tvmitch]

I watch Pointless almost every day. It is such a smart, fantastic show. Immense playalong value. And when the jackpot resets, they're playing for a thousand pounds. Split between two people!

It's not ever a life-changing sum of money up for grabs, but the game is so good and fun, and if the contestants do win, they get a nice holiday out of it. If not, they get a cool trophy.

There's not an equivalent format for the USA at all, where the top prize is never more than something to pay for a holiday or trip.

I wish GSN would take a risk on such a show. I don't know if the exact format of Pointless would translate over here, but look at Pyramid's ratings. Solid game, not a metric ton of cash being given away.

[chris319]

I don't think networks are really interested in Brit-style games at all.

They are to the extent that they already have a track record with audiences (albeit overseas), and there are no development costs for the U.S. networks.

In the golden age of daytime game shows, the network prime-time schedules were devoid of games as they were relegated to prime access time slots, and those shows were often nighttime versions of daytime shows. Daytime shows never had million-dollar payouts because a) it was potentially expensive to offer such large prizes, b) too many million-dollar shows on the daytime schedule would crowd each other out, and c) it probably wasn't worth it for the smaller daytime audience and the older demo of game show viewers.

My theory about Millionaire is that the novelty of the million-dollar prize eventually wore off. Now a million-dollar prize will get you some promo value initially but after that it's no guarantee that audiences will stick around.