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And can you think of variations on that theme that would work well (especially comically, or as an excitingly novel concept)?
I am thinking of things like the BBC's Just a Minute, a long-running radio programme in which contestants have to talk for a whole minute on a random subject without hesitation (stumbling, saying 'um' or 'er'), repetition (repeating any words), or deviation (deviating from that subject).
What about party games that might transfer to radio quite well (charades, word games)?
I'm trying to devise a game show for a radio script I'm writing. The format of the show is not integral to the script (which is more about the presenter) but it's integral in that it has to be entertaining for an audience, and preferably not a direct copy of something that already exists.
Because it's a fictional game show it can be a bit ludicrous or unlikely but preferably something that is actually playable (so I can script it or even record a session with genuine contestants).
Thanks,
David
P.S. I'm aware of Sorry, I haven't a Clue, which parodies various shows of that type. Unfortunately I'm not really familiar with it, and it's not running at the moment. I will see if I can find some old episodes.
[Updated on: Wed, 31 January 2007 13:26] |
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marc
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Needs to get a life! |
Registered: March 2003
Messages: 4729
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NONE.....
Absolutly none..... They are a total waste of time and have little to no entertainment value.....
Life is great for me... Most of the time... But then I meet people online... Very few are real friends... Many say they are but know nothing of what it means... Some say they are, but are so shallow...
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I will confess to enjoying the BBC's Just a Minute (as described) and Have I Got News for You (a television news quiz, with Ian Hislop and Paul Merton, both of whom are intelligent and funny). I doubt you get them in the US. Neither is a conventional game show, but they are the sort of thing I am talking about.
I will agree that game shows that take themselves too seriously (and have unintelligent contestants) tend to be incredibly tedious, especially if they do not challenge the viewer. Television on Saturday nights in the UK is almost always dreadful for that reason.
David
[Updated on: Wed, 31 January 2007 13:46] |
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Predictably, I don't like anything that has a serious competitive element, but shows that include a points / scoring system that is not treated seriously (for example, comperes awarding a million bonus points for hairstyles, or whatever) can be funny. In short,I go for programmes where the basic aim is to collaborate on having fun!
I'm sorry I haven't a clue"(Radio) is a favourite of mine - other honourable mentions go to Have I Got News for You"(TV) and Eight out of ten cats ... (TV).
My all-time favourite, though, is itself a sort of spoof: the outstanding "Poets Cornered" segments from Peter Cook and Dudley Moore Not Only ... But Also.. . As http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/N/htmlN/notonly/notonly.htm puts it: "Among the most successful of these latter items was Poets Cornered, in which invited comedians were required to compose (without hesitation) instant rhyming poems, or risk being plunged into a vat of gunge--the first appearance of the so-called "gunge tanks" that became such a feature of zany quiz shows and children's programmes in the 1980s and 1990s. Among those to brave the gunge were Frank Muir, Spike Milligan and Barry Humphries.
"The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. ... Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night devoid of stars." Martin Luther King
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David, as you can imagine I am not very well up on British radio and TV. One programme that I have seen here (on BBC Prime) that might suit your needs is The Weakest Link - though I am not sure that you would be able to find anyone quite like Ann Robinson. (Who said "Thank God"?????) I spoze I am dating myself if I suggest Twenty Questions.
I know; not very helpful. Sorry.
J F R
The paradox has often been noted that the United States, founded in secularism, is now the most religiose country in Christendom, while England, with an established church headed by its constitutional monarch, is among the least. (Richard Dawkins, 2006)
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Thanks, JFR.
I find that The Weakest Link is (or rather, pretends to be) too serious for its own good, the questions are not clever enough, and Anne Robinson is decidedly peculiar (and rather corpse-like after all those facelifts).
I'm not looking for anything that exists; I'm looking only for something that could exist (and be quite interesting). So the idea doesn't have to be a British one.
Twenty Questions is quite promising, actually. If I can find a way to subvert it or reimagine it then I suspect it could work very well.
David
[Updated on: Wed, 31 January 2007 15:01] |
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Hi NW,
I've never seen Eight out of Ten Cats. I'll look out for it.
I have never seen Not Only... But Also, though I have heard of it (many times). There is an antiquated video recording of two episodes in the library (according to the catalogue -- the boolean search was being a bit funny about "not only but also"). I might take that out and have a look (assuming I can find a VHS player somewhere).
Thanks.
David
[Updated on: Wed, 31 January 2007 15:10] |
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timmy
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Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13796
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I'm Sorry I haven't a clue is my favourite
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
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I said,
>I'm looking only for something that could exist (and be quite interesting).
... which brings to mind another BBC television programme, QI, or Quite Interesting. Not my favourite, but it does have good questions which have answers that are non-obvious (and that's the main premise, actually: if you give a wrong-but-obvious answer you lose points).
David
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Deeej wrote:
>P.S. I'm aware of Sorry, I haven't a Clue, which parodies various shows of that type. Unfortunately I'm not really familiar with it, and it's not running at the moment. I will see if I can find some old episodes.<
This would be my suggestion and it is running at the moment on BBC7, Mondays at 12.30 and 19.30.
Hugs
Nigel
I dream of boys with big bulges in their trousers,
Never of girls with big bulges in their blouses.
…and look forward to meeting you in Cóito.
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I have 'listened again' to the most recent repeat on the BBC web site (I provided a link in one of these posts).
I think it's something of an acquired taste. I don't mean I didn't enjoy it -- I did, and I'm trying to find more -- but simply that I had no idea what they were trying to do half the time. 
It has certainly given me some ideas. I will have to try and judge whether I want my 'show' to be comic (and, of course, without really good actors/comedians and a decent script, it won't be) or straight (with a little black humour, perhaps). The games they play on ISIHAC are sufficiently nonsensical as to make it very difficult to get across the entire ethos of the programme in just 10 minutes (which is how long I have -- really only three to five minutes, as I want the game to take up only about a third of that).
David
[Updated on: Wed, 31 January 2007 20:22] |
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Yes, it definitely grows on you.
I've managed to find half a dozen episodes now in the murky depths of the Internet. That sort of thing is excellent -- in fact it's so excellent that I think to do something on the same lines would produce something that was evidently an inferior imitation.
I think my fictional show could be something along the lines of Just a Minute, which neither takes itself so seriously as to be tedious, nor relies quite so much on the talents of its 'contestants'. Or maybe something that does take itself seriously, but placed in juxtaposition with drama that undermines it or renders it irrelevant.
David
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DrBurkstrom
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Getting started |
Location: United Kingdom
Registered: January 2007
Messages: 3
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Not a quiz show per se, but an idea. There was a sketch done on the Two Ronnies once where Ronnie Corbett appeared on Mastermind with the specialist subject "Anserwing the previous question". I can't remember any specific examples....
....but in that pause I had a look and found it on youTube!
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Ge7tLYQjtY4
Isn't the internet good?
It would be a struggle to write but having an element like this in your quiz show would be fun, it depends how much you want to lean towards nonsense games like Mornington Crescent (this thread is going to be FULL of Radio 4 references!)
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mornington_Crescent_%28game%29 for those who don't know of Morningon Crescent)
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Yes, I think that's one of the Two Ronnies' finest sketches. Unfortunately, I also think it's the sort of thing that can only be pulled off by a very skilled writer (David Renwick) and two outstanding comic performers.
Absurdity would be great. Since it's fictional it doesn't have to have 'real' contestants. So something very dark or macabre (on the lines of the humour in The League of Gentlemen; perhaps all the contestants are given anaesthetics and the last one to stay lucid wins), or that is just plain silly (a silent mime act for radio), or that mixes genres or situations in some way (a parliamentary debate in which policy is decided on the basis of whichever proposal gets the fewest, or perhaps the most, laughs from the studio audience) is very possible.
That last one has potential for some interesting satire, come to think of it. I might have a go at developing it.
David
[Updated on: Thu, 01 February 2007 17:25] |
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DrBurkstrom
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Getting started |
Location: United Kingdom
Registered: January 2007
Messages: 3
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How about Radio Russian Roulette? (I love dark satire - and the idea of 'celebrities' playing with a loaded gun)
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I like the idea. I'll give it some thought.
I suspect if I choose something so obviously preposterous yet horrible as that, it'll be very difficult to get the tone right. I would like the tone to be something along the lines of Just a Minute, with the jovial presenter, witty banter between contestants and so on -- but if I were to sustain it throughout, the humour would end up not just dark, but blacker than pitch. Not that it's necessarily a bad thing -- comedy horror is a well-established genre. So far, I've not tried writing anything like that.
David
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