One week separates Nine and Seven

Nine has won Week 14 by 0.2% with 60 Minutes taking the Number 1 most watched show. This trend will continue with another State of Origin contest in Week 16 which should see Nine take that week and this week, things would not appear to be changing too much.

The week came down to Saturday night with Seven screening The Rich List which is bombing in its new day and time slot capturing only 715 000 viewers. The previous season, in 2007 screened on Monday’s at 7:30PM consistently rating around the 1.2-1.4 million mark.

Are game show’s dead?

Million Dollar Wheel has not exactly shot out of the blocks with its first week figures looking like this:

Monday 26/5: 733 000
Tuesday 27/5: 607 000
Wednesday 28/5: 596 000
Thursday 29/5: 542 000
Friday 30/5: 607 000

Deal or No Deal on the other hand consistently beat Wheel with its figures:

Monday 26/5: 975 000
Tuesday 27/5: 904 000
Wednesday 28/5: 890 000
Thursday 29/5: 799 000
Friday 30/5: 815 000

Figures courtsey of MediaSpy

Million Dollar Wheel’s figures are not impressive or challengine Deal in it’s first week but the show must be given time to find an audience. I do think there are some flaws with the show that may prevent a successful reinvention.

The set looks tacky with bright neon lights and the debut show had an over zealous audience whose clapping and cheering was a distraction.

On the plus side, Tim Campbell is an energetic fresh faced host while Kelly Landry’s role is still being developed. Is a letter spinner actually needed, especially when the letters are not spun, rather ‘touched’?

In plain and simple terms one would imagine that Wheel should be more popular than Deal because it actually makes you think. Deal is just a game of luck, opening suitcases, basically gambling. Wheel encourages you to think about sayings, names, words, phrases and the like which makes for more viewer interaction.

The host’s role is important and like him or loathe him, Andrew O’Keefe is very professional. Witty, knowledgeable and funny – he is what gets Deal over the line but Campbell, given time will give O’Keefe a run for his money, as the entertainer.

Looking at the game show genre in further detail there seems to be a decline in the number of productions on air and in further development on commercial networks. At the moment, Ten does not have a game show on air, Nine is only screening Million Dollar Wheel of Fortune (plus old episodes of 1 v 100 in non Rugby League states), Seven is running Deal or No Deal and The Rich List.

Nine’s decision to currently ‘rest’ a two of its game show franchises, Millionaire and Temptation is further indication to the changing genre. The network is developing a new type of game show, Hole in the Wall, a popular Japanese concept that breaks from the traditional game shows that the networks have previously screened.

Thought provoking, challenging game shows are currently on the backburner with network’s and audiences preferring game shows that entertain or allow you to ‘tune out’.