What makes the perfect game show?

Every Saturday night now will see the return of some classic game shows in Alan Carr’s Epic Gameshow. However, it takes into question what makes a good game show? What is the magical recipe?

To make the perfect game show to serve up to viewers, first you need the host, then you mix in the playing format – whether that’s question & answer or a physical game show. You then add a pinch of sayings and top it off with an audience to bring the atmosphere. Leave to cook and there you have it, the perfect game show!

If only it was as easy as a recipe. For many game shows, some only suffice to become “classics” and remain popular to audiences many years later. However, for some they become a one season wonder and fail to reach the popularity of shows before them.

For the shows that do prove to be successful, they must satisfy all the ingredients in the “perfect game show recipe”. For the very few shows that are most popular, there have even been remakes for modern audiences such as Catchphrase, Family Fortunes and Who Wants to be a Millionaire?

So, lets see what makes the best game show:

The Host

The host of a game show is the poster person for the whole show, so they have to be entertaining in some way. Perfect traits for a host are they are funny, easy to get along with, good audience interaction, clearly spoken and not camera shy. If a host can exhibit all these characteristics, then this is the perfect start for the show.

If we look back on some of the greats that proved to be successful hosts, these would include Bruce Forsyth on The Price is Right, Bob Monkhouse on Family Fortunes and Noel Edmonds on Deal or No Deal.

The Playing Format

So many game shows have the same sort of playing format but recreate it in their own unique way. The most obvious format is question and answer in shows such as Who Wants to be a Millionaire? And Family Fortunes.

However, majority of game shows these days have unique gaming formats. For the show to be successful though, it must ensure the format is easy to follow so audiences don’t get bored and turn it off. Shows such as Pointless and Catchphrase have done this well because even though they are different to the standard way a game show is run, they are still easy to play and contain the fun for the game to not be boring.

Sayings and Catchphrases

Over the past few decades, game shows have always remained popular and to this very day, even shows that are not on our screens anymore still contained sayings/catchphrases people say today. Whether its Brucey with “Nice to see you, to see you nice” or Jim Bowens “You can’t beat a bit of bully” on Bullseye.

Whatever the saying is, if its catchy then it makes the game show more memorable for people and therefore more popular.

The Audience

The audience are probably the most important element of a game show as it is them who need to be kept entertained and drawn in otherwise the studio will just be dismal…

The best way to keep the audience lured in is to take all the other elements such as the host, the jokes, the sayings and the format and make sure they involve the audience in as much as possible.

Some shows even go as far to have an interactive audience and involve them in aspects of the show. In Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway, at the end of the show they have their weekly “Win the Ads” element of the show where an audience member is picked to try and win prizes from the adverts by answering questions from news in the week.

There are so many game shows that have graced our screens over the years. Some all-time favourites such as The Crystal Maze, Catchphrase, Who Wants to be a Millionaire, Family Fortunes and many more. However, there have been the few that weren’t successful and not so memorable such as 24 Hour Quiz, Red or Black and Petrol Heads – guessing they aren’t sounding familiar?

Whatever the games show is, if they follow all satisfy all these elements on the “perfect game show recipe”, then the show makes for great viewing!

What are some of your favourite game shows? Let us know!

By Katie Green

Feature image: Bournemouth Echo