On Thu, Feb 9, 2012 at 9:46 AM, David Lynch <[email protected]> wrote: > On Thu, Feb 9, 2012 at 08:19, K.M. Richards <[email protected]> wrote: >> The original Millionaire did not have entirely new contestants each >> show. Doesn't anyone remember that annoying foghorn-type siren that >> announced they were out of time for that show? >> >> Each show picked up where it left off with the current contestant; >> they did not start from scratch at the top of each hour. >> >> Or perhaps I am misunderstanding what Tom means by an "arc". > > I think you're misunderstanding. "Millionaire" gives you one chance at > Fastest Fingers, one chance in the hot seat. There weren't the same > people appearing over multiple episodes becoming better known due to > their longevity and/or the producers turning them into "characters" > through creative editing. No multiple-day champions (e.g., > "Jeopardy"), no eliminating contestants one by one until the last one > standing is the winner of the whole season (e.g., "Survivor", "The > Amazing Race", "American Idol", "The X-Factor", "Top Chef", "Project > Runway", etc., etc.)
Tim and David did a good job of explaining what I meant by "arc." To expand a little, I mean a transformation over a season. A lot of unscripted shows are about the transformation of contestants over a season. The Biggest Loser is the most obvious example, but the singing and dancing competitions are also about finding raw talent and coaching it over a season, thus giving an audience a reason to keep up with shows all season. Compared to that, Who Wants to be a Millionaire was a revolving door and running it 5 times a week eventually burned the audience out. -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
