June 16,2000 UNT Inhouse publication: Final answer: Hoerschelmann researches game shows

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Final answer: Hoerschelmann researches game shows

When it comes to playing games on television, everything old is new again.

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, the hit show of prime-time television, was 1999's The $64,000 Question. That television game show premiered in 1955 and significantly changed the style and format of such shows, according to Olaf Hoerschelmann, assistant professor of radio, television and film.

Hoerschelmann has spent almost a decade studying the evolution of American game shows, which began as radio quiz shows in the 1930s. He plans to write a book on his findings.

Hoerschelmann says he became interested in researching American game shows when he moved to the United States from his native Germany in 1990.

"Many of the shows in Germany and Europe were like Who Wants to Be a Millionaire," he says. "There was nothing like The Price is Right or Wheel of Fortune. I started to realize that the United States has a distinct quiz and game show history."

Prior to 1958, all television and radio programs involving people trying to win prizes were known as "quiz shows," regardless of whether they involved tests of knowledge, Hoerschelmann says.

"Programs such as Truth or Consequences and People Are Funny, which relied mainly on physical activities ... were called quiz shows, as was The $64,000 Question, which emphasized factual knowledge," he says.

Unlike today's shows, most 1940s and early 1950s shows that focused on facts and knowledge had simple formats and were "authority centered" rather than "audience centered."

The first true quiz shows had panels of experts who answered questions submitted by home viewers or listeners. People who submitted questions received small prizes if their questions were used and larger prizes if a panel could not answer one of their questions.

"Although this authority-centered format dominated the 1940s, it was slowly replaced by audience-centered quizzes in the 1950s. Everyday people from the studio audience became contestants," Hoerschelmann says.

The $64,000 Question brought quiz shows to a new level by increasing prize money to an unprecedented amount and introducing the concept of returning contestants, he says. Based on a 1940s radio show, The $64,000 Question emphasized knowledge of academic facts and culture.

Each contestant began by answering a question for $64. As in Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, each subsequent correct answer doubled the prize money. Once reaching $4,000, contestants could only advance one level per week and were asked increasingly difficult questions.

The contestants were eliminated if they missed any question after reaching the $4,000 level. If they missed a question after reaching $8,000, they were eliminated but received a new Cadillac as a consolation prize.

Programs similar to The $64,000 Question began to appear on television. However, in 1959 the big-money quiz show era came to an end after it was revealed that popular contestants had received the answers to the questions before the show. After this discovery, all television shows involving contestants competing for prizes called themselves "game shows" to distance themselves from the scandal, Hoerschelmann says.

These programs were no longer being shown during prime-time viewing hours and were relegated to daytime slots.

In the 1960s and 1970s, game shows focused less on academic knowledge. Whereas most of the contestants on the 1950s shows were academics, the 1960s and 1970s saw the start of shows such as Let's Make a Deal, in which contestants were randomly selected from the studio audience, Hoerschelmann says.

In addition, many shows that debuted during these years, such as The Hollywood Squares, The $10,000 Pyramid, Wheel of Fortune, Card Sharks and Family Feud, had bright and flashy sets and focused on guessing or gambling as methods for answering questions, he says.

Many required everyday knowledge. One exception was the original Jeopardy!, which reintroduced the academic quiz show when it premiered in 1964.

Today, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire is reclaiming prime-time slots for game shows, as well as bringing back the academic quiz show format.

Game shows are also becoming more interactive thanks to new technology, Hoerschelmann says. WebTV, a service which provides Internet access and other features on traditional televisions, allows viewers to play along with Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! contestants and watch their answers appear on their television screens as they view the shows.

"There has always been an attempt for game shows to have feedback from the audience," Hoerschelmann says. "Interactive technology claims to enhance the viewing experience, but it also provides an advantage for advertisers by making the audience more attached to the program."

He predicts that the American emphasis on education will make the new prime-time academic quiz shows even more popular, ensuring many successful television seasons.

"They show that knowledge you get in high school and college pays off," he says. "However, the 1950s quiz shows were more difficult. Contestants didn't get multiple choice answers to a question, and some questions had five or six parts to them."

Hoerschelmann's research has been published in The Encyclopedia of Television. His article on the big-money quiz shows of the 1950s appears in May's Journal of Communication Inquiry.