The Renaissance WILL be Televised

           Over the past few years  Robert Mills, the Vice President of Alternative Series at ABC, has brought classic game shows back to life. It has almost become a science with them. It all began with Celebrity Family Feud with Steve Harvey (who arguably has been the center of this game show renaissance along with Mills). Then To Tell The Truth, which has aired in every single decade since the 1950s (TPiR has too although the format had changed while TTTT's fundamentally hasn't.) Then, Match Game with Alec Baldwin, followed by The $100,000 Pyramid with Michael Strahan.

          This year, they have added 2 more to that stable: Press Your Luck with Elizabeth Banks, an interesting get for a game show; and Card Sharks with Joel McHale. Both, through 2 weeks, have proven to be ratings winners in demographics and overall. But why are game shows going through a second renaissance?

          In my opinion, it comes down to one simple thing. Game shows are positive programming. In this turbulent time, most of what is thrown at us on the TV screen is negative. The news is negative, late night talk shows are shading politics, dramas have well, drama. Even sitcoms can be more serious and take on a strong tone. Game shows, inherently are positive; They involve rooting for ordinary people to win thousands of dollars in cash and prizes for playing a game that people can play along with at home

         So why use these classic formats instead of creating new ones? Well, Mills put it very succinctly in an interview with Vulture. He said:

"The old games themselves are good. I would love to try new games, but the stuff that [past producers] did — they were geniuses. These games are incredibly well-built machines. They’re time-tested. You know that they work. The nostalgia helps, and that’s another selling point."

The geniuses he mentions here are Bill Carruthers (PYL) who formerly worked with Chuck Barris, Bob Stewart (100k) who studied under the guiding wing of Mark Goodson (all the others). These guys knew what they were doing when they were creating these formats. And they are inherently known to the public. People are familiar with them and comfortable with them. Heck, classic game show reruns can be seen all the time on Buzzr and GSN. So there is less risk when choosing to watch them. And what ABC has done really well is meld modern technology and pacing into these classic formats while not mutilating the formats. So viewers get the best updated.

So to close off. kudos to ABC and Robert Mills bring this new game show renaissance about and hoping that it continues for a long time to come