The 25 Stupidest Ideas For Game Shows
There are no winners with these lame concepts.
Image via Complex Original
How much will people do for a few dollars and fleeting television fame? Quite a lot. No matter how stupid a game show's concept, you can be sure that there are folks eager to get on the series for their chance at winning prizes and cash on national television.
Take Syfy's Total Blackout, for instance. The series, hosted by Jaleel White, is based on a game show from Denmark of the same name and same concept: Producers place contestants in pitch black rooms, where they must compete in challenges, smelling and feeling unidentified objects to try to guess what they are. It doesn't sound so bad, but since this is a form of reality television, the game loves to torture its contestants for the sake of the sadistic viewer—oftentimes, the contestant will be smelling another man's ass or feeling a gigantic spider.
You've gotta wonder why people would continue to appear on a show that puts its contestants through so humiliation, but when the dollar signs are behind their eyes and the possibility of fame is blocking their vision, it's tough to see clearly. What's worse is, Total Blackout isn't even the most brutal concept of the game shows out there. In honor of the season two premiere of Total Blackout, here are our picks for the 25 Stupidest Ideas for Game Shows.
RELATED: The 25 Hottest Game Show Eye Candy
RELATED: 10 Game Shows We Want to See Hip Hop Versions Of
RELATED: The 15 Most Ridiculous Dating Shows
Written by Tanya Ghahremani (@tanyaghahremani)
25. Bridalplasty (E!, 2010-2011)
The concept of this short-lived E! game show was as follows: Stick 12 brides-to-be in a house for four months and have them compete in challenges. The prize? An all-expenses-paid wedding and unlimited plastic surgery. Because, let’s be real, why learn to love yourself for who you are when you can just compete for a trip to one of Beverly Hills’ many plastic surgeons? This is the 21st century! With cosmetic procedures that are enough to turn a girl into a human Barbie doll, we don’t need self-respect.
24. Amne$ia (NBC, 2008)
On Amne$ia, contestants competed for a cash prize of up to $250,000 by answering random questions about their own life (What street did you grow up on? What was the name of your first goldfish? Where did your best friend’s third cousin twice removed go for spring break vacation in 1998?). Basically, it was like the security questions you answer when you can’t remember your website password, only in game show form, with comedian Dennis Miller hosting. True fact: Hell is participating in this game show for the rest of eternity.
23. My Dad Is Better Than Your Dad (NBC, 2008)
Another winner from NBC. The title says it all: Kids teamed with their dads and competed against other child-father teams for a cash prize of $50,000, but most importantly to prove that, no really, their dad is better than everyone else’s dad in the world. Clearly that is determined by how well pops can swing their seeds into an oversized dartboard, not by, you know, parenting skills.
The series was cancelled after just one season, and it’s programming decisions like these that make us wonder if Jack Donaghey really is running NBC.
22. Click (Syndicated, 1997-1999)
This show is so retro, it’s almost unbearable to watch. Developed back when the Internet was a relatively new concept to the world, Click featured contestants answering questions to win money – much in the style of Jeopardy – whilst standing in a gigantic studio space surrounded by gaudy, over-the-top props that, for the time, were supposed to depict a futuristic feel.
Unfortunately, enough flashing lights to induce seizures and neon bright lime green signs everywhere doesn’t particularly equal post-Millennium style. If that’s not enough to convince you of the show’s ridiculousness, it also features a 23-year-old Ryan Seacrest as host, bleached blonde frosted tips and all.
21. Oh Sit! (The CW, 2012-Present)
Let’s just begin by pointing a few things out: One, this show airs on The CW, home of ridiculous teen soaps and Tyra Banks yelling at people. Two, the original title of this series was Extreme Musical Chairs. That’s it. That’s the show. It’s musical chairs on The CW. More specifically, according to supposedly enticing press releases, it’s “high-octane musical chairs,” if that makes any difference. Basically, contestants compete in ridiculous obstacle courses while a live band plays in the background, and their performance determines how much money they win.
Once the music stops, they must scramble—and swim through water kept at a very comfortable 38 degrees—to a group of chairs in the middle of the studio. As goes the game, last one left standing is eliminated from the competition. So no, it’s definitely not your grandmother’s musical chairs. Maybe Satan’s musical chairs, though.
20. Downfall (ABC, 2010)
A show that boasted the “largest conveyor belt ever seen on TV” should have been a good one, but Downfall didn’t hit the mark when it premiered on ABC in 2010. The show was conducted on the roof of a building in Downtown L.A., and featured contestants racing to answer trivia questions as replicas of prizes that they stand the chance to win zoom past them on the conveyor belt before them. If the contestant takes too long to answer a question, the prize falls off the belt and crashes to the ground, thus becoming unwinnable.
In the final round, the contestant is placed on the belt in a safety harness next to the money they stand to win, and they must answer all the questions they’re posed correctly before they fall off the edge, along with their money, their hopes, and their dreams.
19. The Chair (ABC, 2002)
Any game show that has its contestants go through a thorough full body check-up is probably a bad idea for both those involved and the network that picked up the show, but that didn’t stop ABC from giving The Chair a chance in early 2002.
The series stuck contestants in a chair that monitored their heart rate and put them in potentially stress-inducing situations—like the release of an alligator or bees in their vicinity—while asking them questions. The contestants then had to answer the questions while keeping their heart rate down, which, unless you’re a member of the CIA or something, is pretty difficult to do.
If the contestant was unable to keep their stress in check, they lost money and were unable to progress to the next round. Probably because the network was scared that someone would die at some point and leave them liable, the show was cancelled after only two months.
18. The Chamber (Fox, 2002)
Another sadistic show from the early 2000s, The Chamber premiered on Fox around the same time that The Chair did on ABC. The concept was similar in the sense that both shows tortured their contestants while forcing them to answer trivia questions—so similar that both production companies entered into a legal battle claiming that the other was stealing their idea. In the end, it didn’t matter, as both shows were axed in a matter of weeks.
Anyway, the series concept is simple: Contestants answered questions while they're strapped to a chair and subjected to situations just about on par with methods of torture that went down at Guantanamo: electric shocks, hurricane-force winds, freezing temperatures, simulated ice storms, water torture, drops in oxygen levels, earthquake vibrations up to a 9.0 on the Richter scale, and being surrounded by fire in a 150-degree room.
A medical staff was on call at all times, but contestants still had to sign waivers promising the network wouldn’t be held liable if they died trying to answer elementary school-level trivia questions. Unsurprisingly, the show was cancelled after airing only three episodes.
17. Solitary (Fox Reality Channel, 2006-2010)
Solitary confinement isn’t something most sane people would willingly subject themselves to, but, as you've realized, people will do literally anything for money. This particular series, aptly titled Solitary, offered a cash prize to whoever was able to last the longest in solitary confinement, with only a computer named Val to communicate with. Considering that Val was like the not-so-distant cousin of the evil computer GLaDOS from the Portal games, that wasn’t much consolation.
Also, as the contestants were being held in confinement, they had to compete in challenges like being quizzed on false facts and being forced to memorize a long speech, all in an effort to disorient them and get them to drop out faster. By the end of the series, the winner was whoever was crazy enough to hold out through the whole series, and instead of being committed like they should have been, they were given $50,000 and sent on their merry way home.
16. Queen for a Day (Mutual Radio Network, 1945-1957/NBC, 1956–1960/ABC, 1960–1964/Syndicated, 1969–1970)
This show is credited as one of the “original” reality shows in history, but we can’t help feeling the concept is a little…insensitive. Queen for a Day aired across a handful of platforms and networks, but the format remained the same throughout: Women who were experiencing some sort of hardship in their life—one of their children was seriously ill, or they had major financial problems, or emotional issues—went on the show to tell their problems to a studio audience.
The audience then voted who had the worst life, and that woman got a crown, a cape, and prizes that were donated by advertisers, like a vacation or new kitchen wares. We get that it was supposed to be an uplifting show, but there’s something wrong with having people going through serious struggles compare their situations for others to vote who’s got the shittier luck.
15. Distraction (Comedy Central, 2005-2006)
This show is from the U.K., but it did air on U.S. television a year after it ended its run across the pond. In it, contestants had to answer questions while battling against various distractions, like being shocked with a dog collar, shot with paintballs, and stuck with a cactus.
In the final round, the poor, battered contestant was given the prizes they stood to win, only to be forced to answer a series of questions correctly lest they want their prizes ripped from their hands and destroyed before their eyes. It’s truly a sadist’s wet dream, but unfortunately for them, it only ran on television for about nine months.
14. Pictionary (Syndication, 1997-1998)
Why someone would think that creating a game show based on the board game that is considered a last resort even in the event of power outages and extreme boredom would be a good idea is beyond us, but clearly someone had a reason because this series ran in syndication from 1997 to 1998. As could be expected, it was basically the game in television series format, with the added feature of a celebrity participating with a team to help its members win a cash prize.
Surprisingly, no episodes of the show ended in yelling matches and fist-fights, which, in our experience, means they probably weren’t even playing the game right. What a gyp.
13. Win, Lose, or Draw (NBC, 1987–1989/Syndicated, 1987–1990)
Much like the 1997 incarnation of Pictionary, Win, Lose, or Draw featured a team of two celebrities and a contestant participating against another team in a game of Pictionary to win a cash prize. Why the network thought it was interesting enough to have a daytime version of the series in addition to a prime time version of the series is baffling, but luckily they came to their senses when the '90s rolled around.
12. Do You Trust Your Wife?/Who Do You Trust? (ABC, 1956–1963)
NBC had the name of the show changed from Do You Trust Your Wife? to Who Do You Trust? in 1957, but it's impossible to completely remove the blatant sexism from this show. Married couples appeared on the show, and were presented with a series of questions to answer for a cash prize. Sounds simple enough, but here’s the catch: The couple would first be presented with the category of the question, and before actually hearing the question itself, the husband would have to decide whether or not he wanted to answer the question himself, or if he “trusted” his (clearly less intelligent) wife to do so.
Even just reading that, it’s hard not to cringe.
11. Moment of Truth (Fox, 2008-2009)
Moment of Truth hooked people up to a lie detector and asked them to simply tell the truth about sensitive topics in the presence of their family and friends for a cash prize of up to $500,000. What harm could possibly come from that?
Well, there was that one contestant whose marriage disintegrated before our eyes when she ripped her husband’s heart out and stomped on it on stage—only to lose at the end when she lies on the question “Do you think you’re a good person?” (She says “Yes,” the answer is “No.”)
Thanks to this incident, the series received a lot of publicity, but it was still cancelled after just one season on air.
10. Set for Life (ABC, 2007)
We would have liked to be a fly on the wall at the network when this series was pitched. “OK, so we’ll have Jimmy Kimmel hosting…and the show will have contestants choosing light sticks from stands on the stage to determine if they move up or down a ladder of potential payouts. That’s it! It’ll be great!” It was not, and the show ended after just one month.
9. Let's Play Post Office (NBC, 1965-1966)
The game shows of yesteryear often had weird premises, simply because there were just so many on the air, so it’s generally no surprise when you see a retro series making its contestants do ridiculous things. That said, Let’s Play Post Office takes the cake for the strangest game show from the '60s.
Contestants heard a reading of fictional letters that, theoretically, a popular celebrity at the time could have written, and were asked to identify which celebrity it was. There were always clues embedded in the letters to tip off the contestant, of course, but here’s the catch: The more of the letter that’s read out loud, the less money the contestant could win.
Yeah, we can’t even try to make that sound exciting. It still sucks, even though it was produced by the same production company that came up with Jeopardy! back in the day. They can’t all be hits, right?
8. Who Wants to Be a Superhero? (Sci Fi Channel, 2006-2007)
Most people have had dreams of being a superhero at some point in their lives, but does anyone know what it actually takes to be a superhero? That’s the question this reality game show asked when it aired on what was formerly the Sci Fi Channel in 2006. Contestants dressed up as a superhero they'd created, and each week one was eliminated when they were deemed “not deserving” of being a true superhero. Whoever was left at the end received their very own comic book written by creator Stan Lee, an appearance in a Syfy original movie, and the opportunity to appear in Universal Studios Florida’s Parade of Superheroes.
The show ran for two seasons, but all we were really able to take from the series is that a superhero is apparently supposed to be a perfect specimen, because people were being eliminated left and right for things like jaywalking and discussing finances. Superheroes don't care about rising gas prices and mortgage payments?
7. Late Night Liars (GSN, 2010)
Jim Henson’s Muppets are beloved in popular culture, but not when it comes to game shows. The concept of this show still isn’t entirely clear, but it had something to do with contestants listening to puppets created by The Jim Henson Company specifically for the series, and trying to guess which of them is lying, with a cash prize on the line.
Yes, it was absolutely as boring as it sounds. Citing low ratings and high production costs—making those Muppets is costly, after all—the show was cancelled after only two months on air.
6. Dough Re Mi (NBC, 1958–1960)
Anyone who had an older generation iPod should remember the lame music quiz game it came installed with, which played about 10 seconds of a song, during which time you had to guess the name of the song. Dough Re Mi is basically the same thing, only minus the iPod and plus a live studio audience and a host named Gene Rayburn. It wasn’t the most entertaining of concepts, to say the least, and the show was cancelled after two and a half years on air.
5. Identity (NBC, 2006-2007)
The easiest way to describe NBC’s short-lived series Identity is that it’s a game show about judging someone by their appearance. The long form description is as follows: Illusionist comedian Penn Jillette gave contestants a list of 12 identifying factors about people, like their jobs, ages, and hobbies, and were asked them to match the identities to a group of strangers, based solely on their appearance. Stereotypes! Stereotypes for all!
4. 101 Ways to Leave a Game Show (ABC, 2011)
This ABC game show focused on sending off losing contestants in new and creative ways, such as a jet pack, a truck moving 65 mph, or simply being chased off by a pit bull. Creative, yes, but considering that the actual competition only involved contestants answering simple questions, the concept doesn’t merit a whole game show. Which is sad, because something tells us a lot of great YouTube clips could have come out of this show.
3. Lip Service (MTV, 1992-1994)
Contestants on this MTV series hosted by comedian Jay Mohr were asked to lip sync popular songs, competing against others for a vacation. They were judged on their accuracy in mouthing the lyrics, their stage presence, and then given a final score for their overall performance. Successful yet inane shows like this, where fame-hungry people with no talent pretend to have talent, are to thank for today's abundant reality programming. Actual music television, R.I.P.
2. Hurl! (G4, 2008)
The premise of this show is simple, and it’s undoubtedly the grossest concept we’ve ever heard. The series, literally, has people compete to see who can eat the most food and be the last to vomit while performing some extreme activity or going on a ride that involves a lot of spinning and movement. Whoever is able to hold their binge-eating like a morbidly obese man wins a cash prize, and, y’know, probably serious heartburn. No surprise, the show was cancelled after only two months on air.
1. Hole in the Wall (Fox, 2008–2009/Cartoon Network, 2010–2012)
Based off of a Japanese game show called Nōkabe, Hole in the Wall is what it sounds like. The series challenged contestants to contort their bodies into weird positions to fit through a hole in a moving wall that was being pushed quickly towards them. If they couldn’t fit—and oftentimes they couldn’t, because the shapes weren't humanly possible to fit through—they were pushed into a pool of water.
A simple enough concept, but for a whole show, it didn’t work. At the very least, it was good for a ton of hilarious YouTube clips. Hilarious in the “Oh God, what am I watching?” sense, anyway.