Posted by
gilroy man on Friday, June 20, 2008 2:14:49 PM
Last night I watched reruns of the game show “family feud”. 2 of them were recent shows from 2008, and 1 was an old Richard Dawson hosted show from the 1980s. I was struck by the cultural differences between the shows.
For one thing, there was a technological difference. The 1980’s set had huge, table mounted microphones for the contestants, a clumsy rotating game board, and primitive looking graphics. By comparison, the new show set was flashy and modern.
There was also a time difference. Richard Dawson took a lot of time to talk to each family, asking them their profession, where they lived, etc. By contrast, the new host, John O’Hurley, asked only a couple of questions and jumped immediately into the game. Don’t get me wrong – O’Hurley is very suave and debonair and makes jokes with the people. But the pace seemed slower under Dawson, and he seemed genuinely interested in the people. The new show is more pro forma and by the numbers.
Another time difference is in the fast money game at the end of the show. 2 people are drawn from the winning family and asked the same set of survey questions. In the old show, the first person got 15 seconds to answer the questions while the second person got 20 seconds. In the new show, the answer times have been lengthened to 20 seconds and 25 seconds. I wonder why? Are the questions tougher? Or are people not as smart nowadays?
The biggest difference was in the contestants themselves. Sure, the clothes fashions and hairstyles are different, that’s to be expected. But in the old show, most contestants were middle aged. In the new show, you see most families with only 1 or 2 middle aged people, with everyone else in their 20s. And I can’t help but think that this mirrors Hollywood’s obsession with youth. Movie stars now seem teenaged and rail thin in comparison to the stars of movies 30-40 years ago. And those middle aged people that appear on television now are much more suave and gentrified than their counterparts from decades ago. Everything seems more upscale.
Maybe that’s a sign of progress. And it’s not necessarily a bad thing. However, it seems clear to me that the contestants of 20 years ago would never make it to television today. They’re too old and not good looking enough. And that raises an issue. Are only the beautiful people allowed on TV or in the movies? Deal or no deal is a good example of that trend.
Reality shows seem to present the anti-Hollywood extreme – weird behavior, staged screaming matches and power struggles, people voted off the island, etc. Which leaves games shows as the last television refuge of the normal people. But only if you’re in your 20s and nicely cleaned up.