File type: Text File (.txt) [Download]
-----------------------------------------
G-52 F.A.Q.: Quiz King, #3

Q: Considering your planet died when it did, do you feel that if it continued to exist to this day, the game show would still be the most popular form of Bengalian entertainment?
A: Absolutely.  Game shows are an institution in television no matter where you live.  I do agree they're not for everybody, and not everybody is going to like them.  But on Bengalia, there would always be game shows, both traditional and in the modern sense.

Q: What do you mean, "in the modern sense?"
A: I'm referring to shows some people say are game shows while others say they aren't, instead calling them reality shows.  Examples from the past and present include "American Idol," "The Voice," "Fear Factor," "The Amazing Race," "Big Brother," and "Survivor."  If there is a competition format involved, and the winner gets a special prize of sorts, it's still by definition a game show.  People just don't know it.

Likewise, traditional game shows I refer to include "Wheel of Fortune," "Jeopardy!", "The Price is Right," "Let's Make a Deal," "Family Feud," "Press Your Luck," and "Card Sharks," just to name a few.

Q: If you were allowed to use any TV theme as your own, personal theme song, what would it be and why?
A: I would choose "Tuning Up," the original theme tune to "The $10,000 Pyramid."  (The show's jackpot has grown since then, eventually stablizing at "The $100,000 Pyramid.")  Why?  It's one of those songs that always puts a smile on my face, and turns my bad day into a good one (if I am having a bad day).

Q: Did Bengalia have any game shows the Americans have, or any country has had?
A: Two notable examples of that would include "Let's Play Hangman" (the Brazilian show), and "The $64,000 Question" (our show was a mix of the US and UK versions over the years).  Of course, our government outlawed rigging game shows from the start, and it saddened us to learn about the quiz show scandals of the 1950s.  But that is what happens when you give into peer pressure, folks; it bites you and hurts you hard.  Since then, television's richest game shows always have the poorest ratings, or so it seems.  But just because your jackpot is huge doesn't mean your show is going to bomb.  You just have to find a format that works for the people and stick with it.

Q: How did you know about the United States, if the planet Earth never knew about you Forsythians?
A: Thanks to the CNG effects, it created what we called a "one-way connection gap."  The CNG "fed" knowledge about Earth to the brains of our journalists, and we reported as unbiased as we could possibly be.  This is also why the Krieglandonians stuck their noses up at modern life (as well as rock and roll music), and claimed it was wrong to be modern.  By contrast, we kept up with the times,

Q: Some US game show pilots that never got picked up as a series, including "On a Roll," "TKO," and "Lucky Numbers," just to name a few, are popping up on YouTube as well as the channel BUZZR.  Did Bengalia have any of those shows?
A: Yes and no.  Although we did pilots for "On a Roll" and "Lucky Numbers" (and we never had "High Rollers"), eventually airing a mini-series of each, we eventually decided to combine the two into the 60-minute show "Dice Duel," and it made Julie Igressa the first (of only three) female game show hosts.  (She also hosted the pilots for the two separate shows.)

"TKO," however, got a full series in Bengalia, lasting 350 episodes in total.  It played exactly like the American pilot did, but with some differences.

Q: Who hosted the Bengalian "TKO?"
A: I did.  It actually debuted right after my previous Q & A show, "Quiz Whiz," ended.

Q: Has WBC tried any of these pilots?
A: The only one of the shows I've mentioned that they did try was "Dice Duel."

Q: Does "TKO" stand for "techincal knockout" like in boxing?
A: I don't think it was made clear if it was or not, but I'm going to assume it was, because in both the US pilots and the Bengalian show, a contestant's podium displays "TKO" when they are eliminated.

Q: How do you play the Bengalian "TKO?"
A: "TKO" has 3 contestants who compete for a full week's worth of shows, 5 in total.  The ultimate objective is to be the player with the biggest total at the end of the week, but all three players keep any money they win, with consolation gifts awarded if a player ends on zero.

The first two rounds are played with a game board consisting of 3 columns; each column has a question block worth $100, $200, $300, $400, or $500, from top to bottom.  The players draw lots to determine podium position, and the player to my left picks the first block.  Players can only progress from the top to the bottom of each column, however (unlike "Jeopardy!", where any clue can be selected at any time).

Each block has a keyword pertaining to the question, and the players are shown three sets of initials.  I'll ask the question, and the player who rings first must first give me the correct initials, and then I'll ask them for the correct answer.  Getting the correct answer adds the money to the score, while a wrong answer adds nothing.  (So for example, if the chosen block was "G-52," the initials might be "DD," "TF," or "MM."  A question I would ask might be, "What is the superhero name for the G-52 who works as a sportscaster, but was once approached to be a circus strongman?"  The player who rings in would first have to say "MM," and then I would ask them to tell me what the intials stand for; in this example, "MM" stands for Macho Mouse.)  The last player to give a correct answer picks the next question block, unless there is only one column remaining.

If a player gives me the wrong initials, the other two may buzz in before the buzzer sounds.  If nobody gives me the correct initials, a buzzer will sound, and the value of the question is cut in half before I reveal the correct initials.  (This is one difference from the US pilot, where the money was never cut in half.)  The players then may buzz in and give me the correct answer.  If, however, two players buzz in before I reveal the correct initials, but guess the wrong initials, the value of the question is not cut in half when I reveal the correct initials.  I'll then ask the third player for the correct answer.

If a player gives me the correct initials, but gives a wrong answer, the value of the question is not cut in half when I offer it to the other two players.

At least two blocks are designated knockout questions (accompanied by the word "KNOCKOUT!" flashing on the screens).  This means that whoever gives me the correct initials, and then the correct answer, does two things instead of one: 1) they win the money as usual, and 2) they pick an opponent; the matching amount is then subtracted from the opponent's total.

In Round 2, the dollar values are doubled.

Round 3 is the Knockout Round.  There are no longer any question blocks or keywords involved.  It's just the three sets of initials, and this time, a random wheel that spins.  The wheel has dollar amounts ranging from $500 to $1,000, in multiples of $25, but this time, no money is added for a correct answer, although there's still no penalty for a wrong answer.  Instead, when a player gives me a correct answer after the correct initials are given, they can pick an opponent, and the chosen amount is subtracted from the opponent's total.  If nobody buzzes in with a correct answer, no money is subtracted off a total.

Although there are no negative scores in this game, at any time if a player's total is equal to or less than the amount selected on the wheel, and an opponent chooses them, they are out of the game (although just for that day; remember, they play 5 shows in total); this is where the show's title comes in, because their scoreboard would display the initials "TKO" at that point.  The process continues until we have two scoreboards showing "TKO;" the last player standing wins the game, and gets an extra $5,000 added to their total.

At the end of the week, all players keep what money they win, and an extra $10,000 is given to the player with the highest total.

Q: Do you have a favorite of any game shows you have not hosted?
A: Gosh, that's a tough question; there's so many good ones.  There's many that are not so good as well, but if you speak about original Bengalian game shows, then the correct answer to that question is "Dice Duel."  If you're asking about American game shows, the answer is the various incarnations of "Pyramid," mainly because, as mentioned before, I really like that original theme song.