The game show era might be on the brink of a comeback.
Long before reality TV took over, Americans used to watch Bob Barker tell contestants to "Come on down!" and play "The Price Is Right." It made small-screen stars out of average folks competing for anything from Campbell's soup to a new Buick.
While the show is an international success, airing in 37 countries with versions such as India's "Yehi Hai Right Price," it's also rapidly gaining ground again at home. Hosted by Drew Carey since 2007, the U.S. version averaged 4.83 million viewers a show last season, its biggest since 2004-05, according to Nielsen TV ratings. "Family Feud," in which families are pitted against each other to guess answers to polls, has doubled viewership in three years.
The two shows, along with "Let's Make a Deal," are enjoying bumper years, driven by witty hosts, formats that appeal to all ages and applications that allow users to play along at home on mobile devices.
The success of those shows hasn't been lost on industry insiders. As Mipcom, the world's largest TV content marketplace, took place recently, game formats new and old were on display, rivaling dramas, comedies and new incarnations of reality TV being bought and sold by producers, broadcasters and studio executives.
"With a good host at the helm, game shows are the TV equivalent of comfort food," said Chris O'Dell, head of global entertainment production at FremantleMedia, the owner of rights for the "Family Feud" and "Got Talent" franchises. "That's why game shows keep coming back — maybe with a different host, or different look, but you can rely on them."
Game shows can bring big audiences, with advertisers close behind, and they cost much less to produce than drama and most comedy. Plus the format travels well across cultures and languages.
Old favorites are being revived. In the United States, a remake of "To Tell the Truth," which first aired in 1956, is in the works. The show, which has had a few brief revivals since going off the air in 1978, features four celebrities who question a panel of guests claiming to be the same person and try to figure out who is the real deal. In Britain, work is underway on "Stars in Their Eyes," a talent show in which players impersonate singers.
