Watching television on Sunday afternoon I happened to catch an episode of ITV's new game-show, The Colour of Money, which follows the recent trend of making quiz shows without the questions. Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? became the most successful quiz by combining big money with massive suspense and audience tension. Channel 4's Deal or No Deal went further, completely removing the questions and relying, to great success, on even bigger doses of suspense and tension to satiate the thrill-seeking nature of today's television audience.
The trendspotters at ITV licked their lips at the sight of DOND's success and immediately tried to replicate the trick with the most ill-conceived game show since Paul Ross offered to forfeit his wages on NO WIN NO FEE (suffice to say the nation was not on the edge of their armchairs, faces screwed with anxiety, waiting to see if Ross would receive his cheque). This was Goldenballs, which resurrected the career of Jasper Carrott for long enough to remind everyone why he had disappeared. This was basically DOND with its rules scrambled and over cooked and added balls. Carrott looked as confused as the audience as he gormlessly attempted guide us through the intricate format. The whole concept should never have got much further than its inventors mouth, and it does make you wonder what happens in meetings at ITV...
'I've got this great idea, yeah, imagine Deal or No Deal yeah, but...100 multicoloured balls , 10 rounds, yeah, do different stuff with the balls, maybe put some money on them, load of rules, yeah'
'Like it, like it! But double the rounds and treble the rules. Who are you looking to front it?'
'I was thinking Jasper Carrott, he hasn't worked for a couple of decades so he'll be be fresh yeah?'
'Jasper Carrott! Just the charismatic viewer magnet we need! I haven't heard such a good idea since NO WIN NO FEE, oh, lets get Paul Ross for back up to Carrott...'
So, on to the latest arrow from ITV in the battle of the quiz-less shows, The Colour of Money, fronted by Chris Tarrant ( 'Yeah Chris we're basically making Millionaire without questions, yeah, and a bit less money on offer... yeah, we've been a bit low on cash since Goldenballs didn't work out...'). The general format is fairly simple- a target amount of money and twenty multicoloured cash machines that when picked by the contestant will slowly tick towards their maximum payout. The contestant has to reach their target by stopping the cash machines just before the reach their max, otherwise they get nothing. Herein lies the crux of the format, the buzz of tension running through the audience as the greedy contestant lets the the machine tick and tick, the bead of sweat that forms on the viewer's forehead as if it were the ticking of the clock on a Hollywood bomb. However, unlike the bare simplicity of DOND, The Colour of Money is clogged up with absurd details which undermine or break what tension there is.Perhaps the most diverting of these details is the ridiculous appearance of a Carol Vorderman type sidekick between rounds offering a statistical breakdown of the state of play, delivered with big mathematical visuals reminiscent of Peter Snow on US election night.
Whoever designed the crucial cash machines must be asked a few questions, such as why didn't you simply number them? Why colours? Why rose, olive and khaki? How can the audience get drawn into the tense atmosphere when at the crucial moments the contestant has to look Tarrant in the eye and tell him 'I select the khaki cash machine'? Incidentally, on Sunday's episode this feature did provide the shows highlights, as the contestant, a cleaner/club singer from Birmingham, gave a superstitious reason for literally every colour she selected, even though she had to select most of them anyway- 'I'm going for Olive, Chris, because when I was younger on holidays in Greece, my mum yeah, she used to eat olives you see..' 'Er Khaki Chris, because a few years back, my mum and me yeah, dressed up in army gear, right, for night on tiles'.
While the presence of Chris Tarrant may keep The Colour of Money afloat for slightly longer than Goldenballs, it will inevitably suffer the same fate, and then maybe ITV might consider bringing back the quiz. Hopefully by resurrecting No Win No Fee.
The trendspotters at ITV licked their lips at the sight of DOND's success and immediately tried to replicate the trick with the most ill-conceived game show since Paul Ross offered to forfeit his wages on NO WIN NO FEE (suffice to say the nation was not on the edge of their armchairs, faces screwed with anxiety, waiting to see if Ross would receive his cheque). This was Goldenballs, which resurrected the career of Jasper Carrott for long enough to remind everyone why he had disappeared. This was basically DOND with its rules scrambled and over cooked and added balls. Carrott looked as confused as the audience as he gormlessly attempted guide us through the intricate format. The whole concept should never have got much further than its inventors mouth, and it does make you wonder what happens in meetings at ITV...
'I've got this great idea, yeah, imagine Deal or No Deal yeah, but...100 multicoloured balls , 10 rounds, yeah, do different stuff with the balls, maybe put some money on them, load of rules, yeah'
'Like it, like it! But double the rounds and treble the rules. Who are you looking to front it?'
'I was thinking Jasper Carrott, he hasn't worked for a couple of decades so he'll be be fresh yeah?'
'Jasper Carrott! Just the charismatic viewer magnet we need! I haven't heard such a good idea since NO WIN NO FEE, oh, lets get Paul Ross for back up to Carrott...'
So, on to the latest arrow from ITV in the battle of the quiz-less shows, The Colour of Money, fronted by Chris Tarrant ( 'Yeah Chris we're basically making Millionaire without questions, yeah, and a bit less money on offer... yeah, we've been a bit low on cash since Goldenballs didn't work out...'). The general format is fairly simple- a target amount of money and twenty multicoloured cash machines that when picked by the contestant will slowly tick towards their maximum payout. The contestant has to reach their target by stopping the cash machines just before the reach their max, otherwise they get nothing. Herein lies the crux of the format, the buzz of tension running through the audience as the greedy contestant lets the the machine tick and tick, the bead of sweat that forms on the viewer's forehead as if it were the ticking of the clock on a Hollywood bomb. However, unlike the bare simplicity of DOND, The Colour of Money is clogged up with absurd details which undermine or break what tension there is.Perhaps the most diverting of these details is the ridiculous appearance of a Carol Vorderman type sidekick between rounds offering a statistical breakdown of the state of play, delivered with big mathematical visuals reminiscent of Peter Snow on US election night.
Whoever designed the crucial cash machines must be asked a few questions, such as why didn't you simply number them? Why colours? Why rose, olive and khaki? How can the audience get drawn into the tense atmosphere when at the crucial moments the contestant has to look Tarrant in the eye and tell him 'I select the khaki cash machine'? Incidentally, on Sunday's episode this feature did provide the shows highlights, as the contestant, a cleaner/club singer from Birmingham, gave a superstitious reason for literally every colour she selected, even though she had to select most of them anyway- 'I'm going for Olive, Chris, because when I was younger on holidays in Greece, my mum yeah, she used to eat olives you see..' 'Er Khaki Chris, because a few years back, my mum and me yeah, dressed up in army gear, right, for night on tiles'.
While the presence of Chris Tarrant may keep The Colour of Money afloat for slightly longer than Goldenballs, it will inevitably suffer the same fate, and then maybe ITV might consider bringing back the quiz. Hopefully by resurrecting No Win No Fee.
