A game show (or gameshow ) is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment where contestants compete in a game for rewards. The shows are typically directed by a host , who explains the rules of the program as well as commentating and narrating where necessary. The history of the game shows dates back to the late 1930s when both radio and television game shows were broadcast. The genre became popular in the United States in the 1950s, becoming a regular feature of daytime television.
142-475: The Generation Game is a British game show produced by the BBC in which four teams of two people from the same family , but different generations , compete to win prizes. There are eight competitors, hence the catchphrase "Let's meet the eight who are going to generate" used in earlier series by Bruce Forsyth . The couples were a generation apart and in later series, but not originally, of different genders. Most of
284-508: A Laugh . The show continued through to the end of 1981, but shortly after a highlights episode from the last series aired on 3 January 1982, Grayson decided to quit whilst the show was still popular. The BBC approached Jimmy Tarbuck to present the show, but he turned it down. The series was later cancelled. The Generation Game returned in September 1990 with the original host, Bruce Forsyth, and his new hostess, Rosemarie Ford . After leaving
426-538: A bonus round usually varies from the standard game play of the front game, and there are often borrowed or related elements of the main game in the bonus round to ensure the entire show has a unified premise. Though some end games are referred to as "bonus rounds", many are not specifically referred to as such in games but fit the same general role. There is no one formula for the format of a bonus round. There are differences in almost every bonus round, though there are many recurring elements from show to show. The bonus round
568-465: A certain amount of money or a limit on how many episodes, usually five, on which a player could appear on a show. The introduction of syndicated games, particularly in the 1980s, eventually allowed for more valuable prizes and extended runs on a particular show. British television was under even stricter regulations on prizes until the 1990s, seriously restricting the value of prizes that could be given and disallowing games of chance to have an influence on
710-456: A charity marathon of game shows for Comic Relief . Walliams competed with his mother Kathleen. The other team consisted of Miranda Hart and Patricia Hodge , who play mother and daughter in the sitcom Miranda . Vernon Kay presented the episode. On 20 April 2014, it was announced that comedian Miranda Hart (who appeared on the 2011 charity special) was in "early talks" with the BBC about hosting
852-511: A funding gap for shows broadcast between the two periods, which did not help LWT as it only had a two-and-a-half-day franchise period. John Birt also started reviewing spending budgets for all departments to provide the best returns which resulted in The Stanley Baxter Show being cancelled. LWT also postponed and shelved a number of other productions during the early 1980s, due to cost and frustration with other ITV companies' ideas for
994-401: A game show receives a subsidy from an advertiser in return for awarding that manufacturer's product as a prize or consolation prize . Some products supplied by manufacturers may not be intended to be awarded and are instead just used as part of the gameplay such as the low-priced items used in several The Price is Right pricing games . Although in this show the smaller items (sometimes even in
1136-432: A given environment. Several game shows returned to daytime in syndication during this time as well, such as Family Feud , Hollywood Squares , and Millionaire . Wheel of Fortune , Jeopardy! and Family Feud have continued in syndication. To keep pace with the prime-time quiz shows, Jeopardy! doubled its question values in 2001 and lifted its winnings limit in 2003, which one year later allowed Ken Jennings to become
1278-445: A heavy emphasis on comedy, leaving the points as mere formalities. The focus on quick-witted comedians has resulted in strong ratings, which, combined with low costs of production, have only spurred growth in the UK panel show phenomenon. Game shows remained a fixture of US daytime television through the 1960s after the quiz show scandals. Lower-stakes games made a slight comeback in daytime in
1420-412: A joint news service, London News Network , to provide regional news programming across the whole week. From 1993, LWT's low bid made it attractive to others wishing to take it over. Originally, Greg Dyke had planned to use LWT as a springboard to start acquiring companies to build a united ITV. On 6 December 1993, the north-west England franchise-holder Granada Television launched a hostile takeover for
1562-423: A lot!" but he abandoned this after his second season as it did not register with the public. Grayson and St Clair apparently had a strong bond; Grayson always introduced her at the start of each show as "my lovely Isla" and "my favourite girl, my Saturday girl." She once referred to them as being "like a couple of naughty sisters." Jim Davidson would later present but no real catchphrases were used; however, he made
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#17330853129611704-403: A modernized revival of Jeopardy! to syndication in 1983 and 1984, respectively, was and remains highly successful; the two are, to this day, fixtures in the prime time "access period". During this "access" period, a contestant named Mark Anthony DiBello became and is still known to be the only person to win automobiles on two of the most popular game shows The Wheel of Fortune and The Price
1846-410: A musical or dance performance. The couple that scores the highest go through to the final 'conveyor belt'. Originally, this was scored the same way in the first rounds, but when Davidson took over, the winner was decided by an audience vote, apart from in his penultimate series when the winner was decided on points scored. At the end of the show, one member (both members during the second Forsyth era) of
1988-468: A new theme tune, which incorporated Grayson's "shut that door" catchphrase. There was also new scenery, and a new co-host, Isla St Clair . It worked, as The Big Night failed to beat The Generation Game in viewing figures and was off the air within three months. The show reached its peak under Grayson. It attracted an audience of 25 million on one occasion, when the 1979 ITV strike broke out.. Grayson's apparent incompetence and inability to remember what
2130-466: A non-executive director, but it was clear that he was going further than this. Murdoch started restructuring LWT, but within weeks five other board members left. The ITA was unhappy at how Murdoch was able to buy his way into the company, because foreign nationals were legally blocked from owning the ITV contractors. It also demanded assurances that LWT's original programme policies and operations were sound. As
2272-515: A number of original game concepts that appeared near the same time, including Awake , Deal or No Deal (which originally aired in 2005), Child Support , Hollywood Game Night , 1 vs. 100 , Minute to Win It (which originally aired in 2010), The Wall , and a string of music-themed games such as Don't Forget the Lyrics! , The Singing Bee , and Beat Shazam . The popularity of game shows in
2414-404: A number of shows. Isla St. Clair was Grayson's hostess throughout his tenure on the show. Rosemarie Ford supported Forsyth on his second stint as host. Sally Meen, Melanie Stace and Lea Kristensen were Davidson's hostesses. In 1975, Strawberry Fayre and Denys Fisher published a board game (simply called Generation Game with host Bruce Forsyth on the cover) featuring a three-dimensional diorama of
2556-500: A quiz element, such as identifying pieces of music. At the end of each of the first two rounds, the couple with the lower score is eliminated. The two highest-scoring couples compete against each other in the final (or End Game, as Larry Grayson referred to it). This is often a big set-piece performance; in the series presented by Forsyth it was usually a drama or farce (in which many elements were deliberately choreographed to go wrong in order to generate more comedy), in later programmes
2698-475: A result, the ITA, concerned about Murdoch owning both a television station and significant newspaper interests, forced Murdoch from the chairmanship of LWT, and, on 9 March 1971, John Freeman , best known for presenting Face to Face for the BBC, became chairman and chief executive of LWT. He said "I expect many people are thinking I need my head examining, but I decided to take it up all the same. The public should have
2840-540: A revived version of the show. A pilot episode was filmed before Christmas that year, but the controller of the channel, Charlotte Moore , revealed in August 2015 that the project was "very much on hold" due to Hart wanting to concentrate on her acting and writing career. On 11 May 2017, it was reported that Mel and Sue were linked to host a reboot for the BBC as part of a package for not staying with The Great British Bake Off after its move to Channel 4 . On 23 July 2017, it
2982-560: A rival who bid £36 million but whose plans were deemed by the new Independent Television Commission to be unsatisfactory. LWT's weekday rival, Thames Television, lost its licence, outbid by Carlton . It was told it could not fall back on its long history of programme-making. After 24 years of existence, LWT survived the station that was its biggest rival. LWT would have a much better relationship with Carlton, and shared many operations including transmission facilities and studio space, and each owning 20% of GMTV , but most notably creating
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#17330853129613124-428: A running gag acknowledging this and tried out several 'potential catchphrases'. Each host of The Generation Game was joined by a female hostess, who brought the contestants on stage, handed out the prizes and often joined in the games. The first was Anthea Redfern , who began an affair with host Forsyth and married him during the series' run. When she was absent on maternity leave, actress Jenny Lee Wright stood in for
3266-565: A series of tributes to LWT's past, beginning with an authentic startup routine leading into the ITN Morning News. All elements of the startup were recreated in Macromedia Flash and in the 16:9 aspect ratio, created by Dave Jeffery. Later that day, a recreation of LWT's famous River ident would lead into The South Bank Show , which would be the last programme broadcast under the LWT name. The show
3408-599: A seven-day contract in such an event – an offer quickly rebuffed by the ITA. In the general panic that followed, the General Electric Company withdrew financial backing and sold its 7.5% share to Rupert Murdoch 's News International in November 1970. By December 1970, Murdoch become a part-time executive and injected £500,000 of new capital, increasing his share to 30% as part of the deal, also insisting on terminating Frost and his Paradine Productions , an action that
3550-484: A spin-off, Family Feud , on ABC in 1976. The $ 10,000 Pyramid and its numerous higher-stakes derivatives also debuted in 1973, while the 1970s also saw the return of formerly disgraced producer and game show host Jack Barry , who debuted The Joker's Wild and a clean version of the previously rigged Tic-Tac-Dough in the 1970s. Wheel of Fortune debuted on NBC in 1975. The Prime Time Access Rule , which took effect in 1971, barred networks from broadcasting in
3692-413: A traditional solo bonus round in 1978, but this version was not a success and the round was replaced by the original Final Jeopardy! when the show returned in 1984. The Price Is Right uses a knockout tournament format, in which the six contestants to make it onstage are narrowed to two in a "Showcase Showdown;" these two winners then move on to the final Showcase round to determine the day's winner. Until
3834-464: A tribute to Belgian singer-songwriter Jacques Brel , and Georgia Brown Sings Kurt Weill . As a consequence, viewers deserted its primetime offerings in favour of the more mainstream Saturday night viewing on BBC1 . Other ITV stations refused to show LWT productions because of the poor ratings. ATV, now the seven-day Midlands franchise holder after losing their London contract to LWT, refused to transmit any of their programmes in peak time; elsewhere,
3976-427: A twirl," which was said to hostess Anthea Redfern to show off her dress. Grayson supplied his own catchphrases, including "Shut that door!", "What a gay day!" and "Seems like a nice boy!" Scores were preceded by "What are the scores on the doors?" to which St Clair would reply "The names in the frames say..." before announcing them. After the conveyor belt finale, Grayson would say "What a lot you've got... you have got
4118-583: A variety of highbrow arts and drama productions. It accordingly caught the attention of the regulator, the Independent Television Authority (ITA), and it seemed to address concerns and criticisms raised in the Pilkington Report . The authority had been worried by criticism of the network's output, which was seen as downmarket and the LTC plans were viewed by the ITA as being serious contenders to
4260-474: A week, twice a day. Game shows were the lowest priority of television networks and were rotated out every thirteen weeks if unsuccessful. Most tapes were wiped until the early 1980s. Over the course of the 1980s and early 1990s, as fewer new hits (e.g. Press Your Luck , Sale of the Century , and Card Sharks ) were produced, game shows lost their permanent place in the daytime lineup. ABC transitioned out of
4402-402: A year for ITV. In the late 1980s, LWT moved into backing films including A Handful of Dust (1988) and The Tall Guy (1989). In 1990 LWT created the second ITV Sales company Laser Sales , to deal with its own and TVS's advertising operations. The Broadcasting Act 1990 brought changes to the way ITV contracts were awarded. No longer a 'beauty-contest', but rather a blind auction, where
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4544-543: Is Right , hosted by the longest-tenured American game show hosts, Pat Sajak and Bob Barker , respectively. Cable television also allowed for the debut of game shows such as Supermarket Sweep and Debt (Lifetime), Trivial Pursuit and Family Challenge (Family Channel), and Double Dare (Nickelodeon). It also opened up a previously underdeveloped market for game show reruns. General interest networks such as CBN Cable Network (forerunner to Freeform ) and USA Network had popular blocks for game show reruns from
4686-400: Is often played for the show's top prize. It is almost always played without an opponent; two notable exceptions to this are Jeopardy! and the current version of The Price Is Right . On Jeopardy! , the final round involves all remaining contestants with a positive score wagering strategically to win the game and be invited back the next day; Jeopardy! attempted to replace this round with
4828-469: Is quoted as saying on this occasion: "I've succeeded in business by knowing exactly what I hate", he told them. "And I know I hate David Frost." Frost was present, but no one else spoke out against LWT's programming policy. Meanwhile, the £6.5 million it had initially put up for the franchise began to drain away more quickly than its audience figures. Michael Peacock, the architect in David Frost's vision for
4970-534: Is still separately licensed, but is no longer distinguished on air. LWT is now managed with Carlton Television as a single entity (ITV London), although the name for the London Weekend licence on the Ofcom site is still "LWT". London Weekend Television Ltd is now (along with most other former regional companies owned by ITV plc) listed at Companies House as a " dormant company ". The London Television Consortium (LTC)
5112-507: The 1950s quiz show scandals and ratings declines led to most of the primetime games being canceled. An early variant of the game show, the panel show , survived the quiz show scandals. On shows like What's My Line? , I've Got a Secret , and To Tell the Truth , panels of celebrities would interview a guest in an effort to determine some fact about them; in others, celebrities would answer questions. Panel games had success in primetime until
5254-748: The German version Am laufenden Band [ de ] from 1974 to 1979 on Das Erste . There was also a Swedish version, Tjocka Släkten , presented by Lasse Berghagen and Inga Gill from 1990 to 1991, and a french version, Salut les artites , presented by Georges Beller and Krystina Ferentz in 1993. In 2008 a South African version of the show was made, hosted by comedian Barry Hilton together with actress/presenter Cindy Nkabinde on channel SABC 2 . Game show On most game shows, contestants answer questions or solve puzzles, and win prizes such as cash, trips and goods and services . Game shows began to appear on radio and television in
5396-509: The 1960s, most game shows did not offer a bonus round. In traditional two-player formats, the winner – if a game show's rules provided for this – became the champion and simply played a new challenger either on the next show or after the commercial break. One of the earliest forms of bonus rounds was the Jackpot Round of the original series Beat the Clock . After two rounds of performing stunts,
5538-401: The 1990s was a major factor in the explosion of high-stakes game shows in the later part of that decade in both the U.S. and Britain and, subsequently, around the world. A bonus round (also known as a bonus game or an end game) usually follows a main game as a bonus to the winner of that game. In the bonus round, the stakes are higher and the game is considered to be tougher. The game play of
5680-452: The 1990s, allowing for higher-stakes games to be played. After the popularity of game shows hit a nadir in the mid-1990s United States (at which point The Price Is Right was the only game show still on daytime network television and numerous game shows designed for cable television were canceled), the British game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? began distribution around the globe. Upon
5822-427: The 7–8 p.m. time slot immediately preceding prime time , opening up time slots for syndicated programming. Most of the syndicated programs were "nighttime" adaptations of network daytime game shows. These game shows originally aired once a week, but by the late 1970s and early 1980s most of the games had transitioned to five days a week. Many people were amazed at this and in the late 2000s, gameshows were aired 7 times
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5964-504: The Chairman of Granada plc , was also surprised if LWT went ahead with a bid for YTV, especially since it had made £10 million losses that week and was already paying much of its revenue to the government. Reports also suggested if LWT bid for Yorkshire Television it would also form an alliance with Anglia who would takeover Tyne Tees Television . By New Year's Eve, Granada had increased its bid to £658 million. By 7 January 1994,
6106-449: The Chicago branch. In April 1987, Greg Dyke moved from TVS to LWT again to be Director of Programmes (replacing John Birt) – having originally worked at LWT in 1978, before moving to TV-am in 1983 and TVS in 1985. At the same time, LWT started re-sectioning the company in a bid to cut costs and overhaul the working practices within the company ahead of a new franchise period. As part of
6248-799: The Duchess of Kent who officially opened the complex. It was built on a plot of land named King's Reach. The studios' network ident was KRS, for King's Reach Studios. These facilities were considered at the time the best colour studios in Europe. In 1992 the complex was renamed London Television Centre , and became the centre of ITV plc 's studio operations and the chief production centre until closing in 2018. Ruth Anders, Sue Peacock, Trish Bertram , Keith Harrison, Robin Houston , Pam Royle, Alec Taylor, Glen Thompsett, Annie St John and Peter Lewis served as continuity announcers for LWT. LWT's initial on-screen look featured
6390-790: The ITV network slots. TVS retained its original philosophy for its regional and children's programmes. On 29 October 1986, London Weekend Television had acquired a majority stake in the new company, The Silverbach-Lazarus Group, which is a Los Angeles-based home video and television company, which fueled the expansion of SLG's syndication activities and the Regency Home Video branch of the Silverbach-Lazarus Group, distributing product including Entertainment Partners, Gaylord Production Company, Glen-Warren Productions, Newmark Productions, Phoenix Entertainment Group, Schaefer/Karpf Productions and Visual Productions, and decided to add offices for
6532-708: The ITV network's sport productions and presentation. In January 1982, John Birt became LWT's new Director of Programmes when Michael Grade left to accept the post of Company President at Tandem Productions in the US, while Barry Cox became Head of Current Affairs. Birt's time as Programme Director resulted in a change of direction. He started overhauling the schedules, to maximise audience numbers: his measures to achieve this included moving some niche shows back out of peak time, and putting Cilla Black under contract. He criticised how ITV companies were spending huge amounts of money on local programmes and post-watershed dramas, which left
6674-400: The LTC were forced by the ITA to purchase Rediffusion's Wembley Studios and legally obliged to employ all members of staff, although the workforce was slightly larger than LWT had wanted. Having previously worked weekdays for Rediffusion, transmission staff now had to work at weekends, and, as a result, wanted extra pay for the unsocial hours. This led to threats of industrial action, and, with
6816-471: The London Television Centre. When GMTV handed over to the weekday franchise the following morning, the national ITV1 brand was on-air, with the new team of network continuity announcers announcing for the first time; former Meridian Broadcasting announcer Paul Seed was the first network voice. The operations of LWT and Carlton Television were merged to become ITV London , a 7-day service. Unlike
6958-499: The Network Programming Committee. Under the control of Greg Dyke as Director of Programmes, TVS started to move away from its original philosophy of niche arts and science programming, and began producing more entertainment programmes. The deal helped LWT to fill its schedules with appropriate, domestically-produced programming while not having to increase its budget, while TVS was able to get more of its programmes onto
7100-584: The United States was closely paralleled around the world. Reg Grundy Organisation , for instance, would buy the international rights for American game shows and reproduce them in other countries, especially in Grundy's native Australia . Dutch producer Endemol ( later purchased by American companies Disney and Apollo Global Management , then resold to French company Banijay ) has created and released numerous game shows and reality television formats popular around
7242-482: The biggest range of talent and varied scheduling for viewers, including Stanley Baxter , Danny La Rue , a number of new dramas and another current affairs show, which helped push up profits to nearly £4 million. In May 1976, LWT was reorganised to form a new company, LWT (Holdings) Limited which allowed the company to expand into a number of new ventures, including Hutchinson Publishing . The LWT Chairman & Chief Executive John Freeman said "an important factor
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#17330853129617384-407: The caption in the centre accompanied by a simple acoustic ident theme. The '"Television" part of the name was dropped on-screen, with LWT merely called "London Weekend". LWT's most recognisable identity – the 'River' – was introduced on Friday 18 September 1970, featuring a stripe made up of blue, white and red moving across the black background in the shape of an 'L' and 'W'; the 'Television' part of
7526-494: The company slogan 'Your Weekend ITV', with an additional ident appearing in 1984. On Friday 29 August 1986, a new set of CGI idents by The Computer Film Company aired for the first time: A separate cel-animated ident for children's programmes was also used, accompanied by a different version of the station's ident theme. On 1 September 1989, LWT adopted the first ITV generic look and retained it until 30 August 1992, with their three coloured stripes featuring in their segment of
7668-555: The company was in good health, and it easily beat off weak competition to secure a second contract – although it lost the Bluebell Hill transmitter near Maidstone to the new Television South , known as TVS, as part of a reorganisation prompted by the creation of the South and South East dual region. However, due to the recession, the company still had to tighten its belt. LWT had developed a reputation in many fields, including co-ordination of
7810-472: The company, worth £600 million. The takeover bid came about owing to the relaxation of the rules governing the ITV network. LWT tried to outstep the takeover bid with talks being held with Yorkshire Television and Scottish Television. A week later a conflict of words had broken out between LWT and Granada, with Granada claiming the YTV-LWT deal was "Something cobbled together by desperate men". Gerry Robinson ,
7952-632: The company. This resulted in Greg Dyke and Sir Christopher Bland leaving LWT. By 2001, Carlton and Granada controlled all of the franchises in England and Wales, and in 2002 decided to unify the playout and branding of all of the companies to become ITV1, with regional references used only in accordance with regional programming. LWT marked its final day on air with a series of tributes to LWT's past, with long-serving continuity announcers Glen Thompsett and Trish Bertram appearing in-vision in LWT's playout centre in
8094-575: The concept eventually became Family Feud , as whose inaugural host Dawson was hired. London Weekend Television London Weekend Television ( LWT ) (now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5.15 pm (7:00 pm from 1968 until 1982) to Monday mornings at 6:00. From 1968 until 1992, when LWT's weekday counterpart
8236-429: The consortium, along with Clive Irving, theatre director Peter Hall and, for financial backing, Arnold Weinstock , managing director of GEC . Frost had originally considered applying for the new Yorkshire region franchise, but the expected high number of applicants led to a change of plans. The second choice was to take on Rediffusion for their contract but, although it held the largest and most profitable licence, it
8378-417: The corporate ITV logo. The 1986 'Solari' ident returned during 1991/1992 to introduce local programming. LWT replaced the 1989 ITV generic ident on 4 September 1992 with a large 3D logo forming from the left to a remixed version of the generic music, with two versions: 'Flying Blocks' and 'Flare'. On 30 August 1996, an updated ident and logo was introduced, splitting the river colours of red, white and blue on
8520-587: The cost-cutting review, the idea was floated that LWT could become a "commissioning" organisation – similar to Channel 4 – with its programme production operations being sold off to a new company, in a bid to "sharpen up its competitiveness". Consultancy company NERA was brought in to investigate the matter. The plan was halted in early 1988, as LWT chairman Christopher Bland , along with Greg Dyke, started to streamline operations; over four years, more than 690 people were made redundant, whole layers of management were scrapped and working practices were overhauled. But with
8662-522: The course of the dispute. Its acquisition of specialist travel and tour operator Page & Moy and its Hutchinson publishing operations helped offset the losses made during the strike. Interim reports in April 1980 highlight LWT profits reducing by £2 million. By November it became clear that LWT profits had remained roughly the same as in the previous year, even with turnover increasing from £70.5 million to £80.5 million. The 1982 franchise round
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#17330853129618804-470: The crisis at LWT deepened, staff members held a protest outside the offices of the ITA, complaining about the changes happening at the station. An 800-strong petition was handed in to the ITA, to ask for an inquiry about the crisis at LWT. The ITA started to make emergency plans in the event of the company collapsing, and MPs asked questions in Parliament. At the same time, Thames started making enquiries about
8946-424: The daytime game show format in the mid-1980s (briefly returning to the format for one season in 1990 with a Match Game revival). NBC's game block also lasted until 1991, but the network attempted to bring them back in 1993 before cancelling its game show block again in 1994. CBS phased out most of its game shows, except for The Price Is Right , by 1993. To the benefit of the genre, the moves of Wheel of Fortune and
9088-493: The discontinuation of The Price Is Right $ 1,000,000 Spectacular series of prime-time specials. In April 2008, three of the contestants on The Price Is Right $ 1,000,000 Spectacular won the top prize in a five-episode span after fifteen episodes without a winner, due in large part to a change in the rules. The insurance companies had made it extremely difficult to get further insurance for the remaining episodes. A network or syndicator may also opt to distribute large cash prizes in
9230-467: The dispute still unresolved, fifteen seconds into their opening night of 2 August 1968, technicians went on strike and the screens went blank. An emergency service was provided by management from the transmission centre of ATV at Foley Street, London. Upon resolving the dispute, LWT suffered poor rating figures, as the station's evening viewing schedule included a Stravinsky musical drama, an avant-garde drama from French film director Jean-Luc Godard ,
9372-403: The early 1960s; examples include Jeopardy! which began in 1964 and the original version of The Match Game first aired in 1962. Let's Make a Deal began in 1963 and the 1960s also marked the debut of Hollywood Squares , Password , The Dating Game , and The Newlywed Game . Though CBS gave up on daytime game shows in 1968, the other networks did not follow suit. Color television
9514-508: The fifteen ITV regional franchises. The LWT logo continued to appear at the end of its programmes until 31 October 2004. However, from 1 November, it was replaced by the new Granada Productions endcap, with programmes either credited as "A Granada London Production", or "A Granada Production" instead. On 16 January 2006, all network productions produced by any ITV plc-owned company were branded as " ITV Productions ", which since 2009 has been rebranded as " ITV Studios ". LWT's first studio base
9656-486: The fifth series of Davidson's run, an added twist involved four prizes being referred to as "phantom prizes", if the contestant was to mention those, gunge would be hurled at them every time one was recalled. In the Jim Davidson run, if contestants correctly recalled 15 of the 20 prizes in 45 (later 60) seconds, they won everything and the star prize, which was a holiday. In Davidson's final two series, each point scored by
9798-480: The first black woman to host a prime time game show, Pay It Off . The rise of digital television in the United States opened up a large market for rerun programs. Buzzr was established by Fremantle , owners of numerous classic U.S. game shows, as a broadcast outlet for its archived holdings in June 2015. There was also a rise of live game shows at festivals and public venues, where the general audience could participate in
9940-473: The first time; former Meridian announcer Paul Seed was the first network voice. The operations of LWT and Carlton Television were merged to become ITV London, a seven-day service. Unlike the other English and Welsh franchises, ITV London did not receive regional idents featuring the London name until the 2003 refresh; only one of these idents was ever used at a single junction from launch. Apart from this rare occasion,
10082-400: The first to be regularly scheduled. The first episode of each aired in 1941 as an experimental broadcast. Over the course of the 1950s, as television began to pervade the popular culture, game shows quickly became a fixture. Daytime game shows would be played for lower stakes to target stay-at-home housewives. Higher-stakes programs would air in prime time . (One particular exception in this era
10224-406: The form of an annuity , spreading the cost of the prize out over several years or decades. From about 1960 through the rest of the 20th century, American networks placed restrictions on the amount of money that could be given away on a game show, in an effort to avoid a repeat of the scandals of the 1950s. This usually took the form of an earnings cap that forced a player to retire once they had won
10366-452: The future of television, wanted to stick to the principles of their contract with the ITA. ATV dropped Frost's major Saturday night slot altogether and replaced him with comedian Dave Allen , while Yorkshire and Granada relegated the show to the late evening. In September 1969, Michael Peacock was sacked by the board while six executives resigned from LWT in support. The ITA made it clear that LWT's franchise proposals must be retained. As
10508-416: The government, but admitted the threat of some of the largest contractors packing their bags might make government think again. The controversy led to the introduction of a 'quality threshold' which allowed that, in exceptional circumstances, a bid could be rejected if it were deemed excessive, or that an incumbent could be chosen against a higher-bidding applicant if it were felt that incumbent's programming
10650-508: The idea of the conveyor belt. She had seen it on a German programme and wanted to incorporate it into the show. Another antecedent for the game show was Sunday Night at the London Palladium on ATV , which had a game called Beat the Clock, taken from an American game show of the same name . It featured married couples playing silly games within a certain time to win prize money. This was hosted by Bruce Forsyth from 1958, and he took
10792-413: The idea with him when he went over to the BBC. During the 1970s, game shows became more popular and started to replace expensive variety shows. As a result, many variety performers were recruited for game shows. The BBC, suffering poor ratings, decided to make its own game show. Bill Cotton , the BBC's Head of Light Entertainment, believed that Forsyth was best for the job. For years, The Generation Game
10934-479: The imitator million-dollar shows were canceled (one of those exceptions was Winning Lines , which continued to air in the United Kingdom until 2004 even though it was canceled in the United States in early 2000); these higher stakes contests nevertheless opened the door to reality television contests such as Survivor and Big Brother , in which contestants win large sums of money for outlasting their peers in
11076-409: The impetus for a completely new game show. The first part of Match Game ' s "Super-Match" bonus round, called the "Audience Match", asked contestants to guess how a studio audience responded to a question. In 1975, with then regular panelist Richard Dawson becoming restless and progressively less cooperative, Goodson decided that this line of questioning would make a good game show of its own, and
11218-437: The individual respective letters, L, W and T, with six different versions. On 12 November 1999, LWT adopted the second ITV generic look, based on the theme of hearts. LWT was the only company to drop this look on 24 March 2000, replacing it with the theme of a video wall. The first version of the ident had two problems: the colour scheme was in essence primarily red, and the soundtrack theme consisted of electronic beeps. This ident
11360-454: The kinds of programmes it wants, which means you must take into account minority interests as well as majority ones". Freeman made it quite clear that he expected to have full control within the company without any interference from Murdoch. By early May, Freeman reappointed Cyril Bennett as Controller of Programmes, along with many of the original personnel who helped start up the company in 1967. With these changes, LWT became influenced by
11502-410: The late 1930s. The first television game show, Spelling Bee , as well as the first radio game show, Information Please , were both broadcast in 1938; the first major success in the game show genre was Dr. I.Q. , a radio quiz show that began in 1939. Truth or Consequences was the first game show to air on commercially licensed television; CBS Television Quiz followed shortly thereafter as
11644-461: The late 1960s, when they were collectively dropped from television because of their perceived low budget nature. Panel games made a comeback in American daytime television (where the lower budgets were tolerated) in the 1970s through comedy-driven shows such as Match Game and Hollywood Squares . In the UK, commercial demographic pressures were not as prominent, and restrictions on game shows made in
11786-633: The long-running Definition ). Unlike reality television franchises, international game show franchises generally only see Canadian adaptations in a series of specials, based heavily on the American versions but usually with a Canadian host to allow for Canadian content credits (one of those exceptions was Le Banquier , a Quebec French-language version of Deal or No Deal which aired on TVA from 2008 to 2015). The smaller markets and lower revenue opportunities for Canadian shows in general also affect game shows there, with Canadian games (especially Quebecois ones) often having very low budgets for prizes, unless
11928-404: The merger talks between Yorkshire-Tyne Tees Television had collapsed because it had proved impossible to reach an agreement on a suitable structure for the new company. A few days earlier Anglia had withdrawn from the proposed alliance, making an LWT takeover of YTV impossible. By 7 February 1994, Granada had increase its takeover bid again to £774 million, but the LWT board once again rejected
12070-575: The mid-1980s to the mid-'90s before that niche market was overtaken by Game Show Network in 1994. In the United Kingdom , game shows have had a more steady and permanent place in the television lineup and never lost popularity in the 1990s as they did in the United States, due in part to the fact that game shows were highly regulated by the Independent Broadcasting Authority in the 1980s and that those restrictions were lifted in
12212-458: The mid-2010s. In 2016, ABC packaged the existing Celebrity Family Feud , which had returned in 2015, with new versions of To Tell the Truth , The $ 100,000 Pyramid , and Match Game in 2016; new versions of Press Your Luck and Card Sharks would follow in 2019. TBS launched a cannabis -themed revival of The Joker's Wild , hosted by Snoop Dogg , in October 2017. This is in addition to
12354-502: The most successful game show contestants in America would likely never be cast in a British or Australian game show for fear of having them dominate the game, according to Mark Labbett , who appeared in all three countries on the game show The Chase . The Japanese game show is a distinct format, borrowing heavily from variety formats, physical stunts and athletic competitions. The Japanese style has been adapted overseas (and at one point
12496-484: The name London Weekend Television in white zooming in on a black background accompanied by an electronic jingle; some shows, such as On the Buses , used only a still caption "From London Weekend Television", either in silence, or over the start of the show's theme music. This was replaced the following year by an ident featuring a rotating disc (a stylised laurel wreath ) on screen against a grey (later orange) background with
12638-467: The name remained absent. Designed by graphics designer Terry Griffiths, his modified version introduced on 1 September 1978 revived the full name; at the end, the river sections snapped down into the striped LWT logo. The ident jingle, composed by Harry Rabinowitz , was also remixed. LWT dropped in-vision announcers in January 1983, and on Friday 9 September that year, introduced a new local CGI ident, bearing
12780-504: The offer. Granada's Chief Executive, Gerry Robinson, said: "We are obviously disappointed that having evidently accepted the commercial argument in favour of scale, the board of LWT has not been able to recommend what is a generous offer." Sir Christopher Bland rejected this statement, claiming "the Granada offer is inadequate and still fails to reflect the true value of LWT". On 25 February 1994, LWT had succumbed to Granada's £770 million bid for
12922-458: The official history of ITV, Independent Television in Britain , observed "Under Brian Tesler's Managing Directorship LWT was to become the success for which its founders (almost all of whom had by that time left the company) had so earnestly striven." In November 1978, News International sold off 16% of its LWT holding, reducing its shares from 39.7% to 25%, as it believed this was going to be one of
13064-422: The other English and Welsh franchises, ITV London did not receive regional idents featuring the London name until the 2003 refresh; only one of these idents was ever used at a single junction from launch. Apart from this rare occasion, the channel was only known verbally as "ITV1 London" prior to regional programmes only. In February 2004 Granada and Carlton completed their merger to become ITV plc, owning eleven of
13206-542: The outcomes from the Annan Report on Broadcasting . LWT also warned shareholders that heavy spending on programmes would continue to reduce chances of increased profits. News International sold its remaining 25% stake on 13 March 1980, bringing an end to LWT's connection with the Australian tycoon. After the 1979 ITV strike, LWT was hit hard. During November 1979 LWT believed it had managed to only lose around £200,000 over
13348-465: The plan still a possibility, Dyke was able to offer lavish redundancy payments, ultimately getting the changes through. Greg Dyke explained: "To completely restructure your business for less than a year's profits is a good deal. I have no problem with that." Another change was to make production operations a profit centre, with studios to rent – and with various uses from Jonathan Ross shows to sales conferences. These operations continue to earn millions
13490-533: The powerful sales department at Thames Television , who provided London with a Monday to Friday service, took advantage of LWT's ratings crisis by adopting a "beggar thy neighbour" strategy, encouraging advertisers to use Thames during the week by heavily discounting their airtime. The situation came to a head during a meeting of the Network Programme Committee on 9 September 1968. The NPC was being chaired by Lew Grade , ATV's managing director, and he
13632-536: The quality educational programming of the BBC. So keen was the ITA that it was quoted at the time as saying the LTC had to have its chance, whatever the repercussions. The new company, renamed London Weekend Television, benefited from a slight extension in broadcasting hours, as they were allocated Fridays from 7 p.m., as well as Saturday and Sunday. The LTC had planned on buying the superior Teddington Studios of former contractor ABC Weekend TV , but following ABC's merger with Rediffusion to form Thames Television ,
13774-491: The results of the game. (Thus, the British version of The Price Is Right at first did not include the American version's "Showcase Showdown", in which contestants spun a large wheel to determine who would advance to the Showcase bonus round.) In Canada, prizes were limited not by bureaucracy but necessity, as the much smaller population limited the audience of shows marketed toward that country. The lifting of these restrictions in
13916-792: The same character Murdoch's newspapers had. In time the station became regarded as a populist, conservative counterpart to the more highbrow and liberal Thames; hardly the BBC2-like ideal that Frost and Peacock had envisioned. Audience share grew, and, in 1975, the company won seven BAFTA awards – more than the rest of ITV put together. Although the programming had changed from their original remit, LWT still produced shows which were considered more upmarket, in particular Upstairs, Downstairs . Unlike earlier offerings these attracted high audiences. LWT continued to show arts programming, mainly Aquarius and its successor The South Bank Show . LWT's fortunes improved, which helped increase profits, and more money
14058-483: The series is made for export. Canadian contestants are generally allowed to participate on American game shows, and there have been at least three Canadian game show hosts – Howie Mandel , Monty Hall and Alex Trebek – who have gone on to long careers hosting American series, while Jim Perry , an American host, was prominent as a host of Canadian shows. American game shows have a tendency to hire stronger contestants than their British or Australian counterparts. Many of
14200-515: The set, a working countdown clock and the famous sliding doors. In 1990, Rainbow Games published another board game (only this time as Bruce Forsyth's Generation Game still with Forsyth on the cover). In 1992, a book called Bruce Forsyth's Generation Game Book: Games, Quizzes, and D-I-Y (Do It Yourself) Fun for All the Family was published by Vermillion. In addition to the original Dutch version and long-running British version, Rudi Carrell hosted
14342-741: The show for a second time in 1994 to move to ITV, Forsyth was replaced by Jim Davidson , who had previously stood in on an edition when Forsyth was unwell. The show became more lively and chaotic during the Davidson era, introducing characters such as Mr Blobby , comedy sketches, and gunge similarly seen on Tiswas , with appearances from the Phantom Flan Flinger. Davidson's hostesses were Sally Meen, Melanie Stace and Lea Kristensen. This incarnation ended in April 2002, after again being beaten by ITV, this time by Pop Idol . Davidson had announced in March that he
14484-550: The show's American debut in 1999, it was a hit and became a regular part of ABC's primetime lineup until 2002; that show would eventually air in syndication for seventeen years afterward. Several shorter-lived high-stakes games were attempted around the time of the millennium , both in the United States and the United Kingdom, such as Winning Lines , The Chair , Greed , Paranoia , and Shafted , leading to some dubbing this period as "The Million-Dollar Game Show Craze". The boom quickly went bust, as by July 2000, almost all of
14626-487: The show's first multi-million dollar winner; it has also increased the stakes of its tournaments and put a larger focus on contestants with strong personalities. The show has since produced four more millionaires: tournament winner Brad Rutter and recent champions James Holzhauer , Matt Amodio , and Amy Schneider . Family Feud revived in popularity with a change in tone under host Steve Harvey to include more ribaldry . In 2009, actress and comedienne Kim Coles became
14768-639: The show, such as the science-inspired Geek Out Game Show or the Yuck Show . Since the early 2000s, several game shows were conducted in a tournament format; examples included History IQ , Grand Slam , PokerFace (which never aired in North America), Duel , The Million Second Quiz , 500 Questions , The American Bible Challenge , and Mental Samurai . Most game shows conducted in this manner only lasted for one season. A boom in prime time revivals of classic daytime game shows began to emerge in
14910-408: The single digits of dollars) are awarded as well when the price is correctly guessed, even when a contestant loses the major prize they were playing for. For high-stakes games, a network may purchase prize indemnity insurance to avoid paying the cost of a rare but expensive prize out of pocket. If the said prize is won too often, the insurance company may refuse to insure a show; this was a factor in
15052-535: The team who won the most money answering one final question for a jackpot which started at $ 1,000 and increased $ 500 each week until won. Another early example was the Lightning Round on the word game Password , starting in 1961. The contestant who won the front game played a quick-fire series of passwords within 60 seconds, netting $ 50 per correctly guessed word, for a maximum bonus prize of $ 250. The bonus round came about after game show producer Mark Goodson
15194-412: The time it was mother/son, father/daughter. Sometimes aunt/nephew and uncle/niece played. In the first two rounds, two couples compete against each other in two games. One game usually involves first seeing a skilled professional construct or perform something, such as pottery or dancing. The contestants attempt to do the same, and a score is given by the professional. The other game usually involves more of
15336-399: The time, remembers that there were many proposals as to who should take over, with Bill Cotton having a brief discussion with his favoured choice, Cilla Black , who would not consider the move; other names mentioned included Jimmy Tarbuck and Kenneth Williams . However, he felt he did not want the new programme to be compared to Forsyth's Generation Game , so he cast Larry Grayson , with
15478-465: The victorious team watches prizes pass on a conveyor belt, and wins as many as could be recalled in 45 seconds (20 seconds per teammate during the second Forsyth era), with some items awarding a bonus prize if the contestant or team recalls that item. In both the first Forsyth era and the Grayson era, a short quiz between the two team members decided who would play the conveyor belt, whilst in the Davidson era,
15620-455: The wake of the scandals limited the style of games that could be played and the amount of money that could be awarded. Panel shows there were kept in primetime and have continued to thrive; they have transformed into showcases for the nation's top stand-up comedians on shows such as Have I Got News for You , Would I Lie to You? , Mock the Week , QI , and 8 Out of 10 Cats , all of which put
15762-437: The weekend schedules. In 1983, Birt published a document with proposals for an additional £50 million to be spent every year on peak time programmes: shows concerning religion, the arts and current affairs would be pruned to free up cash. His argument for doing this was that ITV made 75% of its money in peak time, but the peak time was riddled with a number of weak slots which reduced the maximum amount of revenue; again, LWT
15904-422: The wife of the contestant couple would perform at a jackpot board for a prize. The contestant was shown a famous quotation or common phrase, and the words were scrambled. To win the announced bonus, the contestant had to unscramble the words within 20 seconds. The contestant received a consolation gift worth over $ 200 if she was unsuccessful. Another early bonus round ended each episode of You Bet Your Life with
16046-412: The winner was to be the applicant who bid the most. LWT threatened not to bid for its franchise again, as opposition to the new franchise bidding process gathered momentum. LWT chairman Christopher Bland stated: "We have the programme power into satellite" – it cost both LWT and Thames £43 million for the licence, yet on satellite television would only cost £2 million. LWT denied it was trying to blackmail
16188-519: The winning team became one second. Another feature of the 1999-2000 Davidson series was that if a contestant correctly recalled a Phantom prize, they would be gunged with that item. The show is based on the Dutch TV show Één van de acht ("One of the Eight"), the format devised in 1969 by Theo Uittenbogaard for VARA Television . Mies Bouwman , a Dutch talk show host and presenter of the show, came up with
16330-431: The winning team decided themselves on who would play. A trademark of the show is that a cuddly toy is always among the prizes. This led to an affectionate joke: "Dinner service...fondue set...Cuddly toy! Cuddly toy!", which is sometimes quoted when the show is mentioned. The audience and the host shout out the names of the prizes, especially in later series, allowing the contestants to carry away large numbers of items. In
16472-573: The world. Most game show formats that are popular in one country are franchised to others. Game shows have had an inconsistent place in television in Canada , with most homegrown game shows there being made for the French-speaking Quebec market and the majority of English-language game shows in the country being rebroadcast from, or made with the express intent of export to, the United States. There have been exceptions to this (see, for instance,
16614-449: Was You Bet Your Life , ostensibly a game show, but the game show concept was largely a framework for a talk show moderated by its host, Groucho Marx .) During the late 1950s, high-stakes games such as Twenty-One and The $ 64,000 Question began a rapid rise in popularity. However, the rise of quiz shows proved to be short-lived. In 1959, many of the higher stakes game shows were exposed as being either biased or outright scripted in
16756-418: Was Carlton Television , the transfer usually occurred invisibly during a commercial break, for Carlton and LWT shared studio and transmission facilities (although occasionally a Thames-to-LWT-style handover would appear). Like most ITV regional franchises, including Carlton's, the London weekend franchise is now operated by ITV plc . The "London Weekend" franchise was renewed by Ofcom in 2015 for ten years and
16898-554: Was Rosemarie Ford , so the catchphrase was amended to "What's on the board, Miss Ford?" (originally "What have they scored, Miss Ford?"). Forsyth always opened the show with "Good evening Ladies Gentlemen and Children welcome to the Generation Game, it's Nice to see you, to see you ..." to which the audience would shout "Nice!", a catchphrase that Forsyth retained in his later television appearances. Others included "Good game, good game," "I hope you're playing this at home," and "Give us
17040-408: Was Thames Television , there was an on-screen handover to LWT on Friday nights (there was no handover back to Thames on Mondays, as from 1968 to 1982 there was no programming in the very early morning, and from 1983, when a national breakfast franchise was created, LWT would hand over to TV-am at 6:00am, which would then hand over to Thames at 9:25am). From 1993 to 2002, when LWT's weekday counterpart
17182-414: Was 'exceptional'. As described by LWT's managing director Greg Dyke, the franchise round, "became a crapshoot. You had to work out [in the franchise round] who was bidding against you. Of those, would they pass the quality threshold and would they pass the financial test". Scottish Television and Central Television both discovered that nobody was bidding against them—and both bid only a token amount. It
17324-541: Was a shameless carbon copy of memorable moments from The Generation Game of the 1970s or 80s." Carol Midgley of The Times gave it two stars, saying: "It needs to relax and dial down the gush. Brucie made it look so easy. Didn't he do well?" The i (newspaper) newspaper's Jeff Robinson said the show "felt forced and scripted, another territory for the Mel and Sue brand to colonise post- Bake Off rather than an original updating of an old format." Sam Wollaston of The Guardian
17466-526: Was altered from July 2000, reducing the red colour scheme and featuring a significantly remixed soundtrack, and another revision on 11 August 2001 included the new ITV1 logo and, from November that year, the itv.com website as well. By 2001, Carlton and Granada controlled all of the franchises in England and Wales, and in 2002 decided to unify the playout and branding of all of the companies to become ITV1, with regional references used only in accordance with regional programming. LWT marked its final day on air with
17608-425: Was at a disadvantage compared with the other ITV franchise holders. Birt believed that LWT and others should transfer more of its public service broadcasting commitments to the new Channel 4 . LWT finally found a solution in 1985, when an agreement was reached with TVS, which wished to expand its own output for the ITV network. However, as TVS was not one of the " Big Five " ITV companies, it had no real influence on
17750-460: Was carried out at once. He continued to increase his stake further and, by the end of 1971, he possessed 39.7%. Rupert Murdoch became managing director in February 1971. When Dr Tom Margerison left the company, he stated "there is no question of personal animosity between Rupert and myself. It's just one of those things: you cannot have two people running a ship." He had believed Murdoch was to become
17892-478: Was confirmed that Mel and Sue would host. However, on 7 February 2018, two episodes instead of the planned four were confirmed, with the BBC saying "During the production process it's not unusual for a new series to change length as the format evolves". The first episode aired on BBC One on 1 April 2018. It received generally poor reviews from TV critics: Gerard O'Donovan from The Daily Telegraph gave it one star, writing: "...There's little to say other than that it
18034-403: Was created and led by television presenter David Frost , who, at the time, was working for the London weekday ITV station Rediffusion . The consortium also included three ex-BBC members of staff: Michael Peacock (controller of BBC1 ), Frank Muir (assistant head of BBC comedy) and Doreen Stephens (head of children's output). Rediffusion's Controller of Programmes, Cyril Bennett, also joined
18176-477: Was felt that the company was too powerful to challenge; equally, as an employee of the station, he felt it would be seen as an act of betrayal. Changes elsewhere in the system (notably the decision to make the Midlands licence a seven-day operation) led Frost to believe that the existing Midlands weekday broadcaster ATV had a significant risk of losing its London weekend contract. The consortium's application promised
18318-517: Was first presented Password , contending that it was not enough to merely guess passwords during the show. "We needed something more, and that's how the Lightning Round was invited," said Howard Felsher , who produced Password and Family Feud . "From that point on every game show had to have an end round. You'd bring a show to a network and they'd say, 'What's the endgame?' as if they had thought of it themselves." The end game of Match Game , hosted for most of its run by Gene Rayburn , served as
18460-419: Was followed by a final signoff featuring continuity announcers Glen Thompsett and Trish Bertram appearing 'in-vision' to toast the departing station, and a montage of LWT presentation across the years, assembled by senior ITV presentation producer Gareth Randall. When GMTV handed over to the weekday franchise the following morning, the national ITV1 brand was on-air, with the new team of announcers announcing for
18602-409: Was going on was carefully contrived. In 1980, a junior version was considered, to be titled The Younger Generation Game , with two young siblings of different ages in place of older contestants. It was not confirmed whether Grayson would have hosted this proposed spin-off version, and it ultimately was never commissioned. By the early 1980s, The Generation Game was being beaten by ITV 's Game for
18744-478: Was introduced to the game show genre in the late 1960s on all three networks. The 1970s saw a renaissance of the game show as new games and massive upgrades to existing games made debuts on the major networks. The New Price Is Right , an update of the 1950s-era game show The Price Is Right , debuted in 1972 and marked CBS's return to the game show format in its rural purge . The Match Game became "Big Money" Match Game 73 , which proved popular enough to prompt
18886-460: Was made available for new programming. In 1972, Weekend World was launched; a weekly current affairs programme broadcast on Sundays at noon, presented by journalist Peter Jay . In 1974, the Director of Programmes at Thames, Brian Tesler , left to become Deputy Chief Executive to John Freeman. In the autumn of 1974, LWT challenged the BBC by spending £3.75 million on what it believed represented
19028-407: Was more positive, giving it three stars and writing: "Somehow, it manages to be both a little bit glorious and groansome to the max at the same time." The show introduced a number of catchphrases, including Bruce Forsyth's "Didn't he/she/they do well?", "Let's meet the eight who are going to generate" and "Let's have a look at the old scoreboard". Later, when the show was revived, Forsyth's assistant
19170-448: Was one of the strongest shows in the BBC's Saturday night line-up, and became the number-one game show on British television during the 1970s, regularly gaining over 21 million viewers. Its theme song "Life Is The Name Of The Game" was written and sung by Forsyth, and later released on record. In the mid-1970s London Weekend Television recruited Forsyth to host The Big Night on Saturdays. Alan Boyd, producer of The Generation Game at
19312-432: Was parodied with an American reality competition, I Survived a Japanese Game Show , which used a fake Japanese game show as its central conceit). Many of the prizes awarded on game shows are provided through product placement , but in some cases they are provided by private organizations or purchased at either the full price or at a discount by the show. There is the widespread use of "promotional consideration", in which
19454-469: Was quitting the show. The series ended the following month. The BBC were planning on reviving the show with Paul O'Grady as its new presenter in 2004. Filming two non-broadcast pilot episodes in 2003, both O'Grady and the production team were unhappy with the result, with O'Grady leaving the project. Graham Norton hosted a one-off special at Christmas 2005 featuring celebrity contestants Kelly Holmes , Davina McCall , Rupert Grint and James Fleet ; this
19596-426: Was the 'quality threshold' that saved LWT. Despite streamlining, and a successful conflict with trade unions, LWT knew that if it were to keep on making quality programmes, it could not over-bid. It had to rely on the quality of its programmes and submit the best offer it could, knowing it could be far less than a rival bid; the strategy worked, and LWT won a third contract with an annual bid of £7.5 million, against
19738-525: Was the deal would provide revenue from a wholly different source thus in part insulating LWT from the effects of any future adverse fluctuations in advertising revenue". In the same month he stood down as Chief Executive, and the Board appointed Brian Tesler as the company's managing director. Cyril Bennett died later that year, and Tesler doubled as the company's Director of Programmes until he appointed Michael Grade to that role in February 1977. Three decades later
19880-406: Was the first time LWT had to re-apply for its licence. The original 1968 contract was supposed to have ended in 1974. Instead, the new Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) had elected to extend all franchise contracts to 1981, owing to the enormous costs of introducing colour television. While it is debatable whether the licence would have been renewed if LWT had had to re-apply in 1973, by 1982,
20022-516: Was the former home of Associated-Rediffusion , the previous London Weekday franchise holder in Wembley (see Fountain Studios ). The Wembley studios were problematic, as their costly conversions to colour was imminent. LWT only had to use Wembley until its new purpose-built studios were opened in 1972. The new studios, called South Bank Television Centre , included a large tower block named Kent House after
20164-429: Was titled Generation Fame . The Generation Game returned with original host Forsyth in 2007 under the title Brucie's Generation Game: Now and Then , broadcast on UKTV Gold . This version was a retrospective of earlier editions, similar to the digital channel's Wogan and Jim'll Fix It revivals around the same time. In 2011, a version of the show featured as part of David Walliams 's 24 Hour Panel People ,
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