Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Spinning the Wheel of Fortune

Have you ever wondered what it’s like to be on Wheel of Fortune? Do you think that your linguistic skills could outdo anyone else on the show? Well, your dream may not be that unachievable. If you truly have what it takes to do well on the show, the recruiters will be able to recognize that. So attend one of the many auditions across the country, and get your name in the system. If the recruiters feel that you are charismatic enough or intelligent enough to appear on the show, your chances are fairly good that you will be accepted.

Wheel of Fortune recruiters tour the company on a regular basis, interviewing possible candidates for the show. They don’t necessarily look for book smarts or the ability to solve puzzles really well. Rather, they look for people who will make the show interesting to watch through their own charisma or likeability. If the interviewers talk to you for a while and think that you’re a really cool person who will make the audience root for you, you will be much more likely to get on the show than if you are boring and dry but manage to solve every puzzle given to you.

This may seem strange, but it is how game shows keep their appeal to audiences. If audiences can identify with the contestants, they are much more likely to get more involved with the show and want to watch on a future date. So if you really want to get on Wheel of Fortune, you should work on your own person charisma. This can be achieved by standing in front of a mirror and practicing your patter. It will feel ridiculous, but it will make you appear to be a more relaxed and confident person. This isn’t just a skill that will come in handy when trying to get accepted for game shows. It will come in useful for your whole life.

To find out when the Wheel of Fortune recruiters are going to be in your area, you should consult their official web site. The recruiters go on regular tours across the country, making stops in all of the major cities. Getting to them is fairly easy, as long as you’re willing to take a day off to drive a few miles to wherever they are going to.

The Game Show Legacy of Jeopardy

Few game shows can live up to the sheer popularity of Jeopardy. Hosted by Alex Trebek, the show is one of the first things that come to mind when game shows are brought up. Having been around for over 40 years, many people have grown up with Jeopardy. In the game, three contestants are faced with a board full of tiles which represent trivia that they have to answer. Each column corresponds to a topic, and each row corresponds to a cash value that is credited to the contestant who answers the question correctly.

Jeopardy is perhaps most recognizable for the form that the trivia takes. The tiles take the form of the answer to a question, and the contestant has to come up with its corresponding question. This is the signature question style that was pioneered by Jeopardy, and you will see it in all sorts of other places. The first stage of Jeopardy is the most basic one, and includes a full game board of questions. This round lets contestants get into the game and start racking up the cash, but the real tension starts to occur in the second round which is known as Double Jeopardy.

During Double Jeopardy, the contestants answer questions worth twice the previous value. This is when the people can dig themselves out of holes of low scores. The money starts to really pile up at this point. On 2 random squares in both of the stages, there is something known as the Daily Double. The contestants can wager a certain amount of their score (between 0 and 100 percent) that they will answer the question correctly. Therefore if someone wagers their whole score and is able to answer it correctly, they can effectively double their score.

At the end of the game, the contestants all have to answer the final question. This is when the signature music plays, and each writes their answer to the question along with their wager value. It is displayed after the extremely recognizable music is done playing, and the bets are either taken away or added to the person’s score. The final round is when the tables can really turn. If someone makes a wise wager and wins, they can beat someone who it would have seemed impossible to beat before. Jeopardy is an intense game, and the tables can turn at any second. That is why it is so exciting.

The Joys and Horrors of Japanese Game Shows

If you have ever had the privilege of watching a Japanese television network for any short period of time, you have probably realized something about their television programs: the Japanese have some of the most bizarre game shows in existence. It seems as though each show is a desperate attempt to top the previous in terms of how ridiculous the situations are and how outrageous the games involved are. There are some shows that are quite notorious for their ridiculousness, and are widely enjoyed by the Japanese people. If you’d like to be initiated into Japanese game show culture, you will definitely need to know about these ones.

One Japanese game show that has inspired spin-offs worldwide is known as Takeshi's Castle. The main character, Takeshi Kitano, plays an eccentric count who lives hid away in a castle. The goal of the contestants is to reach him, but they often encounter some really crazy challenges on the way there. The contestant that manages to get past all of the challenges is the one who wins the game, and the cash prize. It has a following of near cult-like status, and there are shows across the world with similar ideas and concepts.

Baribari Value is a Japanese game show that capitalizes on the popularity of celebrities. Each week, it has very recognizable folks come on and play the game. The game involves guessing the price of an item or object. These objects range from outrageous to everyday things that the celebrities attribute extraordinary prices to. It is a fun show build on an outrageous concept, and it appeals to anyone who watches it. It has been compared to a reverse version of the antique road show, only with people who get laughed at for guessing a grossly wrong price.

Viking: the Ultimate Obstacle Course is another very popular Japanese game show. It involves contestants who have to make it through an obstacle course that is both physically trying, and puzzling at the same time. There are 4 stages, each with different tasks that must be accomplished. Contestants are put into ridiculous situations, but manage to work their ways out for the sake of money.

The Most Influential Game Shows

For as long as television has been broadcasting, there have been game shows on the air. These shows include some which have become like staples in American society. Shows such as Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy are some of the most recognizable on television. Game shows show us something that appeals to us: ordinary people who are given the chance to win extraordinary prizes. Like the two shows mentioned, there are several others that truly define the world of game shows. Here are some of the most infamous game shows on television, and the rules associated with them.

The game show that is arguably the most influential game show ever created is, of course, Wheel of Fortune. It not only invented and reinvented the modern game show, but it made word problems a fun thing to do. To play, there are several contestants who stand behind podiums. The game board shows a word or phrase that has had letters taken out and replaced with blank tiles. The contestants then spin the wheel of fortune, which lands on a cash value. They guess a letter, and every tile with that letter is shown. The number of letters is added up and multiplied by whatever cash value the wheel landed on. There are many other things it can land on, including “Bankrupt” tiles which cause the contestant to lose all the money earned up to that point.

Another really groundbreaking game show is Jeopardy. It is a game that anyone can get involved with at home. The 3 contestants are faces with a board full of tiles which have cash values, and a piece of trivia associated with them. The trivia is phrased in a way that is very recognizable. An answer to a question is given, and the contestant must provide the question that the answer makes sense for. This is truly the signature style of jeopardy. If the contestant can get the question correct, he or she is awarded the cash value which adds up until the climax at the end of the show.

These are possibly the two most famous and recognizable game shows in America, and for good reason. They show us things that would never be possible otherwise, such as someone winning thousands of dollars just for knowing the answer to a simple question. Game shows attract people of all ages, and that is what makes them so much fun.

The Game Show Network and its Many Shows

The Game Show Network was founded in 1994, and is home to many different types of shows. Of course the main features are the game shows, but recently is has begun to branch out and air a wider variety of shows, including reality shows and interactive television shows. It offers entertainment at all hours of the day, and shows that can be enjoyed by everyone. Here I will outline some of the most popular types of shows offered by the game show network.

Since it is an entire network devoted to gaming, the Game Show Network offers some of the most popular games. It has games of every possible type, from physical endurance to trivia. The Game Show Network’s appeal is that it has something that requires straining your body and mind. There are the classic obstacle course shows that were made so popular by Japanese television, and there are trivia shows more akin to Jeopardy. People enjoy watching these shows because they are able to see regular people either making fools of themselves or becoming slightly more rich than they were before.

The Game Show Network has also been offering some reality TV as well recently, which is a genre that many people have trouble enjoying. If you have never watched a reality show, it is definitely worth a try. Reality shows may be cheesy, but they are definitely more interesting than the average soap opera that you usually see on TV. One of the more famous reality shows on the Game Show Network is the Average Joe show, in which an average guy is given the chance to enter a reality dating service with a bunch of beautiful women.

So if you want some good, clean entertainment, turn on the Game Show Network and see what sorts of situations the contestants are being put in. You may cringe at the difficulty, or you may laugh at the outrageousness. But the Game Show Network has been around for a long time, and has weeded out all of the shows that are really uninteresting. So check it out, and see if you can find a show that you really enjoy.