Doing Things

As a side note to the Take It or Leave It post, there is a rule in gameshows* that doing things is always better than pretending to do things. There are exceptions of course. Knightmare would have been nigh on impossible to make if everything had to be real, but the concept of a blindfolded kid having to follow precise instructions holds.

Take It or Leave It had virtual safes in the first part of the game. Why? It would have been so much better if the contestants could open a physical safe and bank a bag of money, or have a (controlled!) explosion for the booby traps. No doubts then about it bring a fair game, and a pleasing tactile element to the game. It's not as though they couldn't use safes as the end game had a quite impressive display of six safes rising and falling through the floor of the set.

So why do things virtually when you could be actually doing it? Cost, laziness or a hatred for the viewer? If I want to make a safe explode virtually, there are any number of flash games on the Internet. To actually open a safe and have a small explosion go off, well, that would be something.

Just imagine Million Pound Drop with virtual money being moved on a computer screen, akin to the play along at home game. The show would have nothing going for it. It's just the having physical bundles of cash that gives he show a kick. It's not perfect by any means (the question difficulty is just like a trivia machine. Patronisingly easy then an impossible one you must guess at) but it is watchable at least.

*not really a rule but it should be.