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Joe Hildebrand: Why it’s time to bring back game shows

The 1990s had a lot of game shows and life back then was indisputably awesome, writes Joe Hildebrand.

'Thank you for hacking my Twitter account!'

As one gets older in life one comes to realise that certain things we once took for granted as part of our common culture will one day be lost to history.

Milestones will be left unmeasured. Touchstones will be left untouched.

And yet there is a fire which burns within all of us that whispers hope. A deep subliminal flame that comes to us at night and says: “Maybe Family Double Dare wasn’t such a bad idea after all?”

This was jolted into my consciousness this week when a friend suggested the true malaise of modern society was its lack of 1990s game shows.

It doesn’t take more than a few moments of thought to realise that this truth is self-evident. The 1990s had a lot of game shows and life back then was indisputably awesome. These days life is a massive bucket of s--t and we don’t have any ’90s game shows.

Do the math, follow the money, whatever: You can’t argue with the science.

Television is built on dumb ideas and drunken dreams, says Joe Hildebrand.
Television is built on dumb ideas and drunken dreams, says Joe Hildebrand.

My friend’s suggestion, which she offered anonymously via WhatsApp, was both brave and bold. In fact it was just the sort of blue sky thinking that TV executives should do more of these days: Take a tried and true formula and put some celebrities in it.

“I came up with a great game show idea the other day – they should bring back A*MAZING but with celebrities,” she told me.

“Millennial adults would kill to go on that show.”

While I, like all of us, shudder at the concept of “millennial adults”, it is hard to fault her logic. Done right, this could be 2021’s answer to Celebrity Splash.

Of course there is the outside possibility that this was not a high-powered executive meeting and merely just two drunk people texting each other but is that really a risk the networks are willing to take?

For their own sake I hope not. Television is built on dumb ideas and drunken dreams and the day that stops being true is the day we all end up with nothing but re-runs of “This Is Us”.

Personally, I’d rather be watching “It’s A Knockout” but my mate says it’s a bit old hat.

Joe Hildebrand is on 2GB Nights with John Stanley on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8pm

Originally published as Joe Hildebrand: Why it’s time to bring back game shows

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Original URL: https://www.ntnews.com.au/lifestyle/smart/joe-hildebrand-why-its-time-to-bring-back-game-shows/news-story/4670ea75eeb8ff5c92d0e890a8306d2a