I have seen "Duel"...

[TheConfessor]

From the review:

The reigning champion gets to choose his or her next competitor from among a gallery of 24 contenders -- a dubious honor, since the champ is obviously searching for the least intelligent-looking person in the group. One of the commercial breaks, for sponsor Diet Pepsi Max, includes the slogan "Wake Up, People." Indeed, by the time it appears, many in the audience will have nodded off. Maybe those three words should also be seen as a cry of alarm, a warning about the ways television is changing and the reason why: corporate greed.

Why would the network provide an advance review copy of the show that contains commercials? No wonder Shales is in a bad mood. I agree that Shales appears to be a little unclear on the show's concept, with his complaint about the size of the jackpot on the first night. What matters is the size of the jackpot on the sixth night. He's mainly using Duel as a scapegoat to express his frustrations about the writers' strike. His comment that concerns me most is about how slow the pace is. So many recent game shows drag out the tempo of the show in the false belief that it creates tension and suspense, when it's far more likely to make the show boring and unwatchable.

[15QuestionsAway]

Why would the network provide an advance review copy of the show that contains commercials? No wonder Shales is in a bad mood. I agree that Shales appears to be a little unclear on the show's concept, with his complaint about the size of the jackpot on the first night. What matters is the size of the jackpot on the sixth night. He's mainly using Duel as a scapegoat to express his frustrations about the writers' strike. His comment that concerns me most is about how slow the pace is. So many recent game shows drag out the tempo of the show in the false belief that it creates tension and suspense, when it's far more likely to make the show boring and unwatchable.

Pepsi Max is the key sponsor of the show, and we did see the occasional snippet from them during taping, usually coming out of a commercial break. I'm not surprised the screening copy Shales saw has their messages integrated into it.

The pacing of the show may be an issue, since contestants have no time limit answering the questions unless they get Pressured. I've been hoping the editing would fix this, because contestants staring each other down only has limited television appeal.

Greenie did seem kind of bland during the first episode, but this is his first outing as a game show host and there's a lot going on. Plus, it was a very difficult first shooting day. As the week progresses, he gets more into it. He understands the game and its strategy, and becomes more relaxed.

Duel has a sporting event vibe to it, so it plays to Greenie's strengths. The set encourages this - it's in the round like Millionaire, and it's huge. There's two levels and 300 audience members.

The thing about Duel is that unlike most recent game show offerings, it's actually quite a good game. There's a lot to work with if the production needs improvement so I hope it's given a chance by viewers.

I couldn't agree more about Shales - he's projecting his fears about the writer's strike and the television landscape onto Duel. As for the jackpot...

Spoiler

Whatever happens with the jackpot tonight - don't worry, it will get much larger.

[thguy65]

Some of that should be in a spoiler box, Tim.

Sorry about that, Chief!

I actually didn't consider that to be a spoiler originally since I think he may be mistaken on the whole concept. I'll have to see what is actually shown on tonight's premiere, but I'm guessing that he might not be aware that the victors of the opening matches still have a chance at the big jackpot if they place in the final top 4.

I'll fix my original post.

[mrkelley23]

I love his conclusion:

Forty-six years ago, FCC Chairman Newton Minow (the FCC had smart chairmen back then) famously called prime-time TV "a vast wasteland." Whoa, boy. He should see it now. If the powers that be prevail, it will only be vaster, and more of a waste, in years to come.

A fine old quote that can be hauled out for any show someone doesn't like.



But any commentary that criticises TPTB can't be all bad!

And a quote that is often taken out of context.

The full text of Chairman Minow's speech is here, among many other places:

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeche ... nminow.htm

The relevant part:

"I'm talking about this past season. Some were wonderfully entertaining, such as "The Fabulous Fifties," "The Fred Astaire Show," and "The Bing Crosby Special"; some were dramatic and moving, such as Conrad's "Victory" and "Twilight Zone"; some were marvelously informative, such as "The Nation's Future," "CBS Reports," "The Valiant Years." I could list many more -- programs that I am sure everyone here felt enriched his own life and that of his family. When television is good, nothing -- not the theater, not the magazines or newspapers -- nothing is better.

But when television is bad, nothing is worse. I invite each of you to sit down in front of your television set when your station goes on the air and stay there, for a day, without a book, without a magazine, without a newspaper, without a profit and loss sheet or a rating book to distract you. Keep your eyes glued to that set until the station signs off. I can assure you that what you will observe is a vast wasteland.

You will see a procession of game shows, formula comedies about totally unbelievable families, blood and thunder, mayhem, violence, sadism, murder, western bad men, western good men, private eyes, gangsters, more violence, and cartoons. And endlessly commercials -- many screaming, cajoling, and offending. And most of all, boredom. True, you'll see a few things you will enjoy. But they will be very, very few. And if you think I exaggerate, I only ask you to try it."


Later in the speech, Minow exhorts his audience to imagine what could happen if only the viewing public had more choices. If there's one thing we do have in the 21st century, it's more programming choices on television. Has it improved the vast wasteland? Not in my opinion.

I think Minow was doing his best to try to persuade programming execs to shoot for higher quality. I don't think it was a general panning of television.