TVSquad

Remember the '88 Writer's Strike? Well, while it didn't impact scripted television as much as the current strike, as it occurred largely during the off-season. Yahoo! reminds us that it was during this period that a network was finally willing to take a chance on an unscripted series. Nineteen years later, Cops is still on the air. And back then, reality wasn't even a genre.

Now, networks are all about this alternate form of entertainment/schedule filling. Even if the strike is resolved relatively soon, it may be too late to save the new year's schedule, and thus reality shows are being picked up by the bucketloads to fill the gaps. If the strike continues much into 2008 look for more and more to be put on the air.

New new installments of American Idol, Survivor, Dancing with the Stars spinoff Dance War, a new Apprentice and a second run for Pussycat Dolls Present are the most prominent. If the strike goes on forever, soon it will be all reality TV all the time. Then TV Squad could get its own show, with cameras watching us type and all the other awesome stuff we do. Brigitte isn't the only one of us who does awesome stuff.

Of course, game shows are back too so there's always room for more of those. Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?, 1 vs. 100, Deal or No Deal and their ilk are still around, but watch for them to be joined by the controversial lie detector game The Moment of Truth on FOX, Regis Philbin's update of the classic game show Million Dollar Password on CBS and NBC's Amne$ia, which will challenge viewers to remember events from their own lives.

It seems that more and more of the newer game shows aren't demanding much in the way of intelligence or cunning or even knowledge. Hell, Amne$ia just wants to you to be able to remember stuff that you did, though this could be incredibly challenging for college age kids. Ken Jennings must be getting so frustrated since no one wants to pick up his game show where you match wits with him. I mean, who cares about being smart when any Homer Simpson can walk in off the couch and leave with a million bucks just for picking a suitcase? At this rate, rats who have to pull a lever to get a food pellet are challenging themselves more intellectually than we are.

I'm going to develop the next American game show sensation: The Great American Sit-Down. In my game show contestants are brought into a room filled with chairs. A contestant picks a chair and sits in it. Then they reach under the chair and attached to it is an envelope telling them how much they've won. The top two winners get taken to a new room with two chairs. They sit and pull the envelopes. One envelope says 'Winner!' Amazing, isn't it! I know. I got a million of 'em. How about American Coin Toss. Point and Drool. Stand There and Look Stupid. Yes, America, here at the Hughes Game Show Development Agency, we make game shows thinking of you!