Game Shows & Formats

It's not unusual for some of the most commercial and successful formats to come out of fertile minds of smaller creative sosiety work. Omega Television has a long history in Greece where its concepts, game shows, sitcoms and dramas have frequently held the top places in the ratings. Most of them can make smashing international productions and such formats are being offered for worldwide production. In addition to the format itself, Omega Television will certainly back it with its expertise and help locally with production design and creative team training. "Let's Get Married", "Super Bingo" and "Yes...Oh, No!" are three of the many concepts which can be produced on a budget, in every country of the world, and still have a powerful impact on ratings and advertising revenue.

TO WIN THIS GAME
ALL YOU HAVE TO DO
IS...GET MARRIED
A SMASHING FORMAT FOR TV STATIONS WHICH SIMPLY WANT TO MAKE MONEY & BOOST RATINGS. PLUS NO ONE WILL EVER ACCUSE THEM OF BEING INTELLECTUAL!

As long as words like "monogamy" & "safe sex" dominate an overcast sexual horizon, there will be a high demand for television shows accentuating marriage-and-family lifestyles. The sexual freedom of the Seventies is pass? while relationships are in. So - as the announcer says at the begging of the show:

"Hey America, time to wake up. Bachelor life is over, let's do something hip... LET'S GET MARRIED!

This is a game show different from any other, ever: where people win prizes only if they play the most serious game of their lives: Matrimony.

BRIDES & GROOMS FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD
In Segment I of the show, the studio audience and a panel of celebrities are pitted against the infallible wits of a specially programmed computer. From all over the country (as well as from all over the globe), we watch "video classifieds" of people who are seeking a partner in marriage. Each person has twenty seconds to look into the camera and tell all - which they are, their interests, what's important to them in a husband and wife. A special feature of this segment is a number of classifieds from other nations presented along with the American hopefuls, adding an exotic international touch.

After ten "classifieds" are shown, the studio audience is asked to vote for the most likely pair from the ten candidates. The panel of five experts also votes on their choice of the "ideal couple". Finally, the computer matchmaker agrees or disagrees with the choices made by the audience and the panel, and the "ideal couple" - selected either unanimously or by the majority - is flown to Los Angeles, wined and dined, and given all the suitable prerequisites for romance and marriage. Naturally, the "video classified" segment also aims at getting responses from the show's viewers. If a viewer is seriously interested in one of the classifieds, they may respond to it --- also by video. Candidates send a cassette of themselves, or visit one of the show's special "LMG" video booths (set in a joint promotion with a Camcorder Company or similar corporation) throughout the United States, or use the new color videophone to submit their response.

PROPOSE ON AIR --- AND WIN
Segment II of Let's Get Married features "Propose On-Air". In this segment, people who have already found their ideal mate may propose to them on the show. Special arrangements would be made to tape the reactions and play them on the next show, when the two would visit the studio and tell their story. Based on a series of specially designed questions, the panel, the computer and a 900 viewer line will vote on the compatibility of the couple --- and whether, if married, it will last. To spice up this segment, we give prizes to videos with particularly original, crazy and unbelievable situations that occurred during proposal.

GOING TO THE CHAPEL
In Segment III, we close the show with the Couple of the Week. They get married in the studio then are presented with a new car and a honeymoon trip. Ideally this is a couple that met from the show's classifieds: they return to the show a few months later. Each pair of newlyweds is given a camcorder which they use to tape (for later screening on the show) their honeymoon trip.

THE POTENTIAL
Promoting marriage and family values, the show has a wide sponsorship and advertising potential. It will also generate news from all its segments, creating excellent material for in-house promotion and for continuous press coverage.

 

[Dividing Line Image]

IF THE NOSE IS AT 4
AND THE CHI N IS AT 7
THAT MEANS THE MOUTH
IS AT 2 AND THE EAR IS
AT6. OR IS I T THE
OTHER WAY AROUND?


SUPER BINGO
A CHALLENGING GAME OF MEMORY, WIT & QUICK DECISIONS

"Super Bingo" is a studio-situated show with audience participation, where contestants race against time and their ability to remember quickly if they want to reach "Super Bingo"--- the top prize of each show. The format is prize-oriented and has run endlessly on Greek television from 1968 to 1992. Nico Mastorakis (president and CEO of Omega) created the format and hosted it to the top -- 74% share in the ratings. Its appeal can be duplicated in any language and its low budget (average $ 15,000 per half-hour show) makes it accessible to smaller markets.

[Dividing Line Image]

YES? OH NO!


CAN YOU ANSWER SOME OUTRAGEOUS QUESTIONS WITHOUT SAYING THESE TWO WORDS?
ENERGY, PACE & EXCITEMENT. LAUGHS, CROWDS & CASH. ALL IN ONE STREET-SMART GAME SHOW
"Yes...Oh, No!" is a unique format: A quick on his feet MC, roams the streets and asks bystanders weird, absurd questions which they must answer without using the words "yes" or "no". Contestants which resist such temptation in the two-minute bombardment of unexpected questions, ("are you gay?"--- "Do you have a mistress" etc.) are rewarded with cash-on-the-spot. The format capitalizes on the interviewee's automatic reflexes to say "yes" or "no" under the duress of a hammering "interrogation" and therefore misses a chance for cash. An extremely low budget show (a good producer can tape 5 half-hour segments in six hours) requires no studio, no set and gathers immense crowds --- a good publicity for the networks it airs on.

back [Home] [Contents] [Feedback] next

Send mail to omegapic@hol.gr with questions or comments about this web site.
Copyright © 2000 Omega Pictures