Some fun to start the week, thanks to Wink Martindale’s Youtube channel (and I highly recommend subscribing as there’s loads of good stuff on it, and if they hit 18,000 subs they’re going to release an episode of the Patrick Kielty US Deal or No Deal which was all filmed and never shown), Neil Patrick Harris hosts ONE MILLION DOLLAR Going For Gold. I think we can agree American Know-it-All is a uniquely terrible title, perhaps they were trying to invoke American Gladiators.
It’s not the first time they tried to adapt the format in the US, here is the original Bill Rafferty pilot from 1987.
That’s quite an early placing for ‘Buck House’ in that first head to head.
AND! The endgame manages to be boring and encourages risk aversion.
Of note – just got an email from ITV confirming that upcoming game show The Money Shot is now known as Moneyball. Guess the original wasn’t appropriate.
Hilariously of course, it is widely believed BBC deconstructed the set for Going for Gold following the original series as it was originally intended to be a one-series wonder to tie in with the Olympic Games. So when the show was recommissioned, BBC simply borrowed the set from the US Run for the Money, as it was the same format. This becomes obvious when you see the row of neon triangles around the sides of the series 2+ sets – overlapping triangles were originally a motif of Run for the Money.
I bow to your greater knowledge, but, as Going For Gold was a Reg Grundy Production, it would have been they, that decommissioned the set after series 1, rather than the BBC, who they hired the studio and technical facilities off to make it.
It probably was more of a case that having the thumbs up for UK series 2, RGP (or more likely Bill Mason as he was in charge of production of this show on both sides of the Atlantic) got the set designs and plans off the US production and rebuilt in glittering downtown Elstree for next series of Going For Gold.
After I posted that comment I realised I had slightly confused some of the facts. As you point out, RGP were the actual team behind the show, so the decision likely rested at their shoulders – plus, as the show was a collaboration between BBC and Super Channel for most of its run, it is unlikely even if it was down to the channel that the decision was BBC’s alone.
I don’t think that turning Going for Gold/Run for the Money/Questions pour un Champion/Вопросы Для Чемпиона into Million Dollar series with bonus round and OST from Identity is a good idea (especially with OST from Identity)
But Neil Patrick Harris as a host was pretty good (hopes for The Cube pilot with him still lives)