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MIKE REYNOLDS
Game Show Network is looking to bring real people to a game show in a somewhat surreal shopping and entertainment setting: the giant Mall of America in Minneapolis.
The Sony Pictures Entertainment company has ordered 65 episodes of Mall Masters from Stone Stanley Entertainment, The new series will be stripped weekdays when it bows sometime in winter 2001.
"We're excited about the opportunity to bring real people to game shows," says GSN EVP Jake Tauber. "Too many game show contestants are filtered, buffed and polished. Too many TV shows are made in New York and Los Angeles. This moves us into the heartland of America."
Stone Stanley partner David Stanley was at Mall of America, which attracts roughly 40 million visitors annually, last week. Shooting was scheduled to begin Nov. 10 and wrap up over the next month.
"With these kinds of shows, it's akin to the old real estate saying: `Materials, materials, materials.' People love to shop and see products," he says. "There will be great interaction among shoppers, mall employees and the contestants. And the show will be highly visual."
Tauber says the retailers, through Mall of America management, have been very active to find a position.
"Naturally, the stores aren't being shy about supplying gift certificates or products. There has been a lot of interest. Mall of America was very open to the idea. LBE (location-based entertainment) venues love this kind of national television because it attracts visitors," he says, pointing to Nickelodeon's success with various shows at Universal Studios in Florida.
In fact, Stanley says it was his company's success with such venue-based shows that prompted the order from GSN in the first place. The company works on Nickelodeon's Games and Sports' Legends of the Hidden Temple, and produced Born Lucky, which was shot from various malls in southern California during its run on Lifetime.
The company also produces PAX-TV's Shop `til You Drop, and Comedy Central's The Man Show. Additionally, Stone Stanley is producing The Mole for ABC and Popstars for The WB.
Mall of America shoppers are key to the fast-paced game show as their opinions - on everything from favorite pizza toppings to social behavior - will be polled. Contestants compete by answering these same multiple choice poll questions and register a winning answer each time they correctly select the majority opinion.
At the start of each show, three contestants will be brought on stage near Camp Snoopy, the mall's indoor amusement park. Host Chris Harrision will deliver a toss-up poll question. The contestant who buzzes in first and matches the most popular answer wins, advancing to the category board, named after mall stores. Think FAO Schwarz and Barnes and Noble, with attendant questions reflecting the store's theme.
Once a category is chosen and the host asks the question, the contestant receives assistance from store employees and/or shoppers out in the mall, via the interactive "Mall-Cam," who provide their best guess to the majority opinion.
The player answering the most questions correctly moves to the final round for a chance to win $5,000. "Mall-Cam" helpers providing the correct answers win a $25 gift certificate to Mall of America store or appropriate product.
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