Friday, September 09, 2005

There's a Contestant Born Every Minute

Tonight I decided to catch up on my Awards database. I entered data for many awards, but the 2005 AOL Television's TV's Top 5! Viewers Awards stuck out. (And not just because of the really loooong name.) Ken Jennings was one of the winners. He won the "Best Oh Snap! Moment" for the end of his ''Jeopardy'' winning streak.

And that got me thinking about contestant searches.

''Jeopardy'' used to only test contestants in LA. Then they did huge contestant searches in a few large cities. Now the ''Jeopardy'' Brain Bus travels across America looking for contestants in moderate-sized cities.

How might ''Jeopardy'' look for the contestants in the future? They might check out the movie theatre. Moviegoers who arrive early already play trivia games because the silver screen shows Q&A trivia sprinkled between local ads.

Instead of answering quietly, someday you'll use your cell phone to answer questions. You get more points for answering questions correctly and quickly. You get a little friendly competition. The theatre gives away free movie tickets to the champion. And the gameshow producer automatically sends an e-mail to the winner's phone with information about the final round of tryouts.

This concept becomes quite viable once theatres have digital projectors. Questions can be changed quickly if producers are looking for contestants who excel in certain subjects. On top of that, the projector can show patrons' scores in the upper right corner of the screen next to their IM handles to further promote competition inside the theatre.

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