ABSTRACT
U.S. television has broadcast more than 300 different quiz and game shows, most of them in daytime, and most of them aimed at the woman-as-consumer. A television weekday without a quiz show is almost inconceivable; quiz shows have become an essential part of the pleasures that television offers its working viewers, whether their work is performed in the home, in school, or in the waged work force. Their commercial attractions are obvious. For the producers of the goods and services to whose commodities quiz shows give star status, they provide a national shop window, and enable the producers to present themselves as “sponsors” (i.e., generous, altruistic) rather than “sellers” motivated by profit. The relationship between the sponsor and recipient appears to differ significantly from that between seller and buyer. The display (of both the goods and the “good will” of the “sponsors”) is cheap-for instance, the cost of even the most expensive prize, such as a $50,000 pair of cars on the Australian Sale of the Century, is only a fraction of the cost of a five-day-a-week prime-time commercial. For the distributors of such programs in Australia the advantages are equally obvious: the shows help to meet the Australian content requirements, they are cheap, and they consistently reach an audience that is both large enough and has the right demographics to be sold to advertisers. Occasionally they even become prime-time ratings successes such as Perfect Match or Sale of the Century. The Wheel of Fortune, one of the solid, rather than spectacular, Australian shows, is currently a high-rating program in the United States, and is used as a lead-in by NBC for its weeknight prime-time
programming. Newsweek (February 9, 1987) revealed the economics of Wheel of Fortune for 1986: the show cost $7 million to produce and generated $120 million in advertising revenue.
