I attended a day's taping of Channel 9's "Millionaire Hotseat" show recently. It's a spinoff show based on the original "Who wants to be a Millionaire" quiz show. Over 5-6 hours there were 5 episodes shot. Not one soul won any more than $1000, the consolation prize for when even the mere $10,000 question falls through, let alone the glorious Million.
I felt excited entering the set at first (having gone through a long and boring process of signing a disclaimer form stating I won't divulge the contents of the show...hmmm...wonder if I'm in breach saying this? Ah well Farkit..). The warehouse holding the set was dark and shrouded in a bit of artificial fog. The set itself was tiny, with around 100 spectator seats crammed together above the floor where the contestants and host sit. The chairs were crappy plastic bucket seats; even the ones they give contestants are crappy barstools, making them swing their legs in an undignified way; this could be an unnerving tactic, who knows. The overall feeling was that of a "tinny" feeling; the scaffolding holding the audience creaked and swayed a bit. To top off the cheapness of the show they "treated" us all to a lukewarm sausage roll with sauce half way through filming. It was stodgey and indigestible. Ugh.
The warm-up guy Andrew Pope is very good at his job. In quick time he was able to manipulate the audience to clap quietly, louder and then at ballistic levels, all based on his hand movements in front of the stage. There were no Applause signs; this guy acts like a conductor. Having said this his "witty" repartee in between takes was arrogant, sexist and belittling. He loved making fun of people from other countries who were in the audience. He also made two young girls go against each other in a mock quiz competition, asking them to yell "bong" and "bang" for their buzzer. The embarrassed "bang" girl went red when he sleazed: "so...you ever had a bang?". He was vile.
On the plus side was the host Eddie Maguire. Eddie polarises people being president of the Collingwood Football Club, along with comments he makes in the media. Whatever you think of Eddie the man, Eddie the professional is just that: consumate. He does not miss a beat. When it comes time to take a break for 3 minutes when the show has an ad-break written in, he grabs a microphone and answers questions from the audience. He is a quick thinker and gives as good as he gets. I came away from that taping with admiration for him being such a good performer.
So yeah: a plus for Eddie, a big minus for the warm up guy and overall disenchantment for a show which looks so tight and polished when you see it on the telly. It gave me new insight into what people mean when they say "the magic of television": having a way to make something which looks crappy in real life come out looking respectable on the small screen.
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