“Downfall” Season Finale July 20th; Clarification on Season Finale
Fremantle’s very good game show Downfall, hosted by the remarkable and equally very good Chris Jericho, has its season finale next Tuesday, July 20th. The show was scheduled to run six weeks but it’s running five. The season finale sees contestants Chris Molles and Rabia Hussain face off against the giant conveyor belt for an attempt to save their prizes and most importantly themselves from falling off the edge of a skyscraper in a heart pounding against-the-click quiz show.
We need to clarify the loss-of-an-episode and “season finale” thing here. A lot of people are thinking this is the series finale because the ratings haven’t been incredibly good and, again, they lost an episode. I’ve heard it from multiple sources that after the reception to the first episode Fremantle went into the edit bay and re-edited the show. Namely, they sped the show up. That’s why you are seeing one less episode. They truly did speed stuff up and put more contestants in a show. Chris says the show tapes more episodes in the Fall. We’ll see. All the information stated thus far has been correct, so it could.
However, stuff can change quickly. ABC has canceled renewed shows (National Bingo Night) and renewed canceled shows (Duel). The plus for Downfall is that it’s monstrously cheap. There’s no studio, they practically give away no prizes, and it’s taped quickly by a company that’s known for doing things economically. Yeah, the ratings haven’t been great but it’s cheap and it seems to be doing OK for them. The show’s being marred by stupid people who don’t read the disclaimers across the screen.
If it does come back, I’d like to throw in a few simple suggestions. First, put less prizes on the belt. Watching fake prizes drop off the roof isn’t nearly as dramatic as seeing a person do it. Give it more danger. Put the person on the belt. If they want to panic they just shout “PANIC” or something to use one of them. Simplifying the show and not having so much go on at once will help more than they know. It’s a good show. It just needs some cleaning up and that’s extremely easy next season. All of the work is production work. Oh, and for the love of whatever, please cast contestants who know a thing or two. Dumb contestants have hurt this show beyond belief.
I was trying to wrap my head around what irked me so much…the production is decent, Chris is indeed a very good host, it’s easy to play along with, and the audience doesn’t irritate the hell out of me. What’s left?
Like you said, clueless contestants. I mean, the material varies in difficulty, and I understand there might be a lot of pressure, but the questions aren’t exactly rocket science either. I don’t get why producers think dumb contestants make for good TV. I watch game shows for the gameplay and play-along factor, but I also like to see people win money. While I don’t need to see $1 million practically handed out for doing nothing, I’d still like to see a big payday every once in awhile, esp. on a trivia game show.fs
Honestly, I’d love to see Fremantle try this in syndication with a smaller budget.
It would be one thing to try the crowded syndication field with a show that at least started strong initially, but the audience just didn’t take to this against weak competition overall (and with a strong lead-in, that’s even more of a problem). No station programmer is going to look at the track record and turn over a piece of valuable real estate to it (maybe a 3 am clearance as a hedge against something else crashing and burning, but that’s it).
I understand the desire to try to find a silver lining in the idea that it’s a “season” finale coming up, but losing audience every week, dropping a huge portion of what’s supposed to be a compatible lead in and finishing fourth in the time slot in some instances does not bode well for a return engagement.
Looks like more grist for the “I-Hate-Fremantle” club. (See comments on the departure of Rich Fields for more examples.)
A lot of good ideas have been suggested as to how to improve “Downfall”, including the use of gag pries. (I can see it now: “250 Guy Lombardo 78s, courtesy of Music Man Murray!”) There will probably not be the opportunity to test them out.
Let’s hope that Chris Jericho can use this as a springboard to bigger and better things. He is a find!
This could be another Wipeout or Fall/Winter Sunday afternoon filler ABC offers its affiliates. Disney has been quick to use this to replace sports. Or it could be another money-making summer series.
They should have hired HHH. After all, he IS The Game! :P