Television trends being funny and unpredictable, Dick Clark didn`t want to hazard a guess as to why the time is ripe for a new topical question-and-answer game show like ”The Challengers,” which makes its debut Monday (3 p.m., WLS-Ch. 7).
”If you look at the current trend in the world of news, people are not reading as many newspapers, not watching as much news,” said the 60-year-old former host of ”American Bandstand” and ”The $10,000 (through $100,000)
Pyramid.” ”One obvious thing is, `Jeopardy!` is on the rise. Its audience has increased in the last two or three years; therefore every syndicator wanted a question-and-answer game.”
”Jeopardy!” is the obvious launching pad for ”The Challengers,” on which Clark serves as host and co-executive producer. Both syndicated shows test contestants` factual knowledge, but on the new show the questions precede the answers, and the topics include news events from the previous week. ”The Challengers” can afford the luxury of topicality by taping a week`s worth of shows on the previous Friday.
”Twenty-five to 30 percent of it deals with what`s going on these days:
short-term knowledge, stuff that you`ve just picked up in the last week or two,” Clark said. ”The rest is residual knowledge, stuff you`ve carried with you all your life.”
Clark has hosted three game shows: the short-lived ”The Object Is” and
”Missing Links” in the mid-1960s, and ”Pyramid,” which survived 15 seasons before disappearing recently.
He has plenty of other jobs to fall back on. He estimates that annually he produces 20 to 30 television specials-including numerous awards shows-plus a few movies. He is also a founder and director of the Unistar Communications Group, a national radio network.
And then there`s ”American Bandstand,” the music/variety series that launched Clark in 1956. He finally handed over the hosting reins to a David Hirsch last year, when the show moved to the USA Network. Now it is off the air.
”I think the show will probably go back on television in some form,”
Clark said. ”We`ve talked about a situation comedy, a game show, a derivative of what it is already, a talent search.”
He said he might host a revival of the show, though not if it`s a sitcom. He also recently opened the American Bandstand Grill in Miami.
But even with all this going on, his focus now is on ”The Challengers”: ”It`ll change from week to week depending upon what`s hot,” Clark said.
”If, God forbid, the Middle Eastern thing escalates, we`ll have more questions on the Middle East.”
”The Challengers” also is skewed more toward popular culture than
”Jeopardy!” Clark said that may be why a highly intelligent teacher from England failed the show`s screening test.
”It covers all kinds of stuff, from gossip to hard news,” Clark said.
”The English-bred educated guy probably had a problem because he never read USA Today or the (National) Enquirer; he probably flunked the more mundane questions.”
Clark added, ”I think this show is more audience-friendly (than
`Jeopardy!`). I think the audience can play along with this show certainly more than I can play along with `Jeopardy!` and I`m a big fan of the show.”
Sample questions include:
”According to the Oscar Mayer commercial, how do you spell `bologna`?”
”For which movie was Michelle Pfeiffer nominated for an Oscar in 1990?” ”According to the ad, what has 11 herbs and spices?”
”The man in charge of deployment of the U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia is better known as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Name him.”
”The more difficult questions (which are worth more money) are the obvious ones,” Clark said. ”Geography, history, current events, names of people are not as easy as what`s the Bruce Willis character in `Die Hard 2`
called?”
Still, Clark sees a way in which the viability of his question-and-answer show may not depend on the public`s apparent lack of interest in the news.
Shows like ”Jeopardy!” and ”The Challengers,” though they may hit obscure topics, still deal with straight facts, not deep analysis.
”It`s sound bites,” Clark said. ”Little chunks. A little bit of stuff, move onto the next one.”
At any rate, he tries not to take the show`s news content too seriously.
”Its purpose is not to educate. Its purpose is to entertain, but I don`t have any doubt at all that if you watch it as if you watch `Jeopardy!` you`ll learn something.”
Still, when someone has done as much as Clark has, you wonder what he still wants to accomplish, personally and professionally. Clark`s answer is simple: ”I want it to be a success.”
