I hereby relinquish my intellectual property rights to any wily entrepreneur reading this post who turns my latest invention into the successful game show it would be. I have just two non-negotiable demands:
* Like a Supreme Court appointment, I get a permanent seat as a judge on the show.
* My eponymous composition - If You Really Want My Money - gets to be the theme song.
Given the number of baby boomers with adult children, the undeniable fact of our imminent demise, and our legendary self-centeredness, the show has a guaranteed audience. The basic premise:
Three teams of coddled offspring of baby boomer parents compete for their inheritance via answering questions that can determine how closely over the years they listened to their self-absorbed parents. To help ensure an even playing field, only children compete against one another on a different night. Team - or only child - who gets the most correct answers wins. The other two inheritances go to a charity chosen by the winning team or only child. One possible variation - though this version would eliminate only children from the competition - would be for siblings to compete against just each other. For this variation, game inventor would recommend having armed referees standing nearby.
All answers - e.g. favorite songs, films, books, pieces of art, vacation spots, etc. - must be provided to game show designers in advance while baby boomer parents are still lucid, if not continent. In event of a tie between contestants, competing teams must fill in the blanks of a baby boomer parent origin story or any other that induced groans from offspring after they'd heard it a hundred times. For example: "Your parents met in .... in the city of . On their first date they ---------------." Or, "When your father/mother was in grammar school he/she won --------------". Baby boomer parents can decide whether or not they wish to attend on the night their children compete against other teams. If more explosive variation is selected as the model, game inventor recommends escorts for any parents choosing to attend.
LOL! You really are warped:)...she said with affection....
ReplyDeleteInes; The word warped and my name are not strangers to one another. Thanks for the affectionate comment.
DeleteLet me start by saying, without any hesitation, that I love this idea. I'm not sure that I'm the one to make it happen, but I can guarantee my viewership. Hopefully that will be an asset and that the Neilson Ratings will reflect that and make it a hit.
ReplyDeleteSome further comments, if I may:
1. The idea of who remembers the most is great. Unfortunately there may be instances (and in many cases increasing instances) where the Baby Boomer parent doesn't recall the answer. (Could I be speaking from experience?) We'll need a solution on how to resolve these situations.
2. Having seen this happen more and more, you may want to consider having a category/line of questions when the child/children realizes that they've become their parents. I don't remember which comedian it was that said this when they were disciplining one of their children and waving their hand and pointing for emphasis and wondered 'when they got their fathers finger'.
3. In the event of a tie at the end of the game, perhaps a tiebreaker could be whoever is able to properly tell one of the dreaded 'Dad Jokes'. From memory of course.
If nothing else this would certainly add a new dimension to the ever increasing number of Reality TV shows. With this one adding a few new twists. And, giving any assistance to charity is always a welcome result.
Looking forward to seeing your screen credits, hearing the song and your new career as a show judge.
Anonymous; Thanks for your comment and commitment to watching. I agree that we boomers might have trouble remembering our own answers but since we'll be providing, in advance, those answers to the folks running the show, if we later forget that won't matter; they were the right answers when we gave them. As far as a category or question re when children "become" their parents, I'll work on that before I present my prototype to Merv Griffin - no wait; he's dead, isn't he? The tiebreaker piece I already had covered in my post but your idea of telling a dreaded "Dad joke" could provide some comic relief in between questions or perhaps head off the mortal combat that might ensue when the winner of the game was announced. I'll be debuting the theme song as soon as the show airs so, stay tuned.
DeleteI like your tiebreaker idea better. Don’t know how I missed that. And comic relief would work fine for the Dad Jokes. Whenever I tell one I get the feeling that I’m enjoying them the most, but ... it is a dad joke, so ... 😂
DeleteLol so I guess you really ARE serious about this...
ReplyDeleteAlison; You betcha!!
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