A Game Show from the production company that made Deal or No Deal, which ran on ABC for a single, seven-episode season in 2007, and was hosted by a subdued Jimmy Kimmel. An unaired qualifying round determined how much money a player would be playing for, and according to Kimmel this involved twelve numbers and opening an envelope.
Unlike most game shows, the prize was awarded as monthly payments over a length of time on a Time Ladder, ranging from 1 month to "Set for Life" (40 years). The highest amount seen in the show's run was $4,625/month and its subsequent top prize of $2,220,000.
The actual game involves pulling glowing rods (actually referred to as "sticks," but...) out of pedestals one at a time. There were 15 of them — 11 white, four red. The player had to draw as many white rods as possible, as each one moved the player up a level on their Time Ladder. This had to be done whilst trying to avoid the remaining red rods, since drawing all four reds meant you "died" and won nothing.
Maybe.
You see, there was also the spouse or friend of the player (a "Guardian Angel") seated in a Sound Proof Booth watching the game. Said chamber also contained a Big Red Button which caused the game to secretly stop after any turn. The mechanic was a double-edged sword as, while it saved a few players who had a bad game, it also ruined good games by halting things prematurely.
Game Show Tropes in use:
- Mystery Sticks: Oh, and did we mention they glow?
- Personnel:
- Game Show Host: Jimmy Kimmel.
- Studio Audience
- Who Wants to Be "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?": High stakes, round set, Time Ladder, etc. To be fair, it seemed more like it was trying to cash in on the popularity of sister show Deal or No Deal.
This show provides examples of:
- Catchphrase: "Four reds and you're dead!"
- Instant Mystery, Just Delete Scene: Each game began with a round that determined the player's monthly check value, which Kimmel stated involved twelve numbers and opening an envelope, but this never aired. According to this post
, the American qualifying game was the same as the British one, just with higher values. The geniuses at Endemol thought viewers would prefer to see fake suspense and other crap, plus chopping out the first one-third of each game allowed for multiple contestants per show and straddling, like Deal. - Luck-Based Mission: You may as well call it "The $1,000,000 Straw Draw," and that's not counting the whole Guardian Angel mechanic.
- Power Glows: The glowing-stick technology manages to look more high-tech than Deal.
- Transatlantic Equivalent: The original British version was called For the Rest of Your Life, hosted by Nicky Campbell (of Wheel of Fortune fame). Unlike the U.S. version, it did include a qualification mechanic seen on-air, where the couple chose a base amount from £100-£200 at random (one out of three envelopes), then drew from eight white and three red rods. White rods increased the bank by the chosen amount, and reds decreased it. Couples could stop at any time after having at least four times the base amount, but picking all three reds ended the game right there. What was gained in truthfulness, they lost in tediousness.
