Quiz shows have all the right answers in tight ratings war
By Yogita Tahil Ramani
JAKARTA (JP): There are TV shows that make you think hard. There are others whipped up as pure, unadulterated entertainment to keep couch potatoes in their comfy chairs.
And there are the ever-popular quiz shows offering a bit of both.
Debonair quizmasters spout facts and brainy participants go mushy on each other on national television.
And if those were not enough to keep viewers coming back for more, contestants can clean up hundreds of thousands of rupiah in cash or prizes in a matter of minutes.
These guessing games have studio audiences clutching each other's clammy hands and verbally jousting with each other for the right answers.
When Famili 100 host Sonny Tulung asks participants to name "the most popular game played in Indonesia", the bantering begins.
Kuis Dangdut, a top-rated quiz show aired on the TPI private television station, has a game of statues. If participants so much as twitch when the Arab-influenced music stops, they lose points, much to the audience's delight.
Ani Sumadi, responsible for 30 percent of the on-air quiz shows today through her Ani Sumadi Productions, said several significant changes were occurring in local TV stations.
The conventional TV producer has given way to the entrepreneur -- typically young, who works fast, without fuss and within tight budgets.
Patrick Schult, consultant at Grundy Productions -- the production house responsible for Famili 100, the top-rated adaptation of Family Feud from the U.S. -- said there was always an element of risk in trying to decide whether a show would work in a different country and market.
"We have lots of different formats that would not have suited Indonesian audiences," Schult said. "We worked on one, though, and after analyzing the popularity of the show in other markets, we decided to give it a go."
The proposal was for the show to air an unprecedented five times weekly.
"No TV station would take the risk of airing a show five times a week ... it was a new concept ... (but) ANteve complied. We took the risk together."
Refreshing
ANteve's head of quiz shows, Atun Purbo, said it cost the station Rp 15 million to Rp 20 million for a day's shoot of three to four 30-minute episodes of Famili 100.
Today, the spotlight also shines on the presenter.
Gone are the staid older male types -- excepting music-quiz show Berpacu Dalam Melodi's Koes Hendratmo -- replaced by much younger, refreshingly informal, slightly zany good lookers. They know how to warm audiences up and keep their interest.
Aksara Bermakna's host Anton Gumelar said most people underestimated the job of the quizmaster.
"Some of us get a little nervous and a little excited when we are on television," Anton said.
"To most, coming on television and performing their best in the worst of situations depends on the mood. However, we are paid to control our moods, make the best of the situation, fire off questions, be time-efficient and keep audiences excited."
"A day, at times, comprises eight to nine half-hour shoots (episodes). It can be grueling work if one does not have the stamina to jabber on for hours nonstop."
Anton said being on the receiving end of tirades from the boss in front of studio audiences was part and parcel of the job.
"Nobody can afford to make unnecessary mistakes on national television."
There are also marketable improvisations on ideas borrowed or inspired from Western or other local shows.
RCTI's quiz shows Piramida and Kata Berkait -- both inspired by foreign programs -- average respectable ratings of 14 to 17 almost every week on figures compiled by Survey Research Indonesia.
Both shows are adapted from the Australian quiz shows, The Pyramid Game and Chain Reaction, from Freemantle Productions.
Kuis Dangdut was a spinoff from Ani Sumadi Productions's Berpacu Dalam Melodi. The latter was inspired by the long-running American quiz show, Name That Tune.
"People from TPI came to inform me that they were making a quiz show similar to Berpacu Dalam Melodi," Ani said.
"It was fine with me, considering that audience markets of Kuis Dangdut and Berpacu Dalam Melodi are different."
In the third week of January, Kuis Dangdut ranked among the top 10 in ratings for the cities of Bandung, Semarang, Jakarta and Surabaya.
Tak Tik Boom, a local TV variation on the game of tic-tac-toe, also scores well in ratings. The RCTI show, another Ani Sumadi production, is hosted by the charming Dede Yusuf.
"What I like about Tak Tik Boom is the quality and kind of questions asked on the show," Ani said.
Categories include music, sports and world affairs.
High-tech advances have inevitably affected quiz show productions.
"Differences in today's quiz shows and the old ones lies in technical advancements," Ani said. "Before there were no digital video effects, but now they have it.
"The show, Kata Si Kecil, has taken ideas from one of my shows. However, in Kata Si Kecil, you will find things like a child zooming out from the monitor, looking like she is stepping into your living room. These things were not there before."
If the hosts and special effects do not hook viewers, the glittering prizes do.
RCTI public relations manager Eduard Depari said winners in Kata Berkait received Rp 4 million and the losers took home cassette players.
"In Piramida, it's Rp 5 million for the winners and a TV set for the losers," Eduard said.
SCTV production coordinator for quiz and music shows, Troy Pantouw, said prizes varied for the show Detak-Detik.
"These include a 14-inch TV set or a cassette player, and others amounting to Rp 500,000 for first-level winners, to a brass bed or a Samsung electronic package amounting to Rp 7 million for fourth-level winners."
Patrik explained that sponsors often contacted the TV station when a show became popular.
"If that doesn't happen, then we have a prize department within the TV station and they go out ... to make a proposal."
He said this was more attractive for many clients due to the economic downturn.
"We tell them that we don't want money from them. We give them the exposure and they give us the TV set. We're both happy."