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What is a quiz show? Early radio and the instability of genre(s)
Unformatted Document Text:  1 What is a quiz show? Early radio and the instability of genre(s) More than any other genre on radio or television, the quiz show genre has been notoriously difficult to define. Radio and television genres routinely form hybrids and cross-fertilize each other, as can be seen in various recent popular comedy-drama hybrids such as Ally McBeal, The Wonder Years, or Sports Night as well as in failed hybrids such as Cop Rock or Medicine Ball. In the case of quiz shows and game shows, however, the terms hide a myriad of different programming forms under these seemingly unifying generic labels. Shows as different as The Price is Right, Who Wants to be a Millionaire, Dr. I.Q., Survivor, Family Feud, Double Dare, Supermarket Sweep, Jeopardy, Queen for a Day, The Newlywed Game, Singled Out, and Take It or Leave It are united through a common generic label, yet their similarities are often difficult to discern. Although we sometimes see all of the above shows referred to as game shows, some of them also receive other generic labels, for example the term reality show for Survivor, the term quiz show for Take It or Leave It or the term dating show for Singled Out. The variation of such generic labels partly stems from historical changes in terminology, yet it also points to a fundamental instability of generic categories. In this article, I will use the quiz/game show genre to show that the use of generic labels in everyday discourse, industry practice, and scholarly work has consistently failed to address the complexities and shifts in this genre. I will specifically use the example of radio in the 1930s and 1940s to illustrate some the inadequacies of current genre theory. One of the most common problems in writing about this genre is that the terms quiz show and game show are often applied interchangeably. However, these terms also correspond to important changes in the history of the genre itself. A differentiation between quiz shows and game shows did not exist prior to the quiz show scandals in 1958. Shows like Truth or Consequences or People are Funny, which rely mainly on physical activity and do not have any significant element of academic or factual knowledge to them were called quiz shows. The same is true for shows like The $64,000 Question that emphasized factual knowledge. The quiz show scandals were an important turning point since the genre

Authors: Hoerschelmann, Olaf.
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1
What is a quiz show?
Early radio and the instability of genre(s)
More than any other genre on radio or television, the quiz show genre has been notoriously
difficult to define. Radio and television genres routinely form hybrids and cross-fertilize each other, as can
be seen in various recent popular comedy-drama hybrids such as Ally McBeal, The Wonder Years, or
Sports Night as well as in failed hybrids such as Cop Rock or Medicine Ball. In the case of quiz shows
and
game shows, however, the terms hide a myriad of different programming forms under these
seemingly unifying generic labels. Shows as different as
The Price is Right, Who Wants to be a
Millionaire, Dr. I.Q., Survivor, Family Feud, Double Dare, Supermarket Sweep, Jeopardy, Queen for a
Day, The Newlywed Game, Singled Out, and Take It or Leave It are united through a common generic
label, yet their similarities are often difficult to discern.
Although we sometimes see all of the above shows referred to as
game shows, some of them
also receive other generic labels, for example the term
reality show for Survivor, the term quiz show for
Take It or Leave It or the term dating show for Singled Out. The variation of such generic labels partly
stems from historical changes in terminology, yet it also points to a fundamental instability of generic
categories. In this article, I will use the quiz/game show genre to show that the use of generic labels in
everyday discourse, industry practice, and scholarly work has consistently failed to address the
complexities and shifts in this genre. I will specifically use the example of radio in the 1930s and 1940s to
illustrate some the inadequacies of current genre theory.
One of the most common problems in writing about this genre is that the terms quiz show and
game show are often applied interchangeably. However, these terms also correspond to important
changes in the history of the genre itself. A differentiation between quiz shows and game shows did not
exist prior to the quiz show scandals in 1958. Shows like Truth or Consequences or People are Funny,
which rely mainly on physical activity and do not have any significant element of academic or factual
knowledge to them were called quiz shows. The same is true for shows like
The $64,000 Question that
emphasized factual knowledge. The quiz show scandals were an important turning point since the genre


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