Ding! Ding! Ding! University To Offer Game Show Course

America’s first college course studying TV game shows invites students to “come on down” this month. Classes will be taught by a series of visiting professors, including producers of Hollywood Squares and The Weakest Link , as well as Brooke Burns, the new host of Tic-Tac-Dough . “The first class includes the history of game shows and all the different jobs in the field,” says quiz show producer Bob Boden . “The second is about development — creating and testing and pitching an idea. In the third class, you actually produce a pilot.” The idea came from Wheel of Fortune producer Harry Friedman , who brought the course to Cal State L.A. in an effort to expand the workforce pipeline. “The majority of our students are the first generation to go to college and we’re 75% Latinx,” says Dr. Kristiina Hackel , chair of the Department of Television, Film and Media Studies. “We have alumni in cinematography, special effects and screenwriting.” The school’s entertainment industry alumni include countless below-the line talent and actors such as Helen Hunt and Edward James Olmos. The genre is thriving, with new concepts and reboots providing plenty of Hollywood production jobs. A typical game show employs more than 100 people in specialty vocations including the prize department and game control teams. “A great game show format can exist longer than any other genre of television,” says Boden, citing the better than 50-year runs of Jeopardy! , Let’s Make a Deal and The Price Is Right . “[It’s] not just entertainment, it’s an interactive experience getting the viewer to yell answers at the TV screen. It’s the embodiment of the American dream. It’s wish fulfillment. It’s fame and fortune and excitement.

A slew of new shows debuted this summer, including The 1% Club hosted by Patton Oswalt and Kevin Bacon is producing a new show starring Shaquille O'Neal and Gina Rodriguez called Lucky 13 . New episodes of classics like Name That Tune , Press Your Luck , and a 25th anniversary celebrity edition of Who Wants To Be a Millionaire hosted by Jimmy Kimmel have also hit the airwaves in recent weeks.