Fear Factor Live headed to Universal parks on both coasts

Pale Rider - I think its because the show's ratings have been steadily slipping. The last episode saw a 4.0 share [that means 4% of the total available audience watching TV during Fear Factor's time slot actually watched the show].

Yeah but that 4.0 share still equals 11 million viewers, which is a lot of people, especially with today's rapidly declineing tv viewership. Plus it always pulls in more for the special episodes that it airs during sweeps. I would think that if NBC thought that the show was on a serious decline, it wouldn't be making a couple of new shows based off of the property. Regardless of the ratings or popularity, the key is how they pull the show off and how people respond to it. If they do a poor job, it could well be gone within the year.

After watching the host on the Tonight Show or something he actually took the job thinking it'd only go a few shows and get canceled. NBC was surprised about the sucess on such a odd show. That's reality TV for you, the show may turn out the same way as well.

I've never seen the show. I'm basing my "will only last one season" prediction on sinking ratings. 11 million viewers may indeed be a lot of people but not when discussion TV ratings.

Actually 11 million viewers is pretty good for a show on right now. That's better viewership than a lot of other shows. Plus it does really well in the coveted 18-49 demographic. Who happens to be the people most likely to be at a theme park. My point is that interest is still there for the show and if pulled off correctly, the new show at Universal will stick around as well.

"Pretty good" depends on what demo is watching and what you can bill in terms of advertising. In terms of any big-four networks, 4% in prime time absolutely sucks.

Joe Rogan is the ultimate "Gym Coach" you hated in high school. Without him yelling, some of the contestants would just freeze (and they still often do), and that makes for a boring show. He was on Stern one night and they figured out his earnings to be around $2 million a year. Not bad work if you can get it. He came clean on Leno one night and admitted that the producers cast the show based on people you'd like to have sex with. These are the beautiful people who are probably hoping for more than $50,000. They're looking for exposure (modeling etc).

A huge part of the show is having the contestants eat gross food items. I'm curious how they're going to handle the eating portion of the live park show. Do park guests really want to sit in a theatre and watch contestants choke, wretch, and vomit? And will that choking, wretching, and vomiting lead to members of the audience doing the same? And if they're not going to have the eating portion than its a lame, watered-down version of the TV show and who wants to see that?

Again, I see imminent failure.

Guess that means we won't see a ACEr Fear Factor anytime soon then Inatmin. :)

The problem I see is that they are limiting themselves to very few stunts off the bat, dropping many of the popular ones due to their size or logistics. But if it worked for Millionaire, it should work for Fear Factor....

This topic had me flipping to NBC last night. Special couples edition featuring 12 people I'd most likely punch if I ever got the chance. One stunt had the male handcuffed and being pummeled with what was being called "Raw Sewage" while the female worked to free him (also becoming victim to the "raw sewage" - yeah, that's worth the cash.

Dignity people, dignity. :)

I read an article on this the other day. The only specifics it gave was that the contestants at the Universal live show will not eat live bugs. Didn't mention bull testicles or cow uterus or any of the other stuff they eat on the show. I'd imagine if live bugs are a no-no then the other stuff would be to. However, the article linked to above mentions:

"..stunts will rotate and will stick tourists knee-deep in creepy-crawlies and test their fear of heights."

That's still relatively true to the TV show. Often when they don't have contestants eating something, they're covering them in it instead.

I don't know. The show has viewers. I think the same type of people who enjoy the show would enjoy seeing it live - even scaled back a bit. It's one thing to see someone covered in rats on TV, but in person the crowd reaction to these stunts would be priceless. It's definitely an idea who's time will pass. This isn't something that sticks around for say even a decade, but live shows at parks always draw and this has the 'freakshow' element to it. If the timeline we're debating is it lasting a year, then I'd gladly take that bet. This will still be running by May 2006.

Lets also add the fact that these stunts would need to be repeated many times a day, so the rats on the person stunts wouldn't work that well. Also, lets not forget our good friends PETA...

I think it's funny how while they won't say how much it costs, they will say that it was less than the $45 million they spent on The Mummy. Well, duh. I hope it cost less than The Mummy. It's a show for crying out loud. Once again, I don't think that some of you have as much faith as I do that Universal can pull this off. They usually put a lot of care and effort into their products (at least in Florida) and I don't think they would be doing this if they at least didn't think that they would be able to pull it off in a way that would be entertaining and pleasing for it's patrons. Heh, just my opinion. I'll hopefully get down in May to check it out.

Point 1: Joe Rogan ROCKED in NewsRadio! Haven't seen it? Find it, REALLY great show!

Point 2: As Den noted, "Fear" shouldn't come into play with the enormous amount of safety precautions taken.

Point 3: The eating gross stuff to try and make contestants barf isn't "fearful", only disgusting.

Point 4: Ratings are sliding in my house too, mostly because of point 3...

Point 5: Moosh is probably right, which is kinda a bummer for me because I thought most of the STUNTS were pretty cool, and I'd have joined Frank on the show, except for (you guessed it), point 3.

bill, who could DEF. retire on less-than-six-figures-a-year...and WOULD! ;)

While there are all kinds of safety precautions taken, and backup people in case you get into trouble, some of the stunts would still freak the hell out of me. Take a recent stunt: The woman is handcuffed to the steering wheel of the car, which is then hoisted up about a 100ft. off the ground against a building. She then waits while her partner climbs down a flimsy ladder to uncuff her. Of course, they both have to climb back up the ladder and release the car which plummets to the ground and explodes.

The one stunt that consistently seems to trip up competitors is anything involving swimming or being underwater. Recent example: Contestants were in a "room" with an open floor which was lowered into a pool, which quickly filled up with water. The task was to open up Christmas presents and retrieve flags which had to be attached to a belt, while amongst all the furniture in the room that was now floating around. Everyone paniced and had to bail except for the first guy who managed to get seven flags and swum out on his own.

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Also, lets not forget our good friends PETA...

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Heh, PETA.

Fun fact. PETA often protests Animal Shelters for 'putting down' animals that they can't find homes for, yet in 2003 PETA "put down" 2 out of every 3 animals they personally took in.

Why do you guys bring up stuff that I just can't resist going off-topic with?

For the first time in history I disagree with 100% of something Gator said.

1. Hated Newsradio for the most part. Have a love/hate thing with Joe Rogan. I either think he's hysterical or the most annoying person alive - he has no inbetween mode apparently.

2. Fear can still be a factor with safety precautions in place - it's just a matter of what exactly you're afraid of. I persoanlly wouldn't be afraid of falling from a height or drowning, but I hate heights and water in general. The very fact that I'm x number of feet in the air creates enough fear. The fact that I'm underwater and potentially stopped from coming up at my own will is fear. Sure, nothing is going to happen, but I don't want to be there in the first place.

3. The "disgusting" stuff is the one thing that has no fear factor at all - unless you're afraid of trying new food. They aren't going to feed you anything that will harm you - in fact most of the stuff they serve up is eaten by some culture somewhere (I seem to remember reading that) - it's like they say on the show "all mental" - they play up the disgusting factor and freak you out. These people are gagging over it for a few bucks, meanwhile there's someone in the world eating that for a meal and enjoying it.

4. Ratings in our house are flat. Same old, same old. If it's on and someone thinks of it and nothing else is happening, then sure. If not, no big loss.

5. It'll still be there in a year. Bookmark this news item and we'll all meet here in May of 2006. Like a reunion of sorts. ;)

Bonus point: I still don't have everything I want in life. Less than six figures isn't going to change my life much. I'd still maintain personal income to get those things. Achieve a few material goals. :) Maybe early retirement, but nothing in the near future would change.

I can't think of another time I've been so far from agreeing with Gator - one of the most agreeable and likeable guys on these forums. What is this? Bizzaro World? :)

The rest of it, Gonch, meh...:)

But, NEWSRADIO, man I loved that show! Even Andy Dick, who I normally cannot stand AT ALL, was more than tolerable....and Stephen Root (Jimmy James), he's a Gator...:)

Maybe I was just *distracted* by Maura Tierney though...;)

Newradio and Sportsnight were two shows I thought were *excellent*, just too intellectual for people who watch alot of TV (we tend to lean more toward Beavis and Butthead)...

Ah but the benefit of their short runs Gator is that both are contained within 1 or 2 DVD boxed sets ;) Sportsnight is out now, Newsradio is due out this summer!

I have the boxed set of Sportsnight, it's how I'm getting my practice for ESPN's "Who wants to be a sportscaster"...;)

P.S. Hey Sportsfans, ESPN HQ is *next door* to Lake Compounce...:)
*** This post was edited by rollergator 1/18/2005 6:02:07 PM ***

Moosh, I have to say I think you are wrong on this one. I think the shows will be quite popular and last longer then a year. You base your feeling on ratings, yet the Waterworld stunt show has been there for years. Explain that!! :)

And before that Miami Vice was there long after the show was gone from TV. So ratings don't matter much...hell the show doesn't even have to be on the air!

Also, the world of TV as we know it has started to change. Things like TIVO's, and new emergerging technolgies will end TV as we know it. Eventually, these technologies will make even the concept of channels themselves obsolete. Of course that's 10-20 years out and I am sure the Fear Factor show will be gone by then too. But the point I'm making is that it is a whole brave new world out there in TV land. The old rules no longer apply.

And again..there's Waterworld to account for! :)

Oh My Gosh I Can't Wait To Go To The Universal Studio Because I Know Joe Rogan Gonna Be There :)*** This post was edited by Suzy 3/5/2005 8:37:20 PM ***