Last night the premier of one the newer, prime-time game shows aired. At first glance I my curiosity was aroused. So, I decided to tune in and watch while I organized my bills for this month.
Some time ago ( a faint memory from when I was a kid ) there used to be a game show called, What's My Line. A panel of four contestants ( usually celebrities ) would get to ask questions of an individual. The questions had to be answered with either a "yes" or "no" response. In other words the panelist couldn't ask an open ended question. The ultimate goal was to guess the occupation of the individual.
Identity is different in that a single contestant who is not a celebrity gets to identify 12 different individuals. The contestant is shown a list of the 12 possible identities of the individuals. An identity may be something specific like nuclear physicist, sumo wrestler or as vague as a heart transplant recipient or scientologist. One by one, the contestant "seals the identity" of each of the individuals.
Of course, in the same manner as Deal or no Deal, there is the long, suspenseful pause to see if the contestant is correct or not.
The contestant doesn't get to ask any questions of the individuals. Instead, similar to Who Wants to Be A Millionaire, the contestant can request a "tridentity" or consult with a panel of three experts. Using "tridentity" the contestant can have three of the individuals isolated that may be, for example, a professional bull rider. The other option, referring to the panel of experts, allows the contestant to get input from people like FBI behavior experts or professional psychiatrists as to who might be, for example, the nuclear physicist in the group of individuals.
The contestant is given one, free mistaken identity. The contestant has the opportunity to win up to $500,000 dollars and can walk away at any time. However, 2 incorrect identifications will result in the contestant walking away with nothing whatsoever. Like Deal or No Deal, you are forced to listen to the rules over and over again by Penn Jillette ( as is appropriate since he is the host ). Additionally, you are forced to wait, just as with Deal or No Deal or American Idol to find out "after the break" if the contestant has correctly "sealed the identity." But that wasn't the most difficult part of the show for me.
What I found most unnerving was that the show was difficult to play at home from a viewer's perspective. Unlike Deal or No Deal where you are frequently shown the board with the dollar values the contestant has cleared and the un-opened briefcases, you rarely get to see the revealed ( or yet to be revealed ) identities and a full view of the individuals to be identified. An overall view of the individuals and a heads up display of the identities would be nice for the viewer.
The upside of Identity is that it's a pretty easy game where the average player is probably not going to go home empty handed. The most logical approach to the game is to narrow the field by process of elimination. Obviously the producers don't want the first contestants going home on empty so they've thrown in a few easy ones. For example, in the premier episode, one of the possible identities was sumo wrestler. Curiously enough, one of the 12 individuals was dressed in sumo wrestling gear. So, unless the contestant is entirely without a clue, everyone can go home a winner. However, the show isn't easy enough that the average Joe can identify each of the individuals. As the identities get more vague, the difficulty will definitely separate the talented contestant from the mundane.
