By Edward Garcia
We hear a lot of talk about the aging of the American population and how it will bankrupt the Social Security System and Medicare, but not enough is said about the opportunities an aging population offers. One untapped gold mine for the mature entrepreneur is television game shows. In recent years I’ve been aware of the difficulties older contestants and older audience members like me have in traditional Jeopardy. It’s just harder on us to come up with answers — questions, actually — as quickly as we used to.
So I am proposing a new game show which will appeal to Generation Old — Geriatric Jeopardy. GJ is just like the present show but with a few accommodations for the older audience.
First, all contestants will have to be 70 years or older. Contestants will also have twice as long to buzz in to supply their questions/answers than they do now. That will mean the program will have to be an hour long instead of the present half hour. Of course, that will mean twice as many targeted advertisements for products like Medicare supplements, Ensure, Cialis and those medicines with horrifying possible side-effects.
Next, certain categories will be avoided — rap music, vampire movies targeted at teenage girls, and video games, for example. Otherwise, the categories will be just as challenging as they are now.
A major innovation will be the introduction of a new category of response. In addition to the present “right” and “wrong,” there will be “close enough.” I’m think of an older woman (younger than I am now) who I heard about whose son worked at the Republic National Bank and who referred to it as the “Republican Natural Bank.” I can just hear Alex Trebek say, “Close enough!”
In the “close enough” category would also be answers which show that the person knows the answer but can’t quite come up with the right word — usually, the right name. For example, if the correct question/answer was “Who is Diane Lane?” it would be close enough to say “Who is the recent ex-wife of Barbra Streisand’s stepson?” On the other hand, “Who is the recent ex-wife of the stepson of the one who played Fanny Brice in Funny Girl?” would not be close enough. There have to be standards.
If GJ takes off, I intend to work on other game and reality shows to adapt for the new demographics, like Are You Smarter Than a First Grader? Who Wants to Marry My Granddad? The Newlywidowed Game, So You Think You Can Maneuver Your Wheel Chair? and What’s My Diagnosis? to name a few. One of the good things about starting with GJ is that we wouldn’t need to find a new emcee. Seventy-three year old Alex Trebek will do just fine.
