The Rich List

From TeeVeePedia, the Internet TV Encyclopedia.

The Rich List was a popular and much loved game show that aired on Fox in the fall of 2006. Designed to be the linchpin of Fox's post-2006 World Series programming, The Rich List was News Corporation's answer to NBC's game shows Deal or No Deal and 1 vs. 100.

Show Development

Knowing that the producers of Deal or No Deal had even more great ideas, Fox executives set up a clandestine meeting with one of the show's line producers. In exchange for a token fee and the contents of a briefcase flown in from Colombia, Fox was able to borrow the idea for The Rich List. The executives then flew over to England, where the BBC version of The Rich List was considered the greatest thing since The Beatles. Using a large canvas sack, they borrowed host Eammon Holmes and brought him over to host the US version.

Gameplay

Competitors on The Rich List were personally selected by the executive producer. Driving a large van to a randomly selected Los Angeles courthouse, he selected four contestants based on who wanted to skip out on jury duty that day. The contestants were driven to The Rich List studio where they were divided into two teams of two players each.

Host Eammon Holmes asked the competitors to name items in a list, such as Stephen King novels or shows developed by David E. Kelley. Contestants would name items until the list was completed, they couldn't think of any more items, or they got bored with the idea and started playing video games on their cell phones. Teams earned money based on the number of items named. In theory, according to Holmes, The Rich List had a top prize of infinity dollars.

The Rich List also had an innovative sudden death tiebreaker procedure, which was never used due to protests from liberals.

Cancellation

While the premise for The Rich List was a sound one, the show ran into problems on the very first broadcast. The initial category was "Common errors seen in computer operating systems", which seemed arcane enough to guarantee that the prize money given out that day would be small. However, during the game, the team of Steve Jobs and Bill Gates was able to list 1337 possible errors. The two ended up winning a total cash prize of $68.3 billion. Broken and bankrupt, the producers of The Rich List had no choice but to cancel the show after only 14 minutes on the air. Fox hurriedly put on an episode of The O.C. and called in a few of Rupert Murdoch's many, many attorneys to fix up the mess.