Otaku are sometimes overly-prone to stricture; things must be a certain way or else that thing is invalid. This often shows itself in vitriolic fandom debates and other dark cervices on the Internet, and while some concepts should be universal (like you should never affix -gate to something perceived as “scandalous”, because 1) making it a -gate is not how that etymology works 2) most scandals of import don’t have -gate on the end and 3) you’re just an asshole trying to harass other people over nothing) there should be room to play.
I had dinner with someone recently and there was a discussion about fidelity to the source material in game shows and it was brought up about how I was a stickler for things. I can’t personally recall anything I specifically did or commented in the past, but I am certainly not that way now. Between my Name That Tune not really resembling any NTT from the past, my Wheel of Fortune subtly changing forms almost every go-round, and variants of Press Your Luck and Pass The Buck that don’t even share the true names of the source, I think I’m more than willing to stray from the source every now and again.
To be honest, my view is that strict adherence to the source material is not a mandate to me, but a conscious choice. If I choose to do something to the letter of the law, it’s because I wanted to do it. Stylistic choices, rules, and rituals are only to be used if they make sense to me and help create a better product. Otherwise, I’m going to do what I can to ape the game show experience, even if it’s not a singular game show experience. For example, my newest passion project involves celebrities, trivia, and bluffing. Now there are several easy options (and one not-so-easy) but instead of resorting to some other format wholesale, I’m trying to take things from other shows and incorporate it into the original format to make it work because a) it’s more fun for me and b) the audience isn’t going to care about the small stuff if the product is entertaining.
Too bad I won’t be doing anything like this for Anime Weekend Atlanta, but there’s always more shows around the bend.
