Top Five New Shows of 2011: Number Two (With Guest Blog from Wild Rover’s Kieran Doherty)

It’s the final two shows in our countdown of what you voted as the top five new shows of 2011.  We’ve got a top-tier show from England, and it’s a good one.  Shows that combine trivia and luck have recently been coming a lot since the birth of Deal or No Deal.  Everyone is trying to combine Who Wants to be a Millionaire with Deal or No Deal and find little success.  There’s one BBC show that managed to do it well, though, and you voted it as the second best new show of 2011.

You voted BBC’s Secret Fortune as the second best show of 2011.  It’s a pretty simple game that seems easy on the surface but becomes intricate and interesting the further you go into it.  There are twenty four checks before the contestants, going up to £100,000.  Each is numbered and hidden.  The team picks four, and they are attached to answers to a question.  The team has to weed out the wrong answers, revealing their value which will not be their Secret Fortune, and keep the most-correct answer which has the highest value.  By the end of the show, through two rounds, one check will remain which will hopefully hold £100,000.

It’s an interesting show and frankly does the best job of combining skill, knowledge, and luck out of any of the post-Deal or No Deal luck-based trivia shows.  It does the perfect thing every show like this must do: the luck does not matter if you are smart.  If you are smart enough to know the answers then you’re going to win £100,000.  Luck only comes into play when you’re completely stumped.  Even then, the game is structured so answers can be ordered from best to worst.  If you can just use enough logic to remove the lowest answer, you’re bound to win something decent.

Beyond that Secret Fortune is just set up well.  The set and music are great.  Nick Knowles is a fantastic host.  The contestants are likable.  The questions are good.   Unlike most big money shows Secret Fortune gives everyone a fighting shot at winning the giant money and aren’t afraid to do it, which is refreshing.  It basically hits on all the things that makes a game show good.  CBS shot a pilot for it with Donny Osmond, but nothing has come of that yet.  However, we look forward to seeing more of Secret Fortune hopefully soon.

Wild Rover Productions had a really good year of top-notch games, didn’t they?  Kieran Doherty of Wild Rover sent a thank you note to readers of BuzzerBlog and fans of both Secret Fortune and Take The Money and Run, which won third place.  Thanks to him.  Here’s what he had to say.

Hello all,

This is just a little thank-you note to everyone who voted for our shows (Take the Money & Run and Secret Fortune).

Everyone at Wild Rover really appreciates you taking the time to choose our moments. We’re format creators as well as producers and – I know every producer says this – but we really do put everything into our shows, so to have you guys acknowledge that really means a lot to us. It’s a great way to end the year.

Thankfully, next year looks even busier for us, so with any luck we’ll be creating some more memorable moments for you guys in 2012.

Thanks again from everyone at Wild Rover!

Happy holidays,

Kieran