TBS Gives Text Message Addicts Their Own Game Show

At the end of August, TBS will be launching the first fully interactive live game show. ‘Midnight Money Madness’ will be on four nights a week (Monday through Thursday) and will run for two hours per episode. There will be no studio audience at this game show. The viewers are the audience and the viewers are the contestants.

In order to participate in the show, viewers can register their cell phone numbers through a 900 number, the internet or via text messaging. The show will then contact the potential players during the episode. If a viewer is picked to be a contestant, they’ll get to use their cell phones to answer trivia questions and win cash prizes.

There will be a couple hosting the show but their deals haven’t been finalized so the network isn’t giving out their names as of yet.

Will this be the beginning of a new fad of “Participation TV”? Or will viewers who aren’t playing become bored watching unseen contestants answer trivia and get prizes.

‘Midnight Monday Madness’ will premiere on August 28th and will air Monday through Thursday. It will be on at (you guessed it) midnight. The network will air it twice - once at midnight East Coast time and once at midnight West Coast time.