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Dominance/submission and unflattering personas in nonfiction-ish television
I've gotten into Taskmaster (UK) recently, subsequent to previous fannish dives into the Dropout game show Game Changer, Nathan Fielder's The Rehearsal, and The Colbert Report.
I am extremely open to talking with y'all in a fan meta fashion about
The different Dominance/submission approaches within Game Changer and Taskmaster, and in particular, how they delicately balance how much/whether to humiliate contestants. Like, (spoiler for Series 13 of Taskmaster), when Judi Love confesses that she panicked and lost track of how many cans she'd put into a bag during a live onstage task, Alex throws back his head in silent frustration. And that made me think about how much the show's executives and staff have to juggle, to simultaneously trade off the 3 levels of (1) making an entertaining TV show, (2) running and maintaining a workable system of games, and (3) taking adequate care of each performer's ego. And my understanding is that Game Changer is much more Californian in culture about this, in either not doing or not showing us situations where the performers are just having an unalloyed bad time. In early Taskmaster seasons I think we see, for instance, vegans who have to eat eggs as part of a task, which is just not something I'd imagine Game Changer doing.
Alex Horne, Greg Davies, Stephen Colbert, and Nathan Fielder deliberately donning unflattering personas and maintaining them indefinitely during improv. If Colbert were willing to reprise a bit of his old Report character, I'd suggest him for a judge for a US outpost of the franchise.
I am extremely open to talking with y'all in a fan meta fashion about
The different Dominance/submission approaches within Game Changer and Taskmaster, and in particular, how they delicately balance how much/whether to humiliate contestants. Like, (spoiler for Series 13 of Taskmaster), when Judi Love confesses that she panicked and lost track of how many cans she'd put into a bag during a live onstage task, Alex throws back his head in silent frustration. And that made me think about how much the show's executives and staff have to juggle, to simultaneously trade off the 3 levels of (1) making an entertaining TV show, (2) running and maintaining a workable system of games, and (3) taking adequate care of each performer's ego. And my understanding is that Game Changer is much more Californian in culture about this, in either not doing or not showing us situations where the performers are just having an unalloyed bad time. In early Taskmaster seasons I think we see, for instance, vegans who have to eat eggs as part of a task, which is just not something I'd imagine Game Changer doing.
Alex Horne, Greg Davies, Stephen Colbert, and Nathan Fielder deliberately donning unflattering personas and maintaining them indefinitely during improv. If Colbert were willing to reprise a bit of his old Report character, I'd suggest him for a judge for a US outpost of the franchise.
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"Sam Reich on Game Changer is a Service Dom Sadist
Will Arnett on Lego Masters is a Service Sub Masochist
Alex Horne on Taskmaster is a Service Switch Switch"
Lego Masters isn't like the other two, but I was trying to think of a game show type thing with a host who fit that category, and that's where I landed!
I do think that in general British humour is much more interested in humiliation than American humour, or more willing to show and explore it. There've been a couple British comedy shows I found difficult to watch for that reason (Green Wing, for example). So I think they have a higher tolerance for it here, as well. There are lots of moments in Taskmaster like the ones you describe and I don't think we'd see them on an American show!
Which, to your other point: they tried a US version of Taskmaster, and Alex Horne even did the assistant, but it flopped terribly (mostly due to production changes to the format).
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