History Main / PhoneInGameShows

-->''Come on! You only have 60 seconds left to call in for a shot at $100! All you have to do is unscramble this famous proper noun! "TVTROPES"! Keep ringing those phones! We don't have all night! Call! Call now! [[note]]Calls cost $100 a minute, 18+ only, many will enter, very few will have a remote chance of getting on air.[[/note]]''

* In the [[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes Bugs Bunny]] cartoon "People Are Bunny," Bugs becomes a phone contestant (he's being called in the phone booth in which Daffy has him locked) and answers a difficult multiplication problem in zero time, winning him a jackpot. When the caller asks how he got the answer so fast, Bugs replies "If there's one thing us rabbit can do, it's multiply!"

** And according to [=YouTube=] comments, they covered the final answer (Wasting **brain cells**) back up after the break, but the next caller either wasn't paying attention or didn't see the mishap, giving an incorrect response.

!!Oh, time's up! Here's what was behind the money on the [=TropeBoard!=]* LuckBasedMission: It feels like one, but we can legally prove that it's not!

** And according to [=YouTube=] comments, they covered the final answer (Wasting *brain cells*) back up after the break, but the next caller ''clearly'' wasn't paying attention.

* The Scottish comedy ''[[Series/LimmysShow Limmy's Show]]'' had the recurring sketch "Adventure Call", a phone-in [[InteractiveFiction text adventure game]] hosted by a man named Falconhoof. The callers are erratic and things inevitably go wrong.

** In another episode, Falconhoof gets a Jester as his new LovelyAssistant, but the caller seemingly [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKD5pKzzXvU wants her dead]].

Similar controversies have occurred elsewhere, though. In Belgium, a comedic consumer watchdog program (who, through a mess of LoopholeAbuse, also trolled a local music royalty society into demanding royalties for fictitious artists they made up from the names of products they found in their kitchen) actually managed to get one of their own undercover as the host of such a show, obtained information about mathematics puzzles they had been planning to use, and determined that 16% of the "correct" answers they had were completely wrong. Spain had [[http://telodigoytelocomento.blogspot.com.es/2011/11/el-escandalo-de-telesierra-y-su-legado.html Telesierra,]] that basically was a huge scam with channel workers acting as callers and giving ''oddly wrong'' replies, as well as calls being hold to up to 30 minutes and other similar abuses.

!!Oh, time's up! Here's what was behind the money on the [=TropeBoard!=]
* EasierThanEasy[=/=]HarderThanHard: In layman's terms: if the questions are easy, politicians will call it gambling. If the questions are hard, politicians will call it a scam.
* LuckBasedMission: It feels like one, but we can legally prove that it's not!

*** Now, let's try a skill-testing question UpToEleven: "9+7-3x0+5-2+4-7+(4+6)x2=?" [[note]]"1238": the proper answer would be 36, which means someone royally screwed up their math there.[[/note]]

A large stigma of pay-per-call numbers in the US going back to the kid-targeted 1-900 lines of the late 80's and early 90's didn't help either. There were phone-in interactive ''games'' on 1-900 lines (often based on popular ''real'' game shows such as ''Series/LetsMakeADeal'', ''Series/{{Jeopardy}}'' and ''Series/WheelOfFortune'', or otherwise endorsed by a GameShowHost of the era), but these were all played with a touch-tone phone and viewers interacting with a computer system, and not an actual TV show. In 1993, what was then [[Creator/{{Freeform}} The Family Channel]] built a quartet of game shows around this idea --''TabletopGame/TrivialPursuit'', ''Boggle'', ''Shuffle'' and ''Jumble'' -- which were all hosted and produced by [[Series/TicTacDough Wink]] [[Series/{{Debt}} Martindale]], and had "playbreak" segments during commercial breaks, wherein viewers could call in and play along with the questions on-screen. Even then, they did not interact with a live host, and excepting ''Trivial Pursuit'', none of them were very good. The U.S. also had two early examples of the concept: one in ''[[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialing_for_Dollars Dialing for Dollars]]''[[note]]going all the way back to the radio era, in 1939 more accurately[[/note]] (where it was the producers who called the contestors' homes, and not the other way - thus it could be more accurately called a phone-''out'' game show), a franchise which was at its most popular from the 1950s to the 1970s, way before 1-900 numbers were popular, and can still be seen in few markets,[[note]]Fun fact: Creator/OprahWinfrey presented the Baltimore edition of this show for some time in TheSeventies.[[/note]] and a more traditional one in ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_the_Music_(American_game_show) Stop the Music]]''.

Similar controversies have occurred elsewhere, though. In Belgium, a comedic consumer watchdog program (who, through a mess of LoopholeAbuse, also trolled a local music royalty society into demanding royalties for fictitious artists they made up from the names of products they found in their kitchen) actually managed to get one of their own undercover as the host of such a show, obtained information about mathematics puzzles they had been planning to use, and determined that 16% of the "correct" answers they had were completely wrong. Spain had [[http://telodigoytelocomento.blogspot.com.es/2011/11/el-escandalo-de-telesierra-y-su-legado.html Telesierra]], that basically was a huge scam with channel workers acting as callers and giving ''oddly wrong'' replies, as well as calls being hold to up to 30 minutes and other similar abuses.

A large stigma of pay-per-call numbers in the US going back to the kid-targeted 1-900 lines of the late 80's and early 90's didn't help either. There were phone-in interactive ''games'' on 1-900 lines (often based on popular ''real'' game shows such as ''Series/LetsMakeADeal'', ''Series/{{Jeopardy}}'' and ''Series/WheelOfFortune'', or otherwise endorsed by a GameShowHost of the era), but these were all played with a touch-tone phone and viewers interacting with a computer system, and not an actual TV show. In 1993, what was then [[Creator/{{Freeform}} The Family Channel]] built a quartet of game shows around this idea --''TabletopGame/TrivialPursuit'', ''Boggle'', ''Shuffle'' and ''Jumble'' -- which were all hosted and produced by [[Series/TicTacDough Wink]] [[Series/{{Debt}} Martindale]], and had "playbreak" segments during commercial breaks, wherein viewers could call in and play along with the questions on-screen. Even then, they did not interact with a live host, and excepting ''Trivial Pursuit'', none of them were very good. The U.S. also had two early examples of the concept: one in ''[[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialing_for_Dollars Dialing for Dollars]]''[[note]]going all the way back to the radio era, in 1939 more accurately[[/note]] (where it was the producers who called the contestors' homes, and not the other way - thus it could be more accurately called a phone-''out'' game show), a franchise which was at its most popular from the 1950s to the 1970s, way before 1-900 numbers were popular, and can still be seen in few markets,[[note]]Fun fact: Creator/OprahWinfrey presented the Baltimore edition of this show for some time in TheSeventies.[[/note]] and a more traditional one in [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_the_Music_(American_game_show) Stop the Music]]''.

#Have the presenters [[{{Padding}} pad things out]] with cheap talk and encouragement to keep calling in so you don't have to waste your precious airtime actually taking calls. (the Canadian game ''Brain Battle'' subverted this by having a studio game too, but it was later dropped -- thus making it partly an ArtifactTitle. The Endemol-created format ''Puzzle Time'' (Known in the UK as ''Brainteaser'') also combined phone-in segments with a puzzle-based game show.

In the same month, Five's popular lunchtime game show ''Brainteaser'' went on a sudden axing after it was revealed that Endemol, the show's production company, had faked winners on the show's call-in segments, and Five was fined £300,000. Another Endemol show: ''Deal or No Deal'' was also hit on the controversy after its phone line operator was fined £30,000 by ICSTIS because the program gave the impression that the viewers watching could win any one of the three prizes on offer, although the producers of the series knew which prize would be available before the lines had even opened. Channel 4 eventually ditched the phone-in segment on that show as well. Channel 4 themselves were fined £1.5 Million for both ''Richard and Judy'' and ''Deal or No Deal''.

** Subverted to a degree with [=BrainTeaser=]'s host Alex Lovell. The scandal resolving the show tarnished her presenting career despite having nothing to do with it. The fact she was also a presenter on the infamous shopping channel Auction World which was also involved in a scandal that forced the channel into bankruptcy didn't help matters. Although she is rarely seen on national TV nowadays, what keeps her from being averted is she is very popular in her home region of the West of England as a presenter on BBC's Points West.

In the same month, Five's popular lunchtime game show ''Brainteaser'' went on a sudden axing after it was revealed that Endemol, the show's production company, had faked winners on the show's call-in segments, and was axed permanently after Five was fined £300,000. Another Endemol show: ''Deal or No Deal'' was also hit on the controversy after its phone line operator was fined £30,000 by ICSTIS because the program gave the impression that the viewers watching could win any one of the three prizes on offer, although the producers of the series knew which prize would be available before the lines had even opened. Channel 4 eventually ditched the phone-in segment on that show as well, although the show continued as it was pre-recorded to begin with, unlike with ''Brain Teaser'', which was live. Channel 4 themselves were fined £1.5 Million for both ''Richard and Judy'' and ''Deal or No Deal''.

A large stigma of pay-per-call numbers in the US going back to the kid-targeted 1-900 lines of the late 80's and early 90's didn't help either. There were phone-in interactive ''games'' on 1-900 lines (often based on popular ''real'' game shows such as ''Series/LetsMakeADeal'', ''Series/{{Jeopardy}}'' and ''Series/WheelOfFortune'', or otherwise endorsed by a GameShowHost of the era), but these were all played with a touch-tone phone and viewers interacting with a computer system, and not an actual TV show. In 1993, what was then [[Creator/{{Freeform}} The Family Channel]] built a quartet of game shows around this idea --''TabletopGame/TrivialPursuit'', ''Boggle'', ''Shuffle'' and ''Jumble'' -- which were all hosted and produced by [[Series/TicTacDough Wink]] [[Series/{{Debt}} Martindale]], and had "playbreak" segments during commercial breaks, wherein viewers could call in and play along with the questions on-screen. Even then, they did not interact with a live host, and excepting ''Trivial Pursuit'', none of them were very good. The U.S. also had an early example of the concept in ''[[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialing_for_Dollars Dialing for Dollars]]''[[note]]going all the way back to the radio era, in 1939 more accurately[[/note]] (where it was the producers who called the contestors' homes, and not the other way - thus it could be more accurately called a phone-''out'' game show), a franchise which was at its most popular from the 1950s to the 1970s, way before 1-900 numbers were popular, and can still be seen in few markets.[[note]]Fun fact: Creator/OprahWinfrey presented the Baltimore edition of this show for some time in TheSeventies.[[/note]]

* In a 1988 ''ComicStrip/{{Garfield}}'' comic, Garfield the cat is listening to a radio game show. The question asked is what sound a "felis domesticus" makes. Garfield quickly dials in and meows, getting the question right. However, since [[RealityEnsues he can't actually speak]], he is unable to tell the show hosts who he is and where he lives to redeem his prize.

#Have the presenters [[{{Padding}} pad things out]] with cheap talk and encouragement to keep calling in so you don't have to waste your precious airtime actually taking calls. (the Canadian game ''Brain Battle'' subverted this by having a studio game too, but it was later dropped -- thus making it partly an ArtifactTitle. The Endemol-created format ''Puzzle Time'' (Known in the UK as ''Brain Teaser'') also combined phone-in segments with a puzzle-based game show.

In the same month, Five's popular lunchtime game show ''Brain Teaser'' went on a sudden axing after it was revealed that Endemol, the show's production company, had faked winners on the show's call-in segments, and was axed permanently after Five was fined £300,000. Another Endemol show: ''Deal or No Deal'' was also hit on the controversy after its phone line operator was fined £30,000 by ICSTIS because the program gave the impression that the viewers watching could win any one of the three prizes on offer, although the producers of the series knew which prize would be available before the lines had even opened. Channel 4 eventually ditched the phone-in segment on that show as well, although the show continued as it was pre-recorded to begin with, unlike with ''Brain Teaser'', which was live. Channel 4 themselves were fined £1.5 Million for both ''Richard and Judy'' and ''Deal or No Deal''.

-->...oh I'm so sorry, the answer we were looking for was "[[UnexpectedlyObscureAnswer Vest Port]]", a popular retailer of sweatervests!
* ''Series/TheChasersWarOnEverything'' had [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzVTr2YHy9c a segment]] on the shows that were running on Australian TV at the time, capturing, among other things, a moment where someone had the right answer to a movie quote question ("''The Karate Kid''"), only to accidentally call ''the wrong show''.

-->...oh I'm so sorry, the answer we were looking for was "[[UnexpectedlyObscureAnswer Vest Port]]", a popular retailer of sweatervests!

#Have the presenters [[{{Padding}} pad things out]] with cheap talk and encouragement to keep calling in so you don't have to waste your precious airtime actually taking calls. (the Canadian game ''Brain Battle'' subverted this by having a studio game too, but it was later dropped -- thus making it partly an ArtifactTitle)

In the same month, Five's popular lunchtime game show ''Brain Teaser'' went on a sudden axing after it was revealed that Endemol, the show's production company, had faked winners on the show's call-in segments, and was axed permanently after Five was fined £300,000. Another Endemol show: ''Deal or No Deal'' was also hit on the controversy after it's phone line operator was fined £30,000 by ICSTIS because the program gave the impression that the viewers watching could win any one of the three prizes on offer, although the producers of the series knew which prize would be available before the lines had even opened. Channel 4 eventually ditched the phone-in segment on that show as well, although the show continued as it was pre-recorded to begin with, unlike with ''Brain Teaser'', which was live. Channel 4 themselves were fined £1.5 Million for both ''Richard and Judy'' and ''Deal or No Deal''.

Eventually, The scandal also widened to include unethical ''non-quiz'' phone-ins. Examples included inviting callers to request dedications on a show which had already been recorded, and ignoring the name which kiddies chose for the ''Series/BluePeter'' dog. ITV's breakfast franchise at the time, GMTV was also fined £2 Million for it's phone ins between 2003-2007.

Some politicians and regulatory organizations have asserted that despite appearing to be a game of skill, these programs are essentially a form of gambling since you need to pay to play (in most cases, serving as the main revenue source), and the odds of even getting on-air (or even getting the answer right for that matter) are quite slim. In late 2006, these concerns became the conduit for part of series of scandals in Britain surrounding the use of premium-rate lines on television as a whole. Complaints surfaced that ''Quiz Call'' producers had allegedly told its receptionists to completely ignore calls for a period (where they received 100 to 200 calls at 75p each), another show was accused of having their own ''staff'' posing as winning callers, and of course, the whole thing about those "impossible" questions. The scandal also widened to include unethical ''non-quiz'' phone-ins. Examples included inviting callers to request dedications on a show which had already been recorded, and ignoring the name which kiddies chose for the ''Series/BluePeter'' dog.

At the first signs of the scandal, the damage had already been done: ITV shut down its all-games digital channel ITV Play and suspended all use of premium-rate lines across its programming, Channel Five got fined £300,000 for having a daytime phone-in game come up with a fake winner's name, Channel Four sold off its stake in Quiz Call (which folded at the start of 2007, but came back for a time on Five), and quiz channels became an endangered species in the UK altogether (what remaining quiz shows were left have typically been replaced by casino games, such as ITV's [=Jackpot24/7=]).

** ''[=PlayMania=]'' once had a top five game show list. Number one was ''[[ShapedLikeItself PlayMania]]''.

** And according to [=YouTube=] comments, this led to a dim bulb moment after the ensuing commercial; they covered the final answer (Wasting *brain cells*) back up, and the next caller ''clearly'' wasn't paying attention.

-->''Come on! You only have 60 seconds left to call in for a shot at $100! All you have to do is unscramble this famous proper noun! "TVTORPES"! Keep ringing those phones! We don't have all night! Call! Call now! [[note]]Calls cost $100 a minute, 18+ only, many will enter, very few will have a remote chance of getting on air.[[/note]]''

** ''[=PlayMania=]'' has a top five game show list. Number one was ''[[ShapedLikeItself PlayMania]]''.

A large stigma of pay-per-call numbers in the US going back to the kid-targeted 1-900 lines of the late 80's and early 90's didn't help either. There were phone-in interactive ''games'' on 1-900 lines (often based on popular ''real'' game shows such as ''Series/LetsMakeADeal'', ''Series/{{Jeopardy}}'' and ''Series/WheelOfFortune'', or otherwise endorsed by a GameShowHost of the era), but these were all played with a touch-tone phone and viewers interacting with a computer system, and not an actual TV show. In 1993, what was then [[Creator/{{Freeform}} The Family Channel]] built a quartet of game shows around this idea --''TabletopGame/TrivialPursuit'', ''Boggle'', ''Shuffle'' and ''Jumble'' -- which were all hosted and produced by [[Series/TicTacDough Wink]] [[Series/{{Debt}} Martindale]], and had "playbreak" segments during commercial breaks, wherein viewers could call in and play along with the questions on-screen. Even then, they did not interact with a live host, and excepting ''Trivial Pursuit'', none of them were very good. The U.S. also had an early example of the concept in ''[[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialing_for_Dollars Dialing for Dollars]]'' (where it was the producers who called the contestors' homes, and not the other way - thus it could be more accurately called a phone-''out'' game show), a franchise which was at its most popular from the 1950s to the 1970s, way before 1-900 numbers were popular, and can still be seen in few markets.[[note]]Fun fact: Creator/OprahWinfrey presented the Baltimore edition of this show for some time in TheSeventies.[[/note]]

* In the song "Mercedes Benz" by Music/JanisJoplin, one of the things she wants God to buy for her is a color TV, so she could watch the afforementioned ''Dialing for Dollars'' whenever they called her.