With actor Ezzat Abou Ouf as the host, and a bevy of pretty girls dressed in Pharaonic garb as helpers, Egyptian TV is banking on the new game show "Pyramid of Dreams" to win back some of the audience it has lost to the Arabic satellite channels, Cairo Live said.
Egyptian TV has never shied away from imitating its Western counterparts by featuring game shows with prizes, etc. But ever since it started airing the game shows during Ramadan over five years ago, it never seemed to get the formula right. The first incarnations of the game show featured famous actors and actresses as contestants and no real prizes. Later versions began featuring contestants from every walk of life, but something about the studio sets always seemed rather naive. Now, with the help of an English director, and a large budget, Pyramid of Dreams is meant to be the real thing.
No expenses have been spared in building the show's set, and this time, the prizes are significant, with nearly LE300,000 being given away each month. The show will air weekly, and feature actor Ezzat Abou Ouf, who displayed his skills at MCing as the host of the 2000 Cairo International Film Festival.
The problem, however, may not be just one of nice studio sets, big prizes, or a congenial host. According to al-Wafd, the missing link may be good contestants. After seeing an episode where one of the contestants was unable to figure out whether Oslo or Copenhagen was the capital of Norway, the opposition paper's critic suggested that the contestants should be put through a much more rigorous selection process, and that the questions should increase in difficulty as contestants advance through the show's levels – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
