The Increase in Interactive Television: Game Show Network's Playmania

Airing every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night (or, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday morning) at 1am ET, Playmania gives you two hours of live play and winning excitement. True, most viewers don't make it all the way to the end of the show at 3 am, but the play goes fast and furious right up until the end.

Playmania is a live, call-in game show that allows viewers at home to play. Contestants are taken until the puzzle is solved. Once solved, the contestant pool is cleared and a new puzzle is placed on screen. This goes on for two solid hours, with relatively few commercial breaks.

At times, yes, this show gets a little boring. But when it's the wee hours of the morning anyway, it's about as much excitement as you could hope for from your cable TV. Twenty other channels are generally showing a guy touting kitchen equipment, or a woman touting cosmetic supplies. When Playmania has no players, viewers have no choice but to watch a lonely TV hostess rattle on, almost nonsensically, about how much fun it is to play.

It's almost hypnotic. The hostess is not alone in the studio. Evidently there is at least one cameraman/technician who often puts his two cents in, onscreen, with witty one-liners in text. Watching from home, you feel confident that you know the answer to every single puzzle. This is how the Game Show Network tries to lure you in.

Those who dare can enter the Playmania contestant pool easily enough by text messaging GSN (for a small fee). You can also enter for free, however, at the GSN web site. If you watch Playmania for even twenty minutes, you'll be tempted to call in.

Offering prizes in the five to two hundred dollar price range, it's not a bad haul for answering questions and solving puzzles from the comfort of your own living room couch. Playmania puzzle games include wordcuts (where a word is literally cut in half, longways, and contestants try to guess the word), the top five game (a survey-like game where contestants name movie titles or actors that made the top five), anagrams, crossword puzzles, and find the letters (where a word appear with blank spaces, and contestants try to guess the whole word). Even a version of Hangman is played, at five bucks a letter.

GSN obviously aims for a specific audience, trying to draw viewers in with the hostesses they use. Appearing some nights is Melissa "Mel" Peachey, a model/actress with a beautiful accent; other nights showcasing Shandi Finnessey, Miss USA in 2004. When there are no "Playmaniacs" vying for cash, viewers can do nothing but watch the hostess prattle on about the virtues of gaming. Every so often, she reads viewer e-mails, which can be mildly entertaining.

The real trick is watching Playmania for any length of time without being actively involved. This is one show that it may not be okay to just sit and watch. There are periods of down time that definitely make you sleepy, and the assurance that you know more than half the answers can really get to you after a while.

But what do you really expect from late-late night TV?