Deathrow Gameshow (1987)
“For a while there it seemed like reality TV was going to fully engulf the entire viewing schedule when it came to broadcast television. It was easy money I would assume. Nudging attention starved loose cannons in entertaining directions must be an easier task than say, writing a story worth watching for any reason. Although it seems to have quelled a bit as of late, the channels are filled with shows “observing” the day to day of “real” people. Whole channels once dedicated to PG sex-ed and general educational programs have become 24 hour hubs for fake swamp people and Alaskans. The 80's didn't really have that problem per say, but it did have inklings in the way things would go down, through the state of sports, sensationalist news, etc., as well as a good idea about how far someone would go for capital. The concept of entertainment being taken to extremes manifested in this time as several classic trash films that showed the era's current trends in media, game shows and competitive sports, being pushed to deadly limits. Maybe the most remembered of all, Roger Corman's Death Race 2000, based very loosely on a short science fiction story with similar subject matter which predicted a world in near ruins. Its people disillusioned but active spectators of cross country blood sports possibly motivated by population control. Another less mentioned entry Deathrow Gameshow (1987) took the thought experiment down a different route...”-RevTerry
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