Tonight, NBC is premiering its new game show, Amne$ia, hosted by comedian Dennis Miller.  Questions are derived from a contestant's past, which means that he or she will have to rely greatly on memory to answer correctly and win big cash prizes.

"It's the easiest game show in the world," executive producer Mark Burnett told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.  "You answer about your own life."

Amne$ia's premiere episode features a contestant named Will Foster, who hails from California.  The show will fill NBC's 9-10pm timeslot tonight, but beginning next Friday, will be broadcast an hour earlier.

Many are comparing the show to another new game show, The Moment of Truth, in which contestants are also asked about their own lives.  The difference is that the FOX game show, which is hosted by Mark L. Wahlberg, awards contestants for their honesty rather than sharpness of their memories.

"This is a light-hearted, comedic look at someone's mind," Burnett said of Amne$ia, as opposed to The Moment of Truth's more nerve-wracking and edge-of-the-seat tone.

Miller, who is “trying to be more of an amiable interlocutor,” added, “If the other show is 'gotcha,' this is more 'gotcha covered.' It seems there's the potential [on The Moment of Truth] for great heartache.  The potential for us is a few smiles, a few blasts from the past and somebody walks away with some bread."

One upcoming episode of Amne$ia will surely bring “a few smiles” to the faces of viewers, especially those who have been caught going a little too fast on the road.  During the episode, the contestant, who happens to be a police officer, is asked to recall the speed limit on the street where he lives.  Funnily enough, he can't remember it.

“There's some sort of whimsical walk through a person's life,” Miller mused, “sort of like [television show host and producer] Ralph Edwards on This Is Your Life.”


-Lisa Claustro, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source: NBC, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette  
(Image Courtesy of NBC)