Billion Dollar Game: How Three Men Risked It All and Changed the Face of Television

320 pages. In the mid-1990s, three men had three unique and revolutionary ideas for tele vision shows entitled Cash Mountain, Survive, and Project X. Time and time again , they were each rejected by major the networks as theor projects were declared unfit for production. Rather than give up on their dreams, Paul Smith, Charlie P arsons, and John de Mol instead pushed ahead and went on to produce shows which quickly became the biggest and most successful programs on Earth: Who Wants To B e A Millionaire?, Survivor, and Big Brother. This is the compelling story of how three men defied overwhelming odds to take the television industry by storm, ma ke personal fortunes, and transform the map of popular culture. Editorial Revie ws Review Bazalgette writes as you would expect - with style, erudition and aut hority. His account is big and brainy, a hugely impressive appreciation of the t echnological, social and economic factors shaping our times. The businessman in Bazalgette clearly admires de Mol, the entertainer in him leavens the plot with laugh-out-loud anecdotes while the scholar gets down the fruit of his 160 interv iews in details. He is authoritative on social change, the democratisation of co ntent and the opportunity created by change on this scale . . . the book is a fi ne account of an extraordinary time in the history of television, a time when it s activities transcended the small screen and became a part of everyone's conver sation, young and old, believers and dissenters, powerful; and powerless?Richard Eyre, former ITV chief, BROADCAST MAGAZINE This is a rattling good business st ory as well as a tale from medialand?GUARDIAN This book is breathtaking?NEW STA TESMAN About the Author Peter Bazalgette is a television executive.…