''Inside the Box'' is a
Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
television game show which debuted on September 18, 2006,
on the
cable network
Networking cables are networking hardware used to connect one network device to other network devices or to connect two or more computers to share devices such as printers or scanners. Different types of network cables, such as coaxial cable, op ...
TVtropolis
DTour (styled as DTOUR) is a Television in Canada, Canadian English language specialty channel owned by Corus Entertainment.
The channel was originally established by Canwest in 1997 as Prime, a cable companion to Global Television Network, Glob ...
, and was
syndicated in the United States by Program Partners in the 2008 television season. In the show, three contestants compete for a chance to win up to by trying to guess television shows, characters, or actors by asking the other contestants either yes or no questions related to the subject. The show ran for two seasons, ending on December 7, 2007.
The series was created by Michael Geddes and Christopher Geddes of ''Lone Eagle Entertainment'' in
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...
,
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...
, and is hosted by actor/comedian Sam Kalilieh. The two were also producers of two other game shows, ''
Game On'' and ''
You Bet Your Ass''.
Gameplay
The game has a similar format to
20 Questions, with a few minor twists. Three rounds in total are played. Three contestants compete for a chance at
CA$
The Canadian dollar (symbol: $; code: CAD; french: dollar canadien) is the currency of Canada. It is abbreviated with the dollar sign $, there is no standard disambiguating form, but the abbreviation Can$ is often suggested by notable style g ...
10,000. In the first two rounds, each contestant gets a turn inside a television-shaped booth called "The Box" which contains 2 monitors, while the other two players are seated at separate desks with single monitors facing and to the left and right of "The Box". The contestant "Inside the Box" is given a basic category to indicate what kind of an answer is being sought (for example, "Series", "Reality Series", "Male Actor", "Female Character", etc.), a list of questions on a touch-sensitive screen and reads questions selected from the list to one of his/her two opponents. The opponents outside The Box are shown only a photograph and the name of the character/actor/show which is the correct answer on their monitor screens.
The contestant in the booth has two minutes to determine the correct answer by alternately asking his/her opponents the "Yes or No" questions he is shown. If an opponent answers the question incorrectly, he is given a time penalty of 5 seconds. Each Yes-response question is displayed on screen for the viewers to see and on the second screen in The Box, regardless of whether the player outside the Box answered correctly or not. After each group of 5 "Yes" responses, the clock is stopped and a more detailed clue is given. The player in the Box is given a free guess, but if they can't correctly answer, the clock resumes and they must continue asking questions. Each time a new clue is given, new questions are made available to the player in The Box. The contestant continues to ask questions until either time runs out, or he/she is able to give a correct answer. The player in The Box may ask at any time for the clock to be stopped so they can attempt a guess, but an incorrect guess under these conditions results in a 5-second penalty. After each player's turn in The Box, the scores are totaled and time penalties assessed; then the remaining contestants are given their turn in The Box.
The scoring is based on time. If a player correctly identifies the answer with 35 seconds to spare, those 35 seconds are added to his/her score. Any time penalties are deducted and negative scores are possible. Each player gets two turns in The Box and the player with the best cumulative time after the first two rounds gets a chance to play the final round.
Final round
In the final round, the champion is given two minutes. Instead of asking his/her opponents the "Yes or No" questions, he/she asks them to host Sam Kalilieh. The champion is given a starting clue and every 5 "Yes" responses earn another clue; however, the clock does not stop in the final round. He/she is given three chances to give the answer. The amount of money in the pot is reduced by CA$500 approximately every six seconds until time runs out. If the player gives the correct answer before time expires he/she wins whatever money is remaining. If he/she gives 3 incorrect answers or time runs out, he/she takes home the minimum consolation prize of CA$500. Answers are usually derived from
American pop culture
The culture of the United States of America is primarily of Western, and European origin, yet its influences includes the cultures of Asian American, African American, Latin American, and Native American peoples and their cultures. The U ...
.
Syndication
In the United States, Program Partners, a division of
Sony Pictures Television
Sony Pictures Television Inc. (abbreviated as SPT) is an American television production and distribution studio. Based at the Sony Pictures Studios complex in Culver City, it is a division of Sony Entertainment's unit Sony Pictures Entertainme ...
,
syndicated ''Inside the Box'' to local stations for the first half of the 2008–09 season, as an optional replacement or companion program for ''
Merv Griffin's Crosswords
''Merv Griffin's Crosswords'' (also simply called ''Crosswords'') is an American game show based on crossword, crossword puzzles. The show was created by its namesake, Merv Griffin, who died shortly after beginning production on the series. Ty Tre ...
'', which was then on hiatus (although very few American stations actually took the series). However, it was eventually decided not to go forth with additional
first-run episodes of ''Crosswords'', and both shows were officially cancelled in February 2009.
Reruns started airing on
Comedy Gold (TV channel), Comedy Gold and Canada's E! September 3, 2013, while
GameTV
GameTV is a Canadian English language specialty channel owned by Anthem Sports & Entertainment. It currently broadcasts a mixture of game shows, reality competition series, and films.
The channel was first launched in 2005 under the ownership o ...
picked it up on April 3, 2017. The show was dropped from E!'s schedule on September 1, 2017, and Comedy Gold dropped it, along with many other of its shows, on December 29, 2017. GameTV aired only 40 season 2 shows until being removed on April 1, 2019. The show returned to GameTV's lineup on September 12, 2022, this time airing shows from both seasons.
References
{{Reflist, 30em
External links
Official site''Inside the Box'' on IMDb
2006 Canadian television series debuts
2007 Canadian television series endings
2000s Canadian game shows
Television shows filmed in Toronto
Television series by Corus Entertainment