''Steve Harvey's Funderdome'', a

portmanteau In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together.

of ''funding'' and '' Thunderdome'', is an American business

reality competition Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s ...

show that premiered June 11, 2017 on ABC and produced by

MGM Television Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Television, formerly known as MGM/UA Television, is the television studio arm of the American film studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), specializing in broadcast syndication and the production and distribution of television sh ...

. In a format similar to ''

Shark Tank ''Shark Tank'' is an American business Reality television#Investments, reality television series that premiered on August 9, 2009, on American Broadcasting Company, ABC.Hibberd, James (May 10, 2012)Dancing,' 'Bachelor,' and a bigger 'Shark Tank ...

'', the show features two contestants who pitch products to a studio audience which votes on who will get

seed funding Seed money, also known as seed funding or seed capital, is a form of securities offering in which an investor puts capital in a startup company in exchange for an equity stake or convertible note stake in the company. The term ''seed'' suggests ...

for their project.

Format

Each show features three competitions between two inventors (or teams of inventors) competing for the same amount of seed funding—$10,000, $20,000, $50,000, or $100,000. One inventor gives a pitch, followed by a short question-and-answer period with Harvey; the process then repeats for the other inventor. After this, the audience votes on which product they would like to see funded. Before the winner is revealed, both competitors are offered the opportunity to "cash out." Both inventors (or one chosen member from a team) stand next to a button. A series of amounts—which may increase or decrease—are shown on a screen, along with a timer; to cash out at a particular value, a contestant must hit the button before the timer runs out. Most cash out offers are between 5 and 25 percent of the desired amount (e.g., $5,000–$25,000 for inventors seeking $100,000). In some cases, Harvey has revealed the percentages of the vote before giving the inventors the chance to cash out. There are three possible outcomes for each competition: * Neither inventor cashes out: The vote winner gets the full amount, while the loser gets nothing. * Vote loser cashes out: The vote winner gets the full amount, while the loser gets the cash-out amount instead of nothing. * Vote winner cashes out: The vote winner gets the cash-out amount, while the loser gets nothing.

Piracy

On June 5, 2017, a message from a believed-to-be

cybercriminal Cybercrime encompasses a wide range of criminal activities that are carried out using digital devices and/or networks. It has been variously defined as "a crime committed on a computer network, especially the Internet"; Cybercriminals may explo ...

stated that eight episodes of this series were already online. A similar group had earlier leaked episodes of ''

Orange Is the New Black ''Orange Is the New Black'' (sometimes abbreviated to ''OITNB'') is an American comedy-drama television series created by Jenji Kohan for Netflix. The series is based on Piper Kerman's memoir '' Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Pr ...

''. However, ABC had no public comment about the

piracy Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and valuable goods, or taking hostages. Those who conduct acts of piracy are call ...

of the show, which was not expected to affect the show's viewership because the target audience was considered unlikely to use piracy websites.

Episodes

International versions

Shortly before the show's debut, MGM Worldwide Television Distribution announced that

TF1 TF1 (; standing for ''Télévision Française 1'') is a French commercial television network owned by TF1 Group, controlled by the Bouygues conglomerate. TF1's average market share of 24% makes it the most popular domestic network. TF1 is part ...

acquired the rights to the French version of the show.

References

External links

* (archived) * {{Summer Fun & Games 2017 American television series debuts 2017 American television series endings American Broadcasting Company reality television shows 2010s American reality television series Business-related television series Television series by MGM Television