— It’s summertime,
when the TV networks roll out their biggest, dumbest programming.
Dexter Thomas visited the Orson Welles of primetime game shows
as he unveiled his latest masterpiece.
— Three!
Two!
One—
Crush!
— This is TV’s version of Candy Crush,
the mobile game juggernaut.
CBS is adding the live-audience game show,
hosted by Mario Lopez…
— Let’s Crush!
— …to its hot-weather line up.
The first episode aired on Sunday.
It’s almost exactly the same game as on your phone,
except here, teams of two players compete against a giant interactive game board.
Behind the scenes is a hitmaker named Matt Kunitz,
who the “LA Times” once called “the King of Reality TV.”
— Maude, we’re going to change the copy.
— He’s the person that brought America family television classics like “Fear Factor”…
— Chew it!
Bite it and chew it!
Do it!
— …and “Wipe Out”:
Kunitz thinks his newest show will be a crowd pleaser too—
but it might not make everybody happy.
— Critics don’t like your shows.
— Yeah.
I don’t care.
I mean, I really don’t.
It’s not for the critics.
— People have said, “This is stupid.”
“This is lowest common denominator TV.”
Like, this is stuff that people say.
— If you program for the critics,
if you try to make movies, television, music for the critics,
like, they’re not the masses.
So I have to think about the broad audience,
millions of people out there,
and I have to sort-of find what is that sweet spot,
that millions of people are going to enjoy.
There’s many shows you can watch that are there to be thought-provoking.
Probably your show, right?
— I like to think so.
— I don’t think that the shows that I do are really designed for, you know,
“Oh, I’m gonna go and I’m going to be, you know, intellectually challenged watching the show.”
You come to my shows because you want to have a good time.
— Kunitz and his team spent more than two years in pre-production
trying to figure out how to move the game from mobile phones to TVs.
And the game stayed the same.
Sort-of.
— Alright.
You been in a harness before?
— Uh… not like this.
— What harness have you been in?
— Let’s not talk about that.
It’s a family TV show.
— The way this challenge works is we’re going to be harnessed
from up there, from that gantry,
we’re gonna have these two big giant hands that are attached to these sticks,
and we have to make matches with them.
This always reminds me—
have you seen the movie “Half Baked”?
— Yes!
— Y’know, where they get real high and they’re just floating around?
— Nice!
— Being a contestant on this show is pretty challenging,
especially if you’re afraid of heights.
But if you’ve played a lot of Candy Crush,
you do have an advantage.
— Has there been anybody who has just been…
“Yo, why are you so good at this game?”
— Yeah.
There’s also been some people that have been like,
“Yo, why are you so bad at this game?”
— Really? — Yeah.
— Alright guys, are you ready?
Three, two, one, boom!
— Three, two—
and applause, everybody!
— Since the original Candy Crush was launched in 2012,
gamers across the world have played one trillion rounds.
The TV show might not get that popular.
But Kunitz has a track record of producing shows American families want to watch,
and he might be onto something here.
— Do you think Candy Crush is it?
Do you think other mobile games could be adapted for TV?
— Well, hopefully it’s going to be a big hit.
And if it is, then watch out because every network will start saying,
“Let’s look at those mobile games,”
and you’ll start seeing a lot more.
It’s just the way it works.
— Are you worried about imitators?
— No.
You know, if you’re doing good work,
then it doesn’t really matter.
Like, someone else can come along and do something similar—
I mean, no one else can come and do “Candy Crush.”
People have tried to do “Wipe Out,” they’ve tried to do “Fear Factor.”
I think if you’re first to the game, you’re gonna be pretty safe.
— Okay, everybody, let’s make this a good show!