Show of the Week: Child Support

In Child Support, contestants attempt to win US$200,000 by relying on children to get them through a quiz. In the US on broadcaster ABC, the show sees presenter Fred Savage asking ten questions to contestants. If they get an answer wrong, they can be saved by a right answer from any of five kids sat in a room with comedian and writer Ricky Gervais, who asks them the same question.

Andrew Sime, VP of formats at distributor Banijay Rights, says the show is “a modern take on the big money studio gameshow”, adding: “What Banijay Studios North America has done with the format is to combine the tension and jeopardy of a high-stakes quiz structure with the unpredictability and humour that result when one of the biggest names in comedy is face-to-face with a bunch of elementary school children.”

Each self-contained episode of the fast-paced format is designed to ensure no two games are the same, and contestants are quickly replaced if they fail.

Sime says that localising the format doesn’t require “a carbon copy of Ricky Gervais”, though interested buyers have raised the question of how to find an equivalent. “They just need to be someone who is funny, and who can get the best out of a group of often unpredictable and precocious kids,” he adds.

The show: Child Support
The broadcaster: ABC (US)
The producer: Banijay Studios North America
The distributor: Banijay Rights
The concept: Warm quiz show incorporating the knowledge and wit of children