Mesmerized

Synopsis

This is either an "interesting before-its-time idea" or "a strange one" depending on your point of view.

Basically, it's one of those wacky hypnosis shows where people are made to act strangely, only in this one they've then been thrust into a quiz show. The contestants answer the questions wrongly, think they're naked, speak in strange ways, act like children and so on.

At the end of the show, one contestant wins a brand new car. The twist was, of course, that it's really a cardboard box which they're convinced is a car.

Why an old stager like Tom O'Connor was involved is a bit of a mystery, but the concept is quite a funny one that might be worth revisiting. In fact, the basic idea has cropped up a couple of times since - there was a contestant call in 1996 for a version involving teams of four (though again, nothing made it to air), and Celador produced another pilot in 2008.

Merchandise

When the show failed to be commissioned, the creators adapted it into a board game instead. We have no idea how that worked, but apparently it sold quite well. From those beginnings, they went on to found the Rocket Toys And Games company, which flourishes to this day. One of its major revenue streams was The Annoying Thing (i.e. Crazy Frog) jigsaw puzzles.

Inventors

Graham Thornton and Rick Vanes. Vanes, incidentally, was the original script editor for Countdown, writing the first five years' worth of Richard Whiteley's cheesy puns.

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