It looks like the networks have run out of ideas for reality shows and game shows that are set on the ground, so now they're thinking vertically. ABC has ordered a game show titled 'Downfall,' where contestants vie for $1 million by answering trivia questions on top of a skyscraper. If they miss a question, the money flies off the side of the building to the street below.

The part of the game that will get the most attention from viewers and the ABC legal department? Players might take a plunge off of the building too (wearing a harness, of course).

'The Price is Right' has a game on the show called "Cliffhangers," but they do it with a fake plastic mountain climber moving up a mountain notch by notch. They don't set the game on a real mountain, where a real guy would fall off a real cliff and plunge to his death if a contestant doesn't know the correct price of a coffee maker.

My favorite part of the story linked above is what the show says about the players going off the side of the skyscraper. "The players might also take a controlled plunge, but that part is still being worked out." Oh, yeah, we might have civilians jumping off the top of a 50 story building, but we haven't really thought it all the way through. Don't worry, we'll get to it!

Yes, I'm sure airbags and/or water will be involved, but you'd think that ABC would have waited to buy the show until the producers had all of this "stuff" worked out. But we all know the danger of a show like this. If this show makes it to ABC and during its run a real national tragedy happens involving a skyscraper occurs, well, that's the end of 'Downfall.'

Besides, how on Earth are they going to make a home version of this game? 'Downfall,' the home game! Compete with your friends to see who can answer fun trivia and survive a plunge from a 50 story skyscraper! (Skyscraper not included).

Here's an idea for a game show: 'Who Wants To Escape The Towering Inferno?' Twelve players live together in a skyscraper, and then that skyscraper is set on fire. The first one to escape the building in some way wins one million dollars!

Viewers at home can vote to decide where the new fires will be set each week. Producers can hide things like water buckets and fire extinguishers and masks at various places in the building. And then of course we'd have the inevitable 'Celebrity Towering Inferno,' where celebrities would do the same thing. Oh, I can already think of some celebs I'd like to see on that show.


There ya go, networks. You're welcome.