When I was a kid, sick days and summer vacation often resulted in a weird foray into the perils of daytime television. Sometimes, I was rewarded, like when I spent an entire summer watching three hours of M*A*S*H every day on FX. (Yes, we might have different definitions of fortunate, but there are worse formative experiences for a sense of humor. Better ones, probably, but definitely worse.)
Along with The Price is Right, Supermarket Sweep had a place in the rotation. Not as much of one, because it was an odd show, with crazy-low production values and incomprehensible rules (why didn’t they maximize their cart space, it’s so obviously the right strategy!), but it tapped into an innate fantasy that appealed to me as a kid and still appeals to me as an adult: the ability to walk into a well-lit grocery store, one stocked with colorful produce and perfectly fronted boxes of cereal, and just lose your goddamn mind running around and knocking stuff over while racking up as much value as you could from what you grabbed.
There’s a reason Nickelodeon used to give away chances at a Toys “R” Us shopping spree, after all. It’s a primal instinct, or at least primal since the age of department stores. And now, Supermarket Sweep is coming back with an updated version of the show.
Via Entertainment Weekly:
The original is coming back, and so is the chance to see contestants fight over literally anything in a supermarket — cheese sticks, holiday hams, fruit snacks, anything.
In a press release, FremantleMedia announced that they are bringing back the TV phenomenon. The show, created by producer Al Howard, first launched in 1965 before being revived in the ’90s.
In the show, contestants answer pop culture questions and solve puzzles based on the products and merchandise found in the supermarkets around the world. And then it all finishes with the all-or-nothing mad dash which, well, is exactly what it sounds like.
It was a weirdly complex game show that seemed incredibly difficult to actually win; not unlike a Legends of the Hidden Temple, but for adults. Whenever anyone went to weigh the coffee, I’d get furious.
It’s important to note that episode aired in 1994, which was apparently long before anything resembling modern times. The show also forced contestants to read tiny cards out loud while out of breath during the final scavenger hunt portion of the game, which was extra cruel given the apparent literacy problems faced by the contestant pool.
But now that most grocery stores are massive destinations designed more like casinos than anything else, it will be interesting to see just how the game might be updated for today. Maybe it’ll just be three millennials ordering Instacart and seeing whose delivery arrives faster.
[EW]
