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Will "Pyramid" be TV's new money tree?
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 With actor Ezzat Abou Ouf as the host and a bevy of pretty girls dressed in Pharaonic garb as helpers, Egyptian TV is banking on the new game show "Pyramid of Dreams" to win back some of the audience is it has lost to the Arabic satellite channels.
Egyptian TV has never shied away from imitating its Western counterparts by featuring game shows with prizes, etc. But ever since it started airing the game shows during Ramadan over five years ago, it never seemed to get the formula right. The first incarnations of the game show featured famous actors and actresses as contestants and no real prizes. Later versions began featuring contestants from every walk of life, but something about the studio set-ups was always rather naive. Now, with the help of an English director, and a large budget, Pyramid of Dreams is meant to be the real thing.
No expenses have been spared in building the show's set, and this time, the prizes are significant, with nearly LE300,000 being given out each month. The show will air weekly, and features actor Ezzat Abou Ouf, who showed off his skills at MCing during the 2000 Cairo International Film Festival, as the host.
The problem, however, may not be just one of nice studio set-up, big prizes or congenial host. According to Al-Wafd, the missing link may be good contestants. After seeing an episode where one of the contestants was unable to figure out whether Oslo or Copenhagen was the capital of Norway, the opposition paper's critic suggests that the contestants should be put through a much more rigid selection process, and that the questions should get more difficult as contestants advance through the show's levels.
Last Ramadan Arabic satellite channels like ART flexed their muscles with contests that had much of the Arab world at the edge of their seats, thanks to exciting formats and mega-prizes. Pyramid of Dreams shows that once again, while Egypt can't be beat when it comes to series and films, perhaps a little bit more practice is needed in the realm of talk and game shows. When and if these kind of shows can attract audiences across the region, then giving away all that money will be worth it, thanks to the big ad bucks that will start rolling in.
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