Or... how about that long-rumored third Universal gate in Orlando? Well, here's your chance to design it: Universal Orlando's NBC Studios Theme Park.
Whatcha got? A Meet My Folks lie detector attraction? A live Queer Eye for the Straight Guy tourist make-over show? Over-priced theme park coffee at Central Perk? Let's hear your most irreverent, but ultimately fun and maybe even practical ideas.
Let's face it, NBC just doesn't have any theme-park worthy properties.
Now, had my wish come true and had NewsCorp put in a bid, then we could have seen a FOX theme park...a TWENTY FOUR stunt show, SIMPSONS and KING OF THE HILL characters, a MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE 4D show, not to mention the ALIEN, STAR WARS, DIE HARD, PLANET OF THE APES and INDEPENDENCE DAY movie franchises. There's ICE AGE, FIGHT CLUB, MOULIN ROUGE, M*A*S*H, FUTURAMA, FAMILY GUY, BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, THE X-FILES, all of which have HUGE potential for theme park attractions.
That said, we can always go "old school" here and mine old NBC shows for ideas, too. A "CHiPs" motorcycle roller coaster anyone?
By the time a network determines a show's staying power and gets its attraction built, the show will likely be at the end of its network run, and too ubiquitous to be much of a draw for tourists.
Movies pose similar problems, but since they don't appear in millions of homes each week, they tend to stay fresher and more unique in viewers' minds than TV shows. Which makes them more valuable as theme park properties. Plus, two weeks of box office receipts provide a much more accurate estimate of a film's staying power than two weeks of Nielsen ratings, allowing a company to accelerate theme park plans for that franchise.
That said, many TV properties do make the leap to enduring icon status: The Simpsons being the most notable example among current shows. I think E.R. is there, too, but NBC/Universal would need to show unprecedented vision and creativity to develop that show as a theme park attraction. (I do think it could be done, by the way. It'd be tough, but if done right, would elevate the artistry of theme park attractions.)
The easier solution is to bring a network's shows and stars into the theme parks for events, appearances and short-run shows, as Disney's done with mixed success with its ABC properties. Unfortunately for both Disney and Universal, though, it is CBS that's been winning the ratings recently. (Who wouldn't queue up for an interactive, you-solve-the-crime "CSI" ride?) So if this deal goes through, we should at least expect more NBC appearances, a la the Soap Week, in Universal theme parks.
The largest Hypercoaster ever built where 1 death a day occurs on this coaster!
(Sometimes, the jokes are too easy....)
It's a shame they don't throw their name into the theme park business. Hell, you could dedicate a whole park just to The Simpsons.
Oh, well ...
Anyhow, I think everyone has too much tunnel vision when it comes to this stuff. Why does everything have to be an attraction? How about the eateries? Central Perk in the New York section of USF! The bar from Cheers! The diner from Seinfeld!
How about stealing a page from DCA's Soap Opera Bistro but have the tables in different sitcom sets? Frasier's living room. Will & Grace's living room. Hell, you could have an entire Friends restaurant with the living rooms of Monica, Joey and Ross with Central Perk as the waiting area!
Then we have stuff that Universal used to do, like the Star Trek show. Like the copycat Superstar Television, volunteers do something onstage and are integrated into famous television shows. People could be perps on Law & Order or gunshot victims on ER.
And the best part of making the television shows into live shows or restaurants is they can be easily changed. No one remembers Frasier? Then change all the Frasier stuff to Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, or what have you. Much easier than changing an entire ride.
There are also a lot of older NBC frachises that would be very well suited to theme park attractions: Knight Rider, A-Team, SNL, The Smurfs, Cheers, and The Cosby Show. There could be a stunt show themed around Knight Rider, The A-Team, or both. The Smurfs would most likely lend itself to a 4-D attraction. SNL could be an interactive live set, or just a display with the history of the long running show. There could be a Cheers restaurant similar to the Bull and Finch in Boston. The Cosby Show could be an interactive studio attraction showing how television shows are filmed.
While many of the current NBC offerings are good, NBC has a very rich history of television programs that far exceed the quility of their current shows. An NBC themed park would need to focus on these "classic" shows of yesterday, and not the fly-by-night shows of today. While shows like Friends, Frasier, and Fear Factor are extremely popular, none of them come close to the popularity of some of the NBC shows of the 1980's(Cosby and Cheers in particular).
Oh, and what a Scrubs themed First Aid Center?
Problem with older shows is most kids don't know them. And they can't be forgotten, even though this is Universal.
Sci Fi is another problem. No one watches it! I think their highest rated show gets like 3 to 4 million viewers. Their miniseries are the most popular, with about 6 million, but that is still a third of the Top 20 network shows. And those shows mentioned reach about 1% of Americans. Not really a way to drag in the peeps, is it?
If Vivendi never did anything with the licenses for USA Net and Sci-Fi, why will NBC? Hopefully, the answer will be "Because NBC isn't run by a gaggle of jackasses".
I brought up Sci Fi because someone else did. It does have a cult following, but not nearly enough of one to make attractions that people would flock to see.
I really do like the Cantral Perks, Cheers bar, and Seinfeld restaurant idea!
I can expect that we'll be seeing a lot of "Live from Universal Studios - It's the Tonight Show with Jay Leno".
Getting all of those companies to cooperate in one theme park would probably be harder than achieving peace in the middle east.
(Just thought I'd offer a polite response before the usual rude retorts get started...)
