Friend or Foe (TV series)
GSN Game Show described by its host (Lisa) Kennedy (Montgomery) as "the test of knowledge and trust". Three teams of two had to agree on a correct answer to a multiple-choice question to build up their Trust Fund. It was mostly seen as GSN's answer to The Weakest Link.
"Trust me."
—The only words in the title music.
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The game is set up in three rounds. After each round, one team must go to the "Trust Box" to determine how the money was given to the two members:
- Friend-Friend: Each member gets half of the Trust Fund.
- Friend-Foe: Foe takes the entire Trust Fund, Friend leaves with nothing.
- Foe-Foe: GSN doesn't have to write any checks.
Everyone "looking out for Number One" is a policy that hurts everyone; in order for at least one in a pair to get any cash, someone has to be at the other's mercy...but choosing "Friend" won't maximize a contestant's payout. This is based on a well-known example of Game Theory called the (iterated) Prisoner's dilemma.
The following Game Show tropes appear in Friend or Foe (TV series):
- All or Nothing: When someone says "Foe", this comes into effect for that person only.
- Bonus Round: "Right or Wrong?", a chance for the last team standing to add to their Trust Fund before going to the Trust Box themselves.
- Personnel:
- Game Show Host: (Lisa) Kennedy. Mark L. Walberg guest-hosted on April Fool's Day 2003.
- Sound Proof Booth: Three of them, one for each team. All were wired so the teams could only hear Kennedy.
- Whammy: The Trust Box, depending on the situation (to the Friend in Friend-Foe decisions, to both in Foe-Foe).
Tropes used in Friend or Foe (TV series) include:
- Cluster F-Bomb: One player who got "Foed" took it rather hard and let loose with one during the credits.
- A Day in the Limelight: Mark L. Walberg hosted the show during GSN's April Fool's 2003 host switcharound...which also happened to be the show's last first-run episode.
- Deadpan Snarker: This is Kennedy we're talking about here, folks!
- Downer Ending: Whenever the last team of the day went Foe-Foe.
- Dueling Shows: Similar to The Weakest Link, and went out the door at around the same point.
- Epic Fail: If all three teams went Foe-Foe, it was a $0 giveaway day for GSN. Inverted if all three teams went Friend-Friend.
- Unwinnable by Design: If one player voted Foe, the other always left empty-handed.