Few are the game shows that reward contestants with a night behind bars.
But that's one of the prizes winners on "Let's Bowl" receive (when they stay at the Jailhouse Inn with rooms modeled after prison cells), along with vintage station wagons, snowblowers and ice-fishing vacations.
Comedy Central takes to the lanes tonight for a second season of the variety show, which lets contestants settle personal disputes through bowling.
Creator Tim Scott, a former "Mystery Science Theater 3000" writer, conceived the idea for "Let's Bowl" while working on a Minneapolis show "Bowl-a-Rama" in the 1980s. Though he had never been an avid bowler, Scott thought the sport would be a good way to solve life's problems.
"It's just fun to go out there and throw the ball down the lanes. It's a sport anybody can do," he said. "I think it's a fun group activity with a lot of camaraderie involved."
The original pilot was shot in 1995 for an independent station in Minneapolis, and the show was syndicated in several Midwestern cities before it hit Comedy Central last year.
Hosted by Chopper and Wally in baby blue, polyester sports coats (Steve Sedahl and Rich Kronfeld, respectively) "Let's Bowl" plays out like "Wide World of Sports" as envisioned by the Farrelly Brothers.
A pair of buxom "Queenpins" dance on the lanes after each frame, and the show's mascot is a man in a pig costume. Episodes this season feature a husband and wife bowling over whether he gets a vasectomy, and exotic dancers duking it out over a disagreement about a dress. The producers, however, said they try to keep the competition in good taste.
"We try to make it funny with a pretty broad appeal, while at the same time we work very hard at not crossing the line and being nasty," Sedahl said. "I think some of it is a little more adult obviously, but I had my 9-year-old son there (at a taping) and I had no problem having him see anything we did."
On the show the bowlers compete in a typical 10-frame game, during which they have chances to win such prizes as herring and polish sausage.
At the end the winner squares off against a league bowler for a grand prize, usually something like a trip to northern Minnesota, or a pop-out camper. The quirkiness of the prizes stems from the low budget the show had in its early days.
"When we first started doing this show we just went to the price club and bought two 10-pound cans of chili for $5. If you can't give them a good prize, then give them a funny one," Scott said. "When we got to Comedy Central we just thought, 'Now we got the money. We can do the same thing but in a bigger way, like give away cool, old used cars.'"
Episodes are peppered with interviews and sketches, most notably the "Inside Bowling" segments which delve into the cast's sometimes seedy personal lives. One installment featured Wally riding through the streets of Minneapolis in a limousine during a drunken stupor.
Contestants, most from the Minneapolis area, come in with the person they're having a dispute with and audition with a casting director. More than 150 pairs tried out for this season, and producers had to narrow them down to 10 with backups.
"It's a tough process," Sedahl said. "It's hard because you want good bowlers, yet you also want good disputes."
Producers sometimes have to contend with problems that are too odd or troubling.
"With some of the contestants (that didn't make it on the show) there's stuff that didn't make sense or stuff that's been done before," Sedahl said. "And there are people who have some pretty serious issues out there."
"We found a couple that were pretty dark," Scott said. "The husband had a gambling problem and was holding the family down. It was tough and they were in a really bad place. It would have been hard to make something funny out of that."
"Let's Bowl" has received a mixed reaction from the professional bowling community, but Scott insists the show is an homage to the sport.
"We interact with a lot of different bowling organizations," Scott said. "But, in the beginning, a lot of those didn't like us much. They thought we were making fun of bowling. We weren't and we never have. We're putting on a show that says its fun to go bowling."
Marginalia
"Let's Bowl"
Comedy Central
Monday 7 p.m.
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