Mesmerized
Synopsis
This is either an "interesting before-its-time idea" or "a strange one" depending on your point of view.
Basically, it's one of those wacky hypnosis shows where people are made to act strangely, only in this one they've then been thrust into a quiz show. The contestants answer the questions wrongly, think they're naked, speak in strange ways, act like children and so on.
At the end of the show, one contestant wins a brand new car. The twist was, of course, that it's really a cardboard box which they're convinced is a car.
Why an old stager like Tom O'Connor was involved is a bit of a mystery, but the concept is quite a funny one that might be worth revisiting.
Clips
Watch clips from the show on YouTube.
Mesmerized - Part 1
Mesmerized - Part 2
Mesmerized - Part 5
Mesmerized - Part 7
Mesmerized - Part 8
(The other clips do not appear to be online)
Merchandise
When the show failed to be commissioned, the creators adapted it into a board game instead. We have no idea how that worked, but apparently it sold quite well.
Inventors
Graham Thornton and Rick Vanes. Vanes, incidentally, was the original script editor for Countdown, writing the first five years' worth of Richard Whiteley's cheesy puns.
