I was just wondering what makes TV shows include WAM.

This might not come across how I'm thinking it. But looking back at some old TV shows, it seems like some ordinary standard shows, became a WAM fest.

For instance.

Noels House Party.
This started as a normal entertainment show, with guests, and simple games. Then one episode a gunge tank was included. From then on the gunge theme seem to grow. The (God awful) introduction of Mr Blobby, who was just stupid and pied people. More and more mess was included in the shows, until it got that whole show was pretty much based around the gunge, to the point it was a roller coaster of gunge round the studio.

Generation Game
A show on TV for years and years, but in a series (hosted by ahemm 'comedian' Jim Davidson), it resulted in nearly every episode being a mess fest, with huge pie fights (20+ people), and contestants (and guests) being covered in gunge, custard and other assortments of mess.

Ellen DeGeneres
A standard run of the mill, daytime talk show, which gradually resulted in games involving pies and gunge.

WWE
Wrestling with some top male and female superstars, but seem to include more and more food fights.

I have nothing against WAM on TV, and all of the above are great (except maybe Mr. Blobbly), but who or what makes them say let's include lots of mess, that'll bump up the viewing figures?

Based off Ellen's personality I'm assuming the WAM thing definitely was just a desire to humiliate people. I'd like to know how she selected people to play though. Was it A) a waiver, B) planting people in the audience, or something like "those people are dressed up, let's go ruin their outfits".

Pretty sure most of them don't do it for the same reason s we do it, as a fetishism I mean, Noels House Party generally ginged people who were pantomime villain types, or people who wanted to do it, there was definitely a s4nse of hu.iliation, you deserved that, to it.
Some of them are just bizarre, I mean, Holly Willoughby dressed as a French Maid, lacy tights, very high heels and Short skirt, getting covered in cream cakes every week is a case in point, can only be aimed at older people.

It's visually surprising, fun for the audience to look at, and often fun for the participants.

I don't know how many people think the mess specifically is going to up the viewers but if a show has a problem, say, "There needs to be more comedy," then a brainstorming session will probably return an idea like, "I saw this show on another network do a thing where someone got pied in the face. That seemed to bring some laughs." And a new pie-in-the-face segment is born.

It could've just as easily been a dance party or an improv comedy routine or some funny animal videos, but thanks to our silent film ear forefathers, a hearty pie in the face will always be a viable solution to common entertainment problems.

Who says it's anything fetish related at all?
Messy stuff is an absolute tonne of fun in it's own right, and it's a cheap way of raising the stakes in a show (compared to raising the prize/winnings, or much more destructive forfeits I've seen in other shows)

As a kid watching Mr Blobby was a cute goofball. As an adult he's fucking terrifying. It's the eyes man. The eyes.

Is water included in any of this?

https://youtu.be/LNqz286K7Yo

Because added live amounts of water to anything can bring a sheer joy to the moment

Messy slapstick had become a TV trope during that developmental era when (from the 1970s onwards) when it was resorting much more to anarchy, shock and outrage in order to win the then multi-millions of viewers at stake.

'House Party' had a regular gunge feature absolutely from day one which it inherited from its immediate predecessor 'Noel's Saturday Roadshow' which also had a weekly gunge tank game 'In Other Words' from day one. Before that Noel had a live Saturday evening show called 'The Late Late Breakfast Show' which featured occasional pranks (the 'hit squad', but not much in the way of mess) and risky stunts. Noel was notable for (as well as 'SwapShop' which was the 'sensible' and mess-free BBC to rival to 'Tiswas') his phone-in based pranks in his 1970s BBC Radio 1 programmes. 'Late, Late Breakfast' was taken off air when a dangerous stunt rehearsal involving a contestant and a bungee cord resulted in their tragic death. There was a break of three years before he resumed his Saturday night slot with Saturday Roadshow (which was pre-recorded and never went anywhere!) House Party was his return to the live format. *Noel presented a very short lived show called 'Whatever Next' in 1987 (a portent for mess to come) which, on one occasion, featured a prank where a 'random' woman stopped in the street was unsuspectingly doused in water after she agreed to perform a 'rain dance'.

Bruce Forsyth and Larry Grayson's versions of Generation Game featured no significant slapstick. Jim Davidson's tenure brought regular and very messy stunts, sketches and features. The significance of this was that Davidson had been a regular performer on Tiswas and (due to his wiry demeanour) regularly took a turn as phantom Flan Flinger.

Mr Blobby appeared on both these shows - with his knockabout quality and convenient 'wipe clean' surface. Some may remember that Mr Blobby was actually created as a fictional, throwaway 'spoof' character for a one-off gotcha prank and would never have seen the light of day again but for a slew of viewer requests he became a regular, then a cult figure. The costume recently sold on eBay for £70,000 ($83,000 USD)!