[tellyblues]

I could argue "visually interesting" is relatively recent. Quite a few games of yesteryear didn't really have any interesting visuals, yet somehow managed to run for years. Maybe the audience has changed so much and now have the attention span of a gnat so it has to look pretty to be memorable.

Perhaps we're just in the space between a rock and a hard place with gameshows at the moment. If they look pretty, they don't last. If they don't look pretty, they also don't last. What do you do?

Looks are a factor but in the case of Moneyball the rolling of a ball is just that, very underwhelming. It's probably what got it commissioned in the first place because it's something interesting/different that stands out but it feels like an aside to the show whereas the wheel on The Wheel plays more of a role.

I think with so many shows drawing from the same pool of knowledge, there have to be gimmicks but it's the case that if a gimmick is crap then viewers can easily watch something else with a better gimmick instead.

Less gameshows overall would be good but sadly shows of other genres which were in these slots before wouldn't work nowadays for a variety of reasons.