In a time where talk of a “wall” has divided the country, Hardwick is happy to put a positive connotation on the term and, hopefully, enrich the lives of the show’s contestants. “This wall gives people good things,” he laughs. “I feel like what's happened culturally lately is this sort of age of cynicism. There's so much mean stuff in our culture now, so to have something that by the end of it, you feel good or you feel sad or you just feel empathy, I think it's really nice and really important. [Also] we want to give away as much of NBC’s money as possible.”
Billed as “the fastest and simplest game,” The Wall promises to change contestants’ lives, and with more than $12 million up for grabs every night, this game of chance delivers -- chance being the key word. The show’s premise is relatively simple (although the mechanics of the game can be complex). A team of two answers questions as three balls cascade down a wall. If the answer is correct, the balls turn green and a dollar amount is awarded depending on where the balls land. If the answer is wrong, the balls turn red and the amount is subtracted; all culminating in a single determination as to how much, or how little, a team walks away with.
All Hardwick needed to see was five minutes of the action packed game before signing on. “I came in, saw a run-through and in the first five minutes I was shouting [at the wall],” he tells me. “It was one of the most emotional journeys that I've ever had on a job and I said, ‘I absolutely want to be a part of this.’” Of course, many of Hardwick’s TV duties can be described as “emotional journeys.” As host of AMC’s live talk show Talking Dead, which runs after new episodes of The Walking Dead and Fear the Walking Dead, Hardwick he is often somewhat emotional, at least