Social television and casual gaming are having a moment. It makes sense: people like talking about television on social media and people really like playing games. Why not do both?
This fall Bravo’spioneering the social TV-gaming area with “The Singles Project,” a reality show that is an interactive game (and might get you a date), and just this week we wrote about an app to make a game out of watching NFL games.
Lifetime’s getting in on the fun, too, with “Project Runway.” Every Thursday, viewers are instructed to go to mylifetime.com to play along live. They prompt you to get ready, and then ask questions like “Is Fade About To Lose It?” (answer: yes), or “Is Emily’s Look Too Boring?” (maybe). 
The catch? Once you’re there playing along whether you want to or not, you’ve entered the deep, deep world of “Project Runway.” Get the weekly newsletter, answer trivia about past seasons, shop the designer’s clothes, and tweet, tweet, tweet about your experience there.
A&E Network’s done the same thing with all of their channels. Love the History channel? Why don’t you play “You Got Pawned” or download the “American Pickers” Spotify playlist for your road trip?
There are never enough features for cable television networks, especially ones like A&E or Bravo that traffic in competitive reality programming. The trick is knowing when it’s gone too far, like tweeting the purchases of a #SaveBenson shirt from the NBCUniversal shop (although if you need to get me a birthday present, that’s it right there). The moment we see interactive social gaming on scripted, primetime programming is when we’ll know to stop. Maybe.