Code show

A TV show based on the premise of some secret that the characters seek to discover through the entire course of the series. However, unlike similar shows such as Lost where the writers have plenty of leeway to make it up as they go along, in this show, the secret is, in principle, revealed to the protagonists and the audience at the beginning, but in code. The protagonists seek to uncover the secret directly via old-fashioned good-for-TV adventures, as well as another plot thread to try to crack the code by perhaps rubber-hose cryptanalysis, side-channel attacks, and other good-for-TV spy-versus spy-intrigue. In the process, other accessory coded messages also are discovered.

But the codes are real, and the keys get revealed in the series finale (or earlier for some accessory coded messages), so the audience is invited to play along to try to crack the codes and learn how the series will end before the end. Because the answer to the secrets are theoretically "out there" from the very beginning, the show's writers are constrained to remain consistent with the originally planned ending. I think this might prevent the show from becoming too outrageous.

Of course, it will take a lot of skill to encode a secret so it seems easy enough for the audience to try to decode it, but hard enough that it probably won't be decoded. The codes must also be a compelling enough part of the plot that the audience will be inspired to try to decode them.

I suggest modern ciphers and other cryptographic primitives just barely of reach at present, either theoretically or practically: SHA-1, reduced-round AES, RSA-800, elliptic curve cryptography, and all of the just-submitted entries for NIST's new hash function competition. Perhaps the desire to learn the fate of a pretty hero or heroine will inspire a significant cryptanalytic breakthrough. It would be interesting if a rival network manages to harness thousands of computers in order to ruin the ending and hurt the ratings of its competition.

Like plenty of other TV shows, it can have a web site. The web site may include an interface for online attacks, such as Adaptive Chosen Ciphertext. The characters in the show may break the fourth wall, stating that they are out of ideas, and they'll try posting the code on the internet in hopes someone will be able to break it.

The audience participation code breaking is only an ancillary part of the show. To the casual watcher it is simply an exciting mystery-adventure show that whenever they mention codes, the codes happen to be real.