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| Jun 11th 2012, 00:34 |
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I haven’t watched any game shows in a very long time. Thought I’d do this judging differently. I type up my impressions of the show while watching it.
WHEEL OF FORTUNE: It’s a Christmas themed episode. When did they change the music for the show? Don’t like it all. Not crazy about the new announcer (new to me since I haven’t watched in years). How does Vanna White still look good? The contests are fun which I don’t usually find with the show. Sajak often obnoxious, but the contestants are making him bearable. The reel has commercials!!! Seriously!?! First main puzzle was Bulletin and Boogie Board. Second one was Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne. Third one was Downhill and Cross-Country Skiing. Bonnie won all three. The other contestants were happy for her. I’d have been annoyed. More commercials! Insanity! And she wins the fourth one: celebrity sighting. Bonnie wins 50,000 for final puzzle: good guess. Bonnie is a lot of fun and she wins over 81,000.
BRAIN SURGE: Never heard of this show. Episode aired 4/22/11. Oh, hell. It’s a kids’ game show. 6 Stars of Nickelodeon are playing. Nick is still doing the slime thing? Contestant do a version of Where’s Waldo? where they are given a description and have to pick out the person/object discussed. The show is high energy, and the questions do get more difficult as it goes on. The host is actually pretty good for this type of show. The two with the lowest scores go down the brain drain--a chute made of white slime. Round two is about hearing a story and remembering details. They are then narrowed down to two who compete to match images in a puzzle. A lot of the sets and dynamics reminds me of Remote Control. Cute James win for the kid.
WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE? Another celebrity week. 4th day of celebrity week. Money for Alzheimer’s charity. Anthony Anderson is the celebrity. Some chit chat about the charity. More chit chit that is not amusing. The set is different than I remember. The money system is now different and a bit confusing since I do not watch the show. Anthony Anderson is being annoying as hell. Meredith Vieira is a good host. She does a good job of keeping the show on track, but even with her, the show still takes forever to get through these questions. Anderson manages to get up to 250,000 by the end of the show as he takes a guess about a Rembrandt painting.
JEOPARDY! The show aired on 2/15/2011. The show is coming from the TJ Watson research center in NY. It’s the IBM challenge. Two of their best contestants challenge the IBM computer system named Watson. They can’t just play. We’re getting an IBM commercial disguised as the history of Watson’s creation. This is going on forever. When does the game show portion begin? IT takes five minutes to get into the game. Watson is wiping the floor with the other contestants. 6 minutes of game and then even more history on Watson. Only one round of question because of the ridiculous amount of Watson history. Before the final question, more blah blah blah about Watson. Watson gets final question wrong, but still wins $35.734.
LET’S MAKE A DEAL: The submission aired 12/15/11. The opening graphics are very cheap looking and the music is just pathetic. I like Wayne Brady, but he pales in comparison to what I saw of Monty Hall. The model Tiffany is good though. The original had a lot of charm, but this show is just so cynical. A sweaty woman wins a car. Two people play a zonk game. This just doesn’t interest me. Wayne is now singing. Please keep singing so we don’t have to play the game. There’s a deaf contestant who loses a trip to St. Thomas. Alejandro wins the deal of the day, but the show never develops any interest in the contestants or the prizes.
CASH CAB The host Ben Bailey interests me already even while telling the viewer how the game is played. Michelle, Michael, and Richard play the first game. Bailey really is a good host. The show is very basic, and I wouldn’t say it’s all that compelling, but Bailey makes it work. They’re at 1,000 and now a redlight challenge. They win the challenge, and now they are up to $1,450. Will they go double or nothing on a video question. Another trio gets in. They use a shout out to Alice, and they lose. They are thrown out. Four guys get in. They also get up to $1,450. They go for double or nothing. They guess “Booby” and double their money. Show is over.
Ranking: 1. CASH CAB 2. WHEEL OF FORTUNE 3. BRAIN SURGE 4. WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE? 5. LET’S MAKE A DEAL 6. JEOPARDY |
| Jun 11th 2012, 12:56 |
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I'm surprised by your disdain for "Jeopardy's" Watson episode. I didn't remember that aired last year and was eligible. I think that's actually a great episode and gives them an excellent chance at a win. And while the Watson backstory does stretch the show into two episodes -- if they could have submitted both they'd by all set -- it is the most unique and significant of all the shows. It's an event episode.
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| Jun 11th 2012, 13:34 |
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I had also been thinking that the Watson episode would be a great submission, but your points are certainly well taken, Crystal. I had forgotten how much of the episode was dedicated to the development of Watson/the work IBM is doing, which some may find interesting but others will certainly not. That's why I love doing this judging forum. It's incredible how different things can seem when taken out of their previous context and viewed as part of a competitive process like this.
RE-HIRE CHRISTIE CLARK! |
| Jun 11th 2012, 15:43 |
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The Watson episode is indeed an event episode (so people could vote for it just because it's something "significant") but I found it incredibly dull and the game show portion tedious. They only played one round, and Watson got to answer almost every question. That to me was not enjoyable in the slightest. IT certainly will play better to those who are interested in Watson and the background. I felt it was an absolute cheat to submit an episode where the majority of it had nothing to do with being a game show. It's the same way I felt when I judged the courtroom shows and Judge Hatchett submitted a civil rights episode that was not about being a courtroom show. In that case, my least favorite submission (Christina's Court) won against a vastly superior Judge Judy submission so I wouldn't be surprised to see JEOPARDY! win since my choices for last place usually win: YR and GL tying for drama when I ranked them at the bottom; Laura Wright for best actress; Christina's Court two years running; Natalia Livingston; Vanessa Marcil; Drew Bell, etc. I don't watch game shows. I've never seen BS and LMAD and I've only seen a few minutes of WWTBAM? so my viewpoint will most likely be miles apart from those who enjoy these shows. MY nieces LOVED Brain Surge so this could play well with parents, but I can't imagine any non-parent voting for this show as it's just too silly. |
| Jun 12th 2012, 11:08 |
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From what I remember about those two "Jeopardy" episodes, Watson and the competition are about half-and-half. Even if you didn't personally care for the Watson elements, I don't think it's far to call it a cheat, as you say. It's still very much a game show episode.
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| Jun 12th 2012, 17:34 |
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When a game show submission has just over 8 1/2 minutes of game play (and I even counted the build-up to be generous) in an over 20 minute submission, I consider that a cheat. The Watson material is a majority of the episode. It's such an overwhelming presence there's only one round of actual game play. The show was more a documentary and/or ad for IBM and Watson. I realize the Watson episodes were the most well known during Jeopardy's submission year, and they received a lot of press for the episodes so I understand why they submitted this episode. Except for the talk talk talk in the WWTBAM submission, the others were about the game play. This will play well for those interested in Watson, but seen strictly as a game show submission, it was lacking, and even the game play was dull. This is one of those submissions where people will either love it or hate it so I can see it winning if more of the former are judging the category. FTR, it was the second day of the Watson episodes, and it can be watched on YT: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nt-abT8gKw |
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