This Must Be Belgium
July 7
Three new game shows on Tuesday night
means it's time for an On the Buzzer review. Taken in no particular
order:
Celebrity Family Feud (NBC, 8p)
By far, the worst of the lot. Four "teams" play two abbreviated Feuds to
reach the finals. Only then does the winning team play Fast Money for a
$50,000 charitable donation. The problems are many. All three games are
three questions long, with the third at triple value (unless a fourth
sudden death question is needed). Al Roker can't ad-lib worth a darn,
and really doesn't belong. The family concept is tenuous when you have
actual families playing against television casts. The questions are
pitched in such a way that you can say "sex" and score 84 points. It's
not the Feud that we know, and certainly not a Feud to love. The show
drags, it's labored, and not worth your time.
Wipeout (ABC, 8p)
ABC tries to put together a combination of Takeshi's Castle and Ninja
Warrior, and fails to make something good. Twenty-four contenders take
on an absurd obstacle course that no one can complete successfully.
There's the problem. A contestant that gets knocked off the course and
into the water needs only to swim to the next task. They're not out,
they're just inconvenienced. The top twelve move on to the swinging
pole, where the first six to fall into the water are out. Round three is
another different obstacle course, and the four top runners go on to the
Wipeout Zone, a massive obstacle course played against the backdrop of
night, where the winner collects $50,000. If you like watching people
fall into water and mud, you'll enjoy it, even though this could be cut
to a half hour and you wouldn't miss it, or the "let's have a laugh at
this contestant!" commentary of the two hosts who watch the proceedings
from the booth. It's not horrible, but it's not great.
I Survived a Japanese Game Show (ABC 9p)
The best of the lot by elimination; and only because Wipeout is
undercooked. Japanese Game Show is a standard 'reality show' with the
chrome of every absurd Japanese Game Show you've ever seen. Ten
unwitting Americans are flown to Japan to compete on Majide (You Must Be
Crazy) and compete in silly events to avoid elimination and play for a
final prize of $250,000. If you like the idea of contestants running
against a treadmill so their partner can eat a dough ball from their
trough, or working a human claw game, then this will be a fine hour for
you.
Travis Eberle can be reached at traviseberle@gmail.com, if you want
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