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"I Love That Guy!"
July 26
With five episodes of
eight having aired, I figure now is as good a time to get in a good word
about GSN’s most recent effort, Late Night Liars. I applaud the network
for trying something as different as it is. If you haven’t seen the
show, it is clearly homage to Liar’s Club, but replacing four
celebrities with Muppets.
That’s right. Muppets. Caricatures of various celebrities and
personalities are the panel for the game. In the first two rounds, host
Larry Miller reveals a category and each member of the panel gives an
answer. Two (very human) contestants must figure out which panelists are
lying. Round three is a one-on-one affair where a correct judgment earns
a spin of the Randomometer. The player with more money goes on to the
Two-Topic Showdown, a rapid-fire true-false quiz where eight correct
answers in forty-three seconds wins a cash jackpot of $10,000 or more.
As you can tell, the show is light on gameplay and heavy on humor and
interaction with the Muppets. If you’re OK with that, then you’ll dig
it. If you want more questions and answers, you won’t. And I haven’t
even gotten to The Weasel. The Weasel steals the show regularly: whether
announcing why the round one question is worth $561, or describing the
consolation prizes, he reminds me of an announcer but while being a
terribly cute rodent. After the show is done, that little guy needs to
get his own show, quickly. Larry Miller, the perennial obsequious
yes-man character, shines as host; alternating between dialogue with the
Muppets and explaining the rules and choices to the players.
The problem is that the show started out with a big push of 250,000
viewers, and then the ratings fell off. Sure, there’s some repetition to
the game, and if you don’t like filthy-mouthed puppets, you don’t have
much reason to buy in, but give the network some props for going off the
board and trying something new. (Granted, I would feel burned after
Hidden Agenda, Instant Recall and Unstapled, but still, this is way out
in left field.)
If you want to know why round one is worth $573.00, you can send an
e-mail to the author at
traviseberle@gmail.com. |
