Episode 19.10
November 17

Gordon: This is Gordon Pepper, and we're going to do something different this week.
Chico: Yeah. You see, aside from game show commentors and recappers, we'd like to think of ourselves as men about town. And as you also know... I happen to be the good one. And Gordon... *death stare*
Gordon: I was born to be bad, baby! Bad! Bad! Bad! Bad is Good! BWA HA HA HA HA HAHHHHHH!
Chico: Yeah, Patriot Act, buddy. =p
Gordon: I got your Patriot Act for you RIGHT HERE!
Chico: So this week, we're going to switch it up for a bit. I'm going to assemble a fellow soldier of love in the fanboy wars...
Gordon: Love? LOVE? What love?
Chico: Free love on the TV, yo.
Gordon: Love comes from people who think that Duke is a college football powerhouse.
Chico: Yeah, I don't understand that one myself. Anyway, I'm going to assemble a fellow soldier of love in the fanboy wars... And Gordon... *death stares*
Gordon: I'm going to get some minions of evil. And we get to talk evil. And be evil. It will be delicious fun!
Chico: And we're all going to play schizophrenic this week. And it's gonna be sweet.
Gordon: Think of it as Game Show's Own Worst Enemies. He's the good Christian Slater who has made some quality movies like Heathers and Interview With the Vampire. I'm the one who's gotten into legal trouble and who made such classics as Alone in the Dark and My Own Worst Enemy, which by the way, has just been cancelled.
Chico: It's gonna be sweet, especially when you think "Okay, so which one's the good one again?"
Gordon: You may not be able to tell us apart after this week.
Chico: We'll see. Meanwhile, from somewhere in America, the Good vs. Evil edition... of We Love to Interrupt... is... ON!
Gordon: Yay!
Chico: So as I stow my dark half away for a moment...
Gordon: Not in the dungeon. We stuck the Schwab down ther...mmmph...

(DOOR SLAM)

Chico: Okay, now that we've gotten rid of my darker half... for now... we can kick off the show with my fellow veteran, a true soldier of love in the fanboy wars, Mr. Jason Block.
Jason: Feels good to be on the light side of the force.
Chico: Okay, my young Padawan, did you watch this week's worth of premieres?
Jason: Actually I have been catching up online...and I am really surprised how much I like one of them so far.
Chico: Really, which one would that be?
Jason: Chase on SciFi. It appeals to a lot of my game likes... video games...Alternate Reality Games and puzzles...And the execution works. Big time.
Chico: It's good stuff, isn't it?
Jason: Surprisingly.
Chico: Ten players begin on a game field. And they have three tasks ahead of them...
Jason: They are told to take a pack and survive 60 minutes.
Chico: 1) Solve puzzles to unlock equipment. 2) Evade capture by one of seven Hunters... each one scary looking.
Jason: And Terminator like.
Chico: But then again, if you had someone in a suit and shades that didn't show any emotion, wouldn't you be scared, too?
Jason: Is Hunter Icey the Icey from Cram?
Chico: True. We actually have one former Cram assistant, one former dodgeballer, and one former Elvira wannabe. And four other guys that I don't know from Adam.
Jason: But the execution really works. The tension is really there.
Chico: And we're joined by Alex Davis of Buzzerblog.com. Welcome to the Jedi Order.
Jason: You feel it.
Alex: Hey!
Jason: Yup.
Chico: We're talking about Chase on SciFi. It's the "live action video game"
Alex: Fantastic new show. Plus it has Icey
Chico: Yep. Good stuff.
Jason: MY grade on this.....A- One of the best new shows this year.
Chico: How about the game, though, Alex?
Alex: I'd probably go with Jason and say A- too. I love it, even though it dips a bit too much into the cheese factor for my liking, like with the constant "Hunter view" things.
Jason: That is cheese, but fun cheese
Alex: Definitely, but I thought episode 1 had a bit too much of it.
Chico: Well, the game is nice in and of itself. The presentation is slick albeit cheesy, but when you're dealing with an idea, you have to go all out with that idea. I think they did, I think they succeeded. A- is good. This is one game where if you win it, you would've definitely earned it.
Jason: Agreed.
Chico: And no, morons will not win this game.
Alex: No
Chico: While we're talking cheese on SciFi, we go to the second show to premiere there this week... Estate of Panic. Seven players... one house. If you think it'd be any easier than that... you're wrong.
Jason: Do tell.
Chico: There are four rooms in the house, each one with various props from scary movies... and cash to be found. Rooms one through three are elimination rooms, in which two players are eliminated.
Jason: Sort of a haunted treasure house.
Chico: Something like that, yeah.
Jason: From what I am seeing of this...this works too. I cannot stand being scared, but that's ok.
Chico: I think it's pretty ingenious.
Alex: I thought it was an interesting show
Chico: I mean, we've not seen this sort of interplay since Fear Factor. And the host Steve Valentine... well, he's creepy. So it works.
Alex: He needs to be creepy. He fits.
Jason: Not my style per se. But this works. A-.
Chico: I'd say so. A-.
Alex: Same here
Jason: So SciFi -- Great Job! They took two concepts which were central to the network....and made it work.
Chico: But would you say the same for... Lifetime? Lifetime on the other hand, took one concept and made it work... "Girly stuff."
Jason: Blush: The search for the next makeup artist.
Chico: The show is called "Blush", and they're searching for... yeah, what J said.
Jason: I didn't see this one...but it looked like I wasn't missing much.
Chico: Well, you did, and you didn't.
Jason: Huh?
Chico: I mean, take any reality show on Bravo, and put it on Lifetime. It's fresh and different in subject matter, but other than that, it's like... so what?
Jason: So it's a case of been there...saw that.
Chico: It's not terrible, but you've seen it before.
Jason: Got it.
Chico: And when you've been staging reality eliminations for the better part of the last decade, the concept begins to wear thin.
Jason: No kidding.
Chico: The only thing that drags it down is the talent... or absence thereof.
Jason: Vanessa Marcil...not so much, eh?
Chico: The host... eh. The contestants... eh. The point is... if you're a fan of the Project Runway type shows... check this one out. If you're not... don't bother. I give it a C-.
Jason: Ok.
Chico: Probably good to go there. Anywho... should be noted that all three are available as streaming online video. So if you don't get the networks... you can watch it on the internets. Don't you love the age we live in. Now we go to our first taste of Evil WLTI, as I throw the show to my dark side...

Gordon: Welcome to the GSNN Dungeon. I'm the torturer, Gordon Pepper. With me are my 3 disciples of destruction as we showcase the EVIL of WLTI. We start with the Wicked Wizard of the West...Coast, Mr. Rob Seidelman
Robert: Oh, it's been evil all week. Cats, Pies, and a dolt who can't properly fill out a voting ballot. Evil to be had all over.
Gordon: Excellent. Next up, a man who is conjuring up Anti Vynnedge Voo Doo Dolls in the Depths of Midgie-filled Ohio, Mr. Travis Schario.
Travis: ...and this pin goes...THERE!! The Mid-Ohio Valley of the Voodoo Dolls...I like that. How's everyone tonight? Pie, anyone?
Gordon: I like pie. Some pie. And finally, the land of the evil that brought us Inside the Box, from Canada, Mr. Don Harpwood.
Don: I feel like throwing some pies tonight.
Gordon: Any specific targets?
Don: Depends. Who's on the block?
Robert: I'd throw them at cats tonight.
Don: Sounds good.
Travis: Someone cue up Toccata and Fugue in D Minor please. (Keith Olbermann's "World's Worst" music)
Gordon: We will get to cats, but first, I've got a review for you right here. did you see The Meow Mix Game show last night?
Don: Yeah.
Gordon: Thoughts?
Don: I don't think I can get through another minute of that.
Gordon: This disaster of a show was brought to us by Meox Mix, who needs to get out of the game show business. Here's the premise: 8 contestants - and their cats - have to get through a series of games in order to win $25,000 and have a (very) outside chance to win a million. We start with 8 contestants who have to race 5 cats through a tunnel. Only the first 3 cats and their owners make it through to the final round. In this case, you only had TWO cats make it through, so the cat that got the furthest along advanced. The cat that was furthest along...turn around and ran away before time ran out, so that cat advanced, even though he was at the starting point when time ran out.
Don: The first round to go from 8 to 3 seemed pointless.
Gordon: Then we play 'Think Like a Cat'. 6 categories. 5 questions per category rangins from 10-50 points. Sound famliar?
Don: Yep.
Gordon: And we don't even get 5 minutes worth of game here. Let's answer 10 questions! The person in last place is out. Finally, we have the last 2 people bet from a starting base of 100 points to predict what their cats do. We guess at...a whopping 2 video cat clips.
Don: I don't know why they didn't carry over the points from the Jeopardy-type round to the video clip thing. That would've made a bit more sense to me than what they did.
Gordon: Anything would have made more sense to me than what they did. So we're going to determine who gets to play for a million...if their cat picked a red chewy toy??!!?!?
Don: Yeah, that just seems too random to me. Of course, that's not as random as letting the cat pick a bag, then the player picks another...
Gordon: That would be your bonus round. Both the player and the cat picks 2 out of 10 cat food bags. Only 2 of the bags contain the missing pieces. you find the matching pieces, you win the million. As can be expected, the winning team of Ian Stich and his cat Quinn didn't come close to winning the money.
Don: Yeah. Just a disaster all around.
Gordon: Is there anything you liked about the show?
Don: I can't say there is, to be honest. I mean, even with Chuck in there, I didn't like the show at all.
Gordon: Chuck was off his game too, like he was wondering what he got himself into.
Don: Yeah...
Travis: I just watched it. RIP to three of my IQ points. F.
Don: That's pretty much it. My grade: F
Gordon: Bad idea, horrid execution. Bad game playing by the contestants. This is an all-around disaster. I HEARTILY recommend that anyone who is remotely interested in being in the game show industry watch this, so they know how NOT to make a game show. This is not only the worst game show I have seen this year, this may be one of the Top 10 worst game shows I have watched. Ever. F. F. F. F. F. Epic and Utter Fail. Yay! Now back to Chico with some light happy stuff.

Chico: Okay, up next... Teenagers... their game scares the living crap out of me. And that's why 15 of them went tournament this week.
Jason: Great week this week on J!
Chico: You would think that they would dumb down the material for them, but you have to remember that that is only half of the game. The other half is the strategy.
Jason: Yes.
Chico: For example, what is the primary objective of week 1?
Jason: Get to week 2.
Chico: Very good, J. Few people get this, so we end up with a couple of players that slow play through the week or bet it all on Final Jeopardy1.
Jason: Right...not good.
Chico: We actually had one of the teens go into the red before Final. As you know... that's also not good.
Jason: Way not good.
Alex: Bad
Chico: Terrible even. So think about this as we go into our traditional handicapping segment of the tournament. Anyone remember how we did last tournament?
Jason: Nope.
Chico: Okay, time to fire up the WABAC machine...We went with Joey for college champion...And he failed to disappoint us. So we have a streak to uphold. Ready, gents?
Jason: Yup.
Chico: Okay, Big Board me!

Chico: This one's called The Kids Are All Right.  Monday's show... By the way, lineups come courtesy of Jeopardy.com...

Monday: Ben Chuchla, Brandon Saunders, Audrey Hosford.

Chico: Audrey was a wild card who was on the bubble. Brandon was a locked wild card.
Jason: Ben?
Chico: Also a wild card. So we have a battle of the wild cards.
Jason: I have to go with Brandon here. He was the best of the three here.
Chico: I'll have to disagree here. Ben kept things close on Friday and he led into final. Were it not for an incorrect response, he would've gotten the nod. I'm going with him. Tuesday....

Jay Schrader, Shelby Malone, Bradley Silverman

Chico: Jay was Thursday's winner... Shelby was Friday's winner... Bradley was Tuesday's winner. Shelby won to spite Ben, though. Bradley didn't have to bet anything to win.. Jay was the only one who needed - and got - a Final right.
Jason: Bradley did get his.
Chico: Bradley got his indeed. He just kept hammering and hammering in the front. He'll get the nod here.
Jason: Yeah.
Chico: Finally, we go to Wednesday..

Karan Takhar, Sarah Marx, Anurag Kashyap

Jason: Karan Takhar in a big way.
Chico: Very much so. I'd say he was "one to watch." I still believe he's "one to watch." I'd go so far as to say he may take the whole enchilada.
Jason: I am willing to bet the enchilada and the burrito too. He takes it.
Chico: So Karan is our pick to win the Jeopardy! Teen Tournament.
Jason: Yes.
Chico: We have a reputation now... Karan better not let us down.
Jason: He better.
Chico: Now we go back to EVIL WLTI
Alex: Boo

Gordon: Welcome back to The Dungeon. Now here at WLTI, we get all sorts of letters, and we love them all. This one is from Daniel Westrick, of Fort Wayne, Indiana...

Gordon: Thanks for the letter, Daniel. Let's start by saying that The Amazing Race is doing very well in the ratings, so it's not hurting in that respect.
Robert: True, though personally, I love this season of survivor, and couldn't care less about The Amazing Race.
Gordon: Me too, to be honest, but we'll get there later. So why do we not care about The Amazing Race? 2 simple words. The. Contestants. Big Bored please.

Gordon: The Subject: Can we leave them all at The Pit Stop? Usually, when you have people on a reality show you're liking, you watch them for 2 reasons - 1. You like the personality, and 2. They have great gameplay. The contestants this year...are sorely lacking in both.
Robert: Agreed.
Gordon: Let's start with Nick and Starr, the only team who has shown that they can play this game on a consistent level. The good news is that they have won a bunch of legs. However, they have also blatantly lied and have done some pretty dirty dealing to get there.
Robert: Status Quo for that show it seems.
Gordon: Then you have Toni and Dallas / the mother son group who have played the game well - but Dallas has decided to use thie experience to go dating Starr.
Don: Could be a costly distraction in the long run, especially if he focuses too much on that and not enough on the game.
Gordon: Then you have Terrence and Sarah, who's constant bickering has been nothing short of painful viewing. Joining them are Ken and Tina, who continue to bicker at each other. Then you have Andrew and Dan, the Frat boys, who are so clueless that Ken and Tina helped them out to keep them in the race against Kelly and Christy, a team that has made not reading the clues an artform. Add what must be a record pace of teams not reading and comprehending clues and teams who just whine, and this is just a show that this season, isn't fun to watch. There's no one to root for and it doesn't seem like people are enjoying themselves.
Robert: I wholeheartedly agree.
Gordon: As to how to fix it? Get better contestants. Stop selecting the pretty people or the 'unique' ones who both have the intelligence quotient of a standard Hawaiian pineapple and get people with a grasp on how to play the game.
Don: Makes me wish I could apply.
Gordon: Nothing kills a show quicker than people who can't play the game you've brought up to them.
Robert: That's what made early seasons enjoyable, and what makes a great show happen. Sadly, they forgot all about that after winning another boatload of Emmy's.
Gordon: Complain all you want about Romber (Rob Mariano and Amber Brkich) getting on the show. They are undoubtedly one of the best teams to play the game. And I'd rather watch them on every season than endure another season of bad contestants.
Don: Now that was a team that I enjoyed watching.
Robert: Romber knew what they were doing on all shows. Survivor, The Amazing Race, Their reality show on Fox Reality Channel.
Gordon: Sure did. Now let's go to the show where Romber originated from. Survivor. And it's time for...



Gordon: This week's moron...is Charlie. There's been a lot of talk of people saying that this season of Survivor is ruined because the people who 'strategically made an alliance only to see it ruined by the twist' are the better players. The people who say this...are complete and utter fools.
Robert: Here, hear.
Gordon: Survivor is not about 'let's make an alliance on Day 3 and ride it to the end'. Survivor is a game all about interpersonal relationships and how you have to be ready for those relationships to change on a day to day basis. And if you make a Day 3 alliance - and if you're dumb enough to not work on relationships with other people, then you will deserve the boot that you will inevitably get when all of the outside people compare notes and realize that they are not in the main alliance. That was the problem with Charlie. He hitched his wagon with Marcus, Corinne, Bob and Randy, and didn't even bother trying to make a relationship with Suzie, Matty, Ken, Crystsal or Sugar. He even made Suzie, Matty and Sugar painfully aware of their status of being outside the Onion Alliance. Hence, the non-onions all band together and peel away layers of the Onion Alliance, which is shades of Survivor Marquesas, where John and the Rotu 4 showed everyone else their alliance way too early in the game. Charlie has no one else to blame but himself. By not being friendly with Matty and company, he telegraphed who the major alliance was and who they needed to get rid of.
Robert: The interesting thing was the original target was Corinne. But, Ken remembered something from last episode. Kenny found an Idol clue, but Charlie stole it from him and showed everybody the clue. The rest of the Onion Alliance found it, and threw it into the ocean. Ken then decided during the meeting to throw Charlie's name out there. So, Ken and crew gets rid of Charlie.
Gordon: I thought it was a very smart move by Ken. Charlie is smart and he's athletic, which makes him dangerous to keep around.
Robert: Oh yeah. Ken has the mental attributes and knows how to fish as well. So, with those abilities, he can stay for awhile. Now the weaker ones are picking off the Onion Alliance, who is down to Corrine, Bob And Randy. If Randy wants to survive, he needs to sweep. Same can be said for Corrine.
Gordon: Yes - but we'll see what happens if THAT alliance stays together or if it gets splintered. The fact that people are being this complex makes this season of Survivor fun - and adding to the fact that most of these people can't play the game helps.
Robert: I also state that the two weakest people know how to build fire. If Suzie didin't have Immunity, she'd be gone.
Gordon: I disagree. It's the merge time. She's not a target now. In the merge, you go after the strength of the opposing tribe.
Robert: Crystal is a Major Target. She has a bad personality and is a strength. I fully suspect Ken to blindside her soon.
Gordon: Not yet. Ken needs Crystal as a vote.
Don: Yeah. I'd think they're better off continuing to pick off the Onion Alliance this coming week.
Robert: Then I feel sorry for the guy that made the fake idol.
Don: Bob?
Robert: Yes. Either him or Randy, the boisterous dolt who can't write the proper name down on the piece of parchment.
Gordon: I think they are both in a spot of trouble.
Don: Oh, yeah. I still don't get why he just wrote "C.C." instead of "Crystal". I mean, is writing 7 letters really that hard?
Gordon: Apparently. Let's see if being good is also hard. Chico?

Chico: Now if you're a frequent reader of WLTI... first of all, thank you.
Jason: Yes. Thank you.
Chico: Second of all... you know that there's a running gag that I can't watch Top Chef because I don't get Bravo.
Alex: You rock.
Jason: Right.
Chico: I do however... get the wireless broadband.
Jason: Ah yes
Chico: And Bravo has offered to put the show online. So I get to watch it now!
Jason: (cue Hallelujah Chorus)
Chico: We're going to have to find another gag.
Jason: So Bravo...thanks from Chico
Chico: Yep. But anyway, we have our first Top Chef in the city so nice, they named it twice. Best city in the world (not named Chapel Hill).
Jason: N.Y.C.
Chico: I'm going to have a rare evil moment. I'm going to propose that this season's "Top Chef" be subtitled: A-Holes from Europe.
Jason: LOL
Alex: haha
Chico: Because of the 17 players that start the game, we have... two A-holes from Europe.
Jason: Alright
Chico: Said A-holes are Fabio Viviani from Italy and Stefan Richter from Finland.
Jason: Why were they A-holes?
Chico: Very simply, all of the contestants believe that they think that a) Americans are beneath them, and b) a European should win Top Chef.
Jason: (starting humming the Star Spangled Banner)
Chico: hence why we refer to them as "A-Holes from Europe."
Jason: Actually...you know since we are on the good side, we shouldn't call them a-holes. We should call them egotistical narcissists.
Chico: Fine. Egotistical Narcissists from Europe.
Jason: Did said narcissists get eliminated this week?
Chico: On the contrary. Stefan won both the Quickfire Challenge (which required the peeling, prepping, and cooking of apples) and the Elimination challenge (which required understanding of the melting pot nature of the City.)
Chico: Lauren lost the Quickfire challenge... and was eliminated then and there. Patrick lost the Elimination challenge when his Seared Salmon, Bok Choy and Black Rice noodles didn't pass muster. But yeah, from what I saw, it looks like we're in for a treat this season.
Jason: Yup.
Chico: And already we have villains, so... win freaking win, baby. Speaking of villains...Gordon?

Gordon: Thanks Chico. Really, Thanks ;). May Fabio Viviani use your mattress for your family's Thanksgiving turkey stuffing. Lets get to Friday for a second. We'll have the one piece of goodness that we're allowed on the show - and that's the troops. We do support our troops.
Robert: *Salute*
Travis: *Salute!*
Don: Of course.
Gordon: And we do support the fact that they were on The Price is Right. And we're happy that 5 of the 6 troops won, which gave them one of the best shows of the season. Of course, why we had to wait 2 months to actually get a good show is another question.
Travis: ...or an extra three days from when it was supposed to air...lest we forget that.
Gordon: Yes. Lets remember the troops 3 days after the fact and make the show an afterthought.
Robert: Yes.
Travis: True enough.
Don: Yep.
Gordon: That's where the happiness ends, folks. After the show, my mailbox got flooded with complaints about the show. Here's how the show worked: 1 person from each of 4 different military branches gets called down. If they win, then someone from THE SAME BRANCH gets called down. So if you're in the Navy and the person who gets called down from your group bid $69,000 on every price, you're not coming on down to the stage. By the way, the 4 groups are The Army, The Navy, the Air Force and The Marines. So if you're in the Coast Guard...better luck next time.
Travis: Might I bring something up about this?
Gordon: You may
Travis: If that fact hadn't have been verbalized, I believe that this would be a non-issue. But, since Drew brought it up explicitly, it becomes an issue.
Don: Even if it wasn't brought up, though, wouldn't people notice that eventually?
Robert: Oh yeah, it would be brought up.
Travis: They may have noticed, but probably wouldn't have put two and two together. Then again, if you're calling a great deal of people from one branch, then it shows favoritism.
Don: In other words, they'd attribute that to a big coincidence.
Gordon: Or we could just select 2 people from each group, since I'm sure you could find at least 2 people in each group who would be ideal contestants.
Travis: Right. Anyway, continue.
Gordon: Getting on the stage - 1 Army, 1 Navy, 2 Air Force, 2 Marines. But again, why even make that an issue?
Robert: You're not supposed to make it an issue.
Gordon: Just make it normal and bring down 2 people from each service,
Robert: That would be fine. Just make sure that the nine get jumbled up. Or maybe make it special. Have 5 spots in contestants row. Army/Navy/Marines/Air Force/Coast Guard.
Travis: But there's no place in the audience to put the Coast Guard. It looked like the audience was sectioned off for the four branches.
Gordon: Make one. One in each corner and put the Coast Guard in the middle. Simple.
Robert: That's how it should work.
Gordon: Im cool with that. I'm not cool with the rate the games are being won - or in this case, lost. During the past 3 years, the games have been won at around the 47-48% rate. Taking the troops episode aside, in this season, we're struggling to get a 40% win rate in the games. What's going on here?
Robert: More emphasis on personality than anything else.
Travis: I think it's a case of the contestants not completely understanding the game rules...which comes from Drew's poor explanations.
Robert: Which is both good and bad. Sadly, the EP is a guy that worked on a show that was nothing but personalities.
Travis: Not only the personalities and the poor explanations, but the games aren't set up "correctly."
Gordon: Please explain, sir
Travis: Without going into too many details, all 74 games can be set up for a win or for a loss. It's been proven. Since Roger's shows have expired, the setups are beyond difficult to win.
Gordon: They can be certainly made easier or harder. Making the last number of a car in Lucky 7 a 1 or a 9, for example, is an almost sure-fire loss.
Travis: Right. Most of the other games have more, let's say, sinister setups for a win or a loss.
Gordon: It's also not a secret that game shows, to fix their budgets, can make the questions easier or harder, depending on whether they need to give out more or less money in it.
Travis: But that knowledge left Studio 33 roundabout July 3.
Gordon: Which has resulted in a number of gaffes, including an inadvertent $30,000 Plinko win. But let's go up to Chico, who I'm sure has a winning announcement to us denizens in the dungeon. Chico?

Chico: I sure do... so... Roll that beautiful brain footage!

(Doug: Live, local, and latebreaking... From the four corners of the globe to your frontal lobe, this is WLTI Brainvision News, and now here's Gordon Pepper, Chico Alexander, and the award-winning Brainvision News Team)

Chico: Thanks, Doug. First up, (John Legend) Give me the green liiiight.... give me just one night... (/JL). Okay, that ends the singalong portion of the show.

Jason: (applause)

First up, Password... we all watched it this summer, we all liked it. CBS liked it, too...

Jason: How much?

So much so that CBS has plotted the second season to bow in December for the holidays.

Jason: Very cool.
Chico: Very cool indeed. Now here's the thing...  Deal or No Deal launched in the holiday deadlands and became a massive hit...before NBC beat it into the ground after insisting that they wouldn't... Very naughty, NBC.
Jason: Nice Lump of Coal
Chico: Duel also launched in the holidays... but didn't really go anywhere. It was renewed for a second season, but in a radically different format and as strike filler.
Jason: Not as good of a concept.
Chico: Which direction do you guys see Password going?
Alex: I see it going the way of Power of 10, though not as quickly because it's not in a horrible time slot.
Jason: I think Password will go another season and if the ratings are good...which I think they will be...I say more.
Chico: I want to say that CBS won't try to make this a regular thing...You know, the whole "Less is More" tactic.
Jason: Right.
Chico: But yeah, if you watched last time out, you're going to watch this time out.
Alex: The ratings were alarmingly similar to Power of 10 this summer. It's only savior is CBS is smart enough to not go against Idol this year.
Chico: That gets a bell, Alex. *ding* It's not going up against anything. If anything, it's a place holder for The Amazing Race.
Alex: And I still think the absolutely only reason it's "popular" is because of the celebrities. CBS advertised the celebrities, not the game, and it worked. Had they advertised the show as, "the return of password," we wouldn't be seeing it again.
Chico: Speaking of, we have Aisha Tyler & William Shatner playing.
Jason: Oh boy
Chico: Later in the season we'll have Julie Chen & Phil Keoghan.
Jason: ROFL
Alex: I still really dislike the free shot at the million. Quarter million is now a safe haven.
Chico: Almost eliminates the risk.
Jason: Yeah.
Chico: It's been said of every great game show that there's an element of risk.
Alex: I mean they did enough to make the game easier last season.
Chico: Because you have to pad out the hour... which sucks.
Jason: Right.
Alex: It's an issue because they are so reliant on having it self contained, and it destroys the drama.
Chico: Yep.
Jason: Exactly.
Chico: No one told them, hey, you don't NEED to have it self-contained.
Alex: It's the same issue Deal or No Deal had which they thankfully remedied in the past few weeks.
Chico: It's all about control. You need the control. So that's far off into the future, but for things we have this week...

Gordon: I guess Chico wants a Datebook. I got a Datebook for you...Right here!

(There are no new dates this week. What do you expect? This is the cold dark damp and EVIL version of the show! EVIL! BWA HA HA HA HA HA!)

Gordon: And now for news, weather and sports, here's Chico :D

Chico: ...
Jason: Walk it off, man. Walk it off.
Chico: ...Who wants to get Fully Loaded?
Jason: I do!
Alex: Whoo
Chico: I'm serving up videos.

MGM & FremantleMedia have made deals with YouTube to stream their wares online.

Chico: For MGM, it means classic episodes of American Gladiators. For Fremantle, it means... Hole in the Wall...
Alex: Where the show belonged in the first place.
Jason: Ah! That's in the wrong spot. It should be Evil!
Chico: If you guys don't mind, I'm going to go make my own hole in the wall. *puts on helmet, runs into wall*
Jason: Better?
Chico: Yeah, thanks. But yeah, classic Gladiators... if you don't get ESPN Classic, it should be nice.
Jason: All good there.
Chico: All evil in the dungeon...Gordon?

Gordon: All evil in the dungeon. With a tinge of stupidity.

Are you Smarter than...America. Specifically, the 3 out of 100 people polled in Family Feud who said that a national college football power....was Duke.

Gordon: Duke?
Robert: 3 people probably from Duke.
Gordon: DUKE?
Travis: Duke = Basketball.
Gordon: Duke can't even catch a cold right now. FYI, Duke is in LAST PLACE in their conference.
Travis: They probably just heard college and ball and thought Duke. You know, put two and two together and get tutu.
Don: I've never even heard anything about their football team before.
Gordon: True. We've heard plenty about their lacrosse team though.
Travis: Right.
Gordon: Who's up for some more chalkboard?
Don: Me!
Robert: ME

Are YOU Smarter than...Jeffery Mueller, who apparently thought that an Adam Sandler movie was called You Don't Mess With The Yosef!

Travis: That's a pretty boneheaded answer.
Don: No kidding. My eyes literally widened in shock when he locked that in!
Robert: Wow.
Robert: Cat Stevens was screaming at the TV.
Gordon: It's...You Don't Mess With The Zohan.
Don: He was lucky that that was a $4,000 question, and not, say, a $300 question.
Gordon: Yes. He still walks with $1,000. It's Haterade time...and look. It's about The Price is Right!
Robert: Why doesn't that surprise me.
Travis: YIPPEE!! Kinda.
Don: Somehow, I'm not surprised, either.
Gordon: But first, we start with the man who gives back $175,000.

Marcus Johnson says that Peter Gabriels 'In Your Eyes' contains the lyrics 'Now I Feel the Light and The Heat'. It's OH I SEE the light and the heat. He drops from $200,000 to $25,000 - a loss of $175,000.

Don: Ouch.
Gordon: And now for some The Haterade is Right...

It's time to fire some models. Shane Stirling, Phire Dawson, Gabrielle Tuite, Tamiko Nash, Stephanie Schlund. Gone. Time to go find new jobs in a recession-laden California.

Gordon: TPIR claims 'Cost-cutting' during a time of economic slowdown. Are you buying it?
Travis: I'm not buying it at all, especially with the constant rotation of models.
Gordon: Me neither
Don: Same here. Whoever fired them could use some pies to the face.
Travis: With respect to all the women, I am incensed about the termination of Shane. Now, why am I incensed? Shane was the one who drove my Cadillac on stage when I was a contestant. She was the first one I had a picture with when I was interning. By God, she was my favorite.
Gordon: Is this because of cost-cutting, or is this a signal of trouble?
Travis: I would say it's part of the signal of trouble. If they truly are cost-cutting, that must mean they're "downsizing." That leads me to believe that bad stuff is around the corner.
Robert: Less Games perhaps?
Travis: I don't think a format shift is in the works. My prediction: "The Price is Right"; assassinated at the age of 37.
Gordon: That's nice and evil. I'm sure Chico has some fun traveling the world thing, so let's go see him.

Chico: Thank you Gordon. Next up... we're taking a trip to... the Philippines.
Jason: Going Global are we?
Chico: Oh yeah.

Fear Factor, a big hit for NBC that was cancelled a while back, is getting new life as a long-form series in the Philippines. There, it's premiering as "Pinoy Fear Factor: Argentina"

Jason: Huh?
Chico: Well, you remember the million dollar episodes where people were picked off one by one?
Jason: Yeah I think so.
Chico: well, it's similar to that.
Jason: Noted. That was one of the better FF
Chico: Only the last one standing wins 2 million pesos or $40,000 give or take a few hundred.
Jason: Nice
Chico: Good stuff there. And I bet Gordon has the Ho watch on them now...

Gordon: And now., for the hoes...
Robert: Fun.
Travis: I like hoes.

DeAnna Pappas is doing a wedding show, Vicki Lawrence will go to Chicagoland, Betty White will show up on GSN live...Nigel Lythgoe says he'd NEVER add a 4th Idol judge, Maurice Green gets booted from Dancing With The Stars and Padma Lakshmi talks about Top Chef: NYC.

Gordon: But they are not your hoes of the week. The hoes are ex-Bachelor Travis Stork (who gets hooked up with Carrie Underwood) and Charlie O'Connell (who reconciles with Sarah Brice). And those...are your hoes. Chico looooooves the Bachelor, doesn't he?

Robert: Oh Absoltuely.
Travis: Quite apparently.
Gordon: Don't you, Chico?

Chico: *Grabs helmet. Runs into wall again*
Jason: That was Evil.
Chico: Very. Okay, that's Brainvision. Shut it down.
Jason: Shutting Down.
Chico: Still to come, we go for the punch line, but first... we go to Tinseltown. This is WLTI... give us 22 minutes, we'll give you a cancelled NBC series.

(Brainvision is powered by Sugar: the Search for the Next Great Baker. Thirteen of the best bakers in the country go rolling-pin to rolling-pin for the ultimate title.... get it? Thirteen?)

CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE