Episode 25.15/16 - 2010 Year in Review Double Episode
December 20/27

Chico: And now for something... completely different. "2010... in Verse Form."

Geniuses get chopped, and money gets dropped
Kevin Pollak's had a busy year.
Monty and Bob return with Bees and Mobs
To many a gamer's cheer.

Rich gets canned, angering fans,
Price's loss is Wheel's gain.
Worst Cooks weather, Worst Idol ever
And Millionaire changes its game.

Roger's record and Caitlin's one letter,
And we love Charlie O'Donnell
Guy's got a Minute, Nissley's gonna win it,
Making Sash look like Charlie O'Connell

Feuding Steve, Loving Sherri, Singing Mark, and Bagging Jerry
Y2J's Downfall come and gone.
January to December, it's the stuff you should remember...

From somewhere in America... 2010.... is.... ON!

Jason: (applause)
Gordon: Gordon Pepper here, along with Chico and special guest Jason Block, as we go through the hits and misses of 2010.
Chico: Blow by excruciating blow.
Jason: An Honor to be here as always
Chico: Great to have you
Gordon: And we start with January and one of the big stories of the year is a show that never made the airwaves.

JANUARY

Chico: That would be the grand and glorious Mark Burnett opus... "Our Little Genius."
Jason: This is THE story of the year for me.
Chico: This is THE story for a lot of people.
Jason: This show felt exploitative BEFORE THE ALLEGATIONS broke. You remember...parents pushing the kids to go on...the kids having no control of their money.
Gordon: And the allegations would be critical - the parents of the kids were complaining that the kids were being told the answers in advance.
Jason: And rumors of games restarting because the kids blew the answers before the safe level of three questions.
Gordon: As a result, the show never made the air.
Jason: Producer Mark Burnett denied knowledge of any of the shenanigans, and blamed it on overzealous staff.
Chico: It was Burnett's order that the show be pulled. Rare in ANY form of television.
Jason: Which probably saved his rep.
Chico: But seriously, if Burnett KNEW what was going on, then perhaps this wouldn't have happened. I believe that Mark Burnett didn't know what was going on, because if he did, then he wouldn't have allowed it in the first place.
Gordon: Possibly. But no more show. And as we'll see later, this was NOT a good year to be a game show on FOX.
Chico: Or GSN for that matter.
Gordon: It would be a GREAT year to be a show on GSN. But not in January.
Chico: Who remembers Hidden Agenda?
Jason: I do. But not for the good reasons
Chico: They got better later on during the year, but basically, GSN had a moment when it was drunk on its own hubris; Seems to happen every two or three years. They put out a stream of product that attracts, then they put out something incredibly unwatchable.
Gordon: They had to do some Winter cleaning. We also got stuff on other networks with Frank the Entertainer and the Conveyor Belt of Love.
Jason: LOL
Chico: On cue, G. Very good.
Jason: How do you remember that?
Chico: Usually with a few tissues blowing my nose and wiping the tears from my eye.
Gordon: And Carnie Wilson, Unstapled. Let's not forget that.
Jason: (shudder)
Chico: Basically, GSN was starting the year in a funk, not really knowing WHAT it is, and asking folks to tell them, then basically taking the results from said quiz and giving the finger to the populace.
Gordon: However, we did have some good shows in January - Project Runway, The Singing Bee, America's Best Dance Crew.
Jason: Yes, yes, yes
Chico: The Singing Bee... a ripple in a pond of... shows that were on primetime... but are now on either cable or daytime.
Gordon: And, of course we can't forget the worst season of the biggest show on TV - American Idol.
Jason: Basically...the Goodbye Simon season.
Gordon: And it was apparent that Simon already said goodbye before this season, as he checked out mentally on the show.
Chico: You THINK?
Jason: He was a shadow of himself.
Chico: Yep. Didn't have the uppercut punch, this is what everyone is honestly believing cut to his jib, you know?
Gordon: He wasn't good, the rest of the judges weren't good, the music audio wasn't good, and most importantly, the talent wasn't good. Add all of that up and you ave the lowest ratings since season 1.
Chico: With the most piss-poor casting since a young Pat Finn first said "First definition, last definition"... Ellen DeGeneres. And for my money, it just serves, they're not making good singers... let's make good television! And then they fail at both.
Gordon: It's a critical season for Idol in 2011. We'll see what happens to them in a few weeks. BTW, who was the only person on staff who had Lee DeWyze in the Top 4?
Jason: You did.
Chico: That would be Shaggy-Faced Dude. With the glasses and the sexy.
Gordon: That's Mr. Senor Sexy. Now let's progress to ...

FEBRUARY!

Gordon And we have Chico's Faaaaaavorite Show - The Bachelor!
Chico: Whoopee.
Jason: Yay.
Chico: Tell us what the scandal du mois was there.
Gordon: The Bachelor's Choice - Vienna Girardi, who everyone told him not to pick. Amazingly enough, the relationship doesn't make it through the year.
Chico: Because it's the Bachelor, and this is what happens.
Jason: It's FAKE people!
Chico: It's Fake. It's Phony. Baloney.
Gordon: We also get new seasons of The Amazing Race and Survivor, as Sandra Diaz-Twine shows us that she may be the best Survivor player ever.
Chico: AIRBORNE, Sandra! And why Sugar Kiper... may be the worst. Look at me. I'm cute. I ride coat tails. I get voted off of Heroes vs. Villains first. Wee!
Gordon: Because of the Olympics, we didn't have many new game shows debut, but we did have RuPaul's Drag Race, Shear Genius, High Stakes Poker, and Bank of Hollywood.
Chico: Bank of Hollywood was a sentimental favorite around here. It was basically Shark Tank done for your dream with four Hollywood power players.
Gordon: It wasn't awful. Too played out sometimes, but fun to watch.
Jason: It was ok.
Gordon: And we had Noel Edmonds and...Beat The Monkey
Chico: Which we could make jokes about all day.
Jason: LOL
Gordon: Now onto...

MARCH!

Chico: And the big story here... The 60 Second Circle.
Gordon: We had the breakout show of the year, Minute to Win It.
Jason: Guy Fieri...cook, host....dude.
Chico: Tying in Minute to Win It with the primetime shows on daytime. Beat the Clock for the new millennium. NBC's got gold with this. They would be pretty dumb not to capitalize with a five-a-week edition. And I personally think it's going to happen in 2012 if not before.
Gordon: Well you guys loved it. I thought it was mediocre, but for NBC, that's a big hit.,
Chico: But you'd watch it given the chance. Admit... ADMIT...
Gordon: I would. If it was against The Marriage Ref, The Celebrity Apprentice, Ultimate Recipe Showdown, Streets of America, Thin Ice, or Instant Recall, some of the stinkers to come out in March.
Chico: Instant Recall, basically turning Candid Camera into a game show. Unfortunately it didn't work as either.
Jason: Which was too much setup...not enough payoff.
Chico: It was 10 minutes of amateur acting... and 2 minutes of genuine game. Give Wink credit for working with what he was given, but that show was probably the show that made GSN stop and look at themselves a bit.
Jason: That and Hidden Agenda, yeah.
Chico: Like... "We a game show network. What the hell are we doing with THIS?" The result of said introspectivity would be fruitful.. but more on that later.
Gordon: True. We did have some good in March though. We had The Ultimate Fighter at the end of March.
Chico: We also introduced the new co-host of Dancing with the Stars... Brooke Burke.
Gordon: And we had the return of Monty Hall on Let's Mae a Deal.
Jason: One of the best moments of 2010. He still had it.
Chico: Agreed. Of course, it helped that he did the deals he's been known for doing. I can't see him doing "Interrogation Room" or "Let's Talk About You".
Jason: Come on...why are you hating on Monty?
Chico: I'm not hating on Monty. You see me? I am not hating on the guy. I got nothing but love and respect for the man.
Jason: But if you can do it at almost 90...
Chico: There you go.
Gordon: I think Monty could do the new segments even at 90. Keep in mind that the new 'Cash Register' was played on 15 spaces and not the old cash register set.
Chico: And for him to do what he did... That shows the power of the franchise and the man who made it possible.
Gordon: Chico is upset that he didn't pick Nicole Scherzinger to win Dancing With the Stars. Only one person did. Can you guess who that was?
Jason: That was you.
Chico: Ha HA.
Gordon: ...what do you know. it WAS me. How about that?
Jason: Thank you ego boy :)
Gordon: We'll have more of that later on this segment. But right now, let's move onto...

APRIL!

Chico: Hi, April. I can sum up April in one word: Baggage. GSN's most popular hit series to date, and for good reason. It's trashy. It's tacky. It's tasteless... but yet it's also refined and relatable.
Gordon: Baggage is a fun and trashy show. Sort of like 3's a Crowd or Studs.
Jason: It works. And Jerry Springer is the PERFECT host for it.
Chico: It's one of those shows that just does everything right.
Jason: I would love them to go late night and just go STUDS, but it's great.
Gordon: I would like to see GSN - or anyone - come back with Studs.
Chico: Well, that's an idea worth kicking around.
Gordon: And then there's the Rich Fields / Adam West video.
Chico: Another idea... Crazy idea. Donald Trump golfing.
Gordon: April was also a food month. Top Chef Masters, Chefs Vs. City, Season 2 and Chopped show up.
Jason: Chopped...another great year for that show.
Chico: Yep
Gordon: If you don't like food, we have Soccer Aces, Bull Run and the Real World Road Rules Challenge
Chico: And the big thing online? SNL's lampooning of Steve Harvey on Millionaire.
Jason: Great and accurate parody.
Chico: We didn't know it at the time, but this would be a harbinger of things to come... in more ways than one. But we'll get to that LATER. How about we go to...

MAY!

Chico: ... and the finale of the season-long Jeopardy! Million Dollar Celebrity Invitational. 27 stars played the whole season. Nine won and came back to play in a tournament week. Only one would emerge as champion extraordinaire.
Jason: The Brad Rutter of Celebs
Chico: That would be NOT Pat Sajak, NOT Neil Patrick Harris, but Michael McKean. It was an interesting change, this format, because it lasted the whole season, kinda bringing everything into perspective...Or maybe I'm just reading into this sort of thing too much.
Gordon: Why yes. Yes you are,
Chico: :P
Jason: It worked. It was fun. I liked it.
Gordon: It did work, and I hope they do it again next year.
Jason: Because they spread it out and made it important.
Chico: Yep. Also important; the exodus of the judges on American Idol. Yes, we knew that Simon Cowell was leaving. But I'm guessing after the 15th good looking guy with a guitar that Jason Block likes, Kara and Ellen decide to follow suit.
Jason: Ellen quits on her own, while Kara was "pushed"
Gordon: Or Ellen quit before she was pushed. WLTI Celebrates #300 :)
Chico: Yay.
Jason: YES!
Chico: And GSN celebrates its first Emmy nomination.

JUNE!

Gordon: And onto June we go, with the emergence of a Summer Season with no new breakout shows.
Chico: Downfall?
Jason: Nope.
Chico: Ultimate Car Build-Off?
Jason: Nope
Chico: ... I know! Top Shot!
Gordon: Nope
Jason: Good show, but no.
Chico: Come on! :-)
Gordon: But we did have the stalwarts in June - like So You Think You Can Dance - All Stars
Chico: Yeah, Also known as nail #2. The first nail being "the fall season". Would you rather watch All Star SYTYCD... or puppets?
Gordon: What about paint drying?
Chico: Judges? (DING). OK then, Because that's what GSN gave us... Late Night Liars... with puppets drinking, joking, and lying. It didn't go over well.
Jason: Late Night Liars...a show with so much pedigree....and crappy execution. This one was one of my biggest disappointments of the year.
Chico: Moral of the story: A great premise does not a show make.
Gordon: Nope. Must execute the show.
Chico: You need follow through. You need execution.
Gordon: We did have The Next Food Network Stars, which went over well.
Jason: Aarti Segueira wins, but Tom gets his show as well.
Gordon: True Beauty, America's Got Talent. Hell's Kitchen also went well.
Chico: Well, up until someone breaks the cardinal rule on TB... that is.. no contact with the outside world. You can't phone home, not on this show.
Jason: Nope.
Gordon: And let's not forget Chico's second Faaaaaavorite show, The Bachelorette.
Chico: Another Bachelorette... ANOTHER scandal! Woo hoo!
Jason: What was the scandal here again?
Gordon: Reports came out that Ali Fedotowski doesn't select ANYONE on the show. She does though. Fortunately, if you're a Chico, you'll like Top Chef DC, Cupcake Wars, and The Ultimate Merger
Chico: The first two, yes. The third... not so much.
Gordon: ...and Work of Art, Last Comic Standing, Dance your Ass Off, and Wipeout
Chico: What I did like... Howie Mandel going from making deals to making snap judgments.
Jason: He becomes the third judge on America's Got Talent, showing the Hoff how its done.
Chico: Exactly. And showing off comic chops within a structured format. Giving it new life as it were. Cute guy with a guitar still wins, though. Gordon, I need a guitar.
Gordon: Here's a guitar. Play us out to the halfway mark.
Chico: Got it. *plays the chorus of "WE Interrupt This Programme".*
Jason: It really does sound like DOND.
Gordon: Except for the twang at the end.
Chico: Still to come, the rest of the year... the names, the shows, the events... all of it... Stick around... this is real, my friends.

(WLTI: the 2010 Year In Review is presented by Topping Shot. Sprinkles, Whipped cream, caramel, a hint of gunpowder and a cherry on top. This sundae will literally blow your mind hole.)

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