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

Jason: LOL
Chico: It took me 15 minutes.
Gordon: I'm about to do it now.... yuck.
Gordon: And now that we're back in December of 2011, Let's go through the last week of the year.
Chico: We start with a winner...And then another... and another... and another... It's all a lot of history. So let's start with...



Chico: ... and for the first time, we have all FEMALE morons cross the finish line and shed the moronic monocle. We totally didn't see that one coming.
Gordon: No one did. Jay sort of did, but he picked the wrong female team.
Jason: Wrong team, right Idea.
Chico: Let's take you back. The final destination city is LA. And the memory task involves a game within a game hosted by none other than Bob Eubanks, hello!
Jason: It reminded me of the Wonder Wall Bonus Round from Winning Lines.
Chico: It did, didn't it? And it was probably the most challenging of the "What do you remember" tasks. You had to remember the greeter's hat.
Jason: And face. And what I liked about the winning team is they had a notebook. Take note, players.
Chico: Okay, we can talk on all day about Bob Eubanks (and some say we do already), but let's talk about the team that won. What did Nat & Kat do other than take notes?
Gordon: Nat and Kat played all of the legs well. They used both their speed and resources to get the win. They didn't make any mistakes on that leg, they dodn't get lost, and they didn't whine about it.
Chico: And they were smart. Remember, the three components of the perfect Race team...Strength, speed smarts. And it's not just physical strength, but strength of character as well. That's what Nat & Kat showed. That's what gave them the win.
Jason: They got it together in the leg that counted.
Gordon: Right. And for that, they get this...



Jason: Amen.
Chico: That was an easy one. Would you give one to.... Fabio?



Gordon: Actually, yes I would.
Jason: Well for winning all the immunity challenges to get to the final, yeah.
Chico: Oh yeah. He made it do what he had to do.
Gordon: Not only that, but he played a 'nice guy' game. The game of Survivor is changing.
Jason: Exactly. This is a game and societal shift.
Chico: Not necessarily. I mean, people play the game differently. It's a very open-ended game. Here's the start. Here's the finish. How you get from point A to point B is on you.
Jason: You cant be a total (^_^) anymore.
Chico: Fabio was blessed to have a game plan and people willing to buy into it. But I'll tell you, anytime that it comes down to the last vote...that's serious, there. You really can't be a total... one of those anymore.
Gordon: True. But it's coming down to strategy vs. Personality. The last few seasons of Survivor has shown that just being cutthroat is not enough. You have to slit their throats with a smile, so to speak. You MUST be nice in this game to win.
Jason: Right...
Gordon: And the problem that Chase had is that he couldn't bring in 2 detestable people. NaOnka quitting meant that he couldn't have the final 3 be her, Sash and Chase. As I said, Chase and Sash weren't going to win. They were too nasty in the game. I called that whoever was their 3rd would win, and that's what happened.
Chico: Right on.
Gordon: You have to get rid of the nice people, and the problem with a 3 person final jury is that it makes it almost impossible to do so.
Chico: Hand it to the folks at Survivor, they think of EVERYTHING. It really is a human game of chess.
Gordon: I prefer 2 people, to be honest, because then you're relying less on strategy and more on being nice and just making it there.
Chico: You like to play the strategy. I like to play the players. It's a changing game.
Gordon: I like both, but with 3 people, the nice person wins. The strategy is to have 2 douchebags up there and vote on who played better.
Jason: LOL
Chico: Make'em work for it? =p
Gordon: Agreed. So yes, Fabio played it by the rules and won, so he gets this, too...



Chico: Alright. Now I'm going to make YOU work for it... How about... NONA?



Gordon: No, No, Nona. (If you're Jason Block's age or older, you'll know what that's from)
Chico: That explains why you must explain :-)
Gordon: It's from No No Nanette. She did win's Hell's Kitchen, and I'm glad for her, but like last season, I don't think the right chef won here.
Chico: Okay, you know what I think? Nona didn't win... so much as Russell LOST.
Gordon: I won't disagree with you there, either.
Chico: Russell is the better chef BY FAR. The problem is that he's also a hot head. A loose cannon, if you will.
Gordon: And he blew it in the final episode.
Chico: It was his to lose... and he lost it.
Gordon: Nona didn't do anything to win it, but Russell did a lot to lose it.
Chico: Here's the thing... If you are constantly burning your bridges, you don't go back to the people on the other side and say "Hey, I value you, help me win this thing." You just DON'T.
Gordon: Well there's that. The other issue is that Nona didn't make any egregious errors.
Chico: She played it by the book. Didn't really go anywhere, do anything, extraordinary.
Gordon: No. Again, she didn't win it. If Russell put anything together, he wins, but it was both disappointing. I thought Russell should have won it due to previous performances, but I can see why Nona won.
Chico: Because Russell ate it when it counted.
Jason: Crash and burn?
Chico: The likes of which you've never seen before. End result: Nona just had to do "enough"
Gordon: And she did.
Chico: But you know me, I'm not content with "enough". And I'm sure G isn't content with "enough" either.
Gordon: Right. So no MVP trophy, but congratulations to her.
Chico: Which is probably why he thought so highly of this season of "The Sing-Off" in comparison to the last.
Gordon: I do. And I was also pleasantly surprised by the winner, as Committed takes the win.
Chico: Can I just give'em the MVP now?
Gordon: Sure.



Gordon: Any thoughts on them before we move on?
Chico: Really simple, this explanation. Of the four remaining... they were stylistically and harmonically the best... and they came the longest way. They literally went from zeroes to heroes.
Jason: Ratings warrant a Season 3?
Chico: No doubt about it, J. We will be talking Sing-Off for Decembers to come. And ONLY DECEMBERS, NBC! (Glares)
Gordon: No Summer holiday special?
Chico: No. Too early
Gordon: It's NEVER too early for holiday specials!
Chico: (Glares at Gordon) Yes it is. But seriously, Committed went from strength to strength. They took each challenge and made it their own. That is the hallmark of a champion singing group. Watch out for them, they're going to be on my Pod soon.
Jason: They get an album deal?
Chico: That's part of the package.
Jason: Sweet.
Chico: Album deal, $100,000, Golden Mic, profit.
Jason: (DING)
Gordon: What about a guy that almost had triple that all by himself on 8 episodes?
Chico: Yep.
Jason: Ah yeah. MONSTER.
Chico: And then it all went to hell on #9, but let's talk about the first eight first. The man, if you didn't know by now, is Tom Nissley, a human bookcase for Amazon.com. Seriously.
Gordon: So I suppose you have the Final Jeopardy question that got him his 8th win?
Chico: Funny you should ask. The Category is Sports. Or as we would say in the UK if we were doing our show there... Sport.

IN 1744 THE FIRST MENTION OF THIS NOW POPULAR SPORT SAYS, "AWAY FLIES THE BOY TO THE NEXT... POST AND THEN HOME WITH JOY".

Jason: What is Baseball?
Gordon: What is the Heene Balloon Boy catapulting competition?
Jason: ROFL
Chico: And where exactly IS this next post, G?
Gordon: Alcatraz to visit mommy and daddy.
Jason: Oh boy.
Chico: Okay. In any event, Jason's right. That gives him $235,000-plus and the top seed in the TOC to come. FOR NOW. But as I said before, Friday night, it all went to hell.
Gordon: I don't suppose you have that one also, do you?
Chico: I do. The category, Americana.
Gordon: Oooh! Can I play?
Chico: Okay. The clue...

FINDING THE SPOT FOR THIS MEMORIAL CAUSED ITS CREATOR TO SAY "AMERICA WILL MARCH ALONG THAT SKYLINE".

Jason: What is Mt. Rushmore?
Gordon: What is The Brother Strause's Burial Spot for the reels for Skyline 2, never to be seen again by human eyeballs?
Jason: Boooo.
Chico: Skyline sucked. How DARE you mention it in my presence! =p
Gordon: Hence the burial spot for Skyline 2.
Jason: :P
Chico: Mt. Rushmore's right. Everyone was wrong. NOW... to get to...



Chico: Here now, the Double Jeopardy! scores..

Tom: $11,800.
Marissa Goldsmith: $8000.
Chris Quin: $16,200.

Chico: Now if I'm Tom, I see Chris ahead... and yet Marissa is close behind. Who do I have to worry about more?
Jason: Marissa
Chico: This is why you were the champ, J.
Jason: I have learned. She has to bet to protect if both the big people miss.
Gordon: Agreed. You know Chris is going to bet to cover you. If I'm Tom, there's only 1 bet to make here.
Chico: And that bet is...
Jason: $4,401
Gordon: I concur.
Chico: Absolutely.
Jason: See I finally got it! See! LOL
Chico: But then there's Marissa wanting to get a leg up. So Tom bets $4401. If he's right, He's up to $16,201, hoping that Chris either bet nothing or bet to cover and lost.
Gordon: Right.
Jason: Gotcha
Chico: Marissa hopes to spoil. That's pretty much the best she can do at this point. Her gambit would be to play as conservatively as possible. Force one or BOTH of your opponents to play to win.
Gordon: and get it right. Betting $0 does her no good because with a loss, Chris is still at $8,799. So Marissa needs to bet $801 and hope she gets it right and the other 2 people get it wrong.
Chico: Marissa bets $2000 and loses. Tom bets the farm... and loses...
Gordon: Nooooooo Tom! Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
Chico: Chris bets $9001... and loses. Spoiler spoils with the spoilness.
Gordon: We have tome terrible betting here.
Chico: Awful AWFUL betting.
Jason: BAD BAD BAD
Gordon: What was the final scores?

Tom: $1.
Chris: $5599.
New champion Marissa.... $6000.

Chico: Tom leaves with $236,000-plus.
Gordon: Ok. This is awful. Big Bored, please?

Gordon: Subject: How NOT to be a 9 day champion. First of all, Marissa should have bet $800 and walked off with $1,200 more dollars.
Chico: Right.
Gordon: Second of all, if Tom only bet to cover Chris he would have been at $7,399. More importantly, he would STILL BE CHAMPION. Finally, if Chris bet smart, he's at $8,799 and CHRIS is the champion.
Chico: So everyone just played this all outta whack.
Gordon: So the only person who bet sort of smart is Marissa, and it should have been $800.
Chico: No MVP for you?
Gordon: No. Do we have the lump of coal award?
Chico: We have the Dirty Flokati Rug.
Gordon: Please present the Dirty Flokati Rug Award.



Chico: Quick bonus before we move on.



Chico: The Watson Challenge is set. Jeopardy! supercomputer versus the two best players in Jeopardy! history; Uberchampion Ken Jennings and the Ultimate Champion Brad Rutter.
Jason: This is DROOL city for me and fans.
Chico: Three days in February for $1 million.
Gordon: This should be fun. But I'm going to be interested in how the questions are written. Will they be straight forward facts or will there be the usual clever clues?
Gordon: Will there be before and afters, or anagrams in the clues, like normal? Or will it be stilted towards Watson?
Chico: We're going to have to wait and see on this.
Jason: This is as much of a challenge for the writers as for Jennings/Rutter. You know there will be some people say that the computer isn't real. The same people who said Jennings cheated, et al. Meh.
Chico: You know what we call them? JADED!
Gordon: So maybe Neil Patrick Harris is hiding inside Watson?
Chico: You'd so love that.
Jason: That would be funny.
Chico: He needs a show, y'all =p
Jason: That would be...LEGENDARY.
Chico: Speaking of legendary, that's what the Million Dollar Money Drop was SUPPOSED TO BE. It was supposed to mirror the success of the original British show. But then something happened... It went on the air.
Gordon: You know, I tried for MONTHS to tell you how much I hated the show and how much of a disaster it would be if it hit the U.S. shores, did I not?
Jason: You did.
Chico: I hate it when Gordon is right.
Gordon: But thanks for the credit. :) As for the game, nothing works here. NOTHING. Let's start at the beginning.
Chico: Starting at the beginning. I give you $1 million cash money.
Jason: BYE! (Snatches the money and runs off)
Chico: You get your behind back here.
Jason: LOL Ok (Comes back)
Chico: I give you $1 mill, you have to bet each and every penny on each and every question. You MUST leave one drop blank. If you know the answer, you can go all-in. OR you can spread the money around and hedge your bets.
Jason: Like Duel
Chico: Only Greenie was a kickass host. Kevin Pollak... not so much.
Gordon: Even before we get to the host, lets start at the BEGINNING. When you're watching TV, what's the most climactic part of the show?
Chico: The reveal.
Jason: The reveal
Chico: The really botch the reveal here.
Gordon: Not just the reveal. The climax at the end. Did you win the million dollars?????
Chico: It's not like "Okay, are you going to keep the money you have on that answer or is it game over", it's more like "Okay, you're on to the next question... but how much is going away". No.
Jason: It's ASS BACKWARDS
Chico: You win a million, but you sure aren't going to keep all of it.
Gordon: So for arguments sake, during the week, one team lost everything but $80,000 at the 30 minute mark, so we see one of the smallest amount of money you can win for half the show. It's like being stuck at a Deal or No Deal board and the most you can win is $500 with 10 cases to open.
Chico: Whoopee. That brings me to... the PLAYERS. They must've hammered the point home to play on your uncertainties. Because they annoyed the crap out of me with that.
Gordon: The contestants are annoying and they felt like they were acting.
Chico: It's become commonplace to put people on TV that don't know what the hell they're doing.
Jason: The era of my type of contestant is DEAD and buried.
Gordon: Pretty much, and that's annoying. What's even more annoying - the pacing of the show. Can we be possibly any slower to try to fill an hour with 7 questions?
Chico: Sure we can. Draw out the reveal, have Kevin reiterate key points...
Gordon: And you know when a team will fail when they REALLY slow it down. I HATE self-contained episodes. It kills a game and reveals the ending at the same time.
Chico: The game copies directly every customary big money game show cliché over the last 15 years.
Jason: The xerox fumes nearly killed me.
Chico: And it does so horribly.
Jason: Including getting questions horribly wrong. Because the producers think we are a bunch of brain dead idiots and won't come back. The reason why a show like Millionaire worked back in the day because the drama WAS REAL. All these shows feel FAKE.
Chico: And you have 60 seconds to move money. I don't know about you, but there's a time to talk and a time to move money.
Gordon: When you recruit actors, that's what you're going to get.
Chico: Yup. And then you put up Greed-level ambiguity questions, one of which gets a couple into the spotlight... for all the wrong reasons.
Gordon: It doesn't seem like you have enough time to move the money at all.
Chico: You just wanna say "I'm trying to move the money, baby. You can talk my ear off or you can help me. I'm moving money."
Gordon: And how bad is it when you get a question in the FIRST EPISODE wrong?
Chico: You want to see the question, don't you?
Gordon: I do.
Chico: This was Question 5 on Gabe Okoye and Brittany Mayti's stack with $880 on the line.

Q5: Which of these was sold in stores first?

A: Macintosh Computer
B: Sony Walkman
C: Post-It Notes

Chico: The answer, as given... was B. They bet $80K on B, $800K on C. Imagine the shock when C dropped.
Gordon: They had this on Let's Make a Deal and Let's Make a Deal was RIGHT. It WAS Post-It Notes.
Chico: Right on. But here's the thing. It just said "sold in stores first".
Jason: Ah, ambiguity :)
Chico: You know, you could add one word and this would've been the biggest non-story EVER. "NATIONALLY"
Gordon: Ambiguity in questions kills.
Chico: Think back to the Money List or The Rich List... I know G doesn't want to, but you remember Fred Roggin going in EXCRUCIATING detail about what they were looking for. That's called running a tight ship. You must, and take note if you are an aspiring question setter... you must write a question that eliminates all but the correct response without a shadow of a reasonable doubt.
Gordon: Right. You never had an issue there.
Chico: After first denying such a thing.
Jason: That's majorly bad form.
Chico: Then someone went directly TO the guy who invented Post-Its, and they basically said... couple is right, Fox is wrong.
Gordon: So the story is that FOX has decided to reinvite Gabe and Brittany back to finish their game.
Chico: So they basically about face when the egg is already there.
Gordon: Hence the invite from FOX
Chico: Exactly. "I'm Fox! We researched this question thoroughly!" umm... noyadin't.
Gordon: They researched it from the Our Little Geniuses R&D Team.
Jason: You went there. Good. :)
Chico: Ha.
Jason: Gordon, you have been on the production side of things...what's the number one thing you taught about research?
Gordon: TRIPLE check the answer and make sure you have more than 1 correct source.
Chico: The rule of thumb in journalism is 3. I'm not a journalist, but that's what I've heard.
Jason: And don't let it be just Wikipedia
Chico: Some of my best friends are journalists (and also reasons why I will NEVER be on J!. =p)

	MILLION DOLLAR MONEY DROP Fox - 9p ET Tuesdays
	GORDON	CHICO	JASON	AVERAGE-O-MATIC
	F	F	F YOU	EPIC FAIL

Gordon: So to those people who said that I was exaggerating and the show couldn't possibly be that bad....wrong. It was worse. F.
Jason: I give it an F just for the failure of the question
Chico: This fails. On every level possible. I mean, the game was simple, and you even managed to screw THAT up. I have to F you for that.
Jason: But if you can (^_^) up a show on the first episode. F that. And F You.
Chico: That's the new low-mark. A, B, C, D, F, F-, and "F you."
Gordon: So between this and Bridalplasty, we have 2 late entries for worst game of the year. Eve! Stop that!
Jason: What? What's she doing?
Gordon: She's got the million dollar BrainVision Drop with hamsters, wooden planks with trap doors and buckets filled with water.
Chico: At least we choose to believe that that is water.
Gordon: Meanwhile Chairman is on a plank and Gordon Jr. is kicking the latch...stop it Gor...

(sploosh)

Gordon: Hey Chico, your hammy doesn't need a bath tonight.
Chico: Again... we choose to believe... that that is water.
Gordon: (Smells Chairman) it's water.
Chico: Okay, we're good.
Gordon: 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: Again, once again, Doug Morris, the Voice of Brainvision News. First up... I have my festive holiday baseball bat, which is nothing more than a regular bat with LEDs on, because we're green like that. Remember back in the summer, when a California jury told ABC to pay Celador $319 million cash money?
Jason: Oh yeah.
Chico: Basically said "Pay the money, smalls." Smalls said, "Nuh uh, we'll appeal."

This week, an appellate court judge have issued a 54-page final order saying... "SERIOUSLY, DUDE... PAY THE MONEY, SMALLS."

Gordon: Smalls better pay up. Maybe they have a Green Light that they can make future monies from?
Chico: They don't. But Mark Burnett does.

Mark Burnett and NBC are looking for.... "The Voice".

Jason: OK
Chico: It's basically like "The X Factor" except that your first audition is a blind audition. So people like us who are sexy.. but apparently not TV sexy... they get equal footing.
Gordon: Maybe, Or it could be a gimmick show to try to compete against a now vulnerable Idol and a coming to the shores X-Factor.
Chico: Well, it's done rather well against Idol/X Factor shows in other countries. Only time will tell if the US follows suit.
Jason: Execution will be the key...as always
Chico: Meanwhile, you can try your hand at it at NBCTheVoice.com Hold on *brings in red couch* There, that's better.
Gordon: There you go. So let's mix it up this week. Play me some Luda.
Chico: *plays "Pimpin' All Over the World"*

In this week's Media Ho Report, Romber celebrate baby #2, Simon Cowell gets knighted, Vernon Kay wants to do more shws in the U.S.a. (yeah, good lkuck there)...

Chico: Let's see... what are the chances that Million Dollar mindgame gets played? I'll go with slim to none there.

Meatloaf and Gary Busey get physical on The Celebrity Apprentice tapings, Nick Cannon and Mariah Carey have twins, and Lee DeWyze talks about the stigma of being an American Idol champion.

Gordon: But none of them are your ho of the week.
Jason: Who is the last ho of 2010?
Gordon: The last ho is Bret Michaels, who FINALLY says 'I Do' to his on again, off-again, on-again girlfriend for the past SIXTEEN YEARS.
Jason: Good for him!
Chico: Yay. Leave it to a life crisis to put everything in perspective.
Gordon: So that means for all of you women who went auditioned or were on 3 Rock of Love shows to try to be the Mrs. Bret Michaelks - or the millions of fans who beleieved in the whole charade, I have one word for all of you: SUCKERS!
Jason: (standing Ovation)
Chico: Yay.
Gordon: And those...are your hoes.
Jason: (shutting down)
Gordon: Um...no reason to shut down yet, Jay.
Jason: (restarts the choppler)
Chico: I still have to fully load this.
Jason: Sorry
-Chico: You know that the Choppler is a (^_^) and a half to restart.
Jason: Yeah I know. But I know the code (kick) Like that
Chico: Ah.

You heard in the Ho Report about Vernon Kay wanting to take his game stateside. Guess which show's going by the wayside so he can do so... If you said "The Whole 19 Yards", Gordon has your prize.

Gordon: It's coming February 32nd, 20never.
Chico: Now that's the company line, but if I may say so, it's a very expensive show to produce, the Whole 19 Yards.. and it's been stinking up the UK charts six ways from Sunday.
Gordon: Which meant that it wound up being in this guy's Christmas Stocking.



Chico: Up on the house top brain deer falls...
Gordon: I personally like 'I Found the Brains of Santa Claus'. I also like dumb people.
Jason: I bet :)
Chico: Now find fault in the world and correct it.

Are YOU Smarter than...the Research and Development staff at The Million Dollar Money Drop, for making news for the WRONG reasons.

Jason: (applause again) Hit 'em again.
Gordon: It could be an $880,000 blunder. And if you do want publicity for your TV show, it's not because the staff is incompetent.
Jason: J! literally has the writers and researchers watching the show and fixing mistakes within seconds.
Chico: Right on. And anytime they make a mistake on Millionaire... it's back to the war room. Ask David Honea.
Gordon: Heck when we did the pilot show, we were following the news and we had to change a question an hour before showtime because the info changed from right to wrong during that span. You MUST be on top of your material at ALL times.
Chico: That's right. Any trivia show worth its salt has mechanisms in play to ensure fairness and accuracy. And no, a page with an iPad doesn't count.
Gordon: Right. and we can celebrate this blunder with some haterade.
Chico: Yay
Jason: I got a new mug! (puts it down)

Get one with Crystal Bowersox face on it, as she sells...58,000 units of her CD. Sure that beats Lee DeWyze, but she's the 3rd worst 2nd place finisher, narrowly getting past Justin Guarini's 57,000 and Diana DeGarmo's 47,000. And comparatively, their first and second placed totals (87,000) are easily the WORST in ANY season of Idol. No one comes even close to that mark.

Jason: And Idol is WOUNDED. Don't forget that.
Chico: Can we say Worst Season Ever now?
Gordon: In terms of sales? Yes. IN terms of talent....yes.
Chico: Used to be that you could actually make a career out of this show, now you'll be lucky to go two singles without needing some backup from someone even more famous than you are. Kris Allen.
Jason: Jordin Sparks
Chico: Tell me how I'm supposed to live like we're dying with no air? Jokes write themselves this week. Okay, let's get loaded.
Jason: (HIC)
Gordon: Fart
Chico: Jason, you just got an iPod touch.
Jason: Well I have one for about a year, but yeah

You know you could get The Amazing Race on your iPod touch?

Jason: NO! the game?
Chico: The game. Amazing Race. The Game. (insert name of device here). You know it. You love it. Now play it.
Jason: How much?
Chico: iPhone and iPod touch, $2.99. iPad, $4.99.
Jason: Nice
Gordon: Nice. And you can use it for dates.
Jason: Dates?
Gordon: As in Datebook.
Chico: Ah. That's why "AVOID! AVOID!" is written by January 2.

January 2 : Worst Cooks in America and Iron Chef America. January 3: The Bachelor (Chico's Faaaaaavorite Show), January 4: The Biggest Loser, Season 11, and Live to Dance, January 7: Your Own Show from Oprah.

Chico: Live to Dance... big gamble on CBS' part. It's either going to pay off handsomely or blow up in their faces.
Gordon: And that's Brainvision. Shut it Down.
Chico: (shutting it down)
Gordon: When we come back, we finish off 2010 with plungers and toilets.
Chico: It's Push or Flush time. Grab your air fresheners.

(Brought to you today by the Million Dollar Contestant Drop. You have a team of loudmouth doubters that you want to drop down a trap door? We have the answers for just that purpose! It's a lot more entertaining that way.)

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