Episode 28.16 - 2011 Year in Review
December 26

Jason: LOL
Gordon: Welcome back to our Year End in Review
Chico: Thanks for being a part of our year and allowing our year to be a part of you. We'll start things off right now with... It's BRENCHEL II, Y'all!

JULY

Jason: WHO WANTS TO SEE MY PARTY ROOM?
Chico: Rachel Reilly's boobs knocked off my computer. Thanks, Block.
Gordon: We start with them once again plaguing our screens on Big Brother. This time, they get some gold as Rachel wins the $500,000.
Chico: That would not prove to be enough as they start infiltrating the CBS schedule.
Jason: And she got the win because of people like Lawon and his super powers.
Chico: Well, let's be honest here. We weren't dealing with a full deck of houseguests on big Brother to begin with. We have Creepy Keith, more than one bouncer, Lawon and his superpowers...
Jason: Porsche and her assets
Chico: And players who played with their hearts and not their brains.
Gordon: And no one really played the game that well this season. The idea was to make friends with BOTH newbies AND houseguests, and instead we had a season of polarization.
Chico: Newbies? "Vets suck!" Vets? "Newbies suck!"
Jason: Neener-Neener.
Chico: Just made it a pain to watch. Evel Dick probably saw the writing on this wall and said... "Yeah, I'm gonna go."
Gordon: And he left. We did have Sunday Best returning, which was a nice melodic relief from the cacophonous BB house
Jason: Yes. :)
Chico: Then we had a tale of two shows... One show that was really good, but probably won't be back, and one show that really sucked that returned TWICE. The former was Discovery's "One Man Army", which tested contestant's strength, speed, and intelligence skills.
Jason: That was a MANLY show which I liked it a lot.
Gordon: I liked it, but the audience didn't as they sent it to one man purgatory.
Chico: As for the other show... Sweet Home Alabama.
Jason: Yeah about that....
Chico: Overstayed its welcome, and CMT decided to renew it anyway. TWICE.
Gordon: Cheap to produce > middling ratings. We also had Design Star, One Man Army, and News of the World being accused of phone hacking. This may or may not be a factor of Piers Morgan leaving AGT, as he claims to want to spend more time on his failing talk show. However, if he was a part of it, and now signs are showing that he is, its going to be really hard to judge anyone from a jail cell.
Chico: Nope.
Gordon: We also had return trips to Hell's Kitchen and a singular voyage for Its Worth WHAT? In this case , it wasn't worth a renewal.
Chico: Which gave us the phrase, "Are you Sure? Are you SURE sure?" Apparently all the hosting talent of the Original Kings of Comedy went to Steve Harvey.
Jason: And it was a bad game to begin with.
Gordon: We also get Project Runway and Ninja Warrior, with the final being broadcast on NB...and everyone failing.
Chico: I betcha Levi Meeuwenberg would've completed it if he wasn't injured.
Gordon: Could've, would've, didnt.
Chico: thanks, Jumpcity.
Gordon: Let's move on to ...AUGUST



Chico: ... "AUGUST", not "Augustus".
Jason: Exactly.

AUGUST

Chico: But while we're on Zombies. The first new show of the month was Scream If You Know The Answer.
Jason: Basically Brainrush for adults.
Chico: Lasted one show, then was pulled, then returned to Saturday mornings, and then was pulled again.
Gordon: Speaking of bad, we have Take the Money and Run, Born to Dance, and The Ultimate Merger, Season 2: TOCCARA.
Chico: Which was about as brainless as the subject.
Jason: About take the money and run...I SO wanted to like that show.
Gordon: and if you wanted more, we had Top Shot Season 3, The Great Food Truck Race, Season 2, Bachelor Pad Season 2, and arguably the worst talent show ever, Karaoke Battle, USA
Chico: Well, the talent there was top notch. It was proven as such later in the year, but the judges, though I'm like, seriously? Honestly, ABC? This is the best you could come up with?
Gordon: And if you wanted to be tortured some more, we had Ton of Cash
Jason: One of THE worst shows of 2011.
Gordon: as well as Top Chef: Just Desserts, which wasn't as bad as Ton of Cash, and Baggage: First Dates, not to mention seaons 2 of Family Game Night and All-American Handyman
Jason: I <3 me some family game night
Chico: But that's not all the Hub gave us as we fall into...

(plays EWF's "September")

SEPTEMBER

Chico: The Hub continues to roll out games as we see Scrabble Showdown (with Justin Willman... again), The Game of Life (with our good friend Frank Nicotero) and Majors & Minors (with convicted murderer Brandy as a mentor). Happy, Jason? :-)
Jason: Yes, Thank you :)
Chico: Not a problem. Then there's the next challenger to talent show supremacy - Simon Cowell's "The X Factor" finally plays on American TV. It did get a few things right, but it got more things wrong than right. There's a host who overdoes it, a judge that underdoes it, and contestants who are just trying to survive it all.
Jason: Bye Nicole :)
Chico: Ultimately, America got it right. We'll talk about that later. Trying to survive in the shuffle, season 3 of The Sing-Off, complete with a judge who "got it." Unfortunately, the show didn't get ratings on Mondays in the regular season and will probably return to being an offseason favorite ... if it returns at all.
Gordon: This is a show that had to stay in the Summer.
Chico: But again, America got that one right as Pentatonix takes the crown. As it is, Sing-Off for me earns the award of "Best Show You're Not Watching". Thanks, NBC.
Jason: Right on Chico.
Gordon: That they got right. All the syndie shows come back and Family Feud gets a nice renewal on their strong return.
Chico: THREE years worth of renewal, G.
Jason: I was glad to be proven wrong with Steve Harvey.
Chico: We've never been so happy to be so wrong. This is Steve Harvey's world, we're just Feudin' in it. And with the fall comes a new show from Michael Davies and MTV. Jon Gabrus, a friend of Gordon's, is... THE SUBSTITUTE.
Jason: It may not be a hard quiz...but for the market, and audience. The substitute works :)
Chico: Easily one of the best new shows of 2011.
Gordon: It is. Also showing up in September: Survivor: South Pacific, where once again we see the Social Game trumps all.
Chico: Agreed.
Jason: And we have the season premiere of The Price is Right, with someone winning FOUR CARS in Race Game.
Chico: It's the epic 40th anniversary season of The Price Is Right, and I can honestly say that the show has NEVER been better. A couple of haters out there will disagree... but never mind them.
Jason: Combined with the Season 3 premiere of LMAD (which is still growing), and CBS is in like flint.
Chico: So far on the show, we've given away $4.25 million in prizes and TWO Double Showcases. Wow.
Gordon: Dancing With the Stars latest season also debuted, as I nail the winner. Again.
Chico: Good for you. The biggest shakeup, though... Amy Introcaso-Davis being installed at GSN. She's the new programming head, and she starts making moves, some of which make sense, others... well, the jury's out on that. She blocks off the primetime schedule to run marathons of big money on Mondays, throwbacks on Fridays, a temporary return of Black & White Overnight...
Gordon: The biggest move they need to make is to get enough hits to be put back on the basic tier. A lack of new shows won't do that.
Chico: On Cablevision, yes. Maybe... MAYBE... reruns of Dancing with the Stars will do that... (no chance)
Gordon: Um...not a chance.
Jason: Less than a chance.
Chico: Landau Eugene Murphy wins America's Got Talent in a HIGHLY COMPETITIVE field.
Jason: I spoke my piece about this before.
Chico: No one will argue that the Silhouettes were favored, but when push comes to shove, you go with the singer.
Gordon: Quite simply, the acts didn't do enough to show they should be in Vegas, while Landau did. Case closed.
Jason: No...you LAZILY go with the singer. Awww...he was homeless.
Gordon: I'll agree with Jason - on a different show.
Jason: Oh really?
Gordon: We will get to that later. Right now we go to...October.

OCTOBER

Gordon: And you know when Chico was saying that The Sing-Off was the best game show no one was watching? I'll differ here.
Chico: Differ away.
Gordon: The MILLION DOLLAR MIND GAME is the best show that no one is watching,
Chico: Nah, that's the year's best show PERIOD. ABC shelved this for a year, and after watching, I really don't see why they did. I mean, it's a VERY WELL put together show. Then again, it's ABC we're talking about.
Jason: I LOVED this show.
Gordon: Great show. If only they got rid of self-contained episodes, it would have been the best show, period, for me.
Chico: Probably didn't match up with the target demo.
Gordon: If I was ABC, I post this up in December against Who's Still Sucking.
Chico: Probably too cerebral for the Bachelor crowd.
Gordon: Yes, but so what? there's enough smart people in the U.S. for this show to succeed.
Jason: ABC...if you are reading this...people want this.
Chico: I'm ready for more brain twisting action! One thing we're not ready for... Anna Kournikova, the fitness trainer. She goes on The Biggest Loser and adds NOTHING to the party.
Gordon: Very pretty, rarely wins, and one and done on The Biggest Loser. For shows less cerebral, we have Work of Art, Protagonistas, and Make Your Mark: Ultimate Dance Off, not to mention Halloween Wars, a show that makes the contestants on The Biggest Loser doomed to fail.
Chico: Yup.
Jason: And The Next Iron Chef: Super Chefs premiered at the end of October.
Gordon: With a predictable winner
Chico: With Geoffrey Zakarian appointed to the mantle of Iron Chef. Predictable? Yes.
Jason: Big time.
Chico: And if I may add... I haven't been this disappointed in an Iron Chef since Chen Kenichi.
Jason: He is about as boring as Vanilla to me
Gordon: The food better have more personality than he does. Shall we move on?
Chico: We shall...

NOVEMBER

Chico: Sweet Home Alabama returns. Yeah. Chris Paul was on the Feud. But the premiere to watch out for - Chris Harrison's return to a pure-form game show in "You Deserve It", which was a good format enrobed in forced sugary sweetness.
Gordon: Fear was a Factor for NBC. You Deserve it...notsomuch.
Chico: No.
Jason: Nope.
Chico: Another show we loved is ready for a new face again. Over the last year, Jeff Stelling was waffling on whether he was going to return to Countdown.
Gordon: Then the decision was made for him
Jason: Oops.
Chico: Enter Nick Hewer, who was named the new host. He'll start on January 9. Speaking of unceremonial endings, Piers Morgan leaves AGT to concentrate on his CNN Series...
Jason: Or avoid the negative publicity of his hacking scandal
Chico: Or something.
Gordon: And we say goodbye to Robertos and Ali's relationship. Aw. And now we move to...December

DECEMBER

Chico: The premiere of Fear Factor that dominated the headlines for about a week. The week before, we see the premiere of Would You Rather...? which is more like a parlor game than a game show, but it's still funny as hell for a drunken Saturday night.
Gordon: If you have nothing better to do and are drunk for a Saturday night, why not?
Jason: Exactly.
Chico: Then a couple of shakeups. First one came from nowhere... actually, it came from Facebook. Namely, the Facebook of "America's Next Top Model".
Jason: Yeah...if you win...SHUT IT.
Chico: I put that in quotes, because she said she won before the finale.
Gordon: And then she didn't win
Chico: Because of what she did. Lesson learned, watch the social networking whilst on a reality contest. Ernie & Cindy watched each other and didn't spoil the outcome on THEIR page. They got to keep every cent of their Amazing Race money. Of course Uncle Sam will have the final say on that one, but hey, enjoy the victory.
Jason: YUP :)
Gordon: And that brings us to...this week.
Chico: Which we'll go over in detail with three debuts, two champions, and a Sophie in a tree.
Gordon: Which we will get to...after he break
Chico: You're reading the Year in Review show. You give us 22 minutes, we'll give you 365 days of sheer AWESOME.
Jason: I cant wait.

(Brought to you by America's Best Lawn Decorations. You know those neighbors who do those wild and wacky lawn decorations, right? Well let's make a game show for them, because they obviously have time on their hands.)

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