Ben Bailey hosts a disappointing game show on NBC.
Game shows have been around since the dawn of television. Apparently, the first game show, Spelling Bee, began airing in 1938. Throughout the decades, networks and producers have continuously tried to reinvent the wheel, taking the simple question and answer format and tricking it out with all manor of bells and whistles.
While producers fall all over themselves trying to create the latest and greatest in game show gimmickry, they appear to miss the obvious point. People who enjoy game shows — particularly trivia shows — don’t really respond to cheap gimmicks they don’t require elaborate sets and wacky sets of rules.
It’s no surprise that the gold standard of trivia game shows, Jeopardy, is one of the all-time simplest. Three contestants standing at podiums answer questions posed by the host. The only twist — and it hardly even qualifies as a twist — is that the answers have to be given in the form of a question. No gimmicks, no BS.
If it takes more than one sentence to describe the premise of the game show, it’s too complicated. Watch how many sentences it takes for me to describe how NBC’s new gimmicky game show Who’s Still Standing:
A contestant stands on a raised set with a trap door in the middle. Surrounding the contestant is a circle of ten “strangers,” each of them stands atop their own trap door. The contestant in the middle then goes around the circle selecting a “stranger” to compete against. The host gives the contestant and the “stranger” a series of crossword puzzle-style clues. (For example: “B_ _ _ ” is a search engine and Chandler’s last name.) They answer questions until one player gets a wrong answer or runs out of time. If the contestant gets more answers than the stranger, he moves on to the next stranger. Once the contestant defeats all ten strangers, he wins $1,000,000. If the stranger wins, the game is over.
So what was that, like eight sentences? And I bet you’re still kind of confused about the details. Not to mention, I intentionally left out the bit where the contestants drop through the trap doors when they answer a question wrong. Why did I leave that part out? Because it’s idiotic and adds absolutely nothing to the game either from a strategy standpoint or from a viewer enjoyment standpoint.
Who’s Still Standing is hosted by Ben Bailey, who viewers will recognize from the show Cash Cab. Unlike Who’s Still Standing, Cash Cab is a well done game show with a simple, one sentence premise: a cab driver asks contestants trivia questions on the way to their destination. That’s it, no further explanation required. Bailey is an affable, funny host whose considerable talents are wasted on this convoluted mess.
Lingering thoughts on “Country Strong”:
- This is more of a personal pet peeve than a legitimate criticism, but Who’s Still Standing is an example of a game show that encourages the contestants to think out loud (a la Who Wants To Be a Millionaire). For some reason thinking out loud annoys me to no end.
This review originally appeared on TV Geek Army.