http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=CBS&view=playlists
Look at that list; Full Seasons of Star Trek: The Original Series (Seasons 1-3), MacGyver, and Jericho.
CBS is using YouTube in ways the other major networks aren’t. CBS gets what the future is about; adapting your content to a new model of delivery, not forcing the old model on your customers. CBS rules.
… is currently available, for free, on YouTube…
And, most noteworthy, is being provided by CBS, which makes this offering 100% legal.
Wipeout: This isn’t the late 80’s syndicated show hosted by Peter Tomarken. It’s much, much different.
For anyone who’s seen Spike TV’s Most Extreme Elimination Challenge (a.k.a. Takeshi’s Castle from Japan), Wipeout is pretty much exactly like MxC, except American. Every event involves a pool and contestants falling in said pool. The draw of the show is pretty much the same as MxC; people falling into water and getting hit in uncomfortable places is a never ending source of entertainment. The commentators (ESPN’s John Anderson and Talk Soup’s John Henson) use the same comedic style of ridiculing contestants that Vic Romano and Kenny Blankenship do. Recommended if you like MxC.
I Survived a Japanese Gameshow!: I thought this show was going to be standalone episodes, but it’s actually an episodic, reality-style game show (a la Survivor, Amazing Race, etc.) The format is disappointingly formulaic; 2 teams compete on Majide, a Japanese game show (created just for ISaJG? Not sure.) and play in a Japanese-gameshow-type challenge (in the first episode, the challenge was for one team member to eat ball-shaped Japanese food (if I was taking notes, I’d say specifically what food it was) delivered to them on pans attached to other team member’s hats. The players wearing the hats, however, have to run down a treadmill to get to the ball eater. And the ball eater can’t use his hands. And once the eater gets the ball in his mouth, he hits a button to signal the runner that he/she has to fall, taking him/her down the treadmill into a sand pit. Get all that?). The losing must complete a punishment while the winning team gets a reward (Hell’s Kitchen wants their format back). and afterwards, the losing team nominates two people within their team (Hell’s Kitchen called again, it’s still kinda pissed) to play in an elimination game where the loser leaves the game. Also shown are the contestant’s living space and their apartment… manager (?) Mama-san. She bosses them around, telling them about the “no-shoes-in-the-house” rule prevalent in Japan, among other things.
I don’t see this series lasting a season. The only thing that sets this show apart from others is the Japanese elements. Not recommended for casual viewers.
As a fan of Password, I was hopeful when CBS announced it would be bringing back the popular game show franchise as Million Dollar Password. However, I was also concerned that the powers-that-be would also find a way to make it fail, and that the show was going to be more about the celebrities and host Regis Philbin than the gameplay and the contestants.
After watching the premiere on Sunday night, I’m happy to say I’m not disappointed. The gameplay was quick, concise, simple and easy-to-follow. Celebrity partners Rachel Ray and Neil Patrick Harris were surprisingly competent when it came to giving and receiving clues, and Regis kept his dialogue mostly to the game.
I read about the format a few weeks before the show aired, and I was skeptical since it’s completely different from the previous 2 versions of Password (Password Plus and Super Password) in that the main game is not the 5-word password puzzle. Regardless, I do like the new format, as the old format would be too slow to attract and keep viewers nowadays (why do I feel like an old fogy using the word “nowadays”?)
As always, when I watch game shows, I like to yell at the TV when players make terrible decisions. The second guy to play for the money decided to risk his $100,000 for $250,000 after seeing what the first 5 words would be. I expected him to get the first 4, but the 5th word, “corner”, would be too risky, and without knowing the 6th and final word, I told the TV that he should take the $100K. Of course, he got the first 4, missed corner, and had to get Neil Patrick Harris to say “fiasco” using only 3 clues in 40 seconds. Of course, he didn’t get it, like I thought he would. He left with a measly $25,000. What a jerk.
So yes. Million Dollar Password is the goods.
In what could only be described as the Survivor version of The Amazing Race’s “killer fatigue”, Erik, who shocked everyone weeks ago by avoiding elimination at the hands of Amanda, Cirie, Ami and Ozzy just before the merge, handed over individual immunity to another contestant hoping that he would be “redeemed” in the eyes of the jury. What he may have failed to realize, is that by doing so, he LOSES IMMUNITY. So, no longer does the jury’s opinion of him matter, because he’s now one of them. Props to the 4 remaining ladies for somehow convincing him he needed to give up immunity to have a shot at winning (in other words, “In order to win the game, you need to quit the game”), but big slops to Erik for being dumb enough to actually do it.
If it wasn’t for the whole “living in the jungle for 39 days”-thing, I’d want to be on Survivor just to show that I wouldn’t make stupid mistakes like this.
I don’t care if barely anyone watches this show, it’s fantastic.
I’ve never felt more angry at evil henchmen than I do for Ravenwood. And it’s not often I’m genuinely sad for characters’ deaths and injuries on TV shows, but this episode was really powerful.
So, of course, the show’s gonna get canceled again after the next 3 episodes air. But, hey, at least we can see people singing songs next week! Everyone LOVES singing shows!!!!!!111
It looked goofy in previews.
It was far more goofy than I would’ve imagined.
It can be best described as Family Double Dare, except without the questions, and more elaborate physical challenges. And no Obstacle Course (boooooooooo).
The final elimination event was the wackiest of them all. One family was stationed at a turret that shoots gray, Nerf-like darts, and they had to shoot at window-targets worth either 100 or 500 points, and the opposing team’s dad had to block the shots with a tennis racket and a frying pan while wearing a catcher’s chest protector and face mask.
Note to self: get a TV Tuner card installed on PC so I can screencap shit like this and post appropriate pictures.
Oh, Mark Burnett. They all can’t be Survivor.
Horrible excuse for a game show.
I liked Mark L. Walberg from Russian Roulette (never saw Tempation Island though) and his performance is ok in this game, but the “game” is incredibly stupid for a television show. It feels like I’m watching a job interview.
Things are really heating up.
What I liked about this episode:
What I didn’t like about the episode:
What I feel “eh” about.
This show, despite the pre-determined, adult-designed structure, has just turned a corner; it is now becoming a teenage dystopia, not unlike Lord of the Flies (Kid Nation, however, won’t have the boys repeatedly thrusting phallic-like-spears into a sow [omg spoilerz]). The town has lost 2 reward challenges, and unless the new council can step up and lead their teams to a new reward, I’m fully expecting another election sooner than later.
(P.S. Isn’t it sad that I can write this much about Kid Nation, yet I haven’t seen past episode 1 of this season’s Survivor? They’re pretty much the same show, sans the players’ age differences.)