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After last week's episode with...

After last week's episode with the reality crew, I was about toss this show into the muck, but this week's renewed my faith like a pair of pocket aces. It epitomized what this show is all about — a bizarre mix of celebs who have good senses of humor and gambling. If I just wanted to watch people playing cards, I'd tune in to the World Series of Poker — OK, I do spend my weekends watching that, too. Anyway the rowdy all-guy crew was made up of Stephen Collins (aka the dad from 7th Heaven), Bryan Cranston (aka the dad from Malcolm in the Middle), Howie Mandel (who is being a Public Nuisance), Peter Dinklage (the star of The Station Agent and that new Threshold series) and Meat Loaf (who is, well, Meat Loaf), and they just call him Meat which cracked me up. Aside from Howie, they all seemed to know how to play the game and could tell when they had a straight or a flush, unlike som

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After last week's episode with the reality crew, I was about toss this show into the muck, but this week's renewed my faith like a pair of pocket aces. It epitomized what this show is all about  a bizarre mix of celebs who have good senses of humor and gambling. If I just wanted to watch people playing cards, I'd tune in to the World Series of Poker OK, I do spend my weekends watching that, too. Anyway the rowdy all-guy crew was made up of Stephen Collins (aka the dad from 7th Heaven), Bryan Cranston (aka the dad from Malcolm in the Middle), Howie Mandel (who is being a Public Nuisance), Peter Dinklage (the star of The Station Agent and that new Threshold series) and Meat Loaf (who is, well, Meat Loaf), and they just call him Meat which cracked me up. Aside from Howie, they all seemed to know how to play the game and could tell when they had a straight or a flush, unlike some of those reality wannabes. Howie occasionally had moments of comprehension that made me think he was just acting like a bad player. Comedians are a confusing lot, and things got weirder when Mandel admitted that he has OCD and is germophobic, thinks that the Boy in the Bubble had a good deal going on, and even brought enough rubber gloves to share.

My favorite line of the night was from goofball Bryan: "I love Meat Loaf, but only on Wednesdays it gives me a little gas." Never underestimate the power of flatulence humor. I think that Stephen may have had God on his side. First he got a queen as a river card and knocked Howie and Meat out in one fell swoop. (Love those rare double eliminations.) Then it turned into my two dads when Peter got pushed out of the pot. Stephen also showed the power of prayer when he went all in and got a straight on the river, which was a total suck out, but kept the game interesting. And then it looked like Bryan was a sure thing (even though he was Phil Gordon's pick, a curse if there ever was one), but the preacher man took home the coveted silver chip and earned his spot in the championship round. I bet he felt like he was in 7th Heaven. Sorry, couldn't resist. AC

Want to know more about the shows coming this fall? We've got video previews, photos, premiere dates right here.