I saw your comments last week ...
Question: I saw your
comments last week about
Gameshow Marathon, which seems to appall you. As a big fan of the classic '70s and '80s game shows, I have actually found
Gameshow Marathon to be a guilty pleasure. It does have a couple of major flaws, but if tweaked a little, it could be very enjoyable summer fare. As for its faults, I think having C-list celebrities playing for charity takes any element of suspense out of it. Also,
Ricki Lake is just not a good fit as the host of the games — she obviously knows her stuff, but her voice and style are just soooo annoying. But on the plus side, the faithful re-creations of the classic game-show sets are satisfying in a surreal kind of way. And I really like the concept of the tournament. This could be a fun summer show if it were played with real people (not celebrities) for their own cash and prizes, and if the games themselves had hosts who were more in the traditional host mold. Of course, most of the original hosts are no longer with us, but people like
Todd Newton (already associated with the show),
Ross Shafer or
John O'Hurley would make the games themselves so much more enjoyable. Heck, they could even dust off folks like
Bob Eubanks and
Richard Dawson, who are still with us and would probably love the work, even if just for the camp factor. With some improvements like this, would it be more likely to pass Matt muster?
Answer: Absolutely. I liked this idea when I first heard of it. It was the execution that turned me off. I was also hoping to see more shows like
Password or
Concentration in the mix. This was all just too cheesy for me to bother with during a very busy TV summer.
