S02.E01: Party Boys vs Game Night Girls

[Actionmage]

Celebrity players: Jason Alexander, Lester Holt, Martin Short, Julie Bowen, Beth Behrs, Valerie Bertinelli

 

I missed this when it originally aired and I am mostly sad! If you could FF through Martin Short's antics, you'd still have a fun game. Poor Eugene, though. I liked him okay and thought he was alright. He had the bad luck of that certain teammate.

 

Julie Bowen? Love her after this, at least as a teammate/contestant. She seemed to be reined-in more in a later episode. IDK.

 

Lester Holt's 'Boomshakalaka' was great and a rare bit of obvious excitement from him. (Part of me wants a team of Lester, Martha Stewart and Tim Gunn sometime!)

 

Jennifer got to save her own bacon during Smash The Buzzer! I couldn't tell if Jason 'let' Jennifer answer or if he'd actually forgotten the movie. He's supposed to be a big Trek fan, so I wonder about these things.

 

Beth Behrs was okay, but maybe one more trip to the couch is needed? She was very team-spirited and pulling for her civilian. She also made sure to not sit next to Mr. Short for Celebrity Name Game. (Seriously, either tranq darts or tasers for him. Poor Julie Bowen, even if she wasn't offended, it seemed... let's go with  awkward.)

 

Show Me The Music's best bad guesses, imo? "Penis!" (Man In The Mirror) and "Armpit!" (Wing Beneath My Wings) It was pure delightful inanity and, to me, one of the funniest rounds of the night! Yet, the passing? Yikes! You kids get off my lawn while I look for my walker! (Though, the way Jennifer, the ladies' captain, ended her set of songs answered a question I've had about answering. So it was informative too.)

 

The games with topics/themes seemed pretty even. In Timeline, Cher and Nicolas Cage truly have had many different looks and styles. As to Off The Top Of Your Head, both MacDonald's and Starbucks are pretty ubiquitous currently. Still, with the way Mr. Short wasted time and gave up even trying to do anything to help his civilian, you could say that  Eugene was screwed (buh duh duh DUM!) by a celebrity! (Duh duh duh!)

 

I didn't know what to expect with Valerie , but man! That was exciting with only one pass! (George Lucas)  Also, Blessings In A Backpack sounds like a wonderful cause/charity, so good for them!

 

Overall, it's a fun hour, but dvr it for maximum enjoyment, if you can.

 

(PS Mods: I went to TVDB and they had nothing to port over for this episode other than original airdate.)

Edited August 1, 2014 by Actionmage

[suedehead]

The second I saw this was a rerun of the Martin Short episode,  I turned the channel.  

[teebax]

The second I saw this was a rerun of the Martin Short episode,  I turned the channel.  

Me too. When it first aired, I was so pissed at him for not even giving a shit about his contestant. The "normals" are trying to win a game, for crying out loud. A part of me even felt sorry for Martin Short because I was embarrassed for him. There's no way I could watch that one again!

[Kromm]

Me too. When it first aired, I was so pissed at him for not even giving a shit about his contestant. The "normals" are trying to win a game, for crying out loud. A part of me even felt sorry for Martin Short because I was embarrassed for him. There's no way I could watch that one again!

I used to like him so much, but a little age really turned him into a dick, didn't it?  Or maybe he always was and just hid it better.  

 

"Look at me!" celebs (especially comics/comedians) always toe a fine line inherently.  The ones where it works have to be really sharp and self-aware, and ultimately they have to be their own biggest targets.  A person practically begging the audience to listen/look at him to the exclusion of whatever else is going on has to make it clear they are being a fool--a figure to be mocked.  That's why it worked in the Medieval times with Jesters, and that's the only way it still really works.  If you can't stomach that and want to instead try some more arrogant version of "look at me", then you should retire or be in a different business totally.  Short, if he ever knew this, seems to have forgotten it (and also that even a Fool knows there's a time and place).  

[FadingRose]

I didn't see this episode when it first aired and I actually didn't mind it too much.  Reading the message boards, it was pretty clear Martin Short was going to be too much, but I just kind of tuned him out.  I still think Leah Remini was way over the top (although I haven't seen the Michael Weatherly episode).  

 

The civilian guy (Eugene?) seemed pretty clueless so even if he somehow made it to the bonus round, I was sure he would have done poorly.  The guys were pretty bad at some of the games.  And for the smash the buzzer game, Jason Alexander & Eugene should have booted the civilian girl (can't remember her name) and left the girl from 2 Broke Girls in the game - I think she would have been easier to beat.

 

Julie Bowen reminded me of her character on Modern Family - crazy competitive and a little scary.

 

As for the bonus round, it was crazy!  The civilian got Justin Bieber out of something along the lines of "he doesn't have to be a bad boy".  Valerie Bertinelli gave really good clues.  

[Taeolas]

Yeah Martin was pretty bad at this overall.

 

But Eugene didn't seem to be very culturally knowing so he probably wouldn't have done well in the final round, even if he had a full team.

 

They really through softballs for the McDonalds clues; Oatmeal, Yoghurt, Apple, Salad, suspiciously 'healthy' words for the Fried Food Restaurant king. 

 

As for the Buzz in game, I suspect that the good (non-Martin Short) Celebrities will mostly try to keep the civilians in the game. If the Civilian makes the choice they can knock the other out, but mostly they might keep the non celebrity in play. Or at least that may have been Jason's real reasoning. He seems chivalrous like that. 

 

Valerie seemed to pick up that Jennifer seemed to know Hollywood relations better than movies/roles so gave those as cluse and it seemed to work. Great guessing in any case.

 

The Music one, that's one way to make you feel old. Wow. I did LOL at guessing "Can't Touch This" for "Don't Stand So Close To Me". Good thing they ran out of time because I doubt they would have recovered to do another clue. 

[MDKNIGHT]

I just saw this as I'm marathoning season 2 On Demand (Never saw season 1).  Just wanted to comment on two things.  One is that Valerie Bartinelli has always seemed intelligent to  me so I wasn't surprised that she did well.  Second I had empathic pain for her when they were doing the Starbuck's challenge and she looked at the 2 Broke Girls chick who had the word "Cream" on her head and gave the clue "Eric Clapton and Ginger Baker" and the blonde just had a blank stare without so much as a flicker of recognition.  I have you know that I know stuff about music (and many other things) from way before I was born so the fact that nobody under 30 seems to know ANYTHING about anything that happened before they were born is tragic.  Valerie course corrected but you can tell that the blonde made her feel old.  (Tangentially in a later ep only Jane and Fred Willard had ever heard of the movie Some Like it Hot.  That is a CRIME.)