possibilities April 17 Share April 17 I think it's very telling that one of the contestants recently said the producers said it's okay if things go off the rails. Whether that's true or just something they said, It sure does seem like they prefer it that way. Basically, they seem to be cultivating a punch drunk aesthetic. I like Taylor a lot, but I agree she often laughs more than I think the situation warrants. 2 1 Link to comment
AnimeMania April 21 Author Share April 21 S01.E47: April 22, 2024 Actress Caitlin Reilly; actress Gillian Jacobs; comic Pete Holmes Premiere Date: April 23, 2024 CBS 12:37am S01.E48: April 23, 2024 Game show host Drew Carey; actor Thomas Lennon; musician Weird Al Yankovic Premiere Date: April 24, 2024 CBS 12:37am S01.E49: April 24, 2024 Comic Lisa Ann Walter; comic Michaela Watkins Premiere Date: April 25, 2024 CBS 12:37am Link to comment
iMonrey April 24 Share April 24 I really like Pete Holmes. I'm not the biggest fan of his stand-up but his last special was actually pretty good, and he's good on this show. I also liked the AI game. I'd like to see them settle on some games that really work and stick to those, as I posted earlier. 3 Link to comment
possibilities April 24 Share April 24 I like the kids drawings game. It's not really worth much as a competition, but it's hilarious anyway. 1 Link to comment
AnimeMania April 24 Author Share April 24 I knew that drawing was of Taylor Tomlinson. Link to comment
Lois Sandborne April 25 Share April 25 The panel of Drew, Thomas Lennon, and Weird Al is going into my Top 3. 5 1 Link to comment
iMonrey April 26 Share April 26 (edited) I dunno, I've always found there to be something vaguely creepy about Thomas Lennon. I get Kevin Spacey vibes from him. I have no idea what Drew's long joke was about, but I wish the comics would refrain from doing stuff that's going to get entirely bleeped out. The occasional swear word is fine, we can figure it out from context, but a whole "bit" that is bleeped so much you have no idea what the joke is goes too far. Edited April 26 by iMonrey Link to comment
possibilities April 26 Share April 26 I wonder if the unbleeped version appears online and it's just the broadcast-on-CBS version that's bleeped? Link to comment
Chyromaniac April 27 Share April 27 I watch the show on Paramount+, and the bleeps are still there. Personally I don’t mind, but I also feel like bleeping can often be funnier than actual profanity, depending on the context. I think it generally works well here. 1 1 Link to comment
AnimeMania April 28 Author Share April 28 S01.E50: April 25, 2024 Comic Moshe Kasher; actor Jason Ritter; comic Chloé Hilliard Premiere Date: April 26, 2024 CBS 12:37am Link to comment
ottoDbusdriver April 30 Share April 30 Catching up on a few episodes from last week -- the April 25 episode was a lot of fun. Jason, Chloé, and Moshe played off each other well. I liked the Unimpressed game. Link to comment
possibilities April 30 Share April 30 They seem to have de-coupled the @midnight and Late Show schedules. Last week, Clbert was off while @midnight was on, and this week it's the reverse. Link to comment
AnimeMania May 5 Author Share May 5 S01.E51: May 6, 2024 Comics Chris Redd, Catherine Cohen and Pat Regan Premiere Date: May 7, 2024 CBS 12:37am S01.E52: May 7, 2024 Comics Mike Birbiglia, Sydnee Washington and Atsuko Okatsuka Premiere Date: May 8, 2024 CBS 12:37am S01.E53: May 8, 2024 TV personality Hannah Berner; actor Brandon Kyle Goodman; comic Heather McMahan Premiere Date: May 9, 2024 CBS 12:37am S01.E54: May 9, 2024 Comic Jessica Kirson; actress Steph Tolev; actor Eddie Pepitone Premiere Date: May 10, 2024 CBS 12:37am Link to comment
SoMuchTV May 5 Share May 5 37 minutes ago, AnimeMania said: S01.E52: May 7, 2024 Comics Mike Birbiglia, Sydnee Washington and Atsuko Okatsuka Premiere Date: May 8, 2024 CBS 12:37am I’ve been a big fan of Mike Birbiglia but he strikes me as more of a storyteller than an improv-er. I’ll be interested to see how he does here. Remind me, was he ever on @? 1 Link to comment
Dewey Decimate May 6 Share May 6 On 4/25/2024 at 9:24 AM, Lois Sandborne said: The panel of Drew, Thomas Lennon, and Weird Al is going into my Top 3. On 4/26/2024 at 4:51 PM, iMonrey said: I dunno, I've always found there to be something vaguely creepy about Thomas Lennon. I get Kevin Spacey vibes from him. Lol, I came on here to confess that I have a crush on TL. (Straight female, for the record.) His book "How to Write Movies for Fun and Profit " with Robert Ben Garant is hilarious. That was my favorite episode so far. Link to comment
ottoDbusdriver May 8 Share May 8 On 5/5/2024 at 7:14 PM, SoMuchTV said: I’ve been a big fan of Mike Birbiglia but he strikes me as more of a storyteller than an improv-er. I’ll be interested to see how he does here. Remind me, was he ever on @? Mike Birbiglia was on @Midnight just once -- on July 28, 2016 alongside Gillian Jacobs and Tami Sagher. Mike was eliminated before FTW. 1 Link to comment
ottoDbusdriver May 8 Share May 8 (edited) Maybe it was just my TV, but Taylor's jacket was so BRIGHT PINK in Tuesday night's episode. ETA: It was my TV, colour was oversaturated and made the pink jacket crazy bright. Edited May 9 by ottoDbusdriver Link to comment
iMonrey May 8 Share May 8 The untangling the cords game was pretty funny, one of the rare instances where the physical games worked. 5 Link to comment
possibilities May 9 Share May 9 Maybe I was just in the right mood, but I also thought it was funny when Chris was passing out the plastic bags to the audience, at the end of the show on Monday. Link to comment
ottoDbusdriver May 9 Share May 9 The untangling cords game was pretty good. And Mike Birbiglia gets eliminated again before FTW. Link to comment
SoMuchTV May 9 Share May 9 On 5/7/2024 at 10:31 PM, ottoDbusdriver said: Mike Birbiglia was on @Midnight just once -- on July 28, 2016 alongside Gillian Jacobs and Tami Sagher. Mike was eliminated before FTW. Well, he’s keeping up his streak. :( Haha, I typed this yesterday and apparently forgot to hit “submit”. Link to comment
iMonrey May 12 Share May 12 Thursday's show was so bad I turned it off after Hashtag Wars. It's the first time I've considered deleting the show from my DVR. When the "comics" are that bad, Taylor's over enthusiastic laughter at everything they say seems ten times more fake. Link to comment
AnimeMania May 13 Author Share May 13 S01.E55: May 13, 2024 Comic Laura Ramoso; comic Johnny Pemberton; actress Michaela Watkins Premiere Date: May 14, 2024 CBS 12:37am S01.E56: May 14, 2024 Comic Bert Kreischer; comic Katherine Blanford; sportscaster Rich Eisen Premiere Date: May 15, 2024 CBS 12:37am S01.E57: May 15, 2024 Comic Colton Dunn; comic Jess McKenna; actress Ana Gasteyer Premiere Date: May 16, 2024 CBS 12:37am S01.E58: May 16, 2024 Comic Bassem Youssef; comic Jay Jurden; comic Todd Barry Premiere Date: May 17, 2024 CBS 12:37am Link to comment
possibilities May 13 Share May 13 Wow-- Bassem Youssef! I didn't even know he's in the USA. https://www.bassemyoussef.xyz/about/ Link to comment
Red Bridey May 15 Share May 15 Why oh way do we have to see that guy's gross bare chest when I am enjoying Rich Eisen and don't want to stop watching? And he's not funny. NOT FUNNY no matter how much the blonde women laugh at him. Just...no. 1 Link to comment
iMonrey May 18 Share May 18 The Wednesday show with Ana Gasteyer was the strongest. "Boring Reality Shows" was probably the funniest Hashtag Wars in awhile. I also got a kick out of the realtor bit with the weird houses. Thursday's show was a bit of a letdown. I wish they'd stop doing that game where they show browser history or searches and betting on which panelist they belong to. It's neither interesting nor funny. 2 Link to comment
AnimeMania May 19 Author Share May 19 (edited) S01.E59: May 20, 2024 Drag queen BenDeLaCreme; comic Rory Scovel; actor Harvey Guillen Premiere Date: May 21, 2024 CBS 12:37am S01.E60: May 21, 2024 Actor Jim Rash; actor Nat Faxon; actress Stephanie Courtney Premiere Date: May 22, 2024 CBS 12:37am S01.E61: May 22, 2024 Comic Andy Richter; magician Penn Jillette; actor Aasif Mandvi Premiere Date: May 23, 2024 CBS 12:37am S01.E62: May 23, 2024 Comic Marcella Arguello; actor Thomas Lennon; comic Sarah Tiana Premiere Date: May 24, 2024 CBS 12:37am Edited May 22 by AnimeMania Link to comment
ottoDbusdriver May 19 Share May 19 The May 22 show looks like it could be pretty good. The May 23 show will be the 3rd appearance of both Thomas Lennon and Marcel Arguelllo. Link to comment
iMonrey May 21 Share May 21 Looks like they are tinkering with the formula, I wonder if Taylor will be doing an opening monologue every night. It was pretty good, but the show still lives or dies depending on the panel. Monday's panel was very good. This is the 2nd time they've moved Hashtag Wars to the end, and I don't care for that change. I'd prefer to keep it up front, because if Hashtag Wars isn't good, you can bet the rest of the show won't be either. I've turned it off after Hashtag Wars more than once. Maybe they know that. 2 Link to comment
ottoDbusdriver May 22 Share May 22 (edited) Seriously ? Nearly 7 and a half minutes of standup to open the show. I really don't like Hashtag wars as the elimination game. And why did they have the comedians read their own answers in FTW ? The whole point is that you don't know what wrote what answer. I curious which exec provided the notes to get these changes made. Because I don't care for these changes either. ETA: It seems like they are just killing time now. Part of the appeal of the old show was that it was generally only a half hour long (though they did post extended versions of the show around once a week) so the show was fast-paced. While the 'Is it Caked ?' game was pretty funny, it went on for 12 and half minutes. Edited May 22 by ottoDbusdriver Link to comment
ottoDbusdriver May 22 Share May 22 At least the May 21 episode only had 1 minute of standup at the start. Link to comment
possibilities May 22 Share May 22 They seem to have stopped awarding an audience winner for hashtag wars, also. And last night they didn't eliminate anyone or do a "for the win" round. From the start, the show's problem has been too little content and too much time, and they seem to be leaning into that very same chaos and stretching formula. Hire more writers or cut the show back to half an hour. I haven't seen the ratings, but if they were good, they wouldn't be desperately tinkering with the formula, is my guess. 2 Link to comment
AnimeMania May 22 Author Share May 22 The players made it obvious that they were given the "questions/topics covered" before hand, this makes the show funnier and faster. I guess the "suits" notes were that Taylor should do more than be a "continuous" laugh track for the show, so she does a little crowd work beforehand. Link to comment
iMonrey May 23 Share May 23 On 5/22/2024 at 10:18 AM, possibilities said: I haven't seen the ratings, but if they were good, they wouldn't be desperately tinkering with the formula, is my guess. The ratings seem to be OK from what I can gather, so it's a little strange they're tinkering with the formula so much. Eliminating "For the Win" seems like a really stupid and unnecessary move. It seems like they're trying to appease an audience who expected a talk show instead of a game show. Frankly, the biggest improvement they could make is telling Taylor to dial down the over-enthusiastic forced laughter from 11 to around 4. That's still what bothers me the most, I can barely get past it. No matter what anyone says, no matter how mundane, it's always HA HA HA! HA HA HA! HA HA! OMG SO FUNNY! HA HA! Link to comment
possibilities May 23 Share May 23 I actually like the opening with Taylor and the audience. But the rest of the show is so uneven. Somewtimes I find it very funny and other times a total dud. 1 Link to comment
ottoDbusdriver May 24 Share May 24 (edited) On 5/23/2024 at 12:01 PM, iMonrey said: Eliminating "For the Win" seems like a really stupid and unnecessary move. It seems like they're trying to appease an audience who expected a talk show instead of a game show. I'm really disliking the removal of "For the Win". Using HashTag Wars as the elimination game is still not doing it for me. Having said that, Andy, Aasif, and Penn were really funny. Like when Andy and Penn both went off on tangents and Aasif was stuck in the middle saying "I don't know what the hell is going on". I liked the audiobook game. Taylor seems to be swearing a LOT more during the show -- does she have an inside track that the show been cancelled and she doesn't give two f*cks anymore ? I figured that they have Taylor doing standup to open the show because they fired the warm-up comedian. Edited May 29 by ottoDbusdriver 2 Link to comment
ottoDbusdriver May 24 Share May 24 For the Thursday episode, After Midnight got a sponsor -- Jose Cuervo tequila -- and I think they got their money's worth since they were name-dropped so many times throughout the episode and their name was on the cocktail glasses. Though I started to suspect that the episode was actually sponsored by the movIe 'We're the Millers'. :) Marcella, Sarah, and Thomas were out of control, but it was damn funny. Thomas banks his first win on After Midnight. Marcella had the all-time callback by bringing with her the haunted doll that she won on her previous appearance. 2 Link to comment
AnimeMania May 24 Author Share May 24 If a sponsor is going to be that heavily promoted, the sponsor should bring some swag for the audience to put them in a favorable mood whenever they hear the name. Link to comment
iMonrey May 25 Share May 25 Strong panels this week, which made for pretty good shows. I just wish they could settle on a consistent formula. And dropping "For the Win" so far has been a hugely unenforced error, the reason for which I cannot fathom. Both "Touch the Grass" and "Gorgeous Pours" were absurdly stupid. 20 hours ago, ottoDbusdriver said: I liked the audiobook game. I thought that was dumb. But I enjoyed "Milk or Water" simply because they were having so much fun with it. It was hilarious how Sarah kept screaming. 2 Link to comment
Red Bridey May 25 Share May 25 I like the little stand-up openers because I had never heard of Taylor before she got this gig and I enjoy her comedy. I've been enjoying all the comedic actors more than some of the comics they've had on, so I'm willing to give the tweaks a shot. Link to comment
possibilities May 25 Share May 25 I loved the clip of the woman who was hula hooping. II love Taylor's joy in what she calls "older women". Link to comment
Chyromaniac May 25 Share May 25 I think why some of the activity games worked better this week is that we had more improv vets, rather than just stand ups and podcasters. The Jenga game was perfect for that- they kept layering all the prompts together and building off each other’s jokes. Also, Steph Courtney feels like she should have been huge on SNL (apparently she auditioned enough for it), but wound up getting the “job-for-life” gig with Progressive instead. In a way, she’s kind of like Cassandra Peterson, another talented comedian who basically turned one character into an entire career. I’m not entirely sold on the format changes- I think the last segment should be FTW, regardless of what the actual game is. I miss the blind judging from the audience- I liked the surprise of seeing who had each response. Definitely don’t award a winner based on Hashtag Wars, and then come back for one last bit. The Taylor stand up bit at the start is fine - I assume this is another concession to audiences expecting a talk show in this time slot- but limit it to one topic. 3 Link to comment
ottoDbusdriver May 26 Share May 26 Watched a random episode from the previous show -- and it really highlighted some of the problems with the current show. Pacing -- the current show frequently drags on and on for some games and bits. The talk show portion and the standup section at the start of the show just come off as filler. Live Challenge -- which has evolved into these longwinded interactive games which for the most part aren't very amusing. Random cameos -- aside from the panelists, there haven't been many random cameos by famous people showing up to plug their latest project while showing up for a minute or 2 to participate/read something as part of a game. I'd say the pacing is the biggest problem. 3 Link to comment
SoMuchTV May 26 Share May 26 On 5/25/2024 at 9:03 AM, Chyromaniac said: I’m not entirely sold on the format changes- I think the last segment should be FTW, regardless of what the actual game is. I miss the blind judging from the audience- I liked the surprise of seeing who had each response. Definitely don’t award a winner based on Hashtag Wars, and then come back for one last bit. The Taylor stand up bit at the start is fine - I assume this is another concession to audiences expecting a talk show in this time slot- but limit it to one topic. I'm tending to agree with this. Who would think I'd be so defensive of the format of a (let's be honest, fairly dumb) show that has only been on for a few months. And I guess I like that they're showing more viewer suggested hash tags for the prior show when they go to an ad, but I don't like that they first show a screen with about 4 or 5 but don't remind me what the prompt was. My memory's not that good, show! My pause and rewind buttons are getting worn out! Link to comment
AnimeMania June 2 Author Share June 2 S01.E63: June 3, 2024 Comic Alex Edelman; actor Jack McBrayer; actress Jackie Tohn Premiere Date: June 4, 2024 CBS 12:37am S01.E64: June 4, 2024 Actor Timothy Simons; comic Franchesca Ramsey; comic John Ross Bowie Premiere Date: June 5, 2024 CBS 12:37am S01.E65: June 5, 2024 Actress Sasheer Zamata; actor Joe Lo Truglio; actress Aparna Nancherla Premiere Date: June 6, 2024 CBS 12:37am S01.E66: June 6, 2024 Comic Brian Simpson; comic Kelsey Cook; comic Blair Socci Premiere Date: June 7, 2024 CBS 12:37am Link to comment
iMonrey June 5 Share June 5 I hope guest celebrity appearances don't become a regular thing. I like Tatyana Ali just fine but if they're just going to host celebs so they can promote their latest projects or wares, they might as well just ditch the entire game concept and go full-on talk show. Link to comment
Phishbulb June 6 Share June 6 I hate to be negative, but the things I dislike about this show are starting to outweigh the ones I don't. All the format changes have been unnecessary and annoying, especially the saving the hashtag game for the elimination round and the overhaul of FTW which just isn't working. I don't mind Taylor doing some jokes and crowdwork at the beginning, but I miss the little jokes the comedians would do when introducing themselves at the podiums. In general, the emphasis seems to be going away from the comics just riffing to more structured (often dumb) games. Link to comment
ottoDbusdriver June 7 Share June 7 I just watched the Monday night episode -- and it really dragged on. Still dislike that they are keeping Hashtag wars as the elimination game. FTW was just bad. 13 hours ago, Phishbulb said: I hate to be negative, but the things I dislike about this show are starting to outweigh the ones I don't. All the format changes have been unnecessary and annoying, especially the saving the hashtag game for the elimination round and the overhaul of FTW which just isn't working. I don't mind Taylor doing some jokes and crowdwork at the beginning, but I miss the little jokes the comedians would do when introducing themselves at the podiums. In general, the emphasis seems to be going away from the comics just riffing to more structured (often dumb) games. Agreed. 1 Link to comment
ottoDbusdriver June 7 Share June 7 Tuesday's episode with Franchesca, Timothy, and John was way better than the Monday episode. The foot race as the deciding game for FTW was an odd choice -- did the writer's just give up ? 2 1 Link to comment
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