S03.E05: Don't Drink And Game Night

[April Bloodgate]

To be totally fair though, Taylor Swift's songs (although she wasn't on your list with Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, and Miley Cyrus) probably have twice these numbers in the same period. But T. Swift is the Godzilla of the music industry this past year or two.

 Yeah, I forgot about Taylor Swift. She's probably second to Beyonce right now, but I can't stand her.

[MDKNIGHT]

Can somebody explain the awarding of money on this show.  The civilian got 6 out of the 10 that would have given HIM $25,000.  The charities therefore got 6000 (each or between the two?)  but did HE get $6,000 or nothing?  If he HAD gotten the 10 and gotten $25,000 would the charities have gotten $10,000 or what?  Thanks

 

YNB I find entertaining all the time.  I love that she takes notes on the Walking Dead so when she goes on Talking Dead she knows what she's talking about and now that I've seen her on this show I enjoy her even more.  I can identify with her competitiveness and I laughed when she said she'd been banned from competition with her friends.  Rock on Yvette.  Let your freakily competitive flag fly. 

[sugarbaker design]

The civilian and both charities got $6,000 apiece.  In the event the civilian got all ten, the civilian would get $25K and each charity would get $10K.

[Tara Ariano]

Yes, I'm still thinking about Ariana Grande's fame level, and I think it's this: the average person would be able to summon a mental picture if you said Grande's name to her, but getting that average person to guess her name based on a series of facts about Grande would be much harder. I read the entire internet every day and I know the title of one of her songs (and I even had to google it to make sure I was remembering right). So if I were challenged to name four things about Ariana Grande, I'd go, "Pop star, ponytail, kitty ear headband...'Problem'?" But even if I gave those clues to a random adult walking down the street, I bet the success rate would be low.

[BW Manilowe]

Yes, I'm still thinking about Ariana Grande's fame level, and I think it's this: the average person would be able to summon a mental picture if you said Grande's name to her, but getting that average person to guess her name based on a series of facts about Grande would be much harder. I read the entire internet every day and I know the title of one of her songs (and I even had to google it to make sure I was remembering right). So if I were challenged to name four things about Ariana Grande, I'd go, "Pop star, ponytail, kitty ear headband...'Problem'?" But even if I gave those clues to a random adult walking down the street, I bet the success rate would be low.

She also has an openly gay, older half-brother, Frankie J. Grande, who was on the previous cycle of Big Brother (Big Brother 16) to the 1 that's currently airing; who has appeared on Broadway in, among other shows, Rock of Ages; who's also a YouTube "personality", among other professional "credits". But that probably wouldn't help identify Ariana Grande either.

[Kromm]

She also has an openly gay, older half-brother, Frankie J. Grande, who was on the previous cycle of Big Brother (Big Brother 16) to the 1 that's currently airing; who has appeared on Broadway in, among other shows, Rock of Ages; who's also a YouTube "personality", among other professional "credits". But that probably wouldn't help identify Ariana Grande either.

Even with BB in his pocket, Frankie has hundreds of thousands of fans at most, whereas Ariana has (had? I mean if they've deserted her now after DonutGate) tens of millions.  So I'd say... no. I doubt Frankie is going to help most people ID Ariana.

[smrou]

. I read the entire internet every day and I know the title of one of her songs (and I even had to google it to make sure I was remembering right).

Yeah, this is kind of how I feel. I will absolutely not claim to be up on pop music--far from it--and my internet reading is presumably significantly less than yours, Tara, but I spend what I think most people would consider an excessive amount of time reading and looking at stuff online almost exclusively in the pop culture realm, usually while simultaneously listening to podcasts also largely about pop culture (this, by the way, is part of why I'm not up on pop music, since I listen to podcasts almost exclusively), and I also spend most of my days surrounded by teenagers and I actually do pick up a fair bit from them. Yet until reading this thread I could have named zero of her songs. I do know "Bang Bang" quite well, but I'm pretty sure I would have described it as a song by "Jessie J and Nicki Minaj and...crap, somebody else I can't remember." 

 

So anyway, my point is really only that I would consider myself plenty qualified to be a strong contestant on this show and there's no way in hell I would have gotten Ariana Grande and therefore I consider her to be a more difficult celebrity to guess than the vast majority that they've had in that final round. That doesn't mean I think she was an unfair name to throw up there, but I do think most of the names they've had are on a level of fame at least one step above her.

 

Having said that, I still think there's more to say about Ariana Grande than about freaking Sienna Miller. 

[bybrandy]

Sienna Miller I would have gotten from the slept with Jude Law.    Renner I would have gotten because I legitimately know who he is.   However, if you gave me the trifecta of Chris, Pine, Pratt, Evans I might have mixed them up.   I was playing a game the other day and couldn't come up with Pratt because I had Pine stuck in my head despite the fact that I've been a Pratt fan since Everwood.    I know who each is, and I know their individual names, but if I pictured the wrong one for a split second I might get hung up on it and not get back around to the right name.    

I would not have gotten Arianna Grande ever.  I am so so so so so not up on music.   However, I would have given the clue "starbucks medium".    

[Tara Ariano]

In case you missed it, here's the Previously.TV post on the episode!

 

Hollywood Game Night Tries Again To Make Us Care About Children's Drawings / It's okay, Gina Rodriguez. The kid who thinks that's Benedict Cumberbatch needs to visit an optometrist like yesterday.

 

Also: don't miss the podcast after-show, Show & Yell!

[Kel Varnsen]

Popped Quiz seemed especially easy this time. Was it Curtis who struggled with whether Starbucks or gasoline was more per gallon? That. Was. Dumb. A large cup of coffee is over $2. In LA, gas is under $4/gal. :roll eyes:

I wonder if this was just a case of not having a good handle on the concept of volumes and how much a gallon is. Because a gallon of coffee would be a crapload of coffee. Although you think a chef would have a decent understanding of liquid volumes.

 

and any adult who knows who Ariana Grande is should be on some kind of watch list.

 

This is from the recap and is kind of awesome. They could have listed off Ariana Grande's entire resume and life story and I think the only way I would have gotten her name is if they had said "rhymes with Bariana Brande".

[aradia22]

It was OK. I thought the games/questions weren't too great so everyone was just kind of competent and not too entertaining. I prefer Hollywood/trivia to random questions and charades or whatnot. Very interesting approach for Zachary in the bonus round, taking a back seat and staying quiet unless he had a good clue/Yvette needed help.

 

I would have gotten all their clues because I have too much time on my hands. But yeah, Sienna Miller and Jeremy Renner aren't the biggest names. And you'd have to like Ariana Grande to get Yvette's clues. I don't know what they were doing for Alan Rickman and Penelope Cruz though. Maybe they were already falling apart by then. Snape. He's had a great career but at this point, you say Snape. Galaxy Quest? Really, Zachary Levi? I love you but that's insane.

[aradia22]

 

I like Zach, but he's got to get over that annoying selfie habit. You're a grown-ass man in your mid 30s Zach, not a teenage girl in her teens or early 20s!

I forgive him because I think he's probably done a lot with a strong social media presence/fan interaction. It's not like he's just an obsessive selfie-taker.

 

Yeah, I forgot about Taylor Swift. She's probably second to Beyonce right now, but I can't stand her.

Sorry to break this to you. Everyone might bow down to Queen B but Taylor's probably number 1 right now.

[April Bloodgate]

Sorry to break this to you. Everyone might bow down to Queen B but Taylor's probably number 1 right now.

I don't care enough about pop music to really be bothered. I'm not a Beyonce fan, I just don't dislike her. And I do dislike Swift.

[paramitch]

I keep forgetting about this show, and it's such a fun no-brainer, so am catching up with the season. I just caught this one, and thought it was fun, if frustrating (the female chopper pilot was so much sharper than the doofy guy (bless his heart) who ended up going to the bonus round -- I was actually angry at Gina Rodriguez for winding down the clock so terribly, as if they'd had literally ONE MORE SECOND, they would have won with "Statue of Liberty." Gah.

 

My favorite parts were; 1)  YNB telling George to "Get out!!" Get OUT!!" almost immediately when he sat down.  She knew he was hopeless. 2) Zachary's obvious frustration at Gina's insistance of "the other one!" as decent clue-giving for "Costco". 

 

Curtis has been on this at least once before and has shown little to no interest in being there.  There are other places he can plug his latest book, so why be a wet blanket on a show that requires a modicum of energy and participation? 

 

The kid that drew Benedict Cumberbatch needs glasses, stat.  Unless the artist was looking at a photo of BC taking a selfie in a fun house mirror.  It looked more like "Agustus Glup" from Willy Wonka to me. 

 

The male contestant was SO BAD. His team won the game for him (and Gina Rodriguez kind of lost it for her contestant), versus his contributing, ever. He was just terrible at almost every part of the game, and awful in the end run. Yeah, there were a few tough ones, but he had six and then missed Danes (easy Homeland clue), Hopkins (Hannibal!), Rickman (Snape!), and to me Cruz is an easy one (Spanish actress, Tom Cruise's ex GF). And I still think he should've known Renner (Hurt Locker, Avengers) too. So that's 11 right there. They wasted like 20+ seconds on Efron and Grande, and I do think YNB and ZL didn't give good Rickman clues, but I still think most other savvy pop culture players would have still gotten the 25 Gs here.

 

Meanwhile: I'm not always a Curtis Stone fan, as he can be kind of pompous and aloof on stuff like "Top Chef Masters." But here I was kind of charmed. I mean, the guy got down on the floor and did the worm with his hands tied behind his back! I definitely thought he seemed to have fun and was into the game -- he even caught the popcorn in his mouth when he got the answer wrong.

 

Is she really one of the biggest pop stars in the world at this point? I know she has some popular songs right now, but I wouldn't put her on the same level as Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, or Miley Cyrus yet. And certainly not on Beyonce's level. I'm aware of who she is, but I don't think she's hit that level of pop star notoriety yet where her music is inescapable. I have heard 1 of her songs exactly once--because it was featured on an episode of RuPaul. But I hear the aforementioned artists' songs all the time, even though I don't seek out mainstream pop music.

 

I gotta say, this is me. I'm pretty eclectic with a good dash of mainstream (I admit it, I love a good pop song dammit), and I get that Grande is a pop star and I'm sure she does fine, but I can never quite remember who she is, picture her face, and I couldn't name a single one of her songs to save my life.

 

with Renner I'd have some hope of guessing it because I do know a number of his film (and TV, since I was one of the five people who watched The Unusuals) roles. But for whatever reason his name is one that I have trouble coming up with. But for Sienna Miller and Ariana Grande they're the kinds of celebrities where I've heard of them, I know some very basic info about them, but I just never ever think of them and so they wouldn't come to mind. 

 

This as opposed to, like, Anthony Hopkins, where I think there are many ways a person could get me to guess his name (though Hannibal Lecter is the easiest and most obvious). Ditto Alan Rickman (I probably would have got him from the GalaxyQuest clue if I took the strategy of just listing the whole cast, but Snape would be the best bet for most people I think). 

 

I love Renner (yes, even the 'Bourne' spinoff), so I'd have gotten him for sure. And YAY! Someone else watched "The Unusuals!" I loved it so much. I mean, Renner's star was already on the ascendance at that point moviewise, so he probably wouldn't have stuck around anyway, but what a wonderful show. I'll always be bummed it didn't run more seasons. The characters on that show were just so fresh and wonderful. I treasure the DVDs, seriously.

 

I agree with those who couldn't believe they didn't yell "SNAPE!" for Rickman. He's done tons of other wonderful stuff of course but as with Hopkins and Lecter, that's his big pop-culture reference.

 

I forgive him because I think he's probably done a lot with a strong social media presence/fan interaction. It's not like he's just an obsessive selfie-taker.

 

I like it when the stars do the selfies and pictures during the show because it looks like they're genuinely goofy and excited about being there, and having fun with the people they met (and in an environment that you'd never find elsewhere). So I think it's kind of sweet and cool that Levi would care enough to want to memorialize it (and to include everyone else he met).