S03.E09: Everything's Coming Up Jonas

[yeswedo]

Two contestants will lead a team of three celebrities, which include Joe Jonas, Jeff Dye, Cheryl Burke, Jenna Elfman, Seth Green and Michelle Trachtenberg, in hopes of winning the $25,000 grand prize.

[Maverick]

One of these things does not belong....

They already Ciera on this season. They couldn't get Alan and Nicole to do the show so they could have a straight up I Can Do That reunion/face off?

[paigow]

Cheryl Burke was not good on Celebrity Name Game. Hope someone gave her the IMDB link.

[BobH]

Not terribly excited about this one, but hope to be pleasantly surprised. The first three are pretty much a blank slate to me, of the other three who have been on the show before I liked Seth Green, the others didn't leave much of an impression positive or negative.

[elzin]

I want to feel bad when people lose but she made me suffer more Jenna Elfman, so my pity is somewhat abated by that fact.

[weightyghost]

This was a terrible episode. The balloon game was stupid, mostly bc it can be controlled to allow the team behind to catch up. The celebs were all such bitches, except for delightful Seth Green. The last game was painful with the losing guys team. "The undead" I DONT KNOW, I DONT WATCH THE SHOW. What does that have to do with it, what did she think the undead meant? the clues for Atlanta weren't great but what else could "gerogia" and "they're from there" could mean to Michelle? The comedian was a jackass, no doubt, but they were so flippant of one another.

Final round had some tough names. Normally you can tell it was either the celeb or human screwing up but there's only so many ways to get Paul giomati. Which I think may only be one way.

[Maverick]

 Jenna Elfman was drifting dangerously close to Katherine McPhee territory with that Raspberry Beret flub.  Jenna, that is not company you want to keep. 

 

 I did not like the block game.  It seemed like a dumb premise and felt like it was only invented for the dumb 'fuck' joke.

[Temperance]

That balloon game was awful. Just awful. It may be my least favorite game I've ever seen on this show, but I'll try to give it a second chance the next time they play it. 

[Racj82]

Jesus, they whiffed on the Forest Whitaker question. Seth used Ghost Ship which I don't even think is right. I think he meant to say Ghost Dog but it's still obscure.

 

Forest - Last King of Scotland, Taken 3, recently was a lead on a Criminal Minds spinoff, Species. Skip if those aren't enough.

 

Props to Seth for knowing how to draw out Demi Lavato. I know she's a singer but I wouldn't know what to use as a clue in that case.

 

Jenna was also super garbage in the end game.

 

Trachtenberg has serious bitch face several times last night. I saw two kind of targeted at Jeff Dye. One was during his intro where she was just stone faced while clapping and the other when he was trying to do crossbow (and not doing a horrible job of it).

 

Michelle can go.

 

How can you not pick out the Carlton during the dance charades? I've tried not to do the everyone should know this because every household is different. Not everyone knows even the biggest actors. But, damn, The Carlton has been popping up like 25 years.

 

I don't have a problem with the balloon game. It's just another variation on Clue Boom or the popcorn game.

 

Seth or the Jonas brother for game MVP. Kind of a toss up there.

 

Cheryl, come dressed to play next time.

 

I lived vicariously through the male civilian this week because he's a black male named Rodney just like me.

 

I also hope Michelle didn't knee Rodney in his nuts when she jumped on it. She stayed leaned into his groin for a long time.

[BobH]

Yeah, not an episode to submit for Emmy consideration, that's for sure. Pretty sure I'd only want to see Seth back, and even him I'm not 100% on.

 

Literal Lyrics, not a bad idea for a game, but most of them were just too easy. I'm pretty sure that Seth would have gotten "Raspberry Beret" anyway, but Jenna didn't have to help him out so much with it.

 

Did not like Scary Poppins. Too arbitrary and too much for very little reward. Was there ever a game on the show before that only gave out a total of two points?

 

I usually like Letter Have It, but seriously, words that rhyme with Duck? Is that an SNL Celebrity Jeopardy category? And it seems that the scoring in the game is such that at most you'll have a two point spread between the winning and losing team, and most likely will have a tie, like they did here.

 

Almost scary that Dance In Your Pants might have been the best game of the night, and that was just a plain charades game except with a very narrow focus. Are there even enough charadable (not a real word) dances that they could ever play the game again without duplicates?

 

Wheels really came off the guy civilian's team with Off The Top Of My Head. No one on the team really covered themselves with glory there, so I guess I can excuse Jenna's masterful performance not being held against her in the choice for the finals. Even there I wasn't sure that the other team was going to clear the low bar that had been set.

 

After all that, can't say I'm surprised that we didn't have a winning final round.

Edited September 2, 2015 by BobH

[Irlandesa]

I want to feel bad when people lose but she made me suffer more Jenna Elfman, so my pity is somewhat abated by that fact.

I blame the show for that.  She was made to choose a celeb from the other team and Jenna Elfman was surprisingly the least assholish celeb on that team next to Mr. Look-How-Funny-I-Am (nope) and Ms. Aggressive-And-Petulant-Drunk.  This would have been an instance I would've asked for the non-celeb from that team to help me out.

 

The celebs were all such bitches, except for delightful Seth Green.

 

Final round had some tough names. Normally you can tell it was either the celeb or human screwing up but there's only so many ways to get Paul giomati. Which I think may only be one way.

I didn't think Cheryl was a bitch.  Dim---at least as far as the topics of these games go save for the dancing one but she was the one person besides Seth and the two contestants who I didn't shout "Shut up!" at. But the rest?  Oy.

 

Jenna Elfman was drifting dangerously close to Katherine McPhee territory with that Raspberry Beret flub.  Jenna, that is not company you want to keep.

I think Cheryl is closest to Katharine in terms of HGN ability but Jenna started the show and ended the show very poorly.  First with the "It's a raspberry with a beret."  Second, I think she gave three wrong clues in that final round.  If I were Seth, I would be telling Jenna she needed to be quiet after the third wrong clue in a row.

 

But those names in that final round were tough.  So tough. 

 

As for the games, the balloon game was just okay but I did like literal lyrics.  I even liked the first category in the block game because it involved some knowledge.  The rhyming category was a bit too easy.

Edited September 2, 2015 by Irlandesa

[Racj82]

Oh, I also forgot to say that I was getting irritated by Jane's "all the people in this room knows this but you" comments. I don't offended easy and whatnot but damn you don't have to make people feel dumb like that. Secondly, it's not always that easy for everyone. I had no fucking idea what the Lucy Lui one was. I never heard of that song and I couldn't tell that was Lucy Lui.

 

I really didn't think the last round was tough. There's the issue that some people have defining roles/ songs, etc.and some don't but I could have come up with good clues for all  of them (except for Demi).

Edited September 2, 2015 by Racj82

[Irlandesa]

I really didn't think the last round was tough. There's the issue that some people have defining roles/ songs, etc.and some don't but I could have come up with good clues for all  of them (except for Demi).

I think it goes back to that question of off-the-beaten-path celebs.  Ed Harris, Forest Whitaker and Paul Giamatti are journmen actors but they don't have those super career-defining roles or celeb-defining relationships. So I thought the fact that all three were in that round was pretty tough.

 

I also didn't recognize Lucy Liu but maybe it's because I'm sued to seeing her with her hair up. Or it was a bad picture and I didn't have my glasses.

[Jaded]

Glad it wasn't just me thinking this episode was a clunker.

[paigow]

Seth blanked out on Kate Middleton...Jenna saved that one at least.

[BW Manilowe]

I think it goes back to that question of off-the-beaten-path celebs. Ed Harris, Forest Whitaker and Paul Giamatti are journmen actors but they don't have those super career-defining roles or celeb-defining relationships. So I thought the fact that all three were in that round was pretty tough.

I also didn't recognize Lucy Liu but maybe it's because I'm sued to seeing her with her hair up. Or it was a bad picture and I didn't have my glasses.

I respectfully beg to differ regarding Forest Whitaker not having a career-defining role (if not also a celeb-defining relationship, though I can't remember that right now). Forest Whitaker won the Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role Oscar for his performance in The Last King of Scotland. I'd say that at least possibly fits as "career-defining". But it was a few years ago now (2006), & probably long since forgotten. Not to mention probably few, if any, of the players this week--let alone Jane Lynch--have actually seen the movie.

[swimmyfish]

This is maybe the first episode I've seen where both of the civilians seemed more on the ball than all of the celebrities. I felt really bad for the woman in the final round because, even in spite of a lot of the celebs being difficult to guess, Seth and Jenna were really giving terrible clues, including just the wrong movie title altogether: Forrest Whitaker was in Ghost Dog, not Ghost Ship, you ding-dongs. Also, has everyone forgot he was in The Crying Game? Good Morning Vietnam? His career goes back a long way - there is a lot to choose from there.

 

I actually enjoyed the balloon popping game. To me, it seems a little less random than Clue Boom. Plus, I liked the weird shapes the balloon made.

 

Was Joe Jonas maybe high during the literal title game? I found a lot of them very hard to guess (especially after getting confused and thinking the clues were antonyms instead of synonyms), but he just sat there like a lump and stared through two of his turns, without even trying to work out what the answer was.

As with last week's charades game, it seems like the categories given in Off the Top of Your Head were widely varying in their degree of difficulty. Sure, the Walking Dead is very popular right now, but, like, everyone watched Sesame Street as a child. Had the teams switched categories, I think Male Civilian would've won that round (unlike last week, where Paul Scheer would very clearly have dominated every category).

 

Finaly, I kind of liked Michelle Trachtenberg. She wasn't the greatest player (obviously), but she was appropriately competitive, and I really liked some of the bitchier faces she made when other people were screwing up.

[Racj82]

This is maybe the first episode I've seen where both of the civilians seemed more on the ball than all of the celebrities. I felt really bad for the woman in the final round because, even in spite of a lot of the celebs being difficult to guess, Seth and Jenna were really giving terrible clues, including just the wrong movie title altogether: Forrest Whitaker was in Ghost Dog, not Ghost Ship, you ding-dongs. Also, has everyone forgot he was in The Crying Game? Good Morning Vietnam? His career goes back a long way - there is a lot to choose from there.

I actually enjoyed the balloon popping game. To me, it seems a little less random than Clue Boom. Plus, I liked the weird shapes the balloon made.

Was Joe Jonas maybe high during the literal title game? I found a lot of them very hard to guess (especially after getting confused and thinking the clues were antonyms instead of synonyms), but he just sat there like a lump and stared through two of his turns, without even trying to work out what the answer was.

As with last week's charades game, it seems like the categories given in Off the Top of Your Head were widely varying in their degree of difficulty. Sure, the Walking Dead is very popular right now, but, like, everyone watched Sesame Street as a child. Had the teams switched categories, I think Male Civilian would've won that round (unlike last week, where Paul Scheer would very clearly have dominated every category).

Finaly, I kind of liked Michelle Trachtenberg. She wasn't the greatest player (obviously), but she was appropriately competitive, and I really liked some of the bitchier faces she made when other people were screwing up.

It really does not matter where the source material for the charades game comes from. You can do dozens of hints for bite that has nothing to do with the show. Or even zombies.Same with pretty much every other clue.

[Primetimer]

It may seem unfair for a team without a professional dancer to face off against one with a professional dancer in a dancing challenge. Then it's not.

Read the story

[sugarbaker design]

It really does not matter where the source material for the charades game comes from. You can do dozens of hints for bite that has nothing to do with the show. Or even zombies.Same with pretty much every other clue.

 

Seriously, I never saw the word bite described so tortuously (Adam and Eve...).

 

So "Zombie" pops up and civilian says "undead", to which JE responds "alive".  Awesome!

[Lovecat]

I think Cheryl is closest to Katharine in terms of HGN ability but Jenna started the show and ended the show very poorly.  First with the "It's a raspberry with a beret."  Second, I think she gave three wrong clues in that final round.  If I were Seth, I would be telling Jenna she needed to be quiet after the third wrong clue in a row.

I loved how, after she described Benedict Cumberbatch as having won the Oscar for The Imitation Game (nope, that would be Eddie Redmayne, for The Theory of Everything--different brilliant Brit biopic) the camera flashed to someone on the couch sadly shaking their head.  If I were Seth Green, she would've gotten "shhh'd" right quick.

[sugarbaker design]

Or mentioned "Gisele" for Peyton Manning!

[Alison]

I loved how, after she described Benedict Cumberbatch as having won the Oscar for The Imitation Game (nope, that would be Eddie Redmayne, for The Theory of Everything--different brilliant Brit biopic) the camera flashed to someone on the couch sadly shaking their head.  If I were Seth Green, she would've gotten "shhh'd" right quick.

There was a phenomenal Joe Jonas reaction shot to her declaration of Cumberbatch winning an Oscar. It's too bad the civilians have to pick one celebrity from each team, because I think Joe and Seth would have been a winning combination.

Cheryl Burke should immediately be barred from returning simply due to her poor choice in wardrobe. Heels are one thing, but a short, tight dress? Girl, no.

[BananaRama]

Seth Green was cool. Joe Jonas, Cheryl Burke and the comedian guy were okay but didn't really try too hard to win. Michelle's and Jenna's "I don't know. I don't watch that show." was just a cheap excuse to not try and they didn't have to toss an attitude to the clue-givers. $25,000 is a lot of money to a civilian. I wish the celebrities would remember that and not be so nonchalant about the games. I think they forget about the $25,000 until the end of the game and then think, "Oh gosh, I could have done better during that previous games."

[paigow]

Or mentioned "Gisele" for Peyton Manning!

Or QB for the Giants...

[sugarbaker design]

Michelle's and Jenna's "I don't know. I don't watch that show." was just a cheap excuse to not try

 

What else are they supposed to say if they don't watch the show?  "I don't know.  I don't watch the show" is code for "try another avenue dude".

[BananaRama]

Yes, that's true.  You are right.

[MMLEsq]

Props to Seth for knowing how to draw out Demi Lavato. I know she's a singer but I wouldn't know what to use as a clue in that case.

How about....used to date Joe Jonas [awkward...], now dates Wilmer Valderrama(spelling?); starred in "Camp Rock."  Wasn't she the one that flipped out about Joe Jonas flirting with someone else, after they had broken up, physically attacked the girl, and Demi ended up in rehab over it for emotional issues?  

 

It may seem unfair for a team without a professional dancer to face off against one with a professional dancer in a dancing challenge. Then it's not.

Maybe I'm misremembering, but didn't Jenna start off her career as a dancer?  For some reason, I think she was.

[ae2]

I'm fairly certain that Cheryl Burke's manager/publicist got her this spot in the show but told her absolutely nothing about it. Can't remove all the blame from her, she could have done a little research, but I almost felt bad for how woefully out of her element she was.

[Racj82]

I'm fairly certain that Cheryl Burke's manager/publicist got her this spot in the show but told her absolutely nothing about it. Can't remove all the blame from her, she could have done a little research, but I almost felt bad for how woefully out of her element she was.

Uh yeah, none of those things are common knowledge. You would really only know those things if you knew her in the first place because none of things are really big deals or talked about much. It was a rough one. Seth did the smart thing in leader her towards the first name and letting her figure out the rest.

 

 

Michelle's and Jenna's "I don't know. I don't watch that show." was just a cheap excuse to not try

 

What else are they supposed to say if they don't watch the show?  "I don't know.  I don't watch the show" is code for "try another avenue dude".

What other avenue? Saying it's a city in Georgia (for example) has nothing to do with the show. And you could have never watched the Walking Dead in your life and know it's about zombies. Not watching the show doesn't mean you don't know it's about zombies. I found it quite lame and annoying. If anything, just say I don't know. "I never watched the show" had zero to do with them not getting it.

Edited September 2, 2015 by Racj82

[WentMissing]

Quote

    

    Michelle's and Jenna's "I don't know. I don't watch that show." was just a cheap excuse to not try

    

    What else are they supposed to say if they don't watch the show?  "I don't know.  I don't watch the show" is code for "try another avenue dude".

 

What other avenue? Saying it's a city in Georgia (for example) has nothing to do with the show. And you could have never watched the Walking Dead in your life and know it's about zombies. Not watching the show doesn't mean you don't know it's about zombies. I found it quite lame and annoying. If anything, just say I don't know. "I never watched the show" had zero to do with them not getting it.

Yeah I think she said this in response to the clue for "zombie", you really don't need to have seen the show to know what a zombie is. I've only watched one thing with zombies in it but knew what zombies were long before I watched it.

 

Maybe I'm misremembering, but didn't Jenna start off her career as a dancer?  For some reason, I think she was.

I don't remember if she did it for a living but I also remember something about ballet and seeing her doing it on some show.

 

I agree with a lot of others this wasn't a great epi but I did enjoy the dance and literal movie games.

[BW Manilowe]

I'm fairly certain that Cheryl Burke's manager/publicist got her this spot in the show but told her absolutely nothing about it. Can't remove all the blame from her, she could have done a little research, but I almost felt bad for how woefully out of her element she was.

She was on the show with 2 other people from the NBC show she left Dancing with the Stars to do, called I Can Do That (which was on over the spring &/or early summer & has been renewed for next season). It's a show where the cast tries to learn, apparently in pairs, how to do various things like playing for the Harlem Globetrotters & being a Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader. They get points for the tasks, if not also audience votes. Beyond that I'm not sure how it works. Anyway... Among her Co-Stars are Joe Jonas & Jeff Dye, who were also on the show last night (so it was a "group" thing, like the Fresh Off the Boat cast the other week). They also have 2 or 3 other Co-Stars, but I don't remember their names.

[sinkwriter]

 

Or QB for the Giants...

 

As soon as they said Football, I probably would have said "pass."  LOL. Saying "QB for the Giants" wouldn't have helped me one bit.

[Black Knight]

How can you not pick out the Carlton during the dance charades? I've tried not to do the everyone should know this because every household is different. Not everyone knows even the biggest actors. But, damn, The Carlton has been popping up like 25 years.

The name was the problem. I recognized the dance but I'd never known the name. I did watch some of Fresh Prince back in the day, but never knew that was where it came from - and if I had, I would've guessed the name of the dance to be Fresh Prince or the Will or something like that. Apart from the classics like waltz, the dances that get name-checked in pop culture typically have names that either describe the dance or are fun to say.

 

Oh, I also forgot to say that I was getting irritated by Jane's "all the people in this room knows this but you" comments. I don't offended easy and whatnot but damn you don't have to make people feel dumb like that. Secondly, it's not always that easy for everyone. I had no fucking idea what the Lucy Lui one was. I never heard of that song and I couldn't tell that was Lucy Lui.

That is the Sue Sylvester persona, which is why she can say that sort of thing and make the celebrities laugh rather than be offended, a line she has to walk so celebrities will agree to be on the show. Getting upset would be like getting upset at the insults thrown during Weakest Link. It's part of the joke.

 

Besides, I was with Jane on that one. I didn't recognize Lucy either, but no matter because seeing a woman floating in a sky holding diamonds was enough. It's one of the most memorable song titles of all time and is frequently referenced and riffed on (I just came across one a couple of days ago, a chapter title in a YA fantasy novel, and laughed). And while people absolutely have different experiences, nobody knows everything, this is a show that does a lot of music-related games and the Beatles are going to come up.

 

Cheryl Burke should immediately be barred from returning simply due to her poor choice in wardrobe. Heels are one thing, but a short, tight dress? Girl, no.

I agree with ae2 that Cheryl Burke clearly didn't have any idea what this show entails, so I can't entirely fault her for her wardrobe. She was expecting the typical game show where you just sit or stand and give answers. She knew she had dressed wrong for this and said so. I would make sure to watch an episode of a show if I was booked to appear on it, so that's on her, but still, her management team is incompetent in failing to have briefed her (and I bet she yelled at them afterwards, because she was there to shill her active wear line and she missed a perfect opportunity to actually wear something from it). But, she was lucky enough to have the show give her that dance game (which really has to be a one-off). I cracked up when Joe joked afterwards that it was good that he and Seth knew all the names.

 

It's a low bar because Jenna Elfman did so poorly at Celebrity Name Game, but even before seeing Jenna's performance I was thinking that my choice from that couch would've been Michelle. Yes, she had attitude and she wasn't a stellar player, but she did seem to know a good amount of pop culture and she was focused rather than spacey. But overall the civilian just really had a poor selection from which to pick. Very different from that game earlier this season where I felt like the civilian had an embarrassment of riches and couldn't have gone wrong with four out of the six celebrities (Will Arnett, Melissa Fumero, Meredith Vieira, and Debra Messing).

 

I wonder what Michelle and Jane were saying to each other at the very end, because first Michelle kind of put her hand on Jane's breast and then Jane put her own hand on her breast. Discussing support bras?

 

Season finale already? Boooooooo! But I love Ming Na.

Edited September 3, 2015 by Black Knight

[sinkwriter]

 

That is the Sue Sylvester persona, which is why she can say that sort of thing and make the celebrities laugh rather than be offended, a line she has to walk so celebrities will agree to be on the show. Getting upset would be like getting upset at the insults thrown during Weakest Link. It's part of the joke.

 

I don't mind the Sue-like jokes (especially toward people's lame ass answers, like Katharine McPhee's), but I do think it's unfair of her to distract them while they're trying to think and figure out the answer. They are playing for someone who wants to win money, not playing just to goof off for a day and ham it up. *I* was trying to come up with answers for some of those clues, and found Jane's running commentary about how everyone knows but the guesser to be really distracting and annoying.

Edited September 3, 2015 by sinkwriter

[Racj82]

I don't mind the Sue-like jokes (especially toward people's lame ass answers, like Katharine McPhee's), but I do think it's unfair of her to distract them while they're trying to think and figure out the answer. They are playing for someone who wants to win money, not playing just to goof off for a day and ham it up. *I* was trying to come up with answers for some of those clues, and found Jane's running commentary about how everyone knows but the guesser to be really distracting and annoying.

That's what I'm saying. I also never said that I was upset by it. I'm just saying that it's rude during the game. Jane busts jokes all the time. I never said anything about it. But, cracking jokes mid game while they are still playing is just a bit much. Also, this aint Glee. She's a game show host here. Two different things. I don't think being a jerk somewhere else character wise makes it fine to do it here (in general terms). But, either way, save the snark for after they've actually fucked up at least.

[sinkwriter]

I wouldn't have chosen Jenna for the bonus round. I love her on Dharma & Greg, but I didn't think she was very good throughout the games tonight. I would have gone with Michelle and Seth. Michelle might have been crabby, but she also seemed competitive and invested in the game enough to give some sharp answers.

 

Plus, Jenna really messed up by giving incorrect suggestions during the bonus round. It killed me when she kept saying wrong stuff. How is someone supposed to win with that? I honestly think it threw Seth.

[Irlandesa]

I respectfully beg to differ regarding Forest Whitaker not having a career-defining role (if not also a celeb-defining relationship, though I can't remember that right now). Forest Whitaker won the Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role Oscar for his performance in The Last King of Scotland. I'd say that at least possibly fits as "career-defining". But it was a few years ago now (2006), & probably long since forgotten. Not to mention probably few, if any, of the players this week--let alone Jane Lynch--have actually seen the movie.

I think Forest Whitaker is extremely talented but The Last King of Scotland only made 17 million dollars at the box office.  That was a financial success given its budget but not seen by many people.  And it's not one of those movies that reairs on TV often.  Maybe career-defining wasn't the right word.  Perhaps star-defining would have been more appropriate. 

 

Maybe I'm misremembering, but didn't Jenna start off her career as a dancer?  For some reason, I think she was.

Indeed she did. 

[peeayebee]

I respectfully beg to differ regarding Forest Whitaker not having a career-defining role (if not also a celeb-defining relationship, though I can't remember that right now). Forest Whitaker won the Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role Oscar for his performance in The Last King of Scotland. I'd say that at least possibly fits as "career-defining". But it was a few years ago now (2006), & probably long since forgotten. Not to mention probably few, if any, of the players this week--let alone Jane Lynch--have actually seen the movie.

Yes, he won an Oscar for The Last King of Scotland, but it was still a small movie so not everyone would get his name from that. I could list a few movies and TV shows of his, but nothing really screams his name, imo. Paul Giamatti was another tough one. The first thing that came to my mind was John Adams, but I don't think that would have gotten it across. (I think Seth Green did manage to say it, but the contestant couldn't get it.) Sideways was a good one -- a career highlight -- but that didn't work here. 

 

How about....used to date Joe Jonas [awkward...], now dates Wilmer Valderrama(spelling?); starred in "Camp Rock."  Wasn't she the one that flipped out about Joe Jonas flirting with someone else, after they had broken up, physically attacked the girl, and Demi ended up in rehab over it for emotional issues?

 

These clues would leave me blank-faced. I just don't keep up on who's dating whom. I did see at least part of Camp Rock, but I'm not sure I would remember Demi Lovato's name. I like how Seth got the contestant to say her name.

 

Jenna Elfman really bugged me in Off the Top of My Head. Defensively saying that she doesn't watch the show was no excuse, and it just came across as rather elitist. I've never watched the show either, but I certainly know it's about zombies. 

 

A lot of awful playing.

 

I thought Literal Lyrics was ok. I didn't get Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds because I wasn't paying attention to whose picture that was. (I had settled on 'Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend.') Then once I knew to focus on the proper name, if applicable, it was pretty easy.

 

I don't like Scary Poppins. Having the person sit on the couch to answer and then have to walk up and pump up the balloon was kind of boring. 

 

Rhymes with duck was stupid.

 

I didn't care for Dance in Your Pants. I like charades, but this was too specific. Oh, and "jazz hands" is a dance? Uh, no. BTW, I haven't heard of a dance called The Typewriter.

 

I liked Seth Green. 

[Violet Penner]

First, just know I'm a terrible person. But if I were playing this game at home with my family, I would have gone with "black actor with the wonky eye" first, then Last King of Scotland. Don't think I'd have the balls to say this on tv though.

I could take or leave the balloon part, but I kind of liked the clues for the literal name game. A lot of celebrities spaced when it was their turn, so it wasn't SUPER easy, but I was able to get nearly all of them within the time limit. I know I missed Clockwork Orange.

[dcalley]

Every week in the intro, Will Arnett sounds drunk and slowed down when he says, "I'd love to turn the channel on and just come on that happening."

 

I think Jenna came up with John Adams. She got something right! 

[Qoass]

I recognized Lucy Liu but not Shaquille O'Neal.

 

And on a shallow note, from what I could see through the hair in her face, Jenna Elfman is ageing beautifully.

[peeayebee]

First, just know I'm a terrible person. But if I were playing this game at home with my family, I would have gone with "black actor with the wonky eye" first, then Last King of Scotland. Don't think I'd have the balls to say this on tv though.

Yeah, that occurred to me, too. Key & Peele had a skit where Peele played a toddler Whitaker with the droopy eye, so it's not like no one is talking about it. 

[slowpoked]

I think Michelle Trachtenberg is just one of those people who have resting bitch faces, but otherwise I like her. I think she did well enough on her first turn with the Miley Cyrus wrecking ball thing, and I certainly would have picked her in the final round.

 

I think Seth and Jenna just didn't work well together. No one has that feeling of "should I give this clue, or should I wait for the other?" Or maybe Seth felt like he's taking too much over and wanted to defer to Jenna a bit. I wonder though, during the commercial break before the final round, are these celebrities and contestants talking about their "strategy"? Like "If I do this with my hands, you just pass so we don't waste time", or "do you know sports, books, etc." so that the celebrities can know what to take time on or what to just pass.

 

I agree though - that final round is tough with Ed Harris, Forest Whitaker, Paul Giamatti. Sure, they all have had long, respectable careers and impressive resumes, but to the "casual" fan, sad to say, nothing really stands out. I know Giamatti from Sideways, but that's because I love wine and so I watched the movie, but other than that, not much else really. They're those types of celebrities that you recognize from a lots of movies but not just one movie. It's not like RDJ where you can just drop Iron Man and be done with it, or Jen Aniston with Friends and used to be married to Brad Pitt kind of thing. These are the types of celebrities in which contestants must really know their pop culture in order to guess them.

Edited September 3, 2015 by slowpoked

[Rinaldo]

I also didn't recognize Lucy Liu but maybe it's because I'm used to seeing her with her hair up. Or it was a bad picture and I didn't have my glasses.

I didn't recognize her at first either, but I still knew the song right away. Seeing a woman In The Sky With Diamonds narrows it down really quick.

[April Bloodgate]

I agree though - that final round is tough with Ed Harris, Forest Whitaker, Paul Giamatti. Sure, they all have had long, respectable careers and impressive resumes, but to the "casual" fan, sad to say, nothing really stands out. I know Giamatti from Sideways, but that's because I love wine and so I watched the movie, but other than that, not much else really. They're those types of celebrities that you recognize from a lots of movies but not just one movie. It's not like RDJ where you can just drop Iron Man and be done with it, or Jen Aniston with Friends and used to be married to Brad Pitt kind of thing. These are the types of celebrities in which contestants must really know their pop culture in order to guess them.

Yeah, I agree as well. While they are well-known, respected actors, they're definitely hard ones to give quick clues and move on, which is obviously what this game requires.

[slowpoked]

Yeah, I agree as well. While they are well-known, respected actors, they're definitely hard ones to give quick clues and move on, which is obviously what this game requires.

Yup, I'm sure a casual Hollywood fan will eventually get Forest Whitaker or Paul Giamatti after a lot of movies said, but that may take around 20 seconds or so, and when you're already a frantic contestant, trying hard to win that $25K, with not a lot of time left, you're just not going to think clearly enough.

 

I mean, when I first saw Ed Harris's name, the immediate thought that came up to me was Stepmom, but I'm sure that's not a good clue at all because that movie was mostly dominated by Susan Sarandon and Julia Roberts.

[FormerMod-a1]

See, and I think Ed Harris is a LOT easier - The Abyss!  Pollock! A Beautiful Mind, Gravity...

 

I've never seen The Last King of Scotland, but that would get me to Forest Whitaker easily.  It was a "small" movie, but had lots of press and acolades.

 

Paul Giamatti I'd have a harder time with. I know his name, know he's an actor, yet nothing he's done comes to mind easily.   I'd probably eventually remember Sideways, but that's about it.

[sinkwriter]

 

See, and I think Ed Harris is a LOT easier - The Abyss!  Pollock! A Beautiful Mind, Gravity...

 

I'd know from The Abyss, but if I heard Beautiful Mind, I'd think Russell Crowe, and if I heard Gravity, I'd think Sandra Bullock and George Clooney. Maybe referencing his role in The Truman Show would help? But even that's a dated reference, I suppose.

[sinkwriter]

I still can't believe Jenna had trouble with Raspberry Beret. She was like 13 or 14 when it came out; I don't believe for one sec she didn't know that song back then. And it's a weird enough title that makes it hard to forget. (And I say that as someone only one year younger than her.) It's not like they asked her to know a current pop song (or a show like The Walking Dead, *eyeroll).