Season 1-3 Discussion

[snarkylady]

I'm SO embarrassed!  Yes, Kaye Stevens.  Apologies to anyone named Kaye Sykes. 

[sugarbaker design]

Really fun episode with Kal Penn and Ali Wentworth last night.  Ali won me over until she played that asshole move with '99 per cent'.  'Old' was the definitive answer and she knew that.

[Princess Sparkle]

Don't feel bad; I was 13 before I realized there was a difference between Morgan Fairchild and Morgan Freeman, and I still occasionally interchange their names in conversation.

[iMonrey]

This was probably one of the best panels - a nice combination of entertainment and serious gamesmanship. Everyone seemed to be in such a good mood. Mario Cantone is perfect for the Charles Nelson Reilly spot, and Cheryl Hines is perfect for the "ditzy blonde" spot. I'm ashamed to admit I didn't even think of "Big Mac" for Ronald McDonald. All I could think of was "french fry" and then I thought of "buns." 

The batmobile question was a little too easy, though. 

[Kromm]

3 hours ago, Princess Sparkle said:

Don't feel bad; I was 13 before I realized there was a difference between Morgan Fairchild and Morgan Freeman, and I still occasionally interchange their names in conversation.

Jon Lovitz and his obsession over Fairchild helped me remember who she was.

[FormerMod-a1]

For Ronald McDonald I only though of "buns" or "meat".  At first I thought "hamburgers" was odd, but since it was generic, it really worked.

[mtlchick]

Quote

 

The batmobile question was a little too easy, though. 

I said utility belt.  Oops. 

 

I do like that you hear the conversations at the end while the credits roll: Cheryl was giving Jacque a signed card with all of the celebs and was trying to get Alec's attention to get him to sign as well.

[Arcadiasw]

4 hours ago, sugarbaker design said:

Really fun episode with Kal Penn and Ali Wentworth last night.  Ali won me over until she played that asshole move with '99 per cent'.  'Old' was the definitive answer and she knew that.

I hope she really is going to give the contestant money for that goof. 

[jumper sage]

1 hour ago, iMonrey said:

I'm ashamed to admit I didn't even think of "Big Mac" for Ronald McDonald. All I could think of was "french fry" and then I thought of "buns." 

I was yelling large feet because you know feet size = oh never mind.  Big Mac was a great answer.

I think this show is going to rebuild Alec again.  I loved his joke about the magician.  The contestant was telling us about his essays, or whatever, about Harry Potter and he topic of :  Do magicians need condoms?  Alec say, "No they don't".  Harkens back to some guy living in mom's basement.

[April Bloodgate]

59 minutes ago, mtlchick said:

I said utility belt.  Oops. 

I did too...

[Arcadiasw]

2 hours ago, April Bloodgate said:

I did too...

I said batarang.

I will miss the game shows when the Fall Season starts. If possible, I would suggest the network air these when some of the fall shows go on Winter Breaks but the hosts have other scheduling conflicts they can only film so many shows.

Edited August 1, 2016 by Arcadiasw

[rr2911]

I didn't exactly agree with "hamburger" or "Whopper" on that McDonald question. Yes, I know they are both hamburgers but it didn't fit the direction this question was going. I think the contestant got a huge break! Even Alec kind of alluded to it.

[peeayebee]

Yeah, I kinda agree with you. There's really no double entendre with 'hamburger' like there is with Big Mac and Whopper. I was particularly annoyed that Whopper was accepted since that's Burger King. BTW, I said McNuggets.

Good show. The cast was very good, though Ali was bugging me from time to time. Still, her joke about being the same age as Lauren was great. Her answer of '99 percent spice' was stupid. It doesn't even make sense. What's the joke? 

Loved when Alec started reading a question -- "Fast food scandal." -- and Jack said, "How. Fast. Was it?" I love Jack. Oh, and then there was, "Taekwon-don't get mad..."

I don't know if there's a definitive answer for Baby Shaq being delivered by something, but I said elephant. 

For the Playgirl question, I said there wasn't enuf wax to cover his body. 

For the Victoria's Secret model question, I said 68 sunflower seeds in a minute.

And for the daVinci question, I thought of paint brush, but I said beard. 

[ajsnaves]

And here, I thought the easy answer for the Batman question was "Bat Pole."  I'll show myself out now.

[Kromm]

That was such a joy of an episode. It makes me want double the episode order for next year, and all of them to be kind of like this one. Even the stuff that was wrong in the episode (like the inequity of certain questions, or Ali giving that stinker of an answer on the Spice Girls question) was still FUNNY. 

Speaking of the Spice Girls question, Alec was even giving them an obvious hint with his "AARP" joke. He knew full well what he was doing too.

One thing that's finally clear to me is that the way the contestants ALWAYS come out waving their arms around like lunatics is because they've clearly been given a specific instruction to do so. Really that IS one thing that's got to change.

[readster]

I thought both batmobile and batarangs. However, the 99 percent, was related to something Saunders said just once, so why would she think that was a good answer? She blew it, big time. Seriously, we were all thinking Old Spice too. 

[Mumbles]

Alec was on his game today, between calling the panel "the detention room" and his rapport with all the panelists and joking about accidentally sitting on the microphone (juvenile but I laughed) and when saying goodbye to a contestant, saying "We'll see you in forty years when ABC reboots this show again."

His theater jokes have a very limited audience but Mario kills me.

[Irlandesa]

Old Spice is a great answer but I would've lost because I would've said "socialist spice" so I can't blame Ali too much.

[mortonsalt]

6 hours ago, rr2911 said:

I didn't exactly agree with "hamburger" or "Whopper" on that McDonald question. Yes, I know they are both hamburgers but it didn't fit the direction this question was going. I think the contestant got a huge break! Even Alec kind of alluded to it.

 

4 hours ago, peeayebee said:

Yeah, I kinda agree with you. There's really no double entendre with 'hamburger' like there is with Big Mac and Whopper. I was particularly annoyed that Whopper was accepted since that's Burger King. BTW, I said McNuggets.

Good show. The cast was very good, though Ali was bugging me from time to time. Still, her joke about being the same age as Lauren was great. Her answer of '99 percent spice' was stupid. It doesn't even make sense. What's the joke? 

Loved when Alec started reading a question -- "Fast food scandal." -- and Jack said, "How. Fast. Was it?" I love Jack. Oh, and then there was, "Taekwon-don't get mad..."

I don't know if there's a definitive answer for Baby Shaq being delivered by something, but I said elephant. 

For the Playgirl question, I said there wasn't enuf wax to cover his body. 

For the Victoria's Secret model question, I said 68 sunflower seeds in a minute.

And for the daVinci question, I thought of paint brush, but I said beard. 

Yes, I think hamburgers was too generic of an answer. I think they should have had her be more specific because I was thinking "Big Mac" as the answer, but I also thought that some of the judges might say "Quarter Pounder" or even "Whopper", even though the latter is from Burger King. It seems the opposite of the Judge Judy answer last week since they were looking for a specific euphemism there. Plus, if a contestant had answered "Big Mac", I think the judges would have ruled that "Whopper" wasn't a match which seems totally unfair. 

Overall, I agree it was a pretty good show; although Ali bugged me at times too especially on that last answer. I was so excited to see that there might actually be a high scoring tie game too, and then it didn't happen all because of her answer. I get what she was going for, but I think she should have went with the obvious answer of "old spice" since I felt it was one of the questions that had a definitive answer.

I answered Batmobile and paint brush for the Batman and Davinci questions; although, I thought about beard for the latter question. I had no clue about the Baby Shaq one. I was thinking a big bird like Jack, but I couldn't think of one that flew, so I went with airplane like the contestant did. I did like Kal's answer; although, I do think he overthought it a bit. For the Playgirl question, I answered back like the contestant too just because I thought about those funny videos out there of guys' waxing their backs, and because I really didn't want to think about Alec waxing his pubic area, lol. Finally, for the Victoria's secret question, I thought of bits of lettuce, which probably would have been booed, because I was trying to think of something that was basically calorie free. I thought the ice cube answer was probably the best answer, and wished I would have thought of it. I have heard of the cotton balls thing being true, but I don't think most people probably know about that or at least think about that when trying to think of a funny answer. 

[snarkylady]

13 hours ago, Kromm said:

One thing that's finally clear to me is that the way the contestants ALWAYS come out waving their arms around like lunatics is because they've clearly been given a specific instruction to do so. Really that IS one thing that's got to change.

+1 

actually +1000, this always starts the show in a bad way, get rid of it

[Mumbles]

23 hours ago, mtlchick said:

I do like that you hear the conversations at the end while the credits roll: Cheryl was giving Jacque a signed card with all of the celebs and was trying to get Alec's attention to get him to sign as well.

 

What I loved about the original show was it had the feel of a party to which the contestants and audience was invited. I get the same vibe off this incarnation, especially the panel from this week, and this kind of stuff creates that vibe. 

[iMonrey]

Quote

I don't know if there's a definitive answer for Baby Shaq being delivered by something, but I said elephant. 

Actually "Crane" was the most clever answer since you (theoretically) want a bird bigger than a stork and so "crane" is a good play on words. The only thing I could come up with was "blimp."

Quote

For the Victoria's Secret model question, I said 68 sunflower seeds in a minute.

They only showed it briefly but my favorite answer was Kal's: "Lines of coke." LOL.

[rr2911]

14 hours ago, mortonsalt said:

 

Yes, I think hamburgers was too generic of an answer. I think they should have had her be more specific because I was thinking "Big Mac" as the answer, but I also thought that some of the judges might say "Quarter Pounder" or even "Whopper", even though the latter is from Burger King. It seems the opposite of the Judge Judy answer last week since they were looking for a specific euphemism there. Plus, if a contestant had answered "Big Mac", I think the judges would have ruled that "Whopper" wasn't a match which seems totally unfair. 

 

 I kind of disagree with Whopper being a match with Big Mac if this would've taken place.

I still like the old game more than this new one. It was more about the contestants winning. Now, it's more about the celebrities and what crazy stuff they can come up with.

Edited August 2, 2016 by rr2911

[TheGreenKnight]

I thought this panel was a little better than last week's, but not as good as the first episodes. Cheryl Hines was the best part of the show. I knew Ali wouldn't match on the very last question because she'd given nothing but stupid answers the entire game. I don't know who Jack is, but he was funnier this episode than the others he's been on.

[Violet Penner]

Cheryl seemed a little drunker this episode?

I thought of 68 grains of rice for the model one - was trying to think of small food.  Doesn't seem to be one obvious answer for this one.

For the McDonald's question, I toyed with "Happy Meal" before deciding on Big Mac.  The answer of hamburgers was not "on point."

Sometimes I feel really stupid when an obvious answer like Old Spice just doesn't enter my brain.  I'm sure the contestants might get a little flustered under the time pressure.  At least there were no real "hair" answers this week.

[peeayebee]

Yeah, I thought Cheryl was drunk. But in a good way!

 

20 hours ago, readster said:

However, the 99 percent, was related to something Saunders said just once, so why would she think that was a good answer? 

Ohhhh. I didn't even think about 99% being anything Sanders said. Thanks. I couldn't figure out what Ali was going for when she wrote that.

 

3 hours ago, iMonrey said:

Actually "Crane" was the most clever answer since you (theoretically) want a bird bigger than a stork and so "crane" is a good play on words.

Yes, crane was clever. As the celebs were writing down their answers, Kal looked at Ali's card and said something like, "Oh! Clever!" and I immediately thought she wrote crane. I don't know how I got there so quickly.

 

54 minutes ago, Violet Penner said:

I thought of 68 grains of rice for the model one - was trying to think of small food.

Me too. That's why I said sunflower seeds, but I still didn't think that was a great answer. I remember hearing somewhere about models eating a few Cheerios, but I didn't think that was better than sunflower seeds.

[theatremouse]

5 hours ago, iMonrey said:

Actually "Crane" was the most clever answer since you (theoretically) want a bird bigger than a stork and so "crane" is a good play on words. The only thing I could come up with was "blimp."

I was totally stuck on it because I was trying to think of what bird would be disproportionately big, like Shaq. And it also threw me because Alec said "a blank" because I wanted to just answer "Big Bird" because that was literally the only bigger bird I could think of since storks are kind of big to begin with. But obviously they weren't going for him because it would've just been "blank" not "a blank". That or pterodactyl. Crane as a pun is great but I totally didn't think of it. Maybe would've gotten there with infinite time, but..game show.

Edited August 2, 2016 by theatremouse

[Kromm]

4 hours ago, TheGreenKnight said:

I knew Ali wouldn't match on the very last question because she'd given nothing but stupid answers the entire game. I don't know who Jack is, but he was funnier this episode than the others he's been on.

I dunno.  Crane indeed was a really good answer to the Stork question (not only because of the pun, but also because its a bird that's mistaken for a Stork a lot), and she matched a lot of other times.  She was annoying (although IMO actually still funny) a few times, but this one total dingbat answer seemed to me to be the only time she came out with something outright dumb. 

Jack was a main player on 30 Rock, just like Alec was, by the way.  I'll assume from that that you only knew Alec from tabloids, and perhaps his movies (although its been a long time since he's starred in anything major). 

Edited August 3, 2016 by Kromm

[Irlandesa]

I share the "crane" love.  In fact, when Ali said it, I thought to myself that it may have been the most clever answer given in the whole reboot so far.  Large bird.  Also a construction apparatus.  Looks like a stork.

Edited August 3, 2016 by Irlandesa

[jcin617]

I actually said "crane" at home, but then started second-guessing myself until I finally matched with Ali.

[Phishbulb]

On 8/1/2016 at 9:18 PM, ajsnaves said:

And here, I thought the easy answer for the Batman question was "Bat Pole." 

Right??? Seriously, this seems to me to be the definitive joke answer to this question. Is it that it's too dirty for TV?

What would be funny about Batman polishing his Batmobile?

[Kromm]

For some reason "Batarang" is the one that came to me instead of Batmobile, but I agree that Bat Pole is a good one.

I suppose the big problem is that the Bat Pole is really only an essential part of the Batman '66 version. It may be shown as a background thing in other versions but isn't really discussed. So I can see why it wouldn't come to mind quickly in most cases.

[Blissfool]

26 minutes ago, Kromm said:

For some reason "Batarang" is the one that came to me instead of Batmobile, but I agree that Bat Pole is a good one.

I suppose the big problem is that the Bat Pole is really only an essential part of the Batman '66 version. It may be shown as a background thing in other versions but isn't really discussed. So I can see why it wouldn't come to mind quickly in most cases.

Pssshh....I didn't even know that there was a literal bat pole in the series. My answer was bat pole too, but in the dirty sense as it seems to me like something I would expect Batman to do in the privacy of his man cave. Obviously I was in the minority, but I didn't think batmobile was a good answer because men don't have their cars inside their man cave. 

Also, i didn't think crane was good because they are basically the same size as a stork. If a stork couldn't manage, then a crane couldn't either. 

Yes, I've been known to overthink things.

[FormerMod-a1]

I didn't think Batmobile was good either, but I couldn't think of anything better, or even good.  I came up with "ears" and "cape" and "gadgets".  I do love Bat Pole though.

I liked crane because the double meaning, the bird and the construction equipment.  However, I didn't think of it either.  I had ostrich.

[peeayebee]

I could only come up with Batmobile, which I didn't like as an answer because it wasn't funny. For a second I thought of nipples, as in the costume that Clooney wore in his Batman movie, but I thought that was too obscure.

[TheGreenKnight]

3 hours ago, Blissfool said:

Also, i didn't think crane was good because they are basically the same size as a stork. If a stork couldn't manage, then a crane couldn't either. 

I agree, cranes aren't much different than storks.

As for the Batman question, I said “Batmobile” at home because I couldn’t think of anything else, and it is in his cave in most of the films, I think? Well, I did think of “Robin,” too, but I assumed nobody on the show would say that until Jack did. lol

[Kromm]

2 hours ago, Blissfool said:

Pssshh....I didn't even know that there was a literal bat pole in the series. My answer was bat pole too, but in the dirty sense as it seems to me like something I would expect Batman to do in the privacy of his man cave. Obviously I was in the minority, but I didn't think batmobile was a good answer because men don't have their cars inside their man cave. 

To be fair... Batman himself does. Every version of him too (unlike the pole) has the actual Batmobile parked inside the Batcave.

For me the main issue with Batmobile is that while a car is definitely a phallic symbol, that's more of an implied thing rather than someone (usually) being able to literally substitute a car into a sentence and have it be a clear reference to a penis. 

[BW Manilowe]

On August 2, 2016 at 3:52 PM, TheGreenKnight said:

I thought this panel was a little better than last week's, but not as good as the first episodes. Cheryl Hines was the best part of the show. I knew Ali wouldn't match on the very last question because she'd given nothing but stupid answers the entire game. I don't know who Jack is, but he was funnier this episode than the others he's been on.

Jack played the studio/network page on 30 Rock. He was 1 of Alec's co-stars on it.

[TheOtherOne]

All of the Sunday night game shows have been renewed (presumably for next summer, though the article doesn't say).

[Mumbles]

I can only assume yesterday's show was a rerun because of the Olympics (?).

[Mumbles]

I remember the Kaye Stevens episodes. You could tell the rest of them didn't like her. She would do that weird thing when she kicked her leg in the air and whenever Gene read the question she's start cackling and screaming how much she loved this show ("Me! Me! Pay attention to  MEEEE!") She is never on the later seasons, they must have grown sick of her.

[WendyCR72]

3 hours ago, Mumbles said:

I can only assume yesterday's show was a rerun because of the Olympics (?).

Yeah. There was an announcement of new episodes being pushed back but I can't find it now, but it was decided this past week would be repeats due to the Olympics.

[Jaded]

My local ABC station is showing Match Game and The $100,000 Pyramid this afternoon in SD instead of HD.

[TheGreenKnight]

I hate how some of these celebrities treat the contestants like they're stupid. Don’t get me wrong, most of the contestants have been pretty dumb, but this group of panelists definitely has no room to talk on that subject. They couldn't even match one another, much less the contestants.

“You are what you eat: crabs.” The line of the night.

[WendyCR72]

Since this has been renewed, I hope the producers take note of the good celebrity panelists and decide to have one or two "anchor" as the '70s version did. Some of the celebrities - never mind the contestants - seemed too stupid to tie their own damned shoes.

I could hear Dawson, Rayburn, Reilly, and Sommers cursing some of them in the afterlife.

[mortonsalt]

Yes, I'm not sure if it was because I kept flipping back and forth during the commercials to the Olympics or not, but I didn't like this week's episode as much as the others. There seemed to be more dud questions, and even when the "good" questions were marred either by how dumb the celebrities were or how dumb the contestants were. 

I like Ellie Kemper, David Alan Grier, and Natasha Lyonne outside of this show, but they really shouldn't be asked back. Jerry O'Connell wasn't too bad; although, I found him to be dull outside of the belly dancing. 

[jumper sage]

1 hour ago, mortonsalt said:

Yes, I'm not sure if it was because I kept flipping back and forth during the commercials to the Olympics or not, but I didn't like this week's episode as much as the others. There seemed to be more dud questions, and even when the "good" questions were marred either by how dumb the celebrities were or how dumb the contestants were. 

I like Ellie Kemper, David Alan Grier, and Natasha Lyonne outside of this show, but they really shouldn't be asked back. Jerry O'Connell wasn't too bad; although, I found him to be dull outside of the belly dancing. 

The Girl Scout cookies = pot, weed, how could they not get that???????

____ marker = Magic!  Color?  What the hell?  The dating question was weird. Swipe not match match?  I don't know what I would have said.

Both games the winners had 2 right.  Two right!  I think they need a class for all involved before the cameras roll.

[Phishbulb]

I instantly thought "poke" for the Internet question, which is a dated reference (Facebook) but funny in the context of the question. "Swipe" is probably a more current reference. 

I agree there were a lot of dud questions in this episode. I couldn't think of anything for the Baldwin brothers one, "The Middle Aged and The ______" I guess I would have gone with "tired" just for lack of anything else; young is to middle aged as restless is to tired I suppose (Taking the SAT pays off!)

And then there were several questions where the answer was obvious and the panel were a bunch of dummies. The girl scout one was clearly "pot" and the ventriloquist one was obviously "vagina" since they made a point of making the ventriloquist a woman in the question.

Edited August 15, 2016 by Phishbulb

[Kromm]

11 hours ago, WendyCR72 said:

Since this has been renewed, I hope the producers take note of the good celebrity panelists and decide to have one or two "anchor" as the '70s version did. Some of the celebrities - never mind the contestants - seemed too stupid to tie their own damned shoes.

Well that was always true. It worked when they were dumb, but funny. So they just have to target that aspect.  I think at least a few of the dumb ones this time qualify... just ditch the ones who's bumbling didn't make the audience laugh.

There's even a place for a celeb who gives bad answers. If they are totally ridiculous ones.

[Kromm]

Sub-topic:

Given the renewal and the many celebs we HAVE seen, what stars who showed this season would you like BACK? (and which not)

Rosie O'Donnell wasn't really screamingly funny on the show, but she was surprisingly calming at times, and quite good at the game. So she gets a return pass from me.

Jack McBrayer was pretty darn funny usually, and decent enough at the game that he wasn't a waste that way either.  He gets my return pass.

Tituss Burgess was more often annoying rather than funny. I am unsure on him.

Niecy Nash was actually okay. Not excellent, but okay. Cast her again if needed.

A few people I'd have thought might be great (and are other places) were mediocre at best--not bad, not great. Michael Ian Black, Mario Cantone, David Alan Grier, Ana Gasteyer... I could take or leave any of them and not care either way based on their 2016 performances.

Controversial I know (because some hated her) but I liked Leslie Jones. JUST loud enough to be funny, but not over my personal line.  I'd like her back.

J.B. Smoove needs to go far far away and never be seen on anything again.  Ever.