Battle Of The Network Stars - General Discussion

[Spencer Hastings]

This show is kind of great because it's a bunch of celebrities who are well aware that they're past their prime but they still go out there and have fun in spite of themselves.  It's nice when they don't take themselves too seriously.  

Except for Jason Hervey.  I think he's always been kind of a pain, plus he's really good friends with Scott Baio.  You are the company that you keep, I guess. 

Speaking of keeping company, I'm going to need Josh Henderson and Michael Fishman to stay in touch with each other and become best friends.  They were so encouraging to each other and seemed to bond over their equal competitiveness.

[jennifer6973]

On 7/20/2017 at 6:49 AM, MarkHB said:

He also works for NBC :), but in terms of overall awareness you're right.

And he calls baseball games on MLB Network.

[MortysCleaningLady]

Complain, @icemiser69 ?   I came out today to drool over Erik Estrada's hair -- why did it have to get wet?  (It really wasn't fair to pit the late 60 year old C*H*I*P*S guys against super athletes like 54 year old Dave Foley or 53 year old Willie Garson.)

[penbrat]

I enjoyed seeing EE - he made me laugh and I like that he and Larry Wilcox are friends all these years later.   I also enjoyed seeing Lorenzo Lamas - how cool that he gives helicopter tours now.   Something about Todd Bridges continues to make me root for him - he's gone through a lot of stuff but he's still giving it his all.   Sad to say I did not know the rest of the people on either team.

[sweetandsour]

On 7/20/2017 at 8:52 PM, MarkHB said:

I know they'll never do it, but I want to see DC vs Marvel:

• Stephen Amell
• Grant Gustin
• Caity Lotz
• Melissa Benoist
• Not sure of the 5th

vs

• Brent Dalton
• Charlie Cox
• Chloe Bennet
• Krysten Ritter
• U-Pick the 5th

For the fifth DC person, I think it would be fun to include Tyler Hoechlin as Superman, even though he's only a guest star.  Or David Ramsey because of the incredible gun show.  Look at them go during the Tug of War!  Or go old school with Smallville and include Tom Welling or Erica Durance.

Fifth DC and Marvel team member should be balanced (so it's either 3 men / 2 women for each team or 2 men / 3 women).  If the fifth DC person is a man, I'd love to see Mike Colter as the fifth for Marvel.  Especially if David Ramsey is on the other team.

[MarkHB]

Sorry for the delay in creating this....

[MarkHB]

8 hours ago, icemiser69 said:

I know this show doesn't get a lot of people posting in it, but could someone start a topic for last night's episode?  I feel the need to complain about said episode.

Sorry about that... it's there now!  Some of your posts have been moved over.

[helpmerhonda]

I thought they went to the "Todd Bridges is good at running from the cops" well a few too many times.

[Rinaldo]

5 hours ago, penbrat said:

I enjoyed seeing EE - he made me laugh and I like that he and Larry Wilcox are friends all these years later.  

Probably more than they were when the show was on, when rumors of rivalry were rampant. Worries about who got more publicity or money must seem a lot less important now, and I too was glad to see them as friends.

[tribeca]

Dave Foley runs over his teammate.  Eric Estrada throws a perfect pitch to knock his own teammate in the dunk tank   Both golfers hit the balls in the water.  So many great athletic moments LOL 

[Mittengirl]

The little chat between Jenna and Todd in the hot tub was very bittersweet with him talking about being the only one left.

Did I hear correctly that Todd has had knee replacement surgery?  

On the one hand I want to see more competitiveness between the two teams, but other times I enjoy the fact that they all seem to be there to have fun.  And the nice moments between people who seem like good folks, like between Todd and Jenna this week and Michael Fishman and Josh (?) last week, make me appreciate that aspect as well.

I was surprised to see Erik and Larry being so nice to each other.  I thought that they didn't get along by the end of the series.   Although, the fact that Erik can poke fun at himself now may help.  I guess age has mellowed them both.

[Rinaldo]

One thing that surprised me (in a positive way) is the frank way several of the older ones talked about being in a different career now. They didn't come out and say that it's been a long time since they had any offers to star or even guest on TV, but that was the clear subtext. It happens to so many; any kind of performing is an insecure profession for a lifetime, and eventually the day comes when even formerly famous ones have to take a hard look at income vs. outgo and decide how they might find a way to pay the bills. (Real estate is one of the classic options.) I was glad to see them be so honest about this, with no pretense or apology.

[sweetandsour]

There tends to be a lot of mental clarity when you look back (soon after or way down the line) and realize you were fighting with someone about more-more-more at a time that ends up being the peak of your career.  When you never reach that level of success again, I think you see how pointless it was to indulge a rivalry instead of just enjoying what you had at the time.  It feels like a zero-sum game when your ego is in control.  On a somewhat similar note, Nick Brendon of Buffy has said stuff like that recently.  He wasn't in-fighting, but he said he didn't have a good attitude about being contracted to stay on the show because he was always thinking about what movie roles he could be trying to get, but couldn't, bc of his Buffy obligations.  It's now crystal-clear to him how foolish he was and how much more appreciative he should have been.

Back to the actual competition, I think this is the most I've laughed out loud at any of the episodes.  I really wish they had replayed a super clear and slow-motion baton exchange between Dave and Leigh.  I didn't think he "ran over her," but she was pissed, either way!  I was really impressed with Willie Garson's abilities and really loved his adopted son on the sidelines rooting for him.  When Willie got kind of teary talking about him, I fully admit I teared up, too!  

I wish they had a timer on-screen for the Tug of War because I would appreciate having the perspective of whether it's 30 seconds in or have they been toughing it out and digging in deep for 5 minutes now?  I also wonder if Lorenzo Lamas ever got his wish about having a really marvelous dinner (as his father/grandfather? would say) after the conclusion.  Or maybe as icemiser said, there is no lunch.  Not even a Fyre Festival cheese-on-bread lunch.

[MarkHB]

11 hours ago, Mittengirl said:

The little chat between Jenna and Todd in the hot tub was very bittersweet with him talking about being the only one left.

Did I hear correctly that Todd has had knee replacement surgery?  

Yeah, Todd did say, essentially, that he was there to represent for Gary, Dana and Conrad Bain, and the announcers did say he had a new knee.

I also want to mention the hilarity of Lorenzo Lamas doing his version of Billy Crystal's impression of his father!  "You look mahvelous!"

[JunebugWA]

One of the factors that made the original popular was the spectators. They added energy to the competition. This half-baked remake needs that. 

[J-Man]

On 7/28/2017 at 5:00 AM, icemiser69 said:

I know this show doesn't get a lot of people posting in it, but could someone start a topic for last night's episode?  I feel the need to complain about said episode.

Done.

[MarkHB]

The TV Moms & Dads team of Chad Lowe, Greg Evigan, Ted McGinley, Lesley Fera, and Jackee Harry take on the TV Kids team of Jimmie Walker, Mackenzie Phillips, Jonathan Lipnicki, Krista Marie Yu, and Jeremy Miller.

[MarkHB]

Quote

The Famous TV Families team of Danny Bonaduce, Barry Williams, Beverley Mitchell, Willie Aames, and Charlene Tilton take on the Doctors team of Thomas Calabro, Taye Diggs, Rachelle Lefevre, Deidre Hall, and Benjamin Hollingsworth.

Quote

The TV Lifeguards team of David Chokachi, Brande Roderick, Parker Stevenson, Nicole Eggert, and Gena Lee Nolin take on the Trouble Makers team of Vivica A. Fox, Paul Johansson, John Barrowman, Julie Benz, and Catherine Bach.

 

Note: "Doctors vs Famous TV Families" aired on ESPN 2 on July 30th; entering the topic without viewing the episode may spoil you!  These episodes will air on September 7 on ABC.

[Tammee]

I just have to say how much I love Dave Foley.  He makes me laugh so hard.  Ive followed his career ever since KITH days.  And who knew the dude could run!  And shoot!  Very impressive Dave

I remember what it felt like to win...heeeeeeeeeee

[Tammee]

I have to say I do love the Wide World of Sports intro.  It gives me such goosebumps every time I hear it!  Memories going back to watching it with my dad on weekends

[mojoween]

When Michael Fishman said he is 35 I was like "wait no DJ is eight years old!"  It's hard to believe Roseanne debuted 30 years ago.

I was sad the soap stars lost because 90210 and The OC are two of my favorite shows of all time. Also I'm competitive and want the team I root for to win at everything, heh.

I do love how they keep finding old footage of the stars back in the day.  I had no idea Olivia D'Abo was on it before!

[sweetandsour]

Forgot one of my "favorite" (have to use that in quotes, bc it's hard to have favorite parts of cheesy shows like this) of this episode until I was watching the Tug of War in the next episode (parents vs. kids).  Before the Tug of War, I think it was Lorenzo (?) who said that they had two hundred pounds on the other team.  Then Kelly said, super confused, "two hundo??"  Ahahahah.  I don't doubt that the Cops team weighed more than the TV sitcoms team, but not by much!  Two hundred is 40 pounds more per person than the other team.  The sitcom women are small and short, but Kelly and Jodi aren't heavy by any means.  And even though Larry and Erik are not sticks and seem much taller than Willie and Dave, I think they might be the only ones person-over-person who have anything close to a 40-pound advantage.

[penbrat]

Jimmie Walker is still entertaining and Ted McGinley is a good sport.   Sorry he got hurt.   I use to have the biggest crush on Greg Evigan when I was a kid.  I thought he was it.    Other than that, I really didn't have much interest in this eppy.

[mtlchick]

Quote

Ted McGinley is a good sport

You have to be if you were the one time patron saint of jumptheshark.com.  Meanwhile, I'm still stunned the "little kid from Jerry Maguire" looks like THAT (in a good way!)

[sweetandsour]

I thought this was one of the more physically imbalanced competitions, even with Jimmie and Mackenzie on the "kids" team, and even if Ted hadn't hurt his ankle early on.  None of them women on either team were very good contributors, and because Jackee didn't seem to do much, that meant Lesley had to do so much for the "parents" team every time a female had to compete.  I'm still not sure how much of the competition is fixed ... it seemed obvious that running Jonathan in the obstacle course guaranteed the kids a win, and that would have meant the kids team was more than 10 points ahead going in to the Tug Of War.  Jonathan excelled in everything he did that day, but I get how they let Jeremy run it.  They probably thought Jeremy would also win, and they wanted that whole "doing it for Alan Thicke" sentiment.  I felt bad that Jeremy fell/stumbled so many times on the course.  Literally I think he fell 3 or 4 times after the slide.

I thought no way are the parents winning the Tug of War, but the strategy for the kids team was questionable.  Not sure if this was fixed, either.  I'm no TOW expert - it might make perfect sense to put your two strongest guys in front, but not also with your weakest as anchor???  Unless you are so confident that your guys in front will do all of the work with no problem?  I don't know if Jimmie's falling over at the end really hurt them.  It didn't seem like that's why Jonathan and Jeremy were struggling - more so that they weren't getting any help in general.  The parents team definitely weighed more, so that must have been an advantage.

There will be some attractive people in the next episode, so that should be fun.  Hahaha.

[LadyNebula]

9 hours ago, sweetandsour said:

 I'm still not sure how much of the competition is fixed ... it seemed obvious that running Jonathan in the obstacle course guaranteed the kids a win, and that would have meant the kids team was more than 10 points ahead going in to the Tug Of War.  Jonathan excelled in everything he did that day, but I get how they let Jeremy run it.  They probably thought Jeremy would also win, and they wanted that whole "doing it for Alan Thicke" sentiment.  I felt bad that Jeremy fell/stumbled so many times on the course.  Literally I think he fell 3 or 4 times after the slide.

Now see, I thought him falling was incredibly fake. The obstacle course really seems to be fixed, like, every week, especially if one team is down by a lot. Then the team that's doing better will "trip."  That way, the TOW is more exciting because OMGANYONECANWIN!!!

[sweetandsour]

1 hour ago, LadyNebula said:

Now see, I thought him falling was incredibly fake. The obstacle course really seems to be fixed, like, every week, especially if one team is down by a lot. Then the team that's doing better will "trip."  That way, the TOW is more exciting because OMGANYONECANWIN!!!

Prior to this week, I was wondering what they do if a team is more than ten points down going into the TOW.  The commentators said a tiny bit in passing what would happen - the team that's down would have to compete in the TOW with a handicap - but I don't think they said what that means?  Or maybe I didn't catch it.  I remember assuming that meant they might have to compete with, say 4 people instead of 5, and if they won, they would get some number of points greater than ten, but I really don't know what the handicap is and how many points extra points that might get you.  Fundamentally I disagree with the points allocation across different events, but that's probably the way the original was (I don't know, I was too young).

I'm still surprised the parents won the TOW.  I shouldn't be because I think it was clear that Jimmie/Kristy/Mackenzie would be handily beaten by Jackee/Leslie/any of the dads, so Jeremy and Jonathan actually had to hold their own and make up for that disadvantage by themselves.  Though maybe the TOW was also fixed hahahahaha.  I'm so glad winners and losers and suspense mean nothing on this show.

[tribeca]

I am always happy and amazed that Julie Cooper is still with us.   She was so proud of beating Wonder Woman LOL.

It was nice seeing all the celebrities enjoying the games and supporting each other.  Is this the first time two people wanted to do a event?  

JJ walker was very delightful and I don't know the actress from Dr Ken but found her adorable.   

[mojoween]

What was up with the picture from Growing Pains they showed when Jeremy was talking about Alan?  There is no way on earth that was Tracey Gold in the back next to Kirk Cameron.

I am also curious why the guy with the Achilles injury was plummeting to the water from the dunk tank.

[MarkHB]

Quote

The Cops team of Marisol Nichols, Roma Maffia, Adrian Zmed, Fred Dryer, and Ryan Paevey take on the Sci-Fi/Fantasy team of Lou Ferrigno, Vinnie Jones, Charisma Carpenter, Kevin Sorbo, and Jill Wagner.

With Jill Wagner playing, I propose a drinking game: drink every time they say "Big balls!" :)

[MarkHB]

43 minutes ago, icemiser69 said:

I know that it is still a day away, but I hope TPTB will set up the next episode thread.  I did notice that there is one set up for next week, but I couldn't find one for this week.

Tomorrow night's episode, I think is: Cops vs Scifi/fantasy.

 

BTW, my DVR says that next week's episode is: ABC Stars vs Variety.  That is different than the thread that is already set up for next week.

Yes, some of the team names are repetitive from past episodes, but the players on those teams are different.

I'm TPTB for this forum (I'm still waiting for the bosses to get me a yellow blazer), so feel free to PM me with any questions!  The new episode thread for tomorrow night has been set up; so far as the "TV Families v. Doctors" thread goes, we use thetvdb.com as our source of truth for show airing info, and they're using the ABC air dates.  However, that particular episode has been bounced around several times, and in fact it and at least one other have already aired on ESPN (which is where the thread came from). So I'll adjust the air date on that one (currently there isn't an official one for ABC).

[MarkHB]

OK, they didn't say "Big Balls" once (although Fred Dryer had the perfect opportunity), but Jill was great, and Lou Ferrigno at least keeps his arms in shape.

[TAG42481]

When you bring in people on a show for an athletic competition, and they can't do the necessary athletic things (the relay race), then you don't have a show.  This series is being deleted from the DVR.  I'm 36, and I had never heard of Battle of the Network Stars until I saw it on ESPN Classic 3 years ago.  That was fantastic.  This is terrible.

[penbrat]

Time has not been kind to Adrian Zmed (sp??)   This version of the show captures none of the fun and cheesiness (in a good way) that the original one did.   Do not like the unmatched teams and the random "celebrities" they come up with.  Don't like the coaches (esp. the lady so annoying).  With the coaches, two announcer guys and the two sideline girls there are too many people.

[mojoween]

I don't understand the women who come on this show and then can't do anything athletic.  Marisol and Roma must have thought they were coming on some other show.

Although Roma Maffia is a cool name.

My mother absolutely loved Fred Dryer back in the day.  My teenage years were spent watching Hunter on Saturday nights.  Also, he seemed pretty charming, for a Ram.

It seemed like they kept putting up old pictures of Adrian Zmed more than they usually do for other people.  Got damn he was fine in the eighties.

Greeny got to do his Howard Cosell impersonation!  He must have been so excited.

[Mittengirl]

Was I the only one who had Roma Maffia and Roma Downey confused at first?  I just couldn't reconcile who I was seeing on TV with who I was picturing in my mind.  I think it was only after hearing the name about the third or fourth time that it finally clicked.

[J-Man]

Between this show, Dancing With the Stars, and the numerous game show reboots (Family Feud, To Tell the Truth, Pyramid, Gong Show), ABC has truly become the last refuge for Z-listers. 

[MarkHB]

10 hours ago, J-Man said:

Between this show, Dancing With the Stars, and the numerous game show reboots (Family Feud, To Tell the Truth, Pyramid, Gong Show), ABC has truly become the last refuge for Z-listers. 

Considering their corporate sister the Disney Channel, dedicated to churning out a continuous supply of Z-listers, it's a vertically-integrated, cradle-to-grave support system for the mildly photogenic!

[MarkHB]

Quote

The ABC Stars team of Ted Lange, Troy Gentile, Jill Whelan, Denise Richards, and Joely Fisher take on the Variety team of Lance Bass, Joey Fatone, Adrienne Houghton, Cameron Mathison, and Kelly Osbourne.

[penbrat]

Loved seeing "Vicki" and "Isaac" from the Love Boat.   That was one of the shows I was allowed to watch growing up and I still watch the reruns and in spite of the bad acting and horrible "story" lines - watching it brings back a nostalgic cheesiness for me.   They both looked great and had wonderful attitudes!

[Rinaldo]

Ms. Osbourne, why do you sign up for BotNS if being in the sun makes you ill? I'm not unsympathetic, I know it's a real thing, but then why agree to participate in an all-day outdoor event? It's not mandatory for anyone.

Likewise, I can feel for the Goldbergs kid, as I'm at least that athletically inept and would probably do even worse -- but then I didn't volunteer to do this thing. Why put yourself through it and get described as "worst ever" even by announcers who are standing on their heads to say something nice about everyone?

On the other hand, go team Love Boat! Jill Whelan and Ted Lange did themselves proud. Mr. Lange, in particular: you out-swam Cameron Mathison, who was otherwise leaving everyone trailing in his dust. Yes, I know Lange started his lap with a lead, but he kept it, where many others might very well not have. I'm full of admiration for him.

Edited August 25, 2017 by Rinaldo
PTV can't believe the name isn't Mathieson, even after 3 corrections.

[sweetandsour]

I feel like this was the most obviously lopsided team pairings aired so far. The ABC Stars team should have been paired with the TV Cops team from last week, where the only person who could really do anything was Ryan Paevey and to some degree, Fred Dryer. At least in terms of "fairness," though I understand that having two mehhhh teams fill up the hour is probably the only thing that could bring this show down even further.  It was so, so uneven in terms of age, and then gender. It can really matter having 2 women and 3 men vs 3 women and 2 men in the final TOW. The only young person on the ABC Stars team was self-confessed and visibly uncoordinated. The oldest person on the Variety team isn't that old and Cameron is a beast. They should have pit the Variety team against the Sci-Fi team last week.

That said, I did enjoy the nsync hijinks and Demarcus proudly saying he was in a boyband in high school!

[ACS]

I just started watching when I remembered today that it was a thing. This show makes me miss Wipeout.  No seriously.  I think the summer needs a weird frothy competition show.  I would also accept American Gladiators.  I didn't realize how much I liked this type of show; I might keep watching.  There are a number of things that would make this better like better match ups, funner games, fairer scoring for events.

[MarkHB]

13 hours ago, ACS said:

I just started watching when I remembered today that it was a thing. This show makes me miss Wipeout.

Go back and watch last week's,  with Jill Wagner competing!

[MarkHB]

Honestly, I was thinking that they were trying to avoid the final preseason games by punting this week, until you reminded me that next Thursday is opening night.  Maybe their demographic research shows that the show is heavily watched by Patriots-haters?  ;)

[Racj82]

They saved the best tug of war for last. That's for sure.

On a shallow note, good Lord did celebrity fit club not work out for Nicole Eggert. I don't care if she's overweight. It's just that she looks bigger every time I see her now.

On the other hand, Julie Benz is 45 looking that amazing. Everyone should be that lucky.

[ali59]

Did anyone else notice that the commentators didn't say they were at Pepperdine University the week of the Dr. vs Family?

Edited September 8, 2017 by ali59

[LizDC]

53 minutes ago, icemiser69 said:

There is no way that TV Families was going to be able to compete with one less player in the tug of war. 

I guess I zoned out. Who didn't compete for the TV Families?

[Tammee]

On 9/8/2017 at 11:34 AM, ali59 said:

Did anyone else notice that the commentators didn't say they were at Pepperdine University the week of the Dr. vs Family?

The  Wide World of Sports intro is changed too, updated with current athletes

[dangwoodchucks]

On 8/18/2017 at 10:00 AM, icemiser69 said:

It looks like they threw in a few token younger "stars" in an effort to bring on a younger audience.  The older former "stars" are no match for the younger ones. This version of the show looks so incredibly cheap.  Adrian Zmed is 63 years old.  At least he didn't have a jet black hair dye job.

It does look cheap. The cars using a dirt road to deliver the stars to their red carpet laid on a bumpy grass hill is a prime example. While I enjoy seeing stars who competed in the original shows, showing us clips from those shows highlights how much more exciting those shows were. There were more people on each team, there was a team captain, there were cheerleaders, there was an audience, there was Robert Conrad and there was Simon Says.