S02.E16: Game Night: Behind Bars

[Tara Ariano]

The celebrity players are Jenna Fischer, Darren Criss, Jason Biggs, Laura Prepon, Natasha Lyonne and Mario Lopez.

[Rinaldo]

Well, we know from his first time that Lopez is oblivious to all but himself, but the other 2 gentlemen seem provisionally promising. I'll probably eat my words after it airs.

[Rinaldo]

OK, a little bit of word-eating in unexpected areas -- that is, Mario Lopez wasn't as bad as I remembered. He did pretty well through the earlier games. And though he lost the endgame, it wasn't a debacle; just neither of them did quite well enough. He did get overly stuck on certain names when he should have cut his losses and moved on faster. I would probably have chosen Darren

 

For Li'l Picassos, I guess it's clear by now that they give the kids photos of celebrities, and the kids draw/paint what they see, whether they've heard of them or not.

 

I do think (following up a recent discussion in this forum) that this week both civilians looked look regular people -- perfectly attractive, but in an everyday rather than a Hollywood way.

[MizStaken]

Well i thought Mario would do better at the last game but he really kind of sucked at it. I agree, Darren would probably have done better. Speaking of Darren, he seemed rather subdued. He usually is like a bouncy ball. 

And also, how many kids are gonna know who the hell Liberace was? Doubt they watched Behind the Candlelabra

[pivot]

Natasha was the highlight of the episode for me. She was hysterical. Mario was the only one who had any spark tonight. Overall, a lame night. I think they should be required to have 1 singing/music game on every show. It just makes it funnier.

[peeayebee]

I didn't really like any of the celebs -- Well, it's not like I DISliked them, but I thought they were either annoying or boring. Plus, like pivot said, there should have been a singing game or something more physical. Maybe they didn't do that because of Jenna's pregnancy.

 

And also, how many kids are gonna know who the hell Liberace was?

 

Like Rinaldo said, the kids are certainly drawing from photos, so they don't need to know any of the people.

 

I expected Mario to do better in the bonus round. At first he was pretty calm, but as he and the contestant were having trouble coming up with clues or names, he got more flustered and panicky.

 

I was surprised, but pleased, that points were deducted for making sounds in I Love a Charade. That's been a pet peeve of mine for a while with this show. BTW, was one category Animal Movies? So… Silence of the Lambs and The Elephant Man are animal movies?

 

The other team did so great with the fads category. I think that was a lot easier than the movie one, but still it was fun watching them zip thru it.

[BobH]

I was pretty sure they were doomed when Lopez passed on Nicholas Cage. Wow. And then he took too long to pass on other things.

 

The Charades was really mis-matched in degree of difficulty. They need to have similar categories to be fair.

 

Both the Timeline selections were too easy. I think I would have gotten both first try, which is pretty rare.

 

Not my favourite episode. There seemed to be a lot more banter between games, i wonder if they normally film a bunch of stuff and only use it if they need to fill time.

[weightyghost]

I understood why she chose Mario - it's his sole job to know about celebrities nowadays - but I would have chosen Darren. Mario was too scattered, too frantic, which could be seen in the earlier games. Darren was calmer and knows alot about the industry so he would have been a solid choice. Though I would have been tempted to chose Jenna because I love Pam. 

 

 

BTW, was one category Animal Movies? So… Silence of the Lambs and The Elephant Man are animal movies?

 

To make it simple (since Trends was so easy) I think they just chose "animals in the title movies" in a Jeopardy move, rather than movies about animals. 

[peeayebee]

There seemed to be a lot more banter between games, i wonder if they normally film a bunch of stuff and only use it if they need to fill time.

 

I wonder, too. I can't stand all the banter. Or actually, I guess I don't mind it when the celebs are INTERESTING. Anyway, I guess it doesn't really make sense that they would need to fill time since the games have time limits. I'm sure they allow for some chit-chat. Maybe it just seemed like more banter because it was so boring.

[Tara Ariano]

Here's my post on the episode!

[rubaco]

The Charades was really mis-matched in degree of difficulty. They need to have similar categories to be fair.

 

 

It seemed really mismatched. The one team had to act out "moustache" (takes half a second to do that) while the other had to act out "Silence of the Lambs" (can't possibly be done in one step). Come on, show, play fair.

[charlieboo]

Agree about Charades.  The first category was all one-word answers, while the 2nd was long titles. Of course that will take longer to act out.

 

In Timelines, I don't remember Jane explaining the pictures before.  If they had just turned over the cards and made the teams identify the cars and the movie kisses and then put them in order, it would have been harder.  Once Jane named them all, it was waaaay too easy. Although I couldn't believe they thought Lady and the Tramp was in the 80s. But then again, these are the same people who couldn't remember West Side Story.

[peeayebee]

In Timelines, I don't remember Jane explaining the pictures before.

 

I'm not sure either, but maybe all the previous Timelines were of one person, like Cher at different points in her career. 

[dmeets]

So pleased that Mario "NO FAIR!" Lopez got dinged for using sounds during charades, though I suspect they were more willing to dock points since the team got through 11 clues. Darren got dinged too, but both times I've seen Mario on this show he's always drunkenly screaming about how the other team is doing something that's cheating. But I agree that I can't blame Krys for choosing Mario in the final round, since Jenna was pretty low-key all night, and Darren was pretty much going "pick him, not me." But really, Mario? You're cohost of a Hollywood gossip show and the best you can say about Jaime Foxx is "talented brother who can sing and act?" You couldn't name one single movie? (same re: Nicholas Cage)

 

On the other hand, I was so glad Krys chose Mario to flip cards, since he's got more energy than the other 7 contestants put together, plus it got him to shut the hell up and listen for a change.

 

And while I'm ragging on Mario - that drawing of Jenna was "an insult?" A kindergartner drew it, jackass.

[joanne3482]

I'm not sure either, but maybe all the previous Timelines were of one person, like Cher at different points in her career.

 

No because the episode with Brooklyn Decker, her husband (I think it was the one with John Legend and his model) they had Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition covers which Andy was able to do almost without help. I've also seen Rolling Stone covers because I remember the one with the Red Hot Chili Peppers and the socks was one of the pics. 

[Actionmage]

Thank you, dmeets! I was just coming here to chime in on how insulting it was for Mario to rag on a little kid who actually drew a very good picture of Jenna's Pam! You're the teammate of the woman, Lopez, plus you've sat next to her all game but you have no clue who the picture was?! Especially as there usually is one picture of a star that's actually playing that night! ::sighs:: I loved Jenna's quiet exasperation as the silence grew. Indeed, Ms. Fischer, indeed.

 

I missed the first game, but got in about mid-way of the alphabet block game. (Like Tara, I need to have a set of those die for myself! So many games and categories.) My only question was why grab a block if you have no answer? Why not try to grab a block that might give you a chance, say,  in guessing a Spielberg flick? Randomly grabbing D or P obviously didn't help. In fact, it should've been an early warning about Mario, in hindsight.

 

I liked Team Orange; they were calm, funny, were interesting when called on for quick tidbits, and well, Natasha Lyonne.  I haven't seen Darren Criss on many other shows (just  Who's Line Is It Anyway? ) and he seemed subdued to me. I hope he wasn't told to dial it back because HGN is a show that needs energy to propel it through an hour.

 

As to the I Love A Charade thing- if you can't come up with actual animal movies, don't get cute with the category. I was hoping for Babe so we could see someone point to Jenna's belly or act like they were cradling one. Off the top of my head: Babe, Stuart Little, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Hop (which was given as a hopeful answer), Jaws, Black Beauty, Free Willy, Moby Dick, and Marley & Me.  Not all ideal for charades, but  plenty of actual animal movies to reach for. Jeopardy! this isn't.

 

Overall, I enjoyed the show, until another Celebrity Name Game that was frustrating for me as a viewer, due to both players.

[peeayebee]

But really, Mario? You're cohost of a Hollywood gossip show and the best you can say about Jaime Foxx is "talented brother who can sing and act?" You couldn't name one single movie?

 

Yeah, like "He won the Best Actor Oscar for playing Ray Charles."

 

the episode with Brooklyn Decker, her husband (I think it was the one with John Legend and his model) they had Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition covers which Andy was able to do almost without help. I've also seen Rolling Stone covers because I remember the one with the Red Hot Chili Peppers and the socks was one of the pics.

 

Thanks, I didn't remember those. I also don't remember if Jane said anything as she pointed to each one. I wouldn't think she'd need to, and, yeah, thinking about it now, it was probably unnecessary for her to identify the movie kisses.

 

My only question was why grab a block if you have no answer?

 

I think my strategy would be to think of a movie then find the block.

[Monty]

If it's a competitive group and you're pretty confident in yourself, I can see grabbing a common-letter block before you have a movie in mind.

[aradia22]

Ah, wrote a long comment and it got eaten again. 

 

To summarize, I thought it was a solid game. Not that funny but the gameplay was good. Darren was fabulous. I would have chosen him no question for the final game. Yeah, I'm a Glee fan, but he's also clearly pop culture savvy (even more than your typical younger person would be) and he was very calm throughout the game. He answered quickly and decisively. That's who you take to the final round. Mario wasn't an awful choice. I just think he was clearly more energetic and less focused through the game so Darren was the safer bet. I hope they invite Darren back on the show. He's definitely one to throw into the ultimate Hollywood game night panel with Yvette and the others. I think Mario was a little aggressive but not terribly so. It was just that everyone this week was so tame. Pair him up with different celebs and he wouldn't seem so aggressive.

 

 

In Timelines, I don't remember Jane explaining the pictures before.  If they had just turned over the cards and made the teams identify the cars and the movie kisses and then put them in order, it would have been harder.

I think it made sense. I'm a romantic and not a car person so I thought the car explanations were necessary while the kisses were not. Even so, I think both categories required more explanation that previous games of Timelines haven't. We've had a lot of celebrity Timelines and of course the Sports Illustrated one where there aren't really clues to give. You could argue that the animated characters they chose for one game (I think it might have been the Brooklyn Decker week) were more recent and that animated characters are more instantly recognizable. If you know enough to put them in order for the game you don't need someone to identify the movie they're in. Whereas they picked a group of random movie for the kisses that everyone hasn't seen. I think they probably realized they needed to explain the cars unless they had a car fanatic as a celeb and then decided to explain the kisses to be fair. 

[BobH]

There is a 10-second time limit on Letter Have It, but I don't think anyone has come up against it yet. If no one else on your team has picked up a letter by 8 seconds, it might be worth it to grab one blind and hope inspiration strikes, there's nothing to lose and you remove a potential answer from the other team in the bonus round. Jason Biggs grabbed one way too fast when he didn't have an answer (and actually grabbed a letter for which there was no right answer, letting the other team get all four bonus points). He should have given the rest of his team a few more seconds to think, but sometimes in these situations it's hard to judge time.

[Grammaeryn]

It drives me nuts when the civilian just picks the loudest/most competitive person for the final round. It would work so much better if the final round pick happened offscreen so the civilian could have time and less pressure to consider who is a good clue giver [hint not the guy who makes noises in charades] and who wins a lot of the games.