…the season 2 opener to Beat the Geeks on Comedy Central.
Some feared Blain Capatch, the new host, taking over for J. Keith van Straaten would be like Jim Caldwell taking over for Wink Martindale on Tic Tac Dough (perish the thought). Instead, there’s an improvement in the hosting position.
Blain is a hoot and sharp with the one-liners. When he interviewed contestant Wendy about her occupation, she said she was a senior companion. Blain’s reaction: “Like Anna Nicole Smith.” I literally was laughing my @$$ off. I’m also left wondering if Blain was in the running for the hosting job on the TV version of You Don’t Know Jack. If Blain was passed over for Paul “I do know a thing about jack” Reubens, shame on the powers that be.
As for changes in gameplay, I’ll have to withhold comment on. Not sure if I like the geeks’ involvement in the opening toss-up round. Used to be the civilian contestants would face off against each other in a total of eight questions (first four worth 5 points each, the rest 10 each). Now, they face off against each other in a total of four questions worth 10 points each. Each 10 point scorer gets a follow-up question in a head-to-head showdown against a certain geek (depending on area of expertise) worth another 10 to the civilian or a 5-point penalty if the geek chimes in with the right answer.
Props to the addition of a Star Wars geek among the special guest geeks. But, call it nepotism if you like, I gotta dock the producers half a vowel for not searching hard enough for a SW geek. My brother Geof knows SW inside and out.
Plus, I’m still a little miffed over Comedy Central replacing Win Ben Stein’s Money with BtG. For a better one-two punch at the 6:00pm hour — speaking from the view of central time zone, of course — replace last night’s rerun of The Daily Show with an hour of games from the mighty Mr. Stein and Blain and company.
Hey, at least we still have Tiffany in the co-hostess position (great hairdo, BTW, Tiff). 🙂
Doug’s rating: (insert 3 Wheel of Fortune bells here) A E I 1/2 — three and a half vowels out of five. Memo to BtG producers: Search harder for guest geeks next time…mmm’kay?
My bro’s awfully tough to beat on SW trivia. He has Star Wars Trivial Pursuit and is (almost) unbeatable. He even knew the suit number of a stormtrooper from one scene. With a hint, I camethisclose to guessing Leia’s cell number and I don’t even like SW.
Compared to those geeks, I don’t know jack.
Leia’s cell number? I never knew they had cellular phones a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. (rimshot)