"Wanna Bet"?

[Clay Zambo]

[quote name=\'fostergray82\' post=\'191500\' date=\'Jul 20 2008, 11:54 PM\']
I saw a few while I was watching "Duel...on ABC", the other nite.
[/quote]

"Duel" is back on?

[vtown7]

To Mr. Eberle and others...

Harland Williams is a Canuck comic who IIRC was on Dan Akroyd's "Soul Man" sitcom perhaps?  Which if memory serves correctly, was a spin off of "Home Improvement"?

Ryan

/Didn't really care about "Wanna Bet"; only saw it because I was back from the "How do you solve a problem like Maria?" taping early.

[TLEberle]

[quote name=\'Speedy G\' post=\'191758\' date=\'Jul 22 2008, 04:48 PM\']1) Nobody in America knows who you are, Ant and Dec.  Please introduce yourselves properly to the American audience.  If you want to be cheeky Brits, don't wait until 45 minutes in to do something like that crisps/chips/french fries observation.[/quote] Clearly you missed the American Idol episode where Ant & Dec try out as a double act and punk Simon. On a more serious note, I thought a more appropriate introduction could have been done by the guy who announces for PokerFace, as opposed to the gal who did that for The Newlywed Game '96.

3) This show could REALLY use some Ballbreakers-style side bets.  Without it, the celebrities' involvement basically boils down to betting on coin flips, and trying to make that interesting.  It'd probably be more entertaining to grab the four loudest people from the local horse racing track and bring them in to play.

Which makes it...The Guinness Game played for charity. How would you implement such side bets? The whole premise is succeed/fail...you can't really draw it out more than that.

[Master Shake]

I saw it, I sort of liked it, though it would have been nice to have had, as TLEberle said, a better way of inputting betting data - this is the 21st century, ABC.  No need for technical flubs like that to happen.

As for Ant and Dec, I was pleasantly surprised.  For those that don't know, in the UK, Ant and Dec are TV gold.  They rarely appear on TV without each other, and, amongst other things, in the last ten years, have hosted:

Pop Idol (UK's American Idol, which came first, and explains why Brian Dunkleman was on S1 of Idol here)

UK Gameshow Marathon

Ant And Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway (or something similar), a comedy/variety/sketch show, which was a slightly more 'grown up' version of...

SM:tv Live, a Saturday morning kids' show, featuring the kind of typical weekend kids' entertainment, though it was done in such a way that it was appealing to adults too.  Also notable that the third host of this show was "So You Think You Can Dance"s Cat Deeley.

Long before all this, as teens, Ant and Dec appeared in a kids' drama show called Byker Grove, filmed and set in their native Newcastle (hence their accents!), and after that, they had a brief pop career as pseudo boy band PJ and Duncan.

[Dbacksfan12]

[quote name=\'vtown7\' post=\'191779\' date=\'Jul 22 2008, 09:36 PM\']
Harland Williams is a Canuck comic who IIRC was on Dan Akroyd's "Soul Man" sitcom perhaps?  Which if memory serves correctly, was a spin off of "Home Improvement"?[/quote]Correct.  Akroyd did a walk-on an episode as a minister; the same role he played in the series.

[alfonzos]

Which makes it...The Guinness Game played for charity. How would you implement such side bets? The whole premise is succeed/fail...you can't really draw it out more than that.

Yes, The Guinness Game came to my mind too.

[uncamark]

It should be pointed out that the "High School Musical" reality show did "Wanna Bet?" no favors.   The show that was supposed to be the focal point of ABC's summer programming is now the albatross, while America loves those Big Balls.  

As for "Wanna Bet?" itself, I liked it as a little summer bit of light entertainment.  Didn't take itself seriously (and the way they staged the Man Who Can Tell You What CD It Is by Licking It was very clever) and I like Ant and Dec--not to mention the way that they left in the celeb keying errors (I suspect anyone else besides Gurin would've stopped tape to argue over letting the bets stay and then change them to what the celebs said).

And yes, "Duel" is playing out its string on Friday nights--the final episode is this week.  After "Dance Machine" crashed and burned, ABC went to Old Reliable "AFV" reruns as a lead-in.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'uncamark\' post=\'191880\' date=\'Jul 23 2008, 02:26 PM\']
(and the way they staged the Man Who Can Tell You What CD It Is by Licking It was very clever)[/quote]
Except I was pissed that he was licking the label side. From the promo it made it look like he was gonna be licking the data side.

and I like Ant and Dec

This was why I watched, and will watch again. I think Ant and Dec are GREAT hosts and I enjoy watching them work.

not to mention the way that they left in the celeb keying errors

That was uncomfortable television, especially when celebrities were playing for charity. I guess they thought it worked because later a miskey worked in a panelist's favor, but it looked really bad and shouldn't have been kept in.

[Speedy G]

[quote name=\'TLEberle\' post=\'191781\' date=\'Jul 22 2008, 10:46 PM\']How would you implement such side bets? The whole premise is succeed/fail...you can't really draw it out more than that.[/quote]

In short, the celebrities should be allowed to free-wheel over in Bettors' Corner through the duration of the program.  Let them make their main bets, but let the celebrities bet with each other after that:

"I'm so confident he'll fail, I bet another $1,000 he can't keep that tire up for 30 seconds, let alone 45!"
"He's a strong lad, I bet he gets 30 seconds easily.  I'll take that bet."

"Oh, he wore himself out with that first attempt, I'll bet any of you 2 grand he can't get to 20 seconds on the next attempt."

"I think this pit stop challenge will be really close."
"No way, the ladies will handle it easily."
"Oh really?  I'll bet you $2000 that the ladies' time for the pit stop is within 5 seconds of the target the men set."

"Anybody with a little training can identify letters with their tongue... betcha he can't do it if there's no words on the CD."

etc. etc. etc.

Admittedly, it'd be a bit hard to follow both the bets and the challenge given that most of the challenges are races against the clock.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'Speedy G\' post=\'191887\' date=\'Jul 23 2008, 03:43 PM\']
Admittedly, it'd be a bit hard to follow both the bets and the challenge given that most of the challenges are races against the clock.[/quote]
Even without that, you've got two hosts now having to divide their attention between the panel and their guest. It would be a nightmare.

[BrandonFG]

Continuing the conversation from Catch 21, I notice this show actually uses an announcer. Is that Randi Thomas from Lingo and a few other projects, but GS-wise, Lingo?

[uncamark]

[quote name=\'fostergray82\' post=\'192508\' date=\'Jul 28 2008, 08:07 PM\']
Continuing the conversation from Catch 21, I notice this show actually uses an announcer. Is that Randi Thomas from Lingo and a few other projects, but GS-wise, Lingo?
[/quote]

It's Ellen K, formerly Rick Dees' sidekick on the radio, now Ryan Seacrest's sidekick on the radio.  Her (arguable) game show resume includes announcing the first season of the 1996 "Newlywed Game" revival (or was it "Dating Game?") and "court reporter" on Chuck Barris' busted pilot "Comedy Court."

[tpirfan28]

I'm about halfway through my first viewing of this show and of Ant and Dec...it really sucks they got stuck with this show.  Those two are f'in brilliant.

[BrandonFG]

[quote name=\'tpirfan28\' post=\'193357\' date=\'Aug 4 2008, 09:28 PM\']
I'm about halfway through my first viewing of this show and of Ant and Dec...it really sucks they got stuck with this show.  Those two are f'in brilliant.
[/quote]
The show is cute enough to where I actually enjoy it.

Melissa Rivers Peterman, on the other hand...needs to tone it down. A lot.

[ChrisLambert!]

[quote name=\'fostergray82\' post=\'193360\' date=\'Aug 4 2008, 10:03 PM\']
Melissa Rivers, on the other hand...needs to tone it down. A lot.
[/quote]

Well, she has to make facial expressions for two people now.