I posted to this to my Facebook already, but not everyone is on my Facebook friends list, so I thought I'd repost it here.
First things first: there are NO SPOILERS here. Ya gotta watch the show yourself.
Today I drove all the way up to Sylmar, CA (in 110 degree plus weather...horrors) to finally check out in person a taping of The Hub's flagship series, Family Game Night, and I am pleased to report that I had a marvelous time. In addition to a couple of new games, the show has a new format.
Previously, two prechosen families (always a mom, a dad, and two siblings) played for the entire hour, culminating in the Crazy Cash Round. Fortunately, someone noticed that one family always seemed to run away with the whole thing, and so now multiple families - as many as eight different families - are chosen to play FGN's oversized game show versions of Hasbro's various games. In addition, the families (which can now be two, three or four people and don't necessarily have to have both a mom and a dad, as long as there's one adult) are now chosen straight from the studio audience, a la a certain 40-year old CBS game show a certain Emmy-winning host of FGN was supposed to become the host of. Now, four different games are played in each hour-long show. Some games are played head-to-head by two different families, and others are played by a single family. If the game is played head-to-head, the winners receive the prize for that game, as in previous seasons. If the game features a lone family, they win a prize (and likely some cash, too) if they win the game.
Regardless of the outcome, every family then walks to the back alcove to pick out a "combination" card held by the statue of Mr. Monopoly (aka Rich Uncle Pennybags). The combinations card have three color boxes, which each family will use in the new Community Chest game. It features a big blue trunk (not unlike the ones seen in Monopoly) with three color-dials on the front, and a big red arcade button. Each family in turn dials in their combination, and if it opens the Chest, they advance to the revised Crazy Cash game. Sixteen Crazy Cash Cards are arranged on a 4x4 grid; only one line of four cards going from the bottom to the top are used in each of as many as four rounds. Each family member picks one card from a line of four cards; the first level's worth of cards all have money, the second level has three cards with money and one "Go-to-Jail" card (which ends the game WITHOUT costing the family any money they win in the Crazy Cash game), the third level has two money cards and two Go-to-Jail cards, and the top level has three Go-to-Jail cards and one "win" card. If the family reaches the top level and finds the win card, they win a new CAR (yep, bigger prize budget this time out).
Eight different games populate the show's lineup. All of the Cranium games have been thankfully dumped. Four previously played games have survived unscathed into the show's new lineup: Connect 4 Basketball, Yahtzee Bowling, Twister Lights Out and Simon Flash. Bop-It Boptagon is here, too, but its win condition has been changed. The Operation Skee-ball game is also back, but it's now a solo family game, patterned after Plinko; a family earns rolls on the Operation Skee-ball ramp by playing Operation, but one member of the family is now "transformed" into Cavity Sam by having them lie underneath the game board and sticking their head and hands through holes in the platform. Rolls on the Skee-ball ramp are now worth money, ranging from $100 (earned by missing the board completely) to $1000 (earned by ringing the bell). The family keeps any money they earn.
Sorry Sliders has also been jettisoned in favor of its parent, Sorry!, which is also a solo family game. One adult is dressed in a costume, transforming them into a Sorry! pawn. The kids then pick from a board containing ten Sorry! cards, each in a different color (the board and the cards are clearly and no doubt intentionally evocative of Card Sharks; Newton even turns the cards over the same way Jim Perry, Bob Eubanks and Bill Rafferty did). Two of the cards are 1's, two cards are 2's, two cards are 3's, two cards are 4's and the two remaining cards are "Sorry!"s. The kids pick a card; if it's a number, the parent/pawn hops (yes, they actually have to hop) forward that many spaces towards "Home." In addition, each space has a dollar amount; the first space is worth $100, the second space is worth $200, etc. Whatever space the pawn/parent lands on, the family has that much money deposited into their bank. If they draw a "Sorry!" card, they lose all of the money in the bank, and the pawn/parent has to hop all the way back to the beginning. If they draw both "Sorry!" cards, the game is over, and the family gets bupkus (naturally, a family can stop and keep and cash they win along the way before they get Sorried Out). But if the pawn/parent reaches "Home," they keep the money and win a prize.
The one completely new game is Battleship. Two familes compete against one another. A 5x5 grid of squares is used to hide six ships: three two-square cruisers, two three-square submarines and one four-square battleship. The familes take turns picking squares to launch a peg missile at. The audience then counts down "3, 2, 1, LAUNCH!" The family (usually one of the kids) presses a big plunger, launching a CGI-peg at the square. If it hits a ship, it sinks IMMEDIATELY. The first family to sink three ships wins the game and a prize.
I have to say that I REALLY like the new overall format. Watching one family get shellacked for a whole hour was a big downer, and then watching them possibly winning anyways with the BIG Crazy Card (the "Golden Snitch," as my colleagues like to refer to it) was a big flaw, so having more families over the hour alleviates all of that. On top of that, it very clearly puts the needle to CBS and FremantleMedia for passing over Todd Newton for the TPIR hosting gig.
Which brings me to El Todd-o himself. Newton is as goofy, lovable, energetic, self-depricating and utterly brilliant as ever. Clearly feeling his oats after his Best Game Show Host Emmy win, he sailed through the taping, sneaking in a Barker Fakeout (ONLY ONE!) in the Sorry! game, and absconding with a dice-hat one of the families wore to the taping (anticipating Yahtzee Bowling, no doubt, but which wasn't played), for the express purpose of getting a cheap laugh. He made the families the stars of the show, setting them up to get cheap laughs of their own. He built suspense, kept the games moving, hit his marks (both on the set floor and in the host language) like Manny Pacquiao hitting Freddie Roach's focus mitts. As is often said about the best, he made it look effortless. Really...there's no one better right now.
The show does have a new announcer and warm-up person...a funny (and really HOT) woman named...oh dear, I can't remember her name. That's how cute and funny she was.
Unfortunately, that means no Burton Richardson...but hopefully that means he's working with Arsenio Hall to get his revived talk show off the ground.
I am mildly concerned that the show will degenerate into people wearing things to get attention, such as the aforementioned family with the dice-hats; the producers have seem to have thought of this, as everyone was issued a colored t-shirt (either red, blue, yellow, green or orange; naturally, I picked red) with the show's logo and a name tag.
All-in-all, I can't help but feel like this might be the real blasting-off point for FGN, like TPIR switching to a one-hour format: it was good before, but it's awesome now.
And no, they didn't make us do any dumb-ass reaction shots. They did have Todd do some promos, and let all the kids appear in a few with him. Seriously, the whole thing went as smooth as silk, and no doubt, it'll come off that way when the show airs. FGN FTW!
