I thought Pat and Mark L. Walberg had better chemistry and interaction...it seemed a little forced during the Dee years. Plus, I found Dee's grandmother "character" a little weird.
That's mighty generous of you, there, Lord Hyphen.
A
lot weird? ;-)
I've watched the repeats from the last couple of days and my opinion of the show has softened. Sure, it's a silly trifle (yesterday a guy in a bull helmet would "spear" two prices with his velcro horns and the distaff partner had to price the relevant item, as always needing three of five right to win the stunt) and the bonus game could be straight from the Barry-Enright stable but it accomplishes what it sets out to do. And while the 90 second quiz round was never a battle for mental giants it was exciting more than it wasn't, and Pat Finn paced the round perfectly, increasing the intensity as the time ticked away.
All up it wasn't as bad as the memories and memes made it out to be, but it also wasn't great shakes either. A fun and light half-hour to indulge in sometimes where people have fun and win stuff. These days I would love for game shows to aspire to that.
I haven't seen
Shop Til You Drop in years, but I remember being particularly harsh on the show as a teen. If I watched it now, I'd prolly have a similar view as yours. Not Emmy-award winning television, but not horrible either, just a fun, cheesy game show that didn't take itself too seriously.
I dunno if that's because I feel shows like
Deal or No Deal set an ugly precedent for the genre, or if I've just grown up. But, I will say, I do wish we could have more fun, cheesy game shows that don't take themselves too seriously. When I look at the current crop of shows, I'd like to think we're slowly returning to that.
Celebrity Name Game is slowly winning me over, and I actually find myself watching
Monopoly Millionaires Club pretty regularly. So, who knows?
