ABC sets premiere for "Don't"

[colonial]

The comedy game show hosted by Adam Scott (with Ryan Reynolds as EP) has finally been scheduled by ABC to air this summer …

https://deadline.com/video/abc-premiere-adam-scott-dont-gameshow/

[BillCullen1]

Tonight's the night. June 11, 9 pm ET on ABC.

[aaron sica]

Tonight's the night. June 11, 9 pm ET on ABC.

If there's YouTube videos about the show, make sure you only tell us about those videos.

[tyshaun1]

So anyone check this out last night? My quick thoughts:

Adam Scott did not want to be there.
Based on the ads, I thought the show was going to have 2 families competing, not 1 for the whole show.
It's very slow placed and slogged at times.

Overall, I've seen worse, but I see why ABC sat on this as long as they did. I'm not sure it would've made air if Pyramid and Card Sharks were able to tape.

[Jeremy Nelson]

Based on the ads, I thought the show was going to have 2 families competing, not 1 for the whole show.

They need two families competing or some sort of bonus stunt where they play for the accumulated bank. Having the family just win their accumulated bank is anti climactic. To paraphrase a famous runthrough, this game lacks any jeopardies.

[TLEberle]

Adam “wanted to be there” enough to get paid.

Charmingly weird and not a thing I need to see again—not helped by the fact that there is no climax to speak of.

[Joe Mello]

Adam “wanted to be there” enough to get paid.

I was thinking the deadpan was part of the gimmick.

I'm one of the least worthy to judge this but it felt very Canadian. Games were novel, but there were only 2 jokes added in that I liked and the excitement curve is a horizontal line.

[tvmitch]

So anyone check this out last night? My quick thoughts:

Adam Scott did not want to be there.

I don't recall seeing any Adam Scott appearance since OG Parks & Rec where I'd describe it as "he wanted to be there." I get that it's part of his schtick, but enough.

[Dbacksfan12]

Adam Scott did not want to be there.

Don't come into work then.

[MSTieScott]

I'm one of the least worthy to judge this but it felt very Canadian.

That's because Adam kept saying "dōllars."


I understand the irreverent vibe they were going for here -- they were very deliberately trying to put their twist on a typical studio game show. Humor is subjective, of course, and while there may not have been too many jokes that actually made me laugh, there also were very few jokes that actively irritated me, so I'm cool with all of the post-production work.

I know that the whole point of the first game was to watch people get hit with big foam tires, but for the very first question of the very first episode to feel like a trick question didn't fill me with confidence. Fortunately, the games settled down from there.

I agree that it felt weird for the show to fizzle to an end with no climactic moment, but I also like shows where the contestants actually straight-up win their winnings, so I'm of mixed opinions. Perhaps it would have been better if the games were played for progressively higher stakes, rather than every single game being worth around $20,000? They don't need the "Don't Push" button (which the contestants are actively encouraged to push) throughout the episode -- it's an unnecessary complication that doesn't add as much drama as the show wants it to. Or maybe just make it available for one predetermined game.

I probably won't make it a point to sit down and watch every episode this season, but I'll at least tune in next week to see if the show is able to keep the jokes fresh and to hope that the show didn't choose all of its contestants based on how many jokes can be made at their expense.

And at least when they kept advertising Ryan Reynolds during the promos, they actually justified their inclusion of a big-name celebrity. I don't watch Holey Moley, but when I turned my TV on at about 8:58 and saw that nonsense with an animated Stephen Curry... what was that?

[clemon79]

I don't watch Holey Moley, but when I turned my TV on at about 8:58 and saw that nonsense with an animated Stephen Curry... what was that?

That...was why you don't watch Holey Moley.

[jjman920]

I probably won't make it a point to sit down and watch every episode this season, but I'll at least tune in next week to see if the show is able to keep the jokes fresh and to hope that the show didn't choose all of its contestants based on how many jokes can be made at their expense.

My hunch is that they probably did and it'll be a recurring theme.

I'm a fan of Ryan Reynolds' brand of humor and I like the idea of someone MST3K-ing a game show (which I know has been attempted in the past, but never really took off), so I enjoyed this show more than I thought I would. But with it only being one family and no bonus round, it definitely comes off as disjointed to me.

And at least when they kept advertising Ryan Reynolds during the promos, they actually justified their inclusion of a big-name celebrity. I don't watch Holey Moley, but when I turned my TV on at about 8:58 and saw that nonsense with an animated Stephen Curry... what was that?

Yeah, that's really unfortunate. I guess Stephen's schedule was simply too busy when they decided to film the season and instead of just having him appear on a monitor while Rob Riggle or some other stand in gives the jacket to the winner they figured animated would be cute and funny. They've also animated the "Behind the Hole" segments that he narrates. He's made one live action appearance in an interview skit with Rob and that seemed like their portions were filmed separately.

[mandelweb]

I'm one of the least worthy to judge this but it felt very Canadian.

And at least when they kept advertising Ryan Reynolds during the promos, they actually justified their inclusion of a big-name celebrity. I don't watch Holey Moley, but when I turned my TV on at about 8:58 and saw that nonsense with an animated Stephen Curry... what was that?

Steph was supposed to be on-camera as part of a running gag throughout this season, but scheduling and eventually, the shutdown of production got in the way.   From an interview here:

https://www.realityblurred.com/realitytv/2020/05/holey-moley-2-behind-scenes-questions-answers/

[Unrealtor]

IMO, it would have been better with the snark over a game played without the slapstick/humor elements or with the game more or less as-is without the voice overs. Doing both felt like it was trying too hard. Or like they figured out somewhere along the line that they had too much game to do two per hour but not enough game to fill the whole hour and needed to stretch it out.

[TLEberle]

To the first issue--I despise the "doesn't want to be there" line. I find it odious and largely unprovable. So, yeah.

Had they done away with the bits and cutaways and Ryan Reacts I wonder if they could have fit in a final game--perhaps one where one member of the family has to divide up the prize money among the three others who are tasked with a final Don't and those who complete the task bank the money for keeps. Or have a Don't Drop the Prize round where the team has to take physical bundles of cash and transport them from one side of the stage to a box and whatever is in the box is their take home.

I was not particularly enamored with the Guidos and would not want to spend more time with them. Watching as they play a one minute Don't Blink! challenge or five minutes of fairly banal trivia reminded me to be grateful for the >> button on my Tivo peanut, and knowing that each Guido basically took home $20,000 didn't really get any reaction out of me.

Perhaps one of the only good choices Minute To Win It made in its supernova on the air was when they had two contestants race to win four events. The winner would win $50,000 as a safety level on the way to a million bucks. Don't didn't have any stakes or really a story other than some goofy stuff was done in an arena reminiscent of Alice in Wonderland and nobody went home worse for wear.

In the opening montage of the November 1999 flight of Millionaire Regis gives the quote about "every game show having the moment where the contestant wins or loses everything." I don't think that's a hard and fast rule but there has to be some element of risk-reward or otherwise what's the point.