This show was strictly average to me. The concept is OK, but they have got to change the scoring system. It is so unbalanced toward the last round, it makes the first two rounds almost completely useless. I would suggest:
-Round one can stay the same, 25 points per correct answer, no penalty for a pass or a miss.
-Round two should have the points halved; 25 points to start, 25 added for every question a cover is not picked. Again, no penalty for a wrong answer.
-Round three should be 50 for the first set of questions, 100 for the second, and 150 for the third, with a penalty of half the value of the question deducted for a miss. This will give the players some pause before jumping in early, because in the last set it could be a 225-point swing if you miss.
The bonus round is blah. They could do so much more with it, because the key words were a little too obvious to me. Maybe they could do an obscured cover, and a final question is based off of it. Increase the preliminary questions to five or six, and correct answers would reveal a part of the cover and give you a greater chance to answer the final question (and they wouldn't have to be related to the final cover at all, which gives them a little more leeway for material). For example, using the final cover tonight (Alfred Hitchcock), the question could be something like "Which one of this famous directors' pictures was remade in 1998 featuring Vince Vaughn, Julianne Moore, and William H. Macy?" A person might have an easy time getting the answer (Psycho) with the entire cover revealed, but there would still be a slight chance even with none of the cover revealed.
I will give it one thing, the set is one of the best I've seen in a long time. Mark is a capable host, and does fine here. I do see why this show has been sitting around for so long, however. It gets a C+ in my view. Not an appointment show, but if there's nothing else on, I might flip around to it.
