The *worst* Game Show Ever

[TLEberle]

Oh, come on Mike.  You HAVE to tell us more about it now.  After all, you already wasted the half hour.

[MikeK]

[quote name=\'TLEberle\' date=\'May 20 2005, 08:47 PM\']Oh, come on Mike.  You HAVE to tell us more about it now.  After all, you already wasted the half hour.[/quote]
You're a glutton for punishment, Travis.

First round:  The object is to spell the most words related to a specific category correctly in 20 seconds.  Three players are picked at random from a bowl (not really a hopper, per se).  The first person picks which of the three categories to play.  The second gets to choose from the remaining two, while the last player gets stuck with the remaining category.  The person who spells the most words right advances.  Repeat one more time with three new players.

Second round:  The two remaining players each have a chalkboard with three groups of magnetic letters.  Each group of jumbled letters spells out a word.  Contestants get a point for each unscrambled word and a bonus word if they can use the word in a sentence, no matter how grammatically incorrect or stupid the sentence is.

Third round:  The host reads a word.  The two players jump in for the right to spell the word properly.  One point is given for a right answer, nothing is taken away for being incorrect.  About 12 words were played in the round.  Whomever has the most points, presumably from the 2nd and 3rd rounds combined, is the winner.

Final round:  The host tells the day's winner to write a "story" using five of the words used on the day's show.  The contestant gets two minutes to write this "story" and then reads the "story" to the audience.  I didn't see anything about prizes for the winning or losing contestants, so...I really have no idea of this round's purpose.

The game's certainly not played for the money.  It's more of an attempt to be a motivational tool, in order to get students to read.  There were three on-camera judges whose only job was to deliver praise to the contestants throughout the show.

The host is awful.  The theme is merely the same 8 seconds of music repeated ad nauseum with the audience shouting "THE THOUSAND DOLLAR BEE!"  The production values are on par with really bad public access shows.  You might've seen Throut and Neck.  You might've seen Malcolm.  You might've even seen anything Fremantle has foisted upon the viewing public for the last seven years.  None of it compares to the emptiness I felt inside after watching The Thousand Dollar Bee.

I'm going to rinse my eyes out with hydrochloric acid and repeatedly hit myself over the head.  There must be some way I can erase this show from my memory permanently...

[ChuckNet]

I remember actually staying up until 4 or 5 am to watch Sex Wars. It wasn't as bad as you think it is, I mean, it wasn't Emmy material, but I prolly would've sat through it, esp. since I have to work 3rd shift nowadays :-) Seriously, it wasn't a bad show.

The problem w/it, IMO, was that they tried to combine too many formats (much like the Diamond Head Game)...not to mention the annoying original lockout sounds for round 2 (barking for the mens' "power drills", meows for the womens' "hair dryers").

Chuck Donegan (The Illustrious "Chuckie Baby")

[AH3RD]

The New Treasure Hunt. Annoying!

[JasonA1]

Wow. I read through five pages and see a lot of shows that were decent, tried hard, looked okay...yet nobody mentions a show that didn't do any of these: "Pressure 1." Maybe because I was the only one who gave it a chance - twice.

First off, what brilliant mind said - "well, I want to do a new show, but it's so bad, I'll just pair it with a semi-successful show. Oh, no title? Let's call it...Pressure 1. And so nobody gets the idea these are two separate shows, I'll call 'Peer Pressure'...'Pressure 2!' Whole new show!" And what brilliant minds bought up these shows? I think my local affiliate fired the programmer after this.

All bad jokes aside, here's what it was. Former "Road Rules" castmate Mark Long whispered his way through a half hour with dorky teens (under 18 it appeared) competing for low stakes. The first round was an exciting race to 2 points, with each answer worth 1 point. The questions were presented in a way that might be humorous if they actually decided to put jokes in there. They just acted as lame set-ups to pedestrian questions.

The podiums here looked like they were rented from all those "Game Show Mania" things you see on the net where you can rent equipment (like here.) The winners there got to sit on "cool" chairs for the next round. Lame categories were put up to lame questions for I believe a lame 10 points each.

The bonus was about the only decent thing. The four players got whittled to two in the above rounds, and they competed in a time trial. One entered an isolation booth while the other tried to answer 5 (?) questions as fast as possible. The other tried to beat that time and would win cheap prizes in a result.

The whole thing was just cheap. The set was made to resemble an empty factory or something, but they probably rented space in an abandoned factory to tape it. It used the same theme music as "Peer Pressure." And the host's clothes came from...Old Navy! This was in the late 90s/early 00s, thus before saying that became played and the tweens watching might stop and say "oh cool, Old Navy."

-Jason

[uncamark]

[quote name=\'JasonA1\' date=\'May 22 2005, 10:11 AM\']Wow. I read through five pages and see a lot of shows that were decent, tried hard, looked okay...yet nobody mentions a show that didn't do any of these: "Pressure 1." Maybe because I was the only one who gave it a chance - twice.

The whole thing was just cheap. The set was made to resemble an empty factory or something, but they probably rented space in an abandoned factory to tape it.

[snapback]86132[/snapback]

[/quote]

It was actually a studio at WCVB in Boston, since that show (or "Peer Pressure (Two)") and "Click" got acquired by Heart Argyle, who owns WCVB.

That one I only made it through once.  And when I saw the hack job done on "Peer Pressure" afterwards--and that wasn't a great show to begin with--my mouth flew open.

[Jay Temple]

Not the worst, but it deserves to be considered among the worst:  the adaptation of Taboo to television.  The host was smarmy, but what assured that I wouldn't watch a second episode was when a contestant made a risqué comment.

[uncamark]

And since I forgot to say this yesterday--

You're a better man than I am, Michael Klauss.  And my apologies if I was responsible for subjecting you to "Thousand Dollar Bee."

What gets into my craw is this:  Last week, a black columnist for the Detroit Free Press did a buttkiss article on Robert Townsend and his vision of BFC, in which "TDB" was mentioned favorably, most likely because the columnist had never seen it.  I perfectly understand why many in the African-American community don't want to associate themselves with the hip-hop videos and raunchy comics on BET, but an incredibly low-grade effort like "TDB" is just as damaging as "Rap City" or "Comicview."  Over on TV One, the other alternative black cable channel, at least "I've Got the Hookup" has a solid-enough host in Russ Parr (as one should expect from a guy with a nationally-syndicated radio show) and it looks like everyone's having a good time, even if it is another relationship show with less-than-slick production values.

And "TDB" has Robert Townsend's name on it as his production company, not just the network--all of the good intentions in the world cannot mask the fact, Mr. Townsend, that you are turning out an excerable piece of television entertainment.  Your audience at BFC should be demanding better and you should be providing it.  If you're not doing the best you can, why bother?

[BrandonFG]

[quote name=\'uncamark\' date=\'May 23 2005, 01:55 PM\']And since I forgot to say this yesterday--

You're a better man than I am, Michael Klauss.  And my apologies if I was responsible for subjecting you to "Thousand Dollar Bee."

What gets into my craw is this:  Last week, a black columnist for the Detroit Free Press did a buttkiss article on Robert Townsend and his vision of BFC, in which "TDB" was mentioned favorably, most likely because the columnist had never seen it.  I perfectly understand why many in the African-American community don't want to associate themselves with the hip-hop videos and raunchy comics on BET, but an incredibly low-grade effort like "TDB" is just as damaging as "Rap City" or "Comicview."  Over on TV One, the other alternative black cable channel, at least "I've Got the Hookup" has a solid-enough host in Russ Parr (as one should expect from a guy with a nationally-syndicated radio show) and it looks like everyone's having a good time, even if it is another relationship show with less-than-slick production values.

And "TDB" has Robert Townsend's name on it as his production company, not just the network--all of the good intentions in the world cannot mask the fact, Mr. Townsend, that you are turning out an excerable piece of television entertainment.  Your audience at BFC should be demanding better and you should be providing it.  If you're not doing the best you can, why bother?

[snapback]86236[/snapback]

[/quote]

I'm not surprised though. BFC (formerly MBC) has run into financial issues, and although I haven't seen TDB, the low-grade production values don't surprise me. The network is one foot in the grave (honestly, most of their programming is football games from 2002--kid you not, reruns of "Roc", horribly edited B&W movies with all-black casts, and gospel music). Honestly, as much as MBC/BFC have tried to be an alternative to BET, they simply come across as a dirt-poor man's version of the network. Everything on BFC screams cheap, esp. the college football and basketball games. Good idea, just poorly executed, no pun intended. The thing that DOES surprise me is that TDB would have Townsend's name on it, considering the better efforts he's put out ("Hollywood Shuffle", "The Parent Hood")

FWIW, one of BFC's co-owners was Cecil Fielder, who's had his own share of financial problems.

ObGameShow: TDB can't be worse than The Chamber.

[MikeK]

[quote name=\'fostergray82\' date=\'May 23 2005, 04:15 PM\']ObGameShow: TDB can't be worse than The Chamber.[/quote]
Think again.  Although seeing that bee mascot getting pelted by sub-zero winds would make the show quite interesting.

I might post a video later this week and let you decide how bad it is.

[johnnya2k3]

What about "Reel to Reel Picture Show"? It was worse because the contestants were awarded jack squat (i.e., with nothing); even Peter Marshall didn't get a paycheck for hosting it!!!

Then there's the original "Twenty-One", which was one of the worst shows in TV history according to "TV Guide." Sure, it was groundbreaking, but when the games ended in 0-0 ties, the producers cooked up that rigging scheme to get viewers watching. It worked. The 2000 version may have been more exciting, but no one cared because we were watching Regis on Millionaire.

Another show that ended up on the same list was the EXTREMELY short-lived "You're in the Picture." 'Nuff said about that one.

Jonathan Allen

[That Don Guy]

Worst, eh?  I'm torn between ABC's The Neighbors, NBC's The Fun Factory, Fox's The Chamber, and ABC's Hot Seat (Jim Peck and a lie detector, as I recall - not to be confused with F. Lee Bailey's Lie Detector).

Then again, finding a consensus is almost impossible.  I for one happened to like The Cheap Show and The New Treasure Hunt.  ("You've won TWENTY-FIVE THOUSAND... LIRE!"  "Actual retail price: forty bucks").

-- Don

[DjohnsonCB]

[quote name=\'That Don Guy\' date=\'May 23 2005, 08:11 PM\']Worst, eh?  I'm torn between ABC's The Neighbors, NBC's The Fun Factory, Fox's The Chamber, and ABC's Hot Seat (Jim Peck and a lie detector, as I recall - not to be confused with F. Lee Bailey's Lie Detector).

[snapback]86287[/snapback]

[/quote]

Hot Seat's device was a galvanic skin response meter, IIRC.  To think the Central Iowa audience got this one on day one but had to wait several weeks or months before they could see Family Feud which debuted on ABC the same day as Hot Seat.  

I also gotta go with The Neighbors, plus Matchmaker and Family Secrets.

[The Ol' Guy]

Add me to The Neighbors. A couple of these shows I've only seen one episode of, so it's hard to say if I wound up seeing a clunker episode, but Tell Me Something Good on BET, ABC's Treasure Isle & How's Your Mother-In-Law?, NBC's Time Machine, and IIRC, I think I caught one episode of the syndie 1969 Stump The Stars that looked like it was being played in an empty warehouse. All painful.

[Ian Wallis]

NBC's Time Machine,

Am I the only one here who actually liked "Time Machine"?  I thought it was cool and deserved a longer run.  Seriously.


(OK - I'm ducking - you can throw now...)