I can’t be the only one here watching this. I like it–it’s a trivia show with a newish format and it goes quickly. I know there are many Jeopardy fans (and some contestants)* that are on The Dope. ** I’m curious what others think.
*I’ve done the online thing several times but have never gotten a ping :rolleyes::rolleyes:
**(I put this in Cafe Society b/c it’s a TV show, but if it should be in Games instead, sorry nice Modfolk, please move it)
I keep waiting for the librarian to get gone, but it hasn’t happened yet. Of course, the show doesn’t start here for another 3 minutes or so.
Like the format, like the variety of questions. Hope they continue it.
I like the pace of the show and the wide range of questions. I especially like the fact that the contestants are intelligent. That they allow the contestants to banter a little bit is also good.
In my opinion, the show’s biggest weakness is the “challenger” contestant. Most of the time this person doesn’t have anything to do.
I like the show, and am a huge fan of the host, Richard Quest. But I agree, the “Challenger” should be more of a factor, rather than just standing around most of the time. And I was really disappointed when
the librarian lost. The new guy is smart, but doesn’t seem as interesting.
I also like the pace of the show - they get 50 questions in the time it took Who Wants to be a Millionaire to get in one - and the fact that most questions are challenging. Some are easier than others, but no absolute gimmi’s.
It does seem like the main contestants have been average Joes, easy to identify with people while the challengers have been less mainstream (and the gambler guy was out and out obnoxious).
I watched the first episode and there was just too much extraneous crap, too much of “We’ll find out… after the break” type moments. I felt it dragged and the banter between the host and the contestant seemed really forced. Didn’t bother watching any more episodes.
I wonder how they selected the group and order of contestants. Did they just get their pool of people together and draw lots for position? In which case, Librarian-guy made out like a bandit.
Too much extraneous crap
not as bad as Deal or no Deal or Steve Harvey Feud
I’ve seen a couple eps and I’ll keep watching. Heck, it’s more trivia.
would have been cool to see Ken Jennings on TV again but he said he didn’t have time to go to LA for a week for taping https://twitter.com/KenJennings/status/603369400884809728
lame. he doesn’t have a real job anymore. maybe he is just tired of game shows
Saw about a couple hours of it so far. It’s okay. Cheesy as hell and that “three in a row” nonsense makes it way too fluky (and there’s enough dumb luck with the random categories), but it’s good fun seeing these “geniuses” sweat it out, and I’m actually learning a bit.
The thing I hate about it is the host. Besides endlessly repeating the incredibly basic mechanics of the game over and over and over, asking way too many stupid, pointless questions, and snarking whenever a decision doesn’t go right for someone (oh yeah, Deal or No Deal 20-20 retrospect crap, that’s what this needed!), he’s also apparently trying to ramrod the most idiotic catchphrase of all time (and that’s saying a lot). I remember hosts like Richard Dawson, a model of quiet dignity from start to finish, and Chuck Woolery, who genuinely tried to make the show entertaining, and I shake my head at how these irritating two-bit hacks came to dominate the scene.
Aside: Anyone know why the dollar amounts are so…well, small? If someone actually goes the distance, he can expect to take home something in the neighborhood of $300,000. These days that’s a pretty meager take for over a week of work. And given that coming up short of a block of 50 costs all money won that round, that’s going to cut payouts down even more.
If the host doesn’t get any more unbearable, I’ll consider watching past the initial run.
I like that it is a fair number of reasonably difficult trivia questions.
I would prefer that the challenger have a bit bigger role.
I would prefer a big faster pace but DVR solves that.
I dislike that the stakes never ratchet up. Board 3 is the same as Board 1.
I also dislike that they promoted it as a “Seven Day Event!” which clearly spoiled that no, nobody makes it to Question 500 since they get through less than a board an hour.
At a risk of just $25,000 or so per hour, it seems like it could be reasonably good syndicated game show.
I’ve been really impressed with the difficulty and depth of the questions.
As I told my wife last night, “Jeopardy makes me feel smart, this show makes me feel uncomfortable!”
This show is different in that your first answer doesn’t have to be the right one. Miss it and you can spout off a bunch of guesses before time runs out. That compensates a bit for the difficulty of some of the questions. I also like the Top Ten questions. Those can get interesting.
I would love to get $300,000 for a weeks work. Hell, I’d love to get $300,000 for several years of work. I guess Bill Gates must be a member here.
Yes, it would be great to get even $10,000 for answering a bunch of trivia questions on TV.
But by primetime game show standards it is pretty paltry. 18 years ago you could answer 15 multiple choice trivia questions (only 12 without assistance) and get a million dollars.
What’s the most you could get here if you went perfect on 500 questions? $625,000 or so (500 questions, 10 milestones, an extra $2000 for the Triple Threats)?
Remember a few years back, in the wake of the success of Deal/No Deal and WWTBAM, when prime time was flooded with game shows? They all had a terrible flaw – the pacing was abysmal. Stretched out 30 seconds of drama over 60 minutes of air time.
The good news is that 500 Questions doesn’t have that problem.
On the other hand, the host is completely devoid of charm, and the “why did you choose that category?” line of inquiry has gotten really old.
(I think I’d do really well – I’ve known several that the contestant didn’t get – but I’d be damned if I can come up with a pithy answer to the introductory question “why am I a genius”.
“He’s…a computer systems analyst!”
“From … East Bay, California!”
“And…he remembers a lot of trivial stuff!”
I turned it off after 10 minutes of Richard Quest. Its seems like he spits when he talks.
I agree about the host, it was especially annoying with the guy who got to 168 questions;
“Why did you choose to go first?”
“Fuck, man, I’ve answered that question 12 fucking times already!” *
Odd to have a British host (and not even a veteran game show host) for a program that didn’t originate there.
Good questions, blah format, not enough human interest.
I love the format of the show, especially the idea that you can spew out answers for 10 seconds in order to stay alive. Granted, that isn’t always helpful.
“What Lithuanian poet wrote ‘Oh, My Baltic’?”
“Uhhhhh ….”
As several have said, the questions are satisfyingly difficult, and the pace is good. (I watched the first episode of Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader? and was astonished that they asked maybe four questions per half-hour.)
I agree that winnings should go up, even a little, from board to board.
I agree that the challenger doesn’t have enough to do, but I can’t figure out how to fix that.
And I agree that the host should be slapped silly and then fired. And then have the first three fingers on his right hand broken. And then have the stupid pen taken away. And then some punishment that references the ridiculous way he lunges at the question as it’s revealed but I can’t think of anything right now.
While telling him “You are gone!” ?