New from the folks who brought us Deal or No Deal is this game show that takes a variant on the whole "wisdom of crowds" thing. One contestant answers trivia questions, and if they answer correctly, they get money for each member of the "mob" - the 100 people referenced in the title - that got the question wrong. The money - and theoretically the question difficulty - goes up by round. Contestants also have two "helps" - one allows the contestant to see how many people in the mob gave the same answer, the other allows the contestant to talk to two individuals in the mob, one of whom picked the right answer and one who did not.
The contestant can opt to walk after each round, and if they get a question wrong, the money they earned is distributed to all the remaining mob contestants. Folks in the mob get to carry over from contestant to contestant, creating an opportunity for a mob member to become a semi-regular. Ken Jennings was in the mob last week (and I assume will be in there tonight); make sure to tune in next week when King of LaPlaca James Dinan will be in the mob!
No one is going to mistake this show for Jeopardy! or Millionaire. The questions seem secondary to playing on the emotions of the contestant (and even the mob, which is quite excitable), which underscores its ties to Deal or No Deal. My concern is that I'll have the same reaction to this show as I did to Deal - initial interest followed by apathy when the episodes get repetitive.
Bob Saget is fine as host. Can't say much more than that.
All in all, it's a decent hour of entertainment for Friday night. I'd be happier if it were on another night, but I'd rather not have NBC use it like Deal, so I'll live with it.
2 comments:
We watched last week and plan to do so again. It nicely rounds out our lame, married people Friday night which involves going to the laundromat, eating a highly non-nutritious dinner and watching TV on the couch.
Two minor problems: first, the whole dramatic lighting thing. It was so overdone on Millionaire, and it's just lame here. I know, blah blah building suspense and drama. Whatever. Just play the damn game. My other problem is that the questions haven't been that hard. Maybe neither contestant in the first show hit the right level of question before taking the money? If that's the case, I'm wondering what level you have to get to before the questions become a real challenge, and if it will increase in increments up to the top level or will the questions just suddenly become impossibly difficult.
One quick note...you will see a change with the show, beginning with my episode, that may have been intended to resolve concerns with the first 1-2 episodes.
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