#witnessing this with my own eyeballs this weekend has been WILD

[normalrelativity]

I was at Misha’s one man show in Nashville last night and I am almost positive I heard Jensen laugh at one point. I kept waiting for it to happen again but it didn’t, so I feel like he probably just stuck his head in on the way to SNS. But for sure at SNS (there’s video evidence of this*), Misha snuck into the back to watch Jensen sing.

I feel totally normal about all of this

[oldschoolgameshowguy-blog]

TJW = WTF?

A CBS Classic is Revived But Changes Nearly Everything (And Not In A Good Way)

“From Hollywood…it’s the game where knowledge is king and Lady Luck is queen...”

Sadly, the “knowledge” is largely gone from TBS’s revival of “The Joker’s Wild”, a classic CBS game show that rewarded actual book knowledge with cash and prizes of up to $25,000. Entertainer Snoop Dogg brought back a new version of this Jack Barry vehicle in October of 2017 and for those who remember and loved the original, this one is a huge disappointment. First, though, let me comment on the few plusses the show has.

It’s worth watching the show - once - to see the beautiful new set. Barry would have been proud (even envious). The designers created a stage that’s colorful, lively and engaging. You even hear slot machine sounds like you’d hear in a real casino. The 1990 revival had its own technology-driven machine – three TV monitors where the category wheels would “spin” but they weren’t terribly exciting to watch. At least with modern technology, the new Joker machine is something truly impressive.

Sadly, that’s where the list of positives end for me. There’s so many things about the new version of the show that I disliked upon viewing the premiere. The audience. The questions. The changed flow of play. And most certainly the host. If you’re a fan of Snoop Dogg, you’ll probably hate everything I’m about to say and dismiss me as a “hater”. Fine. But if you don’t know Snoop, you may agree with me. 

Snoop’s persona – at least on the show – is that of a drug-friendly casino operator party guy with a streetwise sense of humor. That, of course, is nothing like Jack Barry or, really, any other quiz show emcee of any of the classics. Even Gene Rayburn of legendary “Match Game” fame was wild and wacky without seeming stoned. And I don’t find Snoop’s manner appealing – in the context of a quiz show. As a music performer, not being all there can add to an artist’s charisma. But not for leading a vehicle like this. (Michael Strahan of ABC’s “The $100,000 Pyramid” would have been a finer choice to helm this revival. Frankly, I can think of at least a dozen other people I’d rather had been at the helm of the new “Joker”.)

Snoop is supposed to be the main draw for the show - but with the original, it wasn't about the host. It was about the game, at least for the viewers. Jack Barry was an affable host, like many emcees of the day, but he wasn’t playing a version of himself, and a seedy one at that. He was actually trying to clean up his image, having been implicated in The Quiz Show Scandals of the 1950’s. He needed to be squeaky clean. Luckily, it worked.

A good game show host - to me - knows how to set up tension and the big moments. Snoop seems too high - or high acting - to be tense about anything. It’s all about laughs, money, and that “big-ass” slot machine. If you’re watching a game, as a viewer, you don’t want to be going, “What just happened?”

Snoop has famously said “The Joker’s Wild” was one of his favorite shows growing up, and that he used to watch it with his grandmother. Why was it a favorite? Was it the big money? The set? It looks like that the oversized slot machine what fascinated him because I don’t get the impression it was the intellect displayed by the contestants. I don’t think Snoop would have done so well as a contestant on the CBS original.

The new version of the game is not a general knowledge quiz – at least, as you’d see on “Jeopardy!” with Alex Trebek. (I wish there were more examples of knowledge game shows on American TV but they’ve all but disappeared – American TV producers presume that the average viewer doesn’t find book smarts entertaining. When I was growing up, viewers had more selections – among the better of them, “The Who, What or Where Game” and “College Bowl”. Even shows like “Gambit” or “Hollywood Squares” had questions where viewers could learn something factual.)

On the new version of “Joker” questions are more about streetwise subjects or comedic themes. The category names are too silly to recount here, but I was reminded of the equally frivolous names chosen for categories on the 2000 “Pyramid” revival with Donny Osmond (which I was glad to see bite the dust). Sometimes it’s possible to be too cutesy.

Even the 1990 version with Pat Finn, disappointing as that was, had quiz questions about real topics – they were given as definitions, where the player had to define the person, place or thing Finn read off his cards. The message Snoop’s “Joker” sends is that there's zero value in knowing school subjects or facts. With who made it into the White House in 2016, this show is suitable for a “post-fact” era.

New “Joker” isn’t even the same game structurally. Designed to fit within a single-half hour, with no carry-over champions (even the current incarnation of Family Feud with Steve Harvey lets families stay five days to win a new SUV), this version of “Joker” is a contest to see who can amass the most money during game play, not whether they can reach a particular amount. That dramatically changes the game. There are fewer moments for natural tension. A wrong answer to a question can’t be picked up by an opponent for credit, as in the original version. There is no “final spin” rule if a player reaches the winning amount before players have had an equal number of spins. And a three-Joker spin is lame, as it only counts for $500 towards a daily total. There is no Joker’s Jackpot, no five-game big payoff, and no sizzle associated with getting Jokers anymore, no matter how much the audience joins in with “Joker! Joker!! Joker!!!!”

Speaking of the audience (and the players), in scanning with my eyes, I didn’t see anyone present over the age of 30.  Just a soundstage full of twenty-somethings. Snoop is probably the oldest person on that stage. The original “Joker” wasn’t so narrow in its appeal, and that might have been part of the reason it was a classic – you could see students, fathers, mothers, teachers, artists, young adults, older adults, everyone. It seems that Snoop’s version of the show basically says, “If you ain’t a club kid, or you don’t dig me, you too old.” I think lots of college students across the country who tune in “Jeopardy!” daily would disagree. (I was also non-plussed by the standing ovation at the beginning of the show – I remember when standing ovations had to be earned.)

If you ran the original CBS version of “Joker” now, it wouldn't connect with Snoop’s target audience on the TBS version, because that target audience doesn't value book knowledge – at least not in this arena. Get outta here, nerds – you’re not wanted here.

I am also not a fan of “lovely assistants” unless they “work.” It seems that these days, a female assistant (it’s always gotta be a female) is comely and attractive but doesn’t necessarily have much in the way of personality. Catch 21’s Nikki was pretty but bland also. The last show with a “lovely assistant” I could handle was “Wheel of Fortune” - Vanna White may be long in the tooth, but she has depth and seems more real. On the original CBS version, Jack handled the entire show, solo – and even the 1990 revival with Pat Finn was a single-star affair.

How could this version of “Joker” ever have been green-lighted for production? Simple - times have changed. Broadcasters and production companies are greedier than ever, and ever eager to push the envelope to get a new generation of viewers, and the eyeballs advertisers covet. I suppose some of that is to be expected, but taste seems to have been lost with it. And it borders on sacrilege to take an old brand and put something else entirely with it - it’s just wrong.

“The Joker’s Wild” was never intended to be a comedy game show. There have been other game shows that were expressly designed as humor vehicles - “Make Me Laugh”, “The Hollywood Squares”, “The Gong Show”, “Match Game”, “Every Second Counts”, “Can You Top This?” - but taking a venerated quiz and turning it into a comedy vehicle isn't a good idea. If I had my way, this show would have been called something else.

Another part of the problem is that the industry itself has changed since the 1970s - indeed, the concept of entertainment is more than TV and radio - and producers, accountants and suits are greedier than ever, wanting a guaranteed success. Most folk under 30 now have TV, streaming music, social media, gaming consoles, and dating/hookup apps to entertain themselves. And so TV has to have bigger and bigger spectacles to push the envelope – witness, a game show with open drug references (“420”).

And then you have what I could call “new generation” producers – folks whose interest is in leaving their own mark on a classic genre rather than respecting what made the genre work – it’s all about them. I have seen revivals come and go in recent years, but they never stay. They all have to be edgy. They all have to be “explicit”. They all have to be bawdy. I dare one game show packager out there to bring back a classic (I’m thinking “The Big Showdown” from ABC) without retooling every g’damned thing from top to bottom for an exclusive 18 to 24 aged demographic. If I had the independent wealth and connections, I’d do it myself but...here I sit, typing a blog instead.

Richard Kline’s company tried to redo “Joker” in 1990 by changing nearly everything and it was a flop – only after several months in did they try to retool the game with classic “Joker” rules, but it was too late then. However, having seen this new “Joker”, that ‘90 version is no longer the worst.

TBS is a cable channel so they can show offerings like this. I just cannot imagine CBS running this - except as a gag. If Snoop’s “Joker” gains traction, look for an SNL parody one of these coming weekends.

If you wanted to have a game show in a night club - and all that implies - you'd get Snoop’s reboot of “The Joker’s Wild”. With the exception of the beautiful new set, there is little that a fan of the original CBS “Joker” will enjoy. “Jeopardy!” or quiz show fans can rightfully wince. And TBS? Nice gimmick, guys, but you better promote the hell out of this show to your millennial “base” to make it a commercial success.

Meantime, I will stick to reruns of the classic CBS show on You Tube.

GRADE: F