TVSquad

As mentioned at the end, the biggest gripe I have with these new shows is they are 20 minutes of programming crammed into an hour timeslot. For this reason, not only will I not WATCH them, I won't bother TiVoing them.

Cue popculturejunk response spam....3...2..1

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I hate the contestants on "Deal or No Deal". I have yet to see more than 3 nice, normal people that I could tolerate spending an afternoon with. I think NBC sometime confuses enthusiasm with annoyance when casting contestants...

At least with "1 vs 100" everyone has to think. There's a definate right or wrong answer, unlike DoND's random guessing. I mean, these over-caffinated men and women are hyper-hyper-HYPER about going on national TV and yelling at SUITCASES. And then they act all smug when it comes to the banker, like, "No, I can do better than $300,000, that's just chump change!" And then they wind up leaving with a penny.

Thanks for pointing out this article... I've not seen Identity, and I kind of like 1 vs. 100, but boy oh boy, DoND sure gets on my nerves sometimes...

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Sorry, but if you think 1VS100 is stupid in terms of inteligence, you really haven't been watching recently. The game has gotten really hard recently. Partly it's because it has the best writers in television right now. They aren't going for the outrageous personalities like the other shows. Yes, they want some personality, but they are getting genuinely smart people as well. Of course they are going to pick some dumb Mob members, but that's only because if they didn't the game would drag like hell and get really boring. Putting 1VS100 in the class of any current primetime game show is just cruel. 1VS100 harkens back to ABC's Millionaire and it's a welcome return to game shows that make you actually think. The rest are plain stupid. I agree with your comments on the rest of the shows, but lumping 1VS100 in with the rest of them? You could not be any more incorrect.

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I believe that the contestants for Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? must be screened to get the dumbest people!!!!

How can you not know that Canada is north of the USA? Or that Alaska is west of California?

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As far as Identity, I believe Penn Jillette said on his radio show that the dramatic pauses were edited in in post production.

The worst abuser of this is Ryan Seacrest on American Idol. The stupid long pauses, and redirections are annoying.

Thankfully with Tivo, you can watch all of these shows in a third of the time skipping all the crap.

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I think they need to bring back Press Your Luck and the one where the contestents dress in dumb things.

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Let's make a deal! Do you want door number one, or the crate of eggs? OK, if you take the eggs, I'll give you $500! No? You really want the door? OK.....A DONKEY!

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I'm not sure if I actually miss Card Sharks, or if I was just young and watching it instead of going to school absolutely ruled.

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Watching some of GSN's classics really makes me miss the good old days of 70s and 80s game shows. I was watching Super Password the other day and thinking how classy it all was. I miss that from TV these days. *nostalgic sigh*

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Finally, someone speaks. Now. I just watch the shows to see people who could've won 200,00 dollars and wind up winning 5....they really need to put some actual shows on television...

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I agree that NBC does go a little far with their
promos on Deal Or No Deal, but just this once, I'd
like to see somebody finally crack the code that's
been so diffacult to crack, break that one giant
block of ice that's been so hard to break, achieve
something that NOBODY in the history of Deal Or No
Deal has been able to do, and often that goal is
right in front of them, but the contestants are so
chicken, they let it slip out of their fingers. To
pick the lucky case, keep it throughout the game,
no trading suitcases or taking bank offers, and
actually win the $1 million suitcase for themselves.
Their promos drag me into believing it will happen,
but it never happens, and yet, Howie Mandel, the
models, and those shameless merchandising plugs,
not to mention the family distractions (surprises)
are just there for strictly entertainment purpouses.
Sometimes, the contestants aren't even in this for
the money at all, and they want other things in their
life, like a car, a pony?, and even marriages. Why?
I don't know, but if something isn't done to improve
the chances of actually winning the $1 Million, Howie
Mandel might as well find another line of work. Deal
Or No Deal just isn't cutting it for me, anymore.
RICK.

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The questions in "1 vs. 100" are written in a clever way... But if you figure out what they're actually asking, it's usually something ridiculously simple.

What's really annoying about these shows is when the answer is incredibly obvious, but still have the ten-second music delay in an attempt to build "suspense."

Frankly, I never watch any of these shows without Tivoing them first... And then it takes about 10 minutes to view the highlights of the entire hour.

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The article, by Paul Farhi, started life in our "local" paper, the Washington Post. He and TV columnist Lisa de Moreas are two of the sharpest television writers in the country. The paper should put their current "senior" hack Tom Shales out to retirement and let the two of them rotate coverage.

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I was forced to watch 10 minutes of "Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader?" - it was the most shockingly awful television I have seen in my entire life.

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Just wait Bob, BINGO is coming to a television near you!

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