TVSquad

(S06E07) "There are two sides to every story." - Nick

And to finish that thought, Lynette said, "Yeah, well your side is married." Which sums up part of what this episode covered -- the fact that Julie and Nick had an affair, and Lynette found out about it and confronted him. During the scene, I thought to myself, why is Lynette confronting him? What does she hope to gain from it? But I can see why she did it -- to try and protect Julie.

I'm filling in for Isabelle this week (apologies for my lateness on the review), so be gentle with me. Mostly what occurred to me about this episode was how thin all the ladies have gotten again. For a while there, it seemed like some of them bulked up to at least a size two. Now they're all back down to a size 0. Bree runs a catering service, for cripes sake, and looks like she hasn't eaten in weeks. Sandwiches for all. Oh, and Carlos is looking more and more like John Travolta. And thank God for Kathy Najimy.

Kathy Najimy is taking a dramatic turn in her career by joining the cast of CBS' Numb3rs. She's widely known as a comedic actress, with roles in Veronica's Closet, King of the Hill and both Sister Act movies. On Numb3rs, she'll play the division chair of the physics, math and astronomy departments at the university where Charlie works. Her role is being characterized as a 'recurring' one and I imagine it as comic relief, but who knows? Najimy begins filming for the show next week.

(S01E07) In my opinion, it's pretty hard to mess up a game like Family Feud. Sure, you could have a bad host like Ray Combs or Louie Anderson, but that usually doesn't deter from the game play of the families who participate on the show. So it's no surprise that Game Show Marathon chose this particular classic to be the Championship Game. That, and the fact that it could easily be played in an hour and not feel awkward like some of the other games that were played during the series.

Oh, and it certainly didn't hurt that both finalists, Kathy Najimy and Brande Roderick, had actually been on Feud in the past:  Najimy back in 1981 with host Richard Dawson, and Roderick back in the late 90's with host Louie Anderson. Pretty convenient, don't you think?

(S01E06) This review was performed via IM chat, and has been edited for clarity.

Richard Keller: Good evening, everyone! And welcome to a 'very special' review of Game Show Marathon. I'm here with someone I've known for, well, most of my life. My dear brother Joel.

Joel Keller: Howdy.

Richard Keller: We're diverging from the usual review format because tonight we are going to watch an episode of GSM that features a game show that was viewed religiously in the Keller household during the 1970's. We're talking about Match Game.

JK: The previews of this show looked OK... some oddities... but I'm keeping an open mind; yet, I'm going to be really critical of this episode, considering Match Game is my all-time favorite game show. What are you expecting, Rich?

RK: Well, from looking at the previews from last week I'm not too sure.  They seem to have gotten the feel of the mid-70's set down. What it will really come down to is how the celebrities play. So, without further delay, here we go.

(S01E04) It could be my imagination, but I could swear that the remaining three celebrities vying for the last seat of Game Show Marathon semi-finals were having a good time. Maybe they were finally warming up to each other after four games, maybe it was a 'I don't care what happens, I'm going to have fun' belief. Or, maybe it's the fact they were playing Press Your Luck and, dammit, they really had a competition going on.

The original Press Your Luck, which aired on CBS from 1983 until 1986 was such a cool concept that the show is still a favorite to this day. So, it was great to see it in all it's glory on Game Show Marathon. Other than the late Peter Tomarken all of the elements were there, the spinning set, the big board, the theme music, and, of course, the Whammys. In addition, it was probably the best episode of the series so far.

(S01E03) Much better! After the awkwardness of The Price is Right and the emotionally robotic Let's Make a Deal, CBS's Game Show Marathon finally came up with a game that was fairly enjoyable:  Beat the Clock. There were two reasons for that. First, it's always good to watch celebrities knowingly make fools of themselves in front of an audience. Second, they didn't have to guess the friggin price of Aspercreme to win a prize!

Add to that the fact that Beat the Clock is one of those quietly classic game shows that has endured since it first premiered on television in the 1950's. In this game there's no getting close to the actual dollar amount, no pressure to choose what was in the box or what was behind door number three. It's basically a game of teamwork. And, if the team works really well then riches abound. The concept has been used other shows such as Double Dare and, Lord help us, Fear Factor.

There also one more reason why I could tolerate this episode a bit more than the last two:  Paige Davis is just so spunky!