1 vs. 100 Is Coming Back

Hooray! 1 vs. 100 is among me favourites!!

The new version uses a lot of orange! What do you have to say about it?

Yeah, I agree. I mean, it's not a dealbreaker (although for some people out there I could imagine it is), but I do like the old set better.

I apologize to any fans of this show, but I'm about to completely devastate it. You have been warned.

I'm just going to go ahead and throw my rant on here about (what I believe to be) the vomit-inducing monstrosity of a game show that is GSN's version of "1 vs 100." I honestly don't remember the last time, if ever, I bad mouthed a game show; but this one is just gut wrenching.

The color scheme is just terrible, especially since they kept some of the old graphics and their original colors. Needless to say, the two don't mix well. This orange-ish version is just too overpowering and isn't pleasant on the eyes by any stretch of the imagination and is just plain out "too loud." Following that remark, the set is boring and empty feeling. While I understand the lack of need for a huge set since the mob members aren't physically there, they went about it all wrong. Nothing about it feels fluid and it just seems like a low budget garage-job like Lingo (but at least Lingo makes up for it by having a good game.)

Next on my list of hate is the amount of money the show offers and how it plays out. Sure, this isn't a million dollar show anymore, but $50,000 for beating 100 people? To make matters worse, you have to knock out at least 20 members of the mob before you win enough money to even have a form 1099 filed on you. (In the US, winnings totaling $599 or less are not reported to the IRS.) Then, of course, let's not forget about the contestants who pretend the $750 s/he just won was important enough to merit 30 seconds of the show's airtime to decide whether or not s/he wants to stop and keep it or keep playing against the mob. Give me a break... Coached contestants much, GSN?

Following that, I really, really, really, really don't care for their style of *@&#!$@!* questions! Example:

What TV series shares it's name with a theory of how the universe was born?

A: The One Starring Ellen Pompeo
B: The One Starring Jim Parsons
C: The One Starring Mark Harmon

Really? Give me a break! What kind of quiz show question is that? It's not like it's a $500,000 question - just give 3 random sitcom names and stop trying to throw a curve ball past the contestant in a desperate attempt to be different from other shows! This was one of (if not the ONLY) thing I didn't like about the old prime time version of the show, and I was hoping they would change it when GSN picked it up.

Finally, the coup de tat. The one thing that kills the show for me more than everything else above combined. Without a doubt, the most gutwrenching part of the whole deal, in perpetuity, throughout the known and unknown universe, ladies and gentlemen...

The Host.


I grew up during the time Bob Saget thought he was God's gift to television and I suffered through more "America's Funniest Home Videos" and episodes of "Full House" than I care to remember (mostly thanks to my sister who loved the show) and he was the last person I wanted to see when the show went prime time. However, the show was good enough to where I could look past him and just enjoy the game, even though I wanted to rip his white sneakers off his feet and beat him with them. I thought, "there's no way GSN can do worse than NBC did with the whole host thing. It's just not possible. Enter: Carrie Ann Inaba

When I first saw this proverbial red-headed adopted step child of television appear within the camera frame, I knew it was downhill the rest of the way with this show (for me). Her personality is just beyond fake. She doesn't give off any kind of vibe that she cares for the contestants at all, and that she just loves hearing the sound of her own voice. Every time she talks I want to punch her in the mouth, or, more realistically, terminally damage my ear drums by shoving something sharp into my inner ear canals. She stresses certain words WAY too hard and too often, and, again, the way she does it is just so fake. "Do you want the money, or do you want the MOOOOOOOOOOOOB?" "You can play for fifty thousand DOLLARRRRRRRRRRRS." I wonder if I can sue her for emotional distress and verbal abuse.. hmm.

One last note: I know about all the TV work she has done in the past and whatnot, but I knew there was something else about her.. I've seen her somewhere before on TV and I just couldn't put my finger on it. Something so degrading that no self-respecting person would ever accept the role for or put their real name in the credits.. What could it be?

..oh yeah.


She's the one on the right. Yes, I'm serious. Look it up.


Thank you for taking the time to read my longest, most annoyed post on any form, ever! I'll stress again that these are just my own opinions, but I digress.

Mech

I liked the hostess...

I remember that question vividly! I also remember everyone in the room moaning and groaning as soon as the first answer appeared on the board, as if they were saying "That's crap."

I categorize those as questions deliberately designed to screw the contestant. I remember one from an old primetime game where the player didn't have any help left, so they showed him the question beforehand:

"What is a Bowflex?"

"Exercise Machine" is the first thing that came to my mind, and probably everyone else's. Knowing the show, the options probably would have been something like "A Machine with 350 lbs of possible resistance," "A Machine invented by John Doe," or "A Machine with 40% Graphite Rods." The question could have easily been worded "Which of these is true about a Bowflex?" and it would have floated with me just fine. But when they deliberately phrase the question in a way to hook you into a commitment and then throw those types of answers at you, it's pretty bogus.

The US Capitol question also would have floated with me if they just asked "Who is the mayor of DC?" but, again, it was designed to hook and screw. Hm.. I like that term. "Hook and Screw". A new piece of game show jargon has been invented!

----

On another topic, the thought had crossed my mind but it pretty much confirmed itself with tonight's episode. I don't care what they say - those mob members are not sitting at home on web cams. It's pretty obvious for two reasons: 1 - The background for every one of them is identical (not the animated parts, but physically in the camera shot) and 2 - They are all on the same connection speed. If you have 100 mob members, at least a few of them are going to be lagging on their end and you're going to see frame loss.

Tonight's episode did some closeup shots of 2 mob members and they were in crystal clear high-def and well exceeded the maximum FPS the human eye can process - something you don't see with web cams, something you don't see unless they are directly in front of a production camera with a direct line feed to the control room. Whether they are in the same building or not, I have no idea, but I am guessing they are. Probably in a back room all sitting in a circle with cameras on them, or in a building across the street, God only knows. But I can promise you this - they are not on web cams all across the US.

Actually, I'm going to annotate that text about the mob members slightly. I still believe they are not on web cams across the country for the same reasons I stated above, but even worse:

It's not Live Video Feed.

The show credits specifically stated that all of the mob members were asked the questions ahead of time and their answers were recorded, along with their video responses (aka the Cheering and/or talking to the host about why they missed it.) This pretty much means that all the video you see with the mob is pre-recorded and someone is just funneling various clips of each member based on the situation (all booing, clapping, etc).

It also means that when Carrie Ann asks a question to a specific mob member, their response was pre-recorded as well and she was coached on what to say to make it seem live. It could also mean that each mob member was individually recorded in a room, being asked x number of questions that they can cycle into however many shows they need to. Once they finish with one, they just bring in the next and repeat the process.

The fake-ness of this show just keeps growing and growing and growing!