onion
Which game shows do you think should come back?
The Onion's AV Club always does a good job of coming up with pop culture lists that have a good sense of a medium's history, not just listing things to generate controversy. For instance, they won't say that The White Stripes were better than The Beatles just to see what kind of pissed-off response they're going to get.This list from last week, about the game shows they'd love to see return to the air, is no exception. Not only do they include the old favorites like Match Game, TattleTales, and To Tell the Truth, but a couple of obscure ones, like Hot Potato, Go and Second Chance (which was a forerunner to Press Your Luck). All of the items are accomapnied by video clips from YouTube, so you can get a good feeling for each show. My favorite obscure show on the list was Whew!, where a contestant had to traverse a "gauntlet of villains" in the bonus game. It was a set-sized nightmare that was more show than game. The clip reminded me that I was transfixed by this show as an 8-year-old. But I hadn't quite gotten into baseball yet, so my taste was questionable at the time.
Anyway, which games shows do you want to be revived? Let me know in the comments.
Rob Corddry, you rock
The Onion AV Club has this fun little column they do on occasion where they ask a celebrity to hit "shuffle" on their iPod and talk about the songs that pop up. The column is called "Random Rules," and recently they had The Daily Show's Rob Corddry chat about his own personal playlist. I've always liked Corddry, but now I like him even more after finding out he's a Pavement fan (my favorite band) and also a fan of Lou Barlow's band Sebadoh, another band in my top five. Although I take some exception to him saying Brighten the Corners is a better album than Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain because that's just wrong. Anyway, Robby ol' pal, you're now my favorite Daily Show correspondent. Give me a call sometime and we'll slap Bakesale on the stereo and light up a doobie like we were in college again. Also, they spelled your last name wrong. We can discuss that, too.
Wonder Showzen guys talk to The Onion
There are plenty of shows that "push the envelope" so to
speak. So many, in fact, that simply being subversive and politically incorrect isn't enough to even raise an eyebrow
anymore. Then there's Wonder Showzen, a show that not only pushes the envelope, but pretty much tears it to
shreds. The show, which is basically what Sesame Street would be if it was created by an insane uncle, manages
to be equal parts hysterical and disconcerting. If you've ever read an interview with creators John Lee and Vernon
Chatman, you know it's impossible to for them to give a straight answer about anything, but by the end of this interview with The Onion's Josh Modell, they manage
to let down their guard and give a few insights into the show. It's also interesting to learn the kind of arbitrary
approach MTV has when it comes to what it will air and not air. Apparently a kid dressed as Hitler and interviewing
people on the street is okay, but shooting a crucifix with a shotgun isn't.Albert Brooks talks comedy
Albert Brooks, the quintessential comedian's comedian, recently did an interview
with The Onion where he spoke about his new movie Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World. Of course,
TV viewers know Brooks from his numerous appearances on late night talk shows, most notably on Johnny Carson's
Tonight Show. What I found especially interesting was his take on how stand-up comedians today often
don't stand a chance because everything they do is "focus grouped" within minutes:
"I just, man, I'm telling you—I don't know how you get a Sam Kinison out of that world. I don't know where Bill Hicks comes from. I don't know how anyone special can go anywhere, because the guards are right in the very embryonic stage."
That was refreshing enough, but what really capped it off was when he later said, "I just read where somebody got high on the Billboard charts with [a comedy album]. I forget who it was." If anything from that interview made me respect this iconic comedian more than I already do, it's that he neither knows, nor cares, who the hell Dane Cook is.
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