You all know I love Jeopardy. So how did they take the general concept of Jeopardy, add-in the greatest Jeopardy champions, and come up with such a shitty show as The Chase? For like the 3rd time, I gave it another shot last night; and (IMO) it's unwatchable. There are an abundance of things wrong with it.
Lets start with the premise. TBH, I haven't been able to follow the entire sequence of the game. But there's contestants trying to answer challenging questions (like in Jeopardy), and at some point, a contestant goes head-to-head with a Jeopardy master. Last night it was James Holzhauer, whose "game-show villain" shtick is oh so played. And the way they did his clothes and make-up was sort-of Kabuki theater-like. But anyway, he's probably got the highest correct response percentage of any Jeopardy player ever. The contestant, however, is more like a regular, clueless person. And I've seen this kind of matchup every time I've watched the show; so it wasn't just a one-off thing. The result is what you'd predict - the master answers correctly 100%; the contestant makes total guesses and is wrong 66%.
But wait, it gets much more annoying. You know how Jeopardy is the one true test of knowledge in a sea of fake, scripted, tug-at-your-heartstrings testimonial vehicles designed to deliver the "aww" to the audience? Well they add that
on top of the Jeopardy stuff. So now, the contestant talks out loud about her "thought process", and mentions everything from things her kids do, to her cancer-surviving mother-in-law. And they even get the master (Holzhauer) to talk out loud too, except he's already submitted his (always correct) guess. So really, it's just "James, did you know this one?"; "I did"; over and over. But they have him embellish his answer for TV, because if he was honest, he'd say "I just knew what the answer was" every time. So he says things like "my son was listening to this type of music, and it made me aware of blah blah blah...". I'll bet you anything that it's all scripted.
And then, every 10 minutes or so, as sort of a non-sequitur, they cut to this backstage lounge, where the other masters are just hanging-out, all casual-like, talking about the game show "action". One of them either comments on what just happened (and the others act like it was an interesting observation) or explains to the other masters what's going to happen next (as if they don't already know). And then they cut back to the game. And I'm staring at the TV, asking what just happened? Why are they in that room? What did that little scene have to do with the game?
However, just when you thought this was the dumbest game show ever, they follow it with
the new Press Your Luck, which clearly requires absolutely no thinking whatsoever. Now I have a dilemma. As inane as the show is, it's hosted by the smoking hot Elizabeth Banks.
If they awarded an Emmy to the hair and make-up crew for a game show host, this one would be the winner.