Celebrity Name Game

I'm a game show fan since way back when and since there are so few left, I'm saddened that yet another one bites the dust.

True they won't win any Nobel Prizes for this show but it's not about that.

It's cheesy, sometimes-raunchy (usually a couple of bleeps in every episode) game show fun that is one of my guilty pleasures which fill up my DVR.

Bon voyage Craig.

Perhaps you and Mr. Arquette can whip up another game show gem for us to enjoy.

Thanks for the TV fun.

Celebrity Name Game comes across as a rather obvious cash in on Hollywood Game Night, with minor celebrities paired up with contestants in a name guessing game. Craig Ferguson brings a bit of charisma to the proceedings, but not enough to save the show.

One major problem is that the same game is played over and over, with little variation in how the game is played or in the challenge level. The only difference between games is who is giving clues and who is trying to guess the celebrity. There is no real sense of suspense, as the names are often easy to guess for anyone remotely good at this type of game.

Moreover, in terms of its guests, the show uses the term "celebrity" very loosely. In the two shows I watched, one featured two B-list actresses from the late 1990s, while the other featured a television actor I'd never heard of. (Although I was surprised to see they got Sheryl Crow-I think she's friends with Courtney Cox, who's an executive producer of the show.) Craig Ferguson does his best to make the proceedings interesting, bringing the same sense of humor he had on The Late Late Show. However, there is only so much he can do with something as dull as this. At one point, he was reduced to openly feeding a contestant an answer when they got stuck on a name.

I would have definitely given this a higher score because I think the game itself is fun. It's a combination of other games and the variety makes it fun. The downfall is the nauseating behaviors from both players and host. It seems that the players have been coached into behaving an an overly exaggerated manner to where nobody seems completely authentic. If I want to watch staged acting I can watch reality TV shows but with game shows, cooking competition shows, fashion competition shows, Etc, it's nice to see some real behavior. Trouble is, it can be so difficult to find on American TV when the focus is more on those things that equate to money - thus, you get a massive amount of programs that aren't worth watching.

Australian show only.............. Great show, great concept, fun for the whole family, but with Grant DENYER as host, it's brilliant! The show was made for his talents. Well done Grant DENYER and also the fantastic nightly parade of celebrities who get exposure and join in on the laughs. Two thumbs up to you all.

Let me say up front: I don't care for game shows. They're just not my thing. But a game show hosted by Craig Ferguson? Now that had promise! His love of rule-bending (or breaking), and the easygoing sense of fun he brings to everything he does -- not to mention the fact he's just hilarious -- had me more than ready to give this show a try.

Craig has said in interviews that it was the flexibility of this show's format and the room for improv that drew him in, and that shows. He's clearly having a great time chatting with guests, and enjoying the general silliness of the game itself. For the round where he gives the clues (rather than a contestant or celebrity doing it), he seems to take special pleasure in toying with the format and going for the unexpected as much as possible. (Example: when the round was "upper lipholstery," - all names of people with mustaches - he started every "clue" by giving a thorough critique on the quality of the mustache, and only THEN actually hinted at the identity of the person!) With only a few episodes broadcast so far, odds are good this show is still finding its feet. Already, though, it's tremendous fun. And with Craig Ferguson as host, I fully expect it to get more gloriously chaotic and un-game-show-like as it goes along. Here's hoping! In the meantime: already quite awesome, and I will certainly continue to watch.

Edit: I've watched quite a few episodes now. The show's main weakness probably is simply the repetition, especially as two episodes are played back to back in my area. One gets pretty tired of hearing those same rules yet again. The general silliness and air of improv, though, are still great.