Friend or Foe

This game show starts with the host literally SHRIEKING terrible jokes at us which were obviously written and given to her before the show. Stuff that doesn't even make sense, like the one I just watched as a refresher on YouTube has her say "Michelle likes putting her foot down on the gas pedal and push old ladies into the brick wall!" What the hell does that even mean?

Yet somehow the show manages to get even worse. The trivia questions are the easiest ever, and on top of that it is multiple choice. "What bar does Homer Simpson like to go to? A) Moe's, B) Jobo's, C) Shabadabadoo's or D) Pigglefartdinklebee's?" The thing is, the contestants somehow manage to get a lot of these wrong, and the producers don't care anyway because even if they get everything right and rack up points and dollars, they're not going home with any money anyway, because...

The final round of this show makes the entire process pointless! Just like the also awful UK game show "Shafted" from 2001, which Friend or Foe either bought the format from or just completely and shamelessly stole, the two final contestants at the end of the show decide to A) Share/Friend or B) Shaft/Foe each other. If they both choose to share, they share. If they both choose to shaft, they get nothing. If they choose shaft and share, the shafter wins all the money. So it's not hard to see what ends up happening almost every time: they both decide to keep the money. Once in a while someone would take a chance on the other person also sharing, and in those few cases the other person would of course shaft them and keep all the money. Maybe one or two times (literally, as another reviewer said, you could count the times on one hand even if you're missing a few fingers) they would actually both decide to share.

So it's a very negative and sad show where 90% of the time both people would screw each other over and get nothing, and 9% of the time one person (a jerk) would screw over the nice person who was willing to share with them, and 1% of the time you somehow get two people actually willing to share and everyone (including the audience) wins!

This show is garbage, the host is terrible, all the jokes they gave her were terrible, and it never should have been made.

Very rarely does a game show offer you one epiphanous experience equivalent to the Divine Revelation of St. John, but the game show "Friend Or Foe" has the benefit of not one, but four dramatic insights into human nature. They are as follows:

1. When mankind works together in a spirit of harmony, the mutual reward produces not only material gain, but the feeling of trusting your fellow man.

2. That the world is made for the cunning, and in the wake of those who would deceive, the innocent are caught in their snares and left to languish with the dull-eyed feeling of their own stupidity to warm them. Soon, they return hardened with the lessons of life to make them wiser.

3. Ultimately mutual destruction will beset those who seek to destroy each other, leaving a void of broken dreams to punish those who would do harm to their brother for mutual betrayal leads only to a burden for the wicked.

But the fourth and most important revelation. No matter how much time Viacom (owner of Game Show Network) has to burn off on a back-dated contract from MTV that they acquired in the merger, the only people who will suffer a torment as of being subjugated to horrors of hell are those who have to watch Kennedy in what is the single worst game show of the last 10 years. That includes STUDS.

So the only question you have to ask, probably about twenty minutes into this train wreck, is the following: Would the seas running red with blood really be that bad right about now?

First of all. Nearly every contestant is pretty much a half step from being a prison inmate. The show actually seeks out and finds people that are unethical or criminal in nature. One of the contests was introduced as a guy that stole his mother's car. Another won $2,000 by stealing raffle tickets. I only wish I was joking about this. There is no one that you wish to win, you hope they all lose. They are all some of the biggest lowlifes in the country.

As if this weren't bad enough, they get yet another chance to prove what lowlifes they are at the "Trust Box". The money that each team wins is somewhat up for grabs. Each member of a team stands on the side of the trust box to play a sort of twisted rock, paper, scissors type game. Each of the two people from the team chooses either "Friend" or "Foe". Here's how this works...

If they both think they trust each other they would both choose "Friend". They would then split the team money and each of them would take half home.

If neither thinks they can trust the other they would both choose "Foe". When this happens, they both screw each other and no one gets anything.

Now comes the worst. If they both appear to trust each other and one of them chooses "Friend" and the other chooses "Foe" then the person who voted "Friend" gets nothing. Nada, zilch, zippo. The person who voted "Foe" goes home with the entire wad of cash.

Sound bad? It's a lot worse watching it.

Trust me there's no redeeming quality to this piece of crap excuse for a show. Avoid it at all costs.

Ex-MTV vee-jay, Kennedy hosts this awful trash where three groups of two contestants battle it out over multiple choice trivia questions to put money into their pot, its fate decided over whether the two contestants wish to share the money with each other or keep it all for themselves.

At the beginning of the show, each contestant is introduced with a sordid tale involving a particularly low moment of their lives (ie. she skipped paying the check at a restaurant or he stole the neighbor's newspaper) which is the basis for judgment on their character and morale given by the other contestant. Each contestant must decide if their 'partner' is a 'friend' or a 'foe'.

The key to winning is that if each contestant chooses to share the money with each other (friend and friend), the pot is halved and each player goes home with at least some money. If one of the contestants chooses to share the money (the friend) but the other chooses to keep it for himself (the foe), then the foe gets to keep all of the money and the friend goes home with nothing. If both players choose to keep the money for themselves and not share it (foe and foe), then they both leave with nothing.

That fate is decided when each contestant 'states' their case as to why their partner should 'trust' them that they'll share the money with each other before pushing a button underneath the challenging pedestal in total secrecy that will be revealed subsequently in order to hold suspense, in this case, mainly yawns.

For the most part, you as the viewer will be able to pick out who the weasels are who have no intention of sharing the money and who the nice people are who will most likely go home empty handed because the other player decided to keep all the money for himself. The personalities become painstakingly obvious once you are introduced to the contestants and their motives become quite transparent.

The questions on "FRIEND OR FOE" are extremely easy. The thing that irked me most about this show was the host. I found her to be quite obnoxious and irritating (just like she was when she was on MTV). Her prying into the contestants' pasts and ulterior motives are a notch below embarrassing and whoever told her that she'd be the right person to host a game show should have had their priorities checked!

The only enjoyment I got out of watching this game show was seeing one contestant fume with anger after he penultimately chose to share the final jackpot while his 'partner' decided to double cross him and keep the money, thus winning the entire jackpot for himself. Life sucks and the world is supposed to enjoy it right down to the finest details.

Thank the Game Show Network for bringing this gem into our lives. Now whatever happened to "HOLLYWOOD SHOWDOWN"?

Personal Secrets Placed on the airwaves for the entire world (poeentially ) to hear? to turn the unforgiving masses against you? Speaking for myself, to coin an old cliche, "Some things are better left unsaid." Anybody who has ever been on this attrocious joke of a game show must want money pretty bad.

0* (not worth rating) out of a possible *****