The Wall

I actually like the game and the fact that they seem to gear it towards contestants who are the unsung heroes of the world. I'm not a huge fan of the immense amounts of drama that are added. It's almost more like a reality show at points. When the game ends and the two contestants have to stand there with tears in their eyes and profess their love for each other for 5 minutes before saying what needs to be said, I cringe a little. That whole portion of the show could be rewritten and be more concise so that it still gives has the same "wow" factor with less pain for the at home audience.

The premise is simple, the gameplay is too. I won't fault it for that. My issues with this show are that 1) The participants are all the exact same: Really stupid living saints. Meaning, while being "great" people, they obviously have lower-than-average intelligence, making their easy trivia questions way harder than they should be (I believe gameshows pick "dumb" people on purpose, to lower the prize value given away, and to make the audience at home feel "smart" by comparison), 2) For a "feel good" game show, most of the episodes end with (what I'm assuming will be) a lifetime of trauma for the contestants, when the show often ends with an individual being told by a smiling loved one that they just threw away millions of dollars. How "uplifting". 3) Cliched! Cliches galore! I really hope the 1:1 conversations were written for the contestants, it's so cheesy!

Chris Hardwick does a serviceable, if unenviable, job hosting, as he tries to piece back together the shattered psyche of his contestants, but I think he's good at that due to his years of experience (at his other job) of trying to make the most of a terrible situation (TWD).

The worst aspect of this show is that, in the end, every episode is a repeat of the last, nothing ever changes, and you forget the contestants 5 seconds after they leave the screen, meaning this show gets very boring after watching 2-3 episodes.

I enjoy watching this show--in fast forward with brief pauses to watch the trivia answers and then for the question and then to watch the ball(s) fall. I can watch an entire episode in about 15 minutes. There is their phrase that the contestants can win over $12 million, but I have yet to see anyone even get more than $2 million before losing some/most/all of it. There is soooooo much talking and so little actual game. I really don't like listening to someone's long, drawn-out thought process as to which answer to choose or which of 7 numbered places to put the ball in. This show would be better if there were more game, less talking, and actual real chances at contestants winning more than $1-2 million.

Do you need to have a sob story to be on the show? Do you need to yell at an inanimate object falling, trying to convince it to defy gravity? Should we believe the ball they push into the floor is the same one that pops out at the top? There's a fair amount of showmanship I'm not willing to ignore in this show.

"The Wall" is a game show where a married couple competes against The Wall for money. And The Wall is very impressive: 4 stories tall, a massive video display, complete with built-in cameras. The host, Chris Hardwick, says the show is designed to provide "good opportunities for good people". We might wonder how they defines "good people".

In the first four episodes, the contestants include s school teacher, two marines, a parole officer, a police officer and couple that gives free donuts to police and fire personnel. Obviously, giving service--especially in the government sector--is what makes one good. As far as I know, this is the first game show with a political/philosophical agenda.

The game-play involves dropping balls down the wall, like a giant pachinko machine, and seeing if they land in slots designated as large money amounts or smaller money amounts. You can count the number of slots and their values to determine the odds of getting big bucks or not. But some balls subtract money, making it even more a game of chance. Yes, there are (embarrassingly easy) multiple-choice trivia questions involved at some point, but they only serve to distract one from the randomness of the outcome.

The ideal contestant is someone who (besides working for the government) is not too smart, likes gambling (e.g. dice, the lottery, or slot machines), likes to be the center of attention, is overly dramatic, voices every thought, and is superstitious. Expect to see every game show cliché. Expect contestants to give inane reasons for choosing certain numbers. Expect them to talk to the balls, perhaps even kiss them. And you can definitely expect them to provide lengthy, sometimes irrelevant justifications for their trivia answers.

The first couple is from Akron. So is LeBron James, producer of the show. A coincidence? Or just a totally random outcome, like The Wall?

If you like games of skill, try "Jeopardy". If you like games of chance that last an hour, "The Wall" may be for you.