Friend or Foe

The people in charge of Game Show Network must be almost as dumb as those in charge at CBS when "Match Game '79" was canceled. What were they thinking? This show is horrible! First, the hostess...who told this girl that she was capable of hosting a game show? She comes across as a cold, uncomfortable emcee. Her "funny" comments seemed forced and rehearsed. Plus, who could ever trust a Republican with the name KENNEDY?!

Now, for the show itself...worse than Kennedy! The questions are bad, and the answers are questionable. The concept is original, but still uninteresting. Any contestant who knows anything about competition would vote "Foe" all the way. There is no chance whatsoever for your "friend" to win a dime.

Save your time and watch a decent show. This isn't worth 30 minutes.

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"?

I'm not going to say much about this show, since most of the others on here have already said what needed to be said about it. I will add this though: The questions on this show are probably the easiest questions ever asked on a game show. Only an uneducated moron would continually get these questions wrong - which is exactly the type of characters they have as contestants. Boring and irritating to watch. Skip it!

It's not that good either. It doesn't hurt to watch it really. But it's nothing great. It passes for okay viewing. I can watch this show but I don't go out my way to see it. It's something I'd watch if there's nothing else on.

I noticed there is a way to tell who is going "foe." Oh yes, it's right in the contestant's eyes. They say. "I am trying to take all the money, ha ha!" rather easily. There are some contestants who do have good poker faces, but overall, these contestants should learn to better read their teammates' faces. Then the final decision wouldn't be so much of a shock.

It's rare when both members of a team vote "friend" though. Too many greedy people out there. I have seen it happen, but not that often at all.

The question-and-answer sessions were pretty interesting sometimes, and the final question-and-answer round was fun to watch. It was these question-and-answer sessions that really made the game anything interesting at all.

What ruined Friend or Foe was the Trust Box round. Both contestants in each Trust Box round can vote Friend or Foe. If both vote Friend, they split their pot equally. If both vote Foe, they both get nothing. But if one votes Friend and the other votes Foe, the Foe gets the entire pot and the friend gets nothing.

It happened a good 99% of the time, where both contestants in each Trust Box round would state syrupy cases on why they should both vote Friend, then stand there giving each other unbearably fake and cheesy smiles, and then Kennedy reveals their choice and they both voted Foe and go away with nothing. This was one game show where maybe 1% of the contestants actually won a single dime... even the winning two contestants because they both give ridiculously fake smiles and both vote Foe. Of the 1% where any Friend votes were given, it was 90% Friend - Foe and only 10% Friend - Friend. As Carmen-5 said, double Friend votes happened but they were so rare you could count them on one hand. Even Friend - Foe votes were uncommon as too many people were greedy.

This show had a short run because so precious few of its contestants ever took home any winnings whatsoever. The question-and-answer rounds made the game, but the Trust Box rounds broke it. Almost nobody wanted to share, and as a result, both got nothing... not even plane fare home. There was no element of luck here... it was all a matter of trust and greed. Trust was in short supply, greed was abundant. Friend or Foe was a reasonably good idea that was ruined by Aesop's fable of the dog with a steak that saw its reflection in the water. After too many dogs grabbed for the others' steak and ended up with no steak, all the other dogs got the message and walked away from the pond.