New game show is plodding, predictable and a little sexist
December 15, 2007
BY DOUG ELFMAN Television Critic
ABC's new "Duel," which also airs next week, smells like most prime-time game shows. Contestants trash-talk. Women cry. Or they brag about their awesome kids. Hot models ("chip girls") saunter in the background.
Women have come so very far, haven't they?
Like "Deal or No Deal" in 2005, the show's getting a weeklong holiday trial. If it does well in the ratings, it could get a season. For now, "Duel" runs from Monday (delayed by the Bears game that night until 1:35 a.m.) through Friday, with a conclusion on Sunday.
Two contestants face off in multiple-choice trivia questions. The loser is the first person who misses an answer or runs out of chips to bet with. The winner then picks another contestant to take on.
Next weekend, the top four money winners will go head-to-head for a sliding jackpot that probably will come close to $1 million.
Everybody gets a label, including two Chicago guys in the running: Paul Cales, "The Carpenter," and Robert Walker, "The Telemarketer." The all-business host, ESPN radio guy Mike Greenberg, says a high school dropout and a professor have the same odds of winning.
I suppose he's right. An easy question: "Which of these words is not included in the Pledge of Allegiance?"
A slightly harder one: "The number of hydrogen atoms in a molecule of water, plus the number of pints in a gallon, equals: 5, 10, 13 or 18?"
Poker-style posturing between rivals is a twist. But essentially you've seen this kind of show before. It looks all sparkly clean and bright like "Millionaire." But the thing that really kills it is it takes forever for each answer to be read.
My answer is "watch something else."
Doug Elfman
BY DOUG ELFMAN Television Critic
ABC's new "Duel," which also airs next week, smells like most prime-time game shows. Contestants trash-talk. Women cry. Or they brag about their awesome kids. Hot models ("chip girls") saunter in the background.
Women have come so very far, haven't they?
Like "Deal or No Deal" in 2005, the show's getting a weeklong holiday trial. If it does well in the ratings, it could get a season. For now, "Duel" runs from Monday (delayed by the Bears game that night until 1:35 a.m.) through Friday, with a conclusion on Sunday.
Two contestants face off in multiple-choice trivia questions. The loser is the first person who misses an answer or runs out of chips to bet with. The winner then picks another contestant to take on.
Next weekend, the top four money winners will go head-to-head for a sliding jackpot that probably will come close to $1 million.
Everybody gets a label, including two Chicago guys in the running: Paul Cales, "The Carpenter," and Robert Walker, "The Telemarketer." The all-business host, ESPN radio guy Mike Greenberg, says a high school dropout and a professor have the same odds of winning.
I suppose he's right. An easy question: "Which of these words is not included in the Pledge of Allegiance?"
A slightly harder one: "The number of hydrogen atoms in a molecule of water, plus the number of pints in a gallon, equals: 5, 10, 13 or 18?"
Poker-style posturing between rivals is a twist. But essentially you've seen this kind of show before. It looks all sparkly clean and bright like "Millionaire." But the thing that really kills it is it takes forever for each answer to be read.
My answer is "watch something else."
Doug Elfman
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