[BlogEntry] Don't Forget The Lyrics : How To Ruin A Game Show

Why, oh why, do the new prime time game shows insist on doing this? I call it the Deal Or No Deal Curse, since I saw it with that show first and now I don't watch that show anymore.

What am I talking about? When the trailer for the episode tells you what's going to happen. Tonight, for instance, it told us, before the show ever started, that the contestant's boyfriend was going to propose, and that she was going to go on to win the most money of any contestant on the history of the show.

WHY IN THE WORLD WOULD YOU TELL US THAT? So now every song lyric she sings, instead of being in suspense if she got it right, we're bored because we know she did, up until the end. Instead of giving us a reason to watch, you give us a reason to fast forward. This absolutely killed Deal or No Deal for me, which was reduced to just random number picking. At least with Lyrics you get to hear some music. Outrageous.

On top of that, the buildup did not even suit the ending. Every commercial break (which, by the way, seemed to come more frequently as we approached the end) was filled with the same sort of suspenseful "Wait until you see how this ends!" nonsense. How did it end? With a whimper, not a bang, as she walked away with $350k, not even seeing the million dollar question. Who cares? A contestant won $350k last week. I was hoping this one would at least get to see the million dollar question.

The show could be dead to me now. It seems like they're going to do that every episode. In the preview for next week it was "This waitress whose fiance is serving overseas is trying to save up enough money for a wedding….until Wayne Brady gets a special call from a distant land that motivates her to go all the way…" I mean, COME ON! WHY ARE YOU DOING THAT?