You know what’s crazy? I’ll tell you what’s crazy™
The new Who Wants to be a Millionaire.
When the show first started it was a smash hit.
Lifelines and call a friend and educational Viagra all available for informational consumption.
Americans have always loved game shows that challenge your intelligence.
Why? That’s the $64,000 question.
This show was smart and more.
Who Wants To Be A Millionaire was a hit because of Mr. TV – Regis Philbin.
Regis Philbin is broadcasting. He is a pioneer, practically inventing the medium.
Regis Philbin is to TV what Thomas Edison is to Light.
He sat in that chair and the music blared and the laser lights swirled and he screamed out “WHO WANTS TO BE A MILIONAIRE!”
He was smooth and funny and engaging as he read contestants questions and asked who wants to phone a friend.
Now the show is coming back, but it should be called WHO WANTS TO FISH THROUGH TRASH CANS.
The show looks less like a million and more like $100 bucks.
The problem?
In my estimation it’s the new host.
His name is Terry Crews. I think he starred in an Old Spice Commercial. He is everything Philbin is not. He is Bald and Black and muscle-bound. He is best known for his jiggling man breasts which quiver like a ballerina’s ass.
“I’m living the dream,” he screams on morning TV.
His smile is a mile wide and effusive. He seems like a great guy.
He is white teeth and high amplitude excitement.
His biggest problem is he is following a legend.
He’s the guy replacing Babe Ruth.
He is perfect for endorsing products you wipe onto your underarms, but for a tv show where you have to read?
I watched with a sense of embarrassment the other morning.
He’s being interviewed by Robin Roberts on Good Morning America. He is wearing a pinstripe gray suit and pink shirt. He looks sharp, but he looks, just wrong.
“I was surprised how vested I became in the show,” he says with that million dollar smile.
“When someone loses I am crushed,” he says. “This is an emotional roller coaster; I am having the time of my life.”
But are we going to have the time of our lives with him as host?
He is in a word “tiring”
I didn’t give this much thought till this past Friday when he was promoting his show.
He is in the middle of Times Square and he is reading off the video wall that composes the side of the studio.
His reading if forced, strident. I am convinced he is as baffled by the final answer as the contestant. He needs a life line as a host.
He treats the game show like an old spice commercial and it stinks.
he is exuberant, but he seems academically challenged.
It would be like Alex Tribec wearing a Zoot Suit and big yellow hat asking me about Prussian Revolutions for $500.
“I never thought I could do this, but here I am doing it,” he stutters.
I wonder why he’s doing it. I wonder if he has compromising pictures of the producer.
How did he win over all the other talent in the world?
The Old Spice guy asking where Ukraine is on a map
“Turn around and do something that challenges you every day,” he says
I would say that he looks challenged.
It makes me think how good Regis was. He was smooth and could read.
This new guy is effervescent, but I look at him and I see a naked guy trying to put on underarm deodorant. I see a guy whose whole act is chest palpitations.
Good luck millionaire. You’re gonna need it.
Life’s Crazy.