Friday, November 8, 2019

A Classic Reborn (again): Nashville Squares (2019)

Hollywood Squares has gone country. Unfortunately, Merrill Heatter may be turning over in his grave.

After MTV2 jettisoned Hip Hop Squares, which went through two hosts (Peter Rosenberg & DeRay Davis) in its run, step sister network CMT has picked up the baton with Nashville Squares, which bowed a week ago.

Actor-comedian Bob Saget, fresh from Fuller House, and looking like he'd spent too many nights at the buffet, is the host. However, the pace of the game has slowed almost to a crawl with gimmicks such as visual aids accompanying the questions, each of which, save for the Hidden (formerly Secret) Square, has dollar values attached. Members of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, who, at last check, still have a reality show on CMT, provide a bit of a distraction from the silliness.

This time around, contestants don't play. Instead, they have celebrities, such as country legend Tanya Tucker and her daughter, Presley, as representatives. Bad idea. I'd sooner be watching reruns of the classic Hollywood Squares on YouTube than sit through another installment of this farce.

Edit, 3/4/20: Had to remove the video due to a Viacom copyright claim. In its place is a screen-cap:


I grew up with the Hollywood Squares and its initial spin-off, the short-lived Storybook Squares. The three tiered grid of the new show doesn't measure up to the original. Not even close.

Rating: C--.

2 comments:

magicdog said...

Saget doesn't look grossly overweight - he is older after all and just filled out.

I do know from a person in the biz that he hated his time on Full House - or at least his image that show shaded him with. He was a rather blue comic on the circuit before he was hired for that show and he became the G-rated sitcom dad he'll forever be known for. It interfered with his old shtick ever since that show went off the air.

hobbyfan said...

I think around the time Full House launched, ABC was looking for something akin to what Cosby was doing on NBC at the time.

During the close of the show, Saget will sit down on a stool and strum a guitar. Who does he think he is? Vince Gill?