Friday Night Games

Friday Night Games is nothing new in television land. It is a re-hash of the golden oldies Almost Anything Goes or It’s a Knockout and the silly games concept featured during the recent series of Big Brother. The hosts are Mike Goldman, Bree Amer and Ryan Fitzgerald. "Who?" you might ask. Exactly. They were the up-late host and contestants on Big Brother so if you missed that they then their names won't mean anything to you. As relative newbies in the television game it's obvious that they have a lot to learn in the art of slick television hosting but the kids love them. Mike is the master of ceremonies while Bree and Ryan get to babysit a team each.

As with nearly everything on Channel 10 these days, the show’s choice of contestants fuels our growing obsession with celebrity. Each of the two teams is made up of three celebrities and, wait for it, a 'normal' person thrown in for good measure. What a concept, 'normal' people on television. I use the term celebrity loosely. They are minor celebrities at best. Celebrities with a strong Channel 10 bias (surprise, surprise), celebrities whose stars have faded and celebrities who never even made it to celebrity status. Tonight we saw nobodies from stage entertainment challenge nobodies from screen entertainment.

The various hosts spend an extraordinary amount of time introducing the night's celebrities. Real A-list celebrities wouldn't need such drawn out introductions would they? We shouldn’t be cruel, like Almost Anything Goes, this show is for kids so all it needs to deliver is larger than life and easy to follow entertainment and that it does - colour and movement abound. Any attempt to look below the surface for the deep and meaningful will only lead to disappointment. The games are silly and elaborate and tonight they had a jungle safari theme. There was lots of falling in water, crashing into things, falling over, silly costumes, blow up toys, stuffed animals, screaming kids in the audience and, yes you guessed it, more falling in water. To top it all off, there were replays in case we missed any of the action.

Over the course of each 90 minute episode, only four games are played. There's very little actual action and way too much pointless padding which comes in the form of detailed explanations of each game, crosses to the referee, interviews and scoreboard checks. The teams win points for winning or drawing each of the games and at the end, the team with the most points get a lame trophy and get to donate $50,000 to their favourite charity. The points to be won for each of the games increases as the show goes on so we don't know which team will win until the end. Ooh the suspense. Winning and losing is, however, largely irrelevant. We don't really care which team wins or loses, all we want to see is minor celebrities falling in water, and then, once they've dried off, we want to see them fall in water again.

 

 john is kool

bob, May 31, 2006 10:50

 I'm just happy to listen to Bree's comments, I recon she is grouse.(very cool to people north of vic.)I would love to meet her.Could someone help...Cheers if so My rsvp profile name is "spillzy"

Ben Hillier, May 12, 2006 6:41

 mike's jokes are so lame!!

BB, April 24, 2006 2:48

 did anyone watch friday night games last night i did'nt see who won the grand final

monty, April 21, 2006 4:20

 pretty good! i actually won the major prize! : ) ... an lg tv and home theatre system! i should get it in a month ... WOOOOOHOOOOO!

Peta , April 20, 2006 9:51

 Did anyone watch today's Friday Night Games?It was kind of nutty!But the surfer, I think his name was Matt Banty was soo HOT! I can't find anything on him on the net...:(

Jess, April 14, 2006 8:03

 I was watching this show last friday, and felt my jaw drop when Fitzy announced they were going to be throwing water-bomb balloons... filled with 'poo'?? What age level is this show trying to appeal to, 12 year olds?? Good luck to the hosts when their time in the spotlight runs out, but this viewer has better things to do than watch contestants throw faeces at each other.

David, March 26, 2006 1:39

 r u a viros

sammie, March 25, 2006 10:43

 While I commend Bree and Fitzgerald for surviving their 15 mins of fame can someone wake up the producers of this ridiculous no brainer show. It really doesnt deserve a title. Unless is goes along the lines of " Come waste your Friday night with us"

jay, March 16, 2006 2:28

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