Saturday, May 11, 2013

Online Game Show Reviews: "The Experts" Review


Set Design- 6
Gameplay- 9
Show Flow- 9
Potential Viewer Ratings- 9
Play-Along Factor- 10
Host- 7
Overall Rating- 8.3

Premise- Three contestants, or "experts", compete with each other by answering questions pertaining to their own speciality "expert" subject throughout the course of the show. In the first round, each contestant will be asked ten questions, with each question worth $1. In the second round, the contestants will have seven questions to choose from ranging in difficulty from $1 to $7 values, with the $1 question being the easiest. Each contestant may only answer two questions in this round and may decide whether to answer or pass a question to one of their opponents based on the dollar value they are given. Correct answers are worth the dollar value selected. In round three, each contestant will once again answer a maximum of two questions. After a question is asked to a contestant, their opponents will have to decide whether the contestant will get the question right or wrong. Correct answers and correct predictions are worth $5. In round four, each contestant will be given two sub-categories for their two final questions of the main game and will have the chance to bet a minimum of $1 up to all of their money for both question. Correct answers will add their wager to their total and incorrect answers will subtract the wager from their total. The contestant with the most cash at the end of the game will advance to the final round to answer "The Hardest Question in the World". In the final round, the remaining contestant will select one of five envelopes containing one of the following five percentage values: 5%, 20%, 50%, 80% and 95%. Afterward, a question will be asked in which multiple answers are required. If the contestant can successfully provide all the answers to question, the percentage calculated from their score will be added to their total winnings. Otherwise, the percentage will be subtracted from their total winnings. 

And now, for the review...

The Experts, YouTube's award-winning and first weekly game show, is a perfect example of producing a great game show without the obligation of giving away an insane amount of cash in order to draw in viewers. This show has excellent gameplay, a great, multi-dimensional format in which the contestants' knowledge, strategy and intuition are tested, amazing play-along factor, good show pace, and appropriately challenging questions for the "experts". This show is sort of a mesh between Mastermind, Two-Minute Drill's end game, the Final Jeopardy round and a little bit of the first round of Rodeo Drive. I like how the first round is setup like a warm-up round for the contestants to get their feet wet in the game before getting into the real competition. At the helm, Michael Shure is a good, solid host and he carries the show well at an excellent pace. He does an excellent job of reeling the contestants back into game in calm fashion whenever they get a little bit out of hand, unlike Ray Combs, who had to often remind his contestants that "[he was] in control". 


Overall, The Experts is a great game show, despite the low-budget cash prizes. This show has excellent variety within the gameplay, is fun to play along and can be suspenseful towards the end of the show, depending on the competition. This is the type of format I can see being sold to a U.K. television production company because of the casual gameplay seen on the show with the contestants being allowed to sip on a beverage from time to time while competing, without the losing focus on the game itself. The only changes I would make to show are to award the opponents' the question value every time they pass a  question to another contestant and they answer incorrectly in the second round and, perhaps, instilling a tournament of the show's highest money winners from the past seasons. Other than that, The Experts is a game show that deserves its 15 minutes of fame, and hopefully even more, in the television spotlight.

Watch new episodes of The Experts Mondays on The Experts Game Show YouTube Channel!!!
**All screenshots have been taken from the actual episodes of The Experts. No ownership is implied.**

No comments:

Post a Comment