Saturday, March 20, 2010
Blog DVD Review: Game Show Moments Gone Bananas (Plus A Look At The Price is Right, Match Game, All-Star Family Feud DVD Sets)
Game Show Moments Gone Bananas (Mill Creek Entertainment, $9.98) presents nearly four hours of the funniest moments from the FremantleMedia library of game shows from around the world. The series, hosted by Ben Stein, aired on VH-1 in summer 2005 and features some of the funniest bloopers, worst answers, and some things that weren't even intended to be funny (but were) from classic game shows such as Family Feud, Match Game, Beat the Clock, The Price is Right, Password, Press Your Luck, Tattletales, What's My Line?, and more. This DVD from Mill Creek Entertainment presents all five episodes on a single disc. There are many hilarious moments featured on the DVD, mostly from American game shows, but also some foreign game shows--even including the Mexican and Australian versions of The Price is Right! The highlights from each episode, as well as runtimes (all are unedited as they were on VH-1), are as follows:
• Episode One (43:22)
o Richard Dawson receiving a pat on the behind from a contestant on Family Feud.
o A contestant being called to "come on down" while being in the restroom on The Price is Right
o Richard Moll being forced to guess a Super Password answer with hints "hairy" and "palm."
o A family who gives answers of "alligator" and "frog" to the category "animals with three letters in their name" on Family Feud.
o Marsha Warfield giving an answer of "boobs" on a "bobbing for BLANK" clue on Match Game.
• Episode Two (43:06)
o An entire family giving Richard Dawson very passionate kisses on Family Feud.
o A kid who claims to has three older and more mature girlfriends on Child's Play.
o Two families that have an incredibly difficult time understanding a category on Family Feud.
o A woman not understanding how to play skeeball on The Price is Right.
o A woman who doesn't quite seem to understand what an appliance is on Family Feud.
• Episode Three (43:06)
o A contestant giving a very sexually explicit clue to describe a honeymoon on Showoffs.
o A Playboy model who accidentally hits the buzzer on Family Feud with something other than her hands.
o A woman who "comes on down" on The Price is Right and publicly mentions that her bra has broken.
o Rip Taylor flipping his wig--very literally--on Super Password.
o A woman who answers "hole punch" when asked to name something with a hole in the middle on Family Feud.
• Episode Four (43:01)
o A family who gives random names as answers to "characters in a James Bond" movie.
o Phyllis Diller giving a clue of "masticates" on Super Password and being deeply misunderstood.
o A woman cheating on Shell Game on The Price is Right by picking up a shell.
o Betty White being forced to restrain herself given a certain clue on Super Password.
o A series of sexually suggestive clues from Alex Trebek's Double Dare.
• Episode Five (43:02)
o A home bar being featured on The Price is Right that doesn't work as advertised.
o Special appearance by Vanna White (before she was famous) on The Price is Right.
o A woman who beats the odds with some incredibly bad skils (but good random guesses) on Clock Game on The Price is Right.
o Norman Fell not being able to understand what a sperm bank is on Tattletales.
o A series of really bad answers from one family on Family Feud.
Many of the clips are good, but my only complaint is that there were way too many clips from the British game show Distraction, which weren't really particularly funny at all. There is also a large number of clips from Family Feud. Aside from that, though, most of the other clips are pretty enjoyable to watch.
Each episode also has a special countdown of certain top five moments, presented by celebrities relevant to the topic on the episode. This "countdown" appears right where each of the commercial breaks would have appeared when the episodes aired on VH-1. They are as follows:
1. Top Five Host Screw Ups, presented by Chuck Woolery
2. Top Five Blond Moments, presented by Kato Kaelin
3. Top Five Wardrobe Malfunctions, presented by Jay Manuel
4. Top Five Celebrity Moments, presented by Ed McMahon
5. Top Five Brain Freeze Moments, presented by Cindy Margolis
The DVD has some very bizarre (and honestly bad) packaging, containing just one disc inside a black paper sleeve inside a double thick keepcase. It seems like it would have been easier to just place the DVD in a standard DVD case, but they did not. The cover art has a yellow and purple color scheme with logos of many of the series featured on the DVD, and the back includes a brief description of the set, as well as logos from some of the other series featured on the DVD.
The main menu on each disc has a purple and yellow color scheme, with the theme music from the episodes playing in the background and several TVs with some of the game show moments floating around. The options on the main menu include Select Show and Play. Select Show just brings up five more TVs, with each one numbered 1 to 5. Once you select an episode, it plays right away. Chapters are placed throughout each episode.
The video quality on the DVD leaves quite a bit to be desired, which is surprising for a show as new as this one. Of course, many of the clips are from older game shows, but even the newly taped parts featuring Ben Stein looks kind of rough, with poor lighting and picture quality that is far from being described as crisp. The audio is fine for the most part, although it isn't going to really impress anybody. The episodes are neither subtitled nor closed-captioned.
The DVD has no special features, but in a way, that is what we would kind of expect from a series that is itself almost like a special feature. Still, maybe some additional game show moments would have been nice. The ones included in the episodes are far from an all-inclusive list of funny game show moments.
All in all, this is a fun DVD to watch if you can find it at a decent price, and I've already seen it in some stores for only $5. It is more than worth it for that price. Sure, you can see many of these clips as YouTube videos, but they are much nicer to watch on the TV screen. This DVD is worth it for any game show fan out there, and despite some bad filler material on many of the episodes, there are many great moments within the episodes.
-- Reviewed by skees53
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Related links:
SitcomsOnline.com Full DVD Reviews Page
Game Show Moments Gone Bananas TV.com Page
But don't leave yet! We have more game show DVD updates from Mill Creek Entertainment to share! Game Show Moments Gone Bananas is actually a rerelease of a DVD that was previously released by the former company BCI, which is no longer in business. Mill Creek has also rereleased several other game shows, which include The Price is Right, Match Game, All-Star Family Feud, and Password. These sets are all the same as the previous versions that we have reviewed, although they are now presented in standard double-thick keepcases and at a lower price. Click on the titles to buy them from Amazon!
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Friday, June 2
- Will Ferrell (The Office/The Oblongs) - Watch Will on a repeat of Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
- Francia Raisa (How I Met Your Father/grown-ish) - Francia appears on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
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- Alex Borstein (Family Guy/Bordertown/Getting On and Tony Shalhoub (We Are Men/Stark Raving Mad/Wings) - Alex and Tony are guests on The Kelly Clarkson Show, so check your local listings.
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- Jodie Sweetin (Fuller House/Hollywood Darlings/Full House) - NBC's Today catches up with Jodie in the 9am hour. She talks about Hallmark Channel's The Jane Mysteries: Lost Inheritance on a repeat of Access Daily with Mario & Kit, so check your local listings.
- Dulé Hill (The Wonder Years) and Jazmyn Simon (Ballers) - Dulé and Jazmyn discuss their children's book Repeat After Me: Big Things to Say Every Day on a repeat of Access Daily with Mario & Kit, so check your local listings.
- Michael Urie (Shrinking/Younger/Partners) - Michael sits down to talk about his new projects, including Apple TV+’s comedy series, Shrinking, on Sherri, so check your local listings.
- Sara Bareilles (Girls5eva) - NBC's Today catches up with Sara in the 9am hour.
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01/03 - Andy Richter Controls the Universe - The Complete Series (2023 Release)
01/27 - Master of None - Season Three / The Complete Series
02/21 - The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet - The Complete Season Nine / The Complete Season Ten
02/28 - Growing Pains - The Complete Series
03/28 - Rick and Morty - Season 8 (Blu-ray) (DVD)
04/04 - South Park - The Complete Twenty-Fifth Season (Blu-ray) (DVD)
04/18 - Blondie - The Complete 1957 Television Series (Blu-ray)
04/25 - Cheers - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
05/23 - The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet - The Complete Season Eleven / The Complete Season Twelve
05/23 - Go On - The Complete Series
05/23 - Kate & Allie - The Complete Series (Universal)
05/29 - Gimme a Break! - The Complete Series (VEI)
05/29 - Kate & Allie - The Complete Series (VEI)
05/30 - Looney Tunes Collector's Choice - Volume 1 (Blu-ray)
06/13 - Mayberry R.F.D. - The Complete Series
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