Game Show Bafflement

I’m still a fan of the idea of the $250,000 Game Show Spectacular at the Las Vegas Hilton, an hour-plus afternoon program hosted by one of three TV legends, Chuck Woolery, Bob Eubanks or Jamie Farr, in which audience members get to hop on stage and win prizes for playing a variety of games, many of which were seen in some form on old-time TV shows. I’m just a little concerned about some of execution of it.

Is it really smart, for instance, to have a game in which three husbands must try to guess their wives’ weights? Yes, they do this. Then they weigh these women on stage -- the audience, thankfully, isn't able to see the actual tonnage -- and the host tells everyone which of the men came closest or is, per the game, the "most honest." Now, I have three sisters and a mother, none of whom would have ever let me see their scale results in private, much less on a Vegas stage!

The show I saw, the third woman was pretty hefty and the poor schlub she’s married to didn’t know what to say to ease her inevitable humiliation. How long until some modest woman runs off stage in tears? Why not, if they're so committed to this idea, switch it around and have the women guess their men's weights? I doubt the men would be nearly as embarrassed.

There’s also a version of the Newlywed Game in which husbands are sent away while wives are asked questions and then the husbands must answer the same way. In a reminder that this is a live show in Vegas in 2007 and not the quaint TV show of the last millennium, the first woman’s answer to “Where is the oddest place you and your husband has made whoopee?” was, uh, a sex club in New York City. And the guy came on stage and confirmed this! Woo hoo! The Hilton has outed swingers! Fun! Or something.

Finally, the press material claims they give away prizes to 50 audience members. It may have just been the show I saw, but they only had 40 on stage. The prizes were good ones, though, mostly money for the winners and tickets and gift certificates to Hilton shops and restaurants for the losers. Not a bad deal.

And one more thing: I wonder if, in this day and age, they might not invite same-sex couples up to play these games as well?