“Orange Is the New Game Night” will be the last new episode for a while. I’m glad, because NBC rushing two shows back-to-back is the sign of a mediocre network with too many scheduling holes to fill.
That said, Hollywood Game Night is doing what it needs to do: not drag the Peacock down before the Olympics and the Spring cycle of The Voice. The ratings are steadily in the mid-1s in the 18-49 demographic. I’ve been enjoying Jane and her celebrity pals, even if I didn’t have time to see the Christmas special or last week’s doubleheader. On with the recap!
Our Teams
Craig Middleton, a “manny” or male nanny from Brooklyn, is the team captain with team members Kaley Cuoco, Taryn Manning, Donald Faison.
Stay at home mom, Kay Montgomery from Rancho Cucamonga, who also had a “biracial” Chevy Lumina. Her team consists of Penny Marshall, Chris Colfer, and Rosie O’Donnell.
Game 1 – Celebrity Fusion
Guess the mashup pics below. The answers are in the filenames. Ways of finding out include hovering your mouse cursor or clicking/tapping each pic.
Game 2 – Make-Up Artists
A poster of a “forgotten movie classic” is shown while Jane reads a description. Teams take turns holding four cards for each member. One card is the actual title and the others say “Make something up.” That team must use bluffing skill to fool the other team. The team with the right and wrong answers earns a point for stumping their opponents. Otherwise, their opponents earns a point for a correct guess.
Team Craig has the cards first and Team Kay guesses. The results after the list of answers if you click on the links below. The links go to the IMDb profile of the movies featured.
Team Kay sweeps the round, pulling ahead 6-2.
Game 3 – TV ID
Team Craig earns with guessing The Walking Dead, Two Broke Girls, Full House, Game of Thrones.
Team Kay answers back guessing MASH, resulting in Penny “bumping” down Donald. They also correctly guess The Sopranos and won a point for Team Craig missing Top Chef with Kaley’s imprecise clue of “Cooking.”
Also of note, Rosie gave the Clue of the Night giving “Tribbles” for Twilight Zone. Team Craig won a point for their opponent’s miss.
Game 4 – Four Letter Words
While wearing blackout glasses, each team has a 90-second turn guessing four letter words given a description and one letter per teammate. Teams form their answers swapping and holding letters. They can also talk to each other. After each word is formed, letters are swapped out.
Allowing everyone to talk makes the game less awkward. Overall, I find this game no more than mildly amusing.
Game 5 – I Love A Charade
Team Craig’s category is animated movies. Team Kay’s category is sports movies.
Kay’s team triumphs for the victory with Penny Marshall giving the best athletic performance by an aging star since Kirk Gibson in the 1988 World Series.
Bonus – Celebrity Name Game
Kay struggled with her guesses and could only get six celebrities, winning $6000. Chris wins $6000 for Make a Wish Foundation.
Final Box Score
G1 G2 G3 G4 G5 Tot Craig 2 0 10 8 35 55 Kay 2 4 6 8 40 60
Enjoy the awesome spectacle of curling! Or not.
Topper photo courtesy of NBC.
