'Who’s Still Standing?,'
don't bet on it
NBC short-run quiz show has what it takes to engage viewers
By Tom Conroy
Dec 15, 2011
Quiz shows have to walk a fine line: If the questions are too hard, viewers get bored because they can’t play along. If the questions are too easy (for example, if an inordinate amount involve TV commercial slogans), viewers get bored because the contest seems silly.
The two most successful quiz shows on TV take different approaches to this problem. “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” mixes up the hard and easy questions until real money is at stake, when the questions are usually about something no one could possibly know or care about.
The clues on “Jeopardy!” are generally easier. The Final Jeopardy question, although usually difficult, is written so that once we hear the answer, it sounds like something we could have guessed.
NBC’s new series “Who’s Still Standing?” allows viewers to enjoy that same satisfying feeling of having a square peg fit into a square hole. The clues are presented like a crossword puzzle or a “Wheel of Fortune” clue, with one or two letters filled in. Even if viewers are unfamiliar with the topic, when the answer appears, they will think to themselves, “I should have known that.”
The show, which premieres next Monday, Dec. 9, at 8 p.m. and runs through next Thursday, as well as on subsequent Mondays through January, features a gimmick that has little to do with the outcome. When one of the ten challengers who compete with the main contestant is eliminated, he or she falls through a trap door.
In the premiere, the main contestant is Jared Young, a volleyball coach from Conway, Ark., who faces a diverse group of challengers, whom he faces one after the other.
He and each challenger take turns answering questions that gradually rise in difficulty. The first question they face is which fast-food chain has a secret blend of 11 herbs and spices. The clue shows a K followed by two blank spaces. Fortunately, most of the questions are a little more interesting than that.
The main contestant wins a certain amount every time he eliminates a challenger. After five challengers are gone, he has the option of either taking his accumulated winnings home or continuing, with the possibility of winning $1 million if he eliminates all ten.
The ten-against-one format encourages the kind of trash-talking and posturing that dominates most reality-competition shows. Like those shows, “Who’s Still Standing?” proves that such behavior is best left to professionals. Jared’s dialogue with a belligerent contestant from Detroit is merely awkward.
The contestants also strain to appear to have personalities. One woman keeps pumping her hands to get the audience to applaud; to their discredit, they comply.
A young man with glasses and a bowtie boasts about having two master’s degrees. Guess how long he lasts.
A perfunctory holiday-themed introduction and interstitial questions were clearly added postproduction; they don’t add much.
Although the host, Ben Bailey, seems to enjoy catching the eliminees off guard with the trap door, he is generally less sarcastic and flippant than he is as host and driver on Discovery’s “Cash Cab,” the job that has won him two Emmys.
“Cash Cab,” however, is a truly novel turn on the game-show format. “Who’s Still Standing?” is just another tweak. Though it’s fairly entertaining, it probably won’t be standing come February.
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