Beat the Geeks returns tonight (1 Viewer)

[Jodee]

Okay, I think I was one of two people who watched this show, but Beat the Geeks is starting up again on Comedy Central tonight.

It has a new host and supposedly has been slightly re-vamped. Thankfully, they kept the better geeks: the TV geek, movie geek, and the long-haired music geek.

Just wanted to let anyone know, who may have stopped watching due to the slew of constant re-runs.

 

[Eric C D]

I bow to the buddah-nature in.... No, wait - wrong show.....

Geek! Geek! Geek!

I hope they keep "Geek-off" and "Geequalizer," but maybe go for cash prizes.

Eric

P.S. Thanks for the info

 

[Joel Mack]

Yay! Tiffany is still around!

 

[Jason Borchers]

So, what do you guys think so far about the new season?
I'm not happy with the changes they made. The new host, Blaine Capatch, is just terrible. His lines sound very forced and aren't funny at all. Even worse, they've added a very phony-sounding laugh track, which just serves to emphasize how lame his humor is. I will sorely miss J. Keith van Straaten.
It seems like they've also tried to make the show look more high tech, like "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" or "The Weakest Link." The first season had somewhat of a low budget charm, but that's been thrown out the window in favor of this overly polished and fast paced style.
I think "Beat the Geeks" just jumped the shark. :frowning:

 

[Jodee]

I think the new host is better than the last one. He is really sarcastic and I love a smart ass. That old host said "Sorry you just couldn't pull it out" way too many times for my tastes. Too bad he just couldn't pull it out, maybe he wouldn't have lost his hosting job (and his girlfriend wouldn't have gotten pregnant......RIMSHOT!).

The Star Wars geek was an improvement over the old Star Wars geek. She seemed like a housewife or somebody's mom, not a geek. I was pretty bored though when the chick kept picking him to challenge. I wanted to hear some other questions.

I like how they revamped the first round and have brought the Geeks into the game.

What is up with Tiffany's hair? She looks like a soccer mom or something. She was kind of sexy before, but now she looks about 10 years older and not as attractive. I know she has been on the show a year already, but she's not exactly one of Barker's beauties yet.

 

[Stephanie T.]

I think the new host has great potential, but he's got to learn to control his voice. The sound of his nervous voice cracking is as intolerable to me as the proverbial fingernails on a blackboard.

I also liked the Star Wars geek -- hope he sticks around for the week.

They could toughen up the general questions (for the contestants) a tad, though.

 

[Jason Boucher]

Hated it! I was a big J. Keith fan. What happened to him? Tiffany did look bad--very bad. They even moved the Geek positions around. Way too much change for me.

 

[Jason Harbaugh]

I'm mixed on the new version too. And why wasn't the Movie geek challenged at all last night. That must be a first. I like the new robes though. They are just funny to begin with.
The host started getting on my nerves. I liked J. Keith better, even though he looked like a stiff Matt Damon in the Talented Mr. Ripley. I think if the new host tones it down a bit then he could grow on me. Much better Starwars geek. I think the prize package was the worst yet. It seems like they spent money on everything else but that.
Oh yeah, last thing I didn't like was that there wasn't a single "Geek Geek Geek" chant.

 

[Jason Borchers]

Oh yeah, last thing I didn't like was that there wasn't a single "Geek Geek Geek" chant.

That's the thing -- the new format of the show doesn't seem to allow for that kind of thing. It's too fast-paced for little moments like that. Plus, real audience noise is gone, and in its place we have canned sitcom-style noise, complete with over-exaggerated "oohs" and "aahs."

 

[Jodee]

I don't know that new host is pretty funny.

He had us cracking up tonight when that girl won a signed Robbie Robertson guitar and he cracked something like "Here, strap this guitar on before you sell it on eBay."

It was so true it was funny.

 

[Jason Boucher]

The new host does have a very quick wit, but I still like J. Keith better. Warning, here goes some extreme overanalysis, but that is why we are here--

IMHO, J. Keith was way cool. He did have a Matt Damon persona. To me, he represented us, persons with bizarre trivial knowledge of pop culture that others might think geeky, but really, people we know are "cool." He and Tiffany were the antithesis of the anti-social Geeks themselves. J. Keith and Tiffany would have been popular kids in school. On the other hand, in my opinion, the new host is an actual geek/nerd. He would fit in better on the other side of the podium. Whereas J. Keith represented a sort of "I'm okay, you're okay" philosophy, the new "Nutty Professor" host says to me, "We are all a bunch of weirdos." Whereas J. Keith validated our commitment to our hobbies, the new host makes me feel uncomfortable, and will probably result in my diminished viewership. Whereas I previously identified myself with the host, I now would rather identify myself with the Geeks, who seem much more social in comparison to the host. Too much?

In any event, the new robes are neat!

 

[Jarrod_L]

J. Keith... o' how I will miss ye.

The new guy really sucks.

Maybe I'm not geeky enough, but the geek level questions are semi-ridiculous in difficulty now. Maybe more people want to see the contestants win, but I've always rooted for the geeks!

 

[Jason Harbaugh]

I think the biggest problem with the new host with me is that he reminds me of Pee Wee Herman hosting You Don't Know Jack.
Jason,
I'm ashamed to say that your overanalysis hit the nail on the head for me. J. Keith did put a sort of 'balance' to the show. At least you can still catch the reruns at noon, well at least here in Mountain time.
Is it just me or do gameshows go through hosts like crazy now? You have Win Ben Stein's Money, Weakest Link, Beat the Geeks, all switched recently.

 

[Jodee]

I actually did like J. Keith, but since I watched the show every day his repeated use of several phrases (including the aforementioned "Sorry you just couldn't pull it out") started to really bug me. I liked him a lot at first, but it seemed like he just had a script that he did by rote memory after awhile.

This new host actually seems to be improvising at times, which I appreciate.

 

[Matt Stone]

I hate the new host too...don't particularly know whay, he just rubs me the wrong way.

Nice improvement on the Star Wars Geek though...

 

[Calvin Watts III]

I like this show, so I'll have to check out the new stuff.
Thanks for the info!

Calvin

 

[Joel Mack]

Okay, I finally managed to catch one of the new BTG episodes. I like Blaine a lot. I LOVE Tiffany. Even with the new 'do.

I also like the new format for the first round (get a question right, go against a geek to double it or lose 5 points)...

 

[MickeS]

I had never watched it before, but I've been tuning in this week. Great show!

Where do they find the contestants though? They're not nearly geeky enough (did you see Jemal, the personal trainer? He looked like he applied for "Blind Date" or something and ended up in the wrong room).

I like that the geek questions sometimes are almost impossibly hard, that's why they're GEEKS, they should know that stuff. So far, the TV geek has been way underused by the contestants.

The Star Wars geek (temporary, only for this week, as I understood it) seemed a little insecure compared to the others, but he sure knew his area (I thought I was a decent SW geek, but I had no clue what the name of the band in the cantina was).

The host is great IMO, the perfect geek look (Harry Potter in college?) and seems to be comfortable and has a good presence.

Tiffany Bolton is just too adorable. I love the short hair on her, too, makes her seem proper and just geekalicious enough for this show.

Oh, and I wish the music geek would get a new haircut!

 

[MickeS]

Did anyone watch it last night? The bit with Coolio was pretty funny.

 

[Lee L]

That was funny.

The new host is growing on me a little though I wish he would not use the over exagerated TV voice to say "Thanks, Tiffany" at the same time every single night.

The prizes seem to be way more variable this year. One night I am thinking, what king of sick MSRP are they using to say the prize is worth 5 grand and the next I'm like, wow, that must be $8,000 worth of stuff.

I have noticed a couple of questions that had the wrong answers though. You would think that on a show called "Beat the Geeks," they would make sure the answers were right. This was a problem last year as well.