SKY

While the first season has aired in North America, Britain’s the first to get a taste of the second season of An Idiot Abroad. Karl Pilkington, brought to fame by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, is once again travelling the globe.  But this time, it’s to complete a bucket list.  Not his, mind you.  And the first episode finds Karl on a desert island…

Karl’s given a vacation to Vanuatu (once used as a setting for Survivor,) to spend some time on a desert island.  However, almost immediately after leaving for the trip, Ricky and Stephen are on the phone with Karl, giving him instructions on what deeply stressful situation (to Karl) he’s going to find himself in next.

Karl is a unique human being. Stupid in some ways, yet so incredibly insightful.  He’ll come up with a way to describe something that I would have never thought possible.  And not only is it absolutely hysterical, but it makes some kind of sense.  Karl-sense if you’d like. For example, while complaining about how many flights he has been on, Karl says, “I’m in the air more than pigeons.”  Karl’s annoyance (or ‘whingeing’ as the British Pilkington says) at the little things is fodder for Gervais.  It’s clear that Gervais is getting a kick out of having Karl being uncomfortable in his surroundings.

That’s not to say there hasn’t been any growth.  In fact, on the path to poking fun at Karl as he travels the world, Pilkington has become worldly.  How could he not?  He’s more comfortable dancing with tribes and spending time with those who don’t speak English.  But, he still has his trademark observations.  My favourite was after he found out the tribe he was with uses a language in which every word starts with the letter N.  He remarked, “You couldn’t play ‘I, Spy” out here. You’d be outside all day.”  Simple brilliance.

This season should provide just as much voyeuristic pleasure as the last, and you can’t find a funnier travel show anywhere.  The only thing that would make this show better would be to have Ricky Gervais tag along for the ride, providing live commentary.  Imagine, Gervais spending his days in the most luxurious hotels while Karl is stuck trekking to wherever he’s sent.  Perhaps, at the end of each day, they could have a discussion with Gervais’ trademark laugh.

One of the more fascinating parts of the show was the juxtaposition of Karl’s constant griping while passing over or by the most jaw-dropping landscapes.  Mountains and live volcanoes were right outside his window and Karl was focused on his lack of leg room.  As long as Karl stays within that mindset, this show has a long life.

Spoonfuls (Thoughts in Smaller Portions):

1. Arseboarding

Besides being the best titled downhill sport in history, it also was sledding down the outside of a volcano.  Sign me up.

2. Karl’s “Wilson” volleyball

Ricky Gervais, taking a page out of the famous movie Castaway, sent his version of the famed volleyball Wilson to Karl in the form of a soccer ball/football named Ricky.  That was stroke of genius.

Two things I learned tonight: 1) Rachel Ray isn’t the brightest mind around 2) Regis Philbin doesn’t know Neil Patrick Harris is gay I’m not old enough to remember the original game show Password, but I have seen an incarnation of Pyramid or $10,000 Pyramid and so I get the general idea of the game. Here’s the general idea: A celebrity is matched up with a regular person. Like charades or pictionary, they are given a word (aka password) to portray to their partner, but in this case, they can only give hints in 1 word doses. For example if the password was old, a good hint would be Regis. Is it worth watching? And why the Rachel Ray hate? Why does Doogie make everything better? All that and more after the click.

When I was a kid, I loved game shows. The Price Is Right and Family Feud were my favourites, but I was also known to catch the odd episode of American Gladiators and Just Like Mom (I had forgotten about this gem, but it’s a Canadian classic). The captivating nature of game shows are their simplicity. It’s easy to understand the rules, it’s fun to play, and it’s addictive. They’re the precursor to computer solitaire games like Minesweeper.

The problem with these new game shows is that they model everything after Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. Every show since then has the same ominous music, the spot lights, the pyramid prize structure and the modern set design. The hype overshadows the game and you can’t tell the difference between Deal or No Deal and American Gladiators.

The most annoying part of the new generation of game shows are the incessant use of delay tactics. What is usually a 30 minute show during the day, can be extended into a full hour–sometimes two hours if the show is new and popular.  And it’s not the number of commercials, but rather the amount of time between the actual game play.  It’s comparable to the 80 timeouts allowed during an NBA basketball game these days.  If you watch Moment of Truth, in an hour you probably get through 5-10 questions…in an hour.  That’s just ridiculous.

Despite my general ranting, I did find the first episode of Million Dollar Password entertaining and I attribute that mostly to Neil Patrick Harris.  I think adding him to your show guarantees a certain level of entertainment value.  While it might be fun to see Rachel Ray’s mind go blank every few seconds, that can only hold your attention for so long.

It was refreshing to have a celebrity who actually tried to compete even though there was nothing in it for him.  He genuinely wanted his partners to win as much money as possible and gave it his best effort.  It’s also really great to see an intelligent person on TV every now and then.  It just reiterates how brilliant the How I Met Your Mother team was for casting him as Barney Stinson. In my opinion, Neil Patrick Harris is probably the most under-appreciated comedic actor on TV today.

As for MDP, give it a shot if you’ve got nothing to do.  It’s fun to play along with and I’m sure they’ll continue to cast a few idiots who you can feel smarter than when you watch…hopefully some of those idiots won’t all be celebrities.

Oh and just in case I get called on the Rachel Ray thing…she seems nice, I just have a pet peeve when it comes to stupidity.

Spoonfuls (thoughts in smaller doses):

1. “Uh, Regis, I’m not into women.”
A couple times, you could see Neil Patrick Harris bite his tongue instead of correcting ancient host Regis.
2. Fiasco.  Ouch.
Although, you knew the 6th and final word was going to be difficult, I felt bad when I saw fiasco on the screen.  That’s a $225,000 word.