It’s all fun and games
Thanks to supermarket tabloids, and their helpful exclamation points, we know that stars are just like us! They spill coffee on their shirts! They binge on hamburgers!
And as Hollywood Game Night proves, they can be just as pointlessly competitive too.
Hosted by Jane Lynch, the show is exactly what it sounds like — celebrities playing party games and giggling on oversized sofas. There’s nothing new about the formula, but there’s nothing like it on TV right now, which makes it perfect for low-effort summer viewing.
Last week’s premiere — with guests including Lisa Kudrow, Martin Short and Matthew Perry — was unexpectedly watchable. Lynch proved effervescent as always, and the stars brought their game faces.
The games were kind of cheesy, but fun: Lil’ Picassos has kids draw celebrity portraits and players identify the subject, Crunch Time asks players to identify pictures of salty snacks, and Timeline requires them to put pictures of one celebrity in chronological order.
Hollywood Game Night does have its flaws — there are too many previews, it runs a tad long and only in the final round did we realize the stars were playing for charity.
The $25,000 prize money for the best “regular civilian” player seems like an afterthought. Yet it’s fitting that such a breezy, carefree show hails from the guy who played Jack McFarland on Will & Grace.
“Sean Hayes, the creator of the series, has these notorious game nights that are so much fun, that a variety of people go to because he has a lot of interesting people in his life,” Lynch told The Huffington Post.
“And he said ‘Let’s put it on TV,’ and NBC said, ‘OK!’”
Hollywood Game Night is an amusing enough way to spend an hour, packing your summer with laughs and pseudo-friends. Or, you could just host a game night yourself. (CTV — 8 p.m., NBC — 11 p.m.)
Acclaimed BBC One crime drama Luther returns for its third season, with Luther tracking a copycat killer. (BBC Canada — 7 p.m.)
Harrowing, intense and often life-changing, Intervention wraps up the season — and series — with an episode in which a father blames himself for the state of his son, Eric, a junkie who hustles and steals to pay for his habit. (A&E — 7 p.m.)