It takes a nation of millions to hold us back...

I've just finished watching NBC's new game show, 1 vs. 100, and I can give it a thumbs up. The premise is a bit more convoluted than Deal or No Deal. The contestant is actually competing against 100 other players (referred to as "The Mob"). In it, everybody is asked multiple choice trivia questions. The goal, obviously, is to get the questions right.

For each question that the 1 gets right, they earn money based on the number of mob members who get the answer wrong and the question that they are at (later questions earn the contestant more money per eliminated player). Should a player ever reach a point where every member of the mob has been elminated, the player will win $1,000,000. After each question, the player is given a Deal or No Deal like question - they can keep the money that they have earned to this point, or they can face the mob again. Should they get a question wrong, the remaining members of the mob divides up the money that the player earned to that point. (It should be noted that included in the premiere edition of the mob was Ken Jennings.)

The show moves quicker than Deal or No Deal, which is a definite benefit - one of the issues with Deal or No Deal is the sense that it is going nowhere fast. The peripheral stuff with Howie, the contestant, the contestant's quirky behaviours and the contestant's quirky friends and family overtakes the show itself to the point where you want to scream enough. This is a bit more concentrated on the game itself, which keeps things moving. Bob Saget does a good job hosting (and managed to get a shot in on Howie Mandel at the very beginning of the show).

The show does have two things working against it - the timeslot and the questions. The questions can be worked around (and to be fair, the game hasn't gotten to the really high levels of money to be earned). But the timeslot is rough - 8 pm on Friday isn't what is known as a "quality" timeslot. But if it takes off like Deal or No Deal, it will soon be on many times a week, saturizing the market.

All in all, I would recommend watching the show. It is a fun watch, which is more than we can really ask for from TV nowadays.