GetPapa Far from Perfect, Far from Terrible

SpunkySelfTwitter It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

Sameer Callahan It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Jenna Walter The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

S.R. Dipaling I was once,many many many many moons ago,a "Jeopardy!" enthusiast. I could name off practically all the Tournament of Champions winners,watched the shows religiously and even tried out for the show,twice,both for the College Tournaments. Alas,no success. But I think what turned me off on that show was the fact that,among other reasons,the producers were far TOO willing to muck the formula of this show,adding in hokey,pointless Celebrity shows,gussying up the prize budget to make it look like something more like "The Price is Right" or "Wheel of Fortune" and worse still,making the returning champion format become indefinite (DAng You,Ken Jennings!!!). In short,to me,that show had traded in the integrity of being a sharp,intelligent quiz show in favor of ratings.So around 1998,I found myself tuning in with much more enthusiasm to this Comedy Central offering. Going with the brash and bold premise of having the host,Ben Stein,put HIS money up for the prize,with he becoming one of the contestants after the first player is eliminated.Flanked by an irrepressible wiseacre(in seasons 1 thru 3,future talk show host and faux-misogynist Jimmy Kimmel,seasons 4 and 5 sexy little sprite Nancy Pimental,season 6,Jimmy's heavier,sardonic cousin SAl Iacanno),the show moved at a straight,quiz-to-question format and featured some seriously difficult questions,ranging in dollar amounts of $50(relatively easy;to me,QUITE easy) to $500(gnerally VERY tough),and the winner of the front-game had to have one more,ten question quiz format(reminiscent of quiz shows of yore like "21" or "The $64,000" Question,minus the scandal of course)head-to-head with Ben for all five grand. Between the humor incorporated into naming the categories(which only went one question deep;one favorite was "The Wedding was so awful,at the reception they served Pacelbel") to the afore-mentioned wise-ass of Jimmy,Nancy,Sal or even Ben himself,I found this show both challenging and delightful. Half-hours flew by and even though the contestants rarely won a whole lot of dash,you'd better believe they earned every dollar of it. I'm not sure why the network decided to not keep this show running,but I'm glad that GSN has it and hope they keep it for a long,long time. Worth a look-see,whether familiar with it(As I was) or unfamiliar. Feel free to play along,too!

BikeBill The other two, of course, are "Jeopardy" and " Who Wants to be a Millionaire".This is a game show for the Gen-X crowd. Despite that, it is entertaining and informative, even to a Baby Boomer like myself. Others have already outlined the format, so I won't rehash that aspect of the show. I will, however, point out that the host, Ben Stein, carries enough credentials and just plain smarts (check his IMDb bio!) into this program that anyone who bests him has definitely earned his bragging rights.As noted in other reviews, it is only seen over the Comedy Central cable channel, and because of this the envelope can be pushed a bit further than if it were broadcast over ABC or CBS. There are a fair amount of double entendres and other scatological humor, and you are apt to hear a couple of George Carlin's famous seven words, so you might want to give this one a pass if you are easily offended. But the questions are challenging, and the climactic "Best of Ten Test of Knowledge" is apt to run the gamut from 16th century monarchs to last week's newspaper headlines.If "potty humor" and bad puns don't offend you, and you are able to get Comedy Central, tune it in. It won't be long before you too will think that you "...might have a chance, albeit a small one, to WIN BEN STEIN'S MONEY!!"

jaws! this show is very good, and funny. it's not a roll on floor can't stop laughing show, but it's fun, silly, and funny. the questions are real hard up until the last 10 questions to win the big money. i usually get a lot of the last 10 questions right, but the questions before are real hard to me. all in all it's just a really fun show. on a scale of 1 to 10 i give win ben stein's money an 8.

genius-15 With the possible exception of The Millionaire, which has only been on a few times and is not a regular series. Unlike Trebek, Sajak, and all those other phonies who pretend they actually knew the answer that none of the contestants did, Ben Stein is the real deal. He plays along and admits that he doesn't always know the answers (though he knows most of em). And unlike the silly Jeopardy show, contestants dont have to phrase their answers in the form of a question (which is truly idiotic). Jimmy Kimmel (who also co hosts the immensely entertaining Man Show) is a funny guy and a good co-host too. My only objection is that the prize budget should be higher.