GEEKS WHO DRINK

Across the country, lots of bars and pubs hold trivia contests that aren't taken all that seriously (probably thanks to the alcohol) and have relatively small prizes.  The Syfy network has adapted these contests in their show Geeks Who Drink.

Hosted by Zachary Levi, Geeks Who Drink features two teams of three, each with one celebrity, competing for cash and prizes.  The show includes either-or questions (such as whether countries are real or fictional, open-ended questions, math questions based on geek knowledge, sorting pictures (such as matching actresses to their horror movie, or putting scenes from Back to the Future in chronological order), and the final challenge, where members of alternating teams have to name something in a category -- Stephen King novels, Disney theatricial movies, etc. -- with people who can't name it getting eliminated and the team with the last person or people winning.

And for the drinking side of it, the players, host, and studio audience (and  possibly home audience) can take a drink every time the scores are tied (which is always at the start of the game) and whenever there's a commercial break.

Much as I like a game show where I know most of the answers, Geeks Who Drink is disappointing.  Zachary Levi's hosting consists of him talking fast, being insulting, and flipping used index cards into the audience when he's done with them.  I don't know how the cash and prizes are divided, but since the games have cash prizes that go from $10 to $20 to $50 to $100, no team has won more than $1000 in a game, making it the cheapest game show this side of the ones that deliberately have no rewards for the winners.  And the in-show drinking game and frequent shots of the audience drinking don't make the show any more wild or rebellious.  I might tune in to Geeks Who Drink if there's nothing else on, but I won;t go out of my way to see it -- or to recommend it.

Overall grade: C-
Reviewed by James Lynch