PILOT REVIEW: You Deserve It

YOU DESERVE IT

Hosted by Chris Harrison and Brooke Burns
Created by Dick de Rijk

THE GOOD: It's an admirable concept - contestants not playing for themselves but playing for someone they love who desperately needs the money. At this giving time of year, it's always nice to see people genuinely surprised by the kindness of others. The questions were challenging enough to play along at home with some clever wording in the clues that might be just enough to throw a contestant (or us) off course. Also, they didn't tease with commercials like so many other game shows in this family do.

THE BAD: It just was all kind of boring. The rules seemed unnecessarily complicated as it had a hint of Deal or No Deal to it. The show had a nice opening piece explaining the plight of the person who the contestant was playing for but then Chris Harrison followed it up with a stupid question - "can you put into words what she means to you?" Um hello, she just said it in the video piece that preceded the question. Also, the first question was obvious long before the contestant got it, at least to me.

BOTTOM LINE: This shouldn't be an instant disaster like last year's Skating with the Stars filler for ABC, but there's just not much there. It should be fine as a holiday filler but it is just that, filler. It is just your average game show with an admirable, but ultimately inconsequential (in terms of game play), twist.