by Chad Mosher

It's time to introduce a new feature of my weekly columns. Every once in a while, I'll sneak this in. This new 'segment', if you will, is called Five Reasons Why. I'll give five reasons why something is the way it is, in my opinion, and I'll back it up with detail and some anecdotes. You, the reader, as always should feel free to agree or disagree with what I have to say and I'd like to hear why in the comments section below. Let's kick it off this week with Five Reasons Why... Alex Trebek is the Best Game Show Host Today.

#1 - He's Always In Competent Control. It comes off so polished and well-done at home, but Jeopardy! can be a very quick, complicated game. Alex has to read up to sixty questions in twenty-two minutes, with accuracy in each one. A misread word can change the whole meaning of the clue and throw everyone off. Plus, you've got to remember who's in control at all times. Giving control to the wrong person throws off the whole balance of the game and you've got a row of angry contestants and an even longer row of angry producers. Also factor in that they tape five or six episodes a day so the stamina decreases throughout the day. Trebek is as crisp as the first day he hosted each and every day, and that makes for an enjoyable experience to play and to watch.

#2 - He's Stuffy But He's Funny. Beginning in the late 80s and early 90s when the show's popularity really took off, Alex's serious demeanor and his intellectual-looking glasses gave off the impression that he was this disciplinarian, take-no-prisoners, super serious game show host. But if you look at his past work with shows like High Rollers or a ridiculous pilot he hosted, Malcolm (named after his computerized animated sidekick), you know that he's got a sense of humor to him and more recently, he's been showing it off. His quips are usually quick and pretty funny, so it's good that he can mix that in with his strict moderating. He's also a good sport to be parodied, even being featured on Family Guy and making an appearance on one of Saturday Night Live's "Celebrity Jeopardy" sketches.

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I very nearly titled this post, "Minute to Win It: It Didn't Suck." Based on the screener I was sent as well as reviews from a variety of sources, I didn't expect to enjoy the two-hour kick-off on Sunday night. Fortunately, the shows we saw were better than the screener was.

We'll start off with the pros: Minute to Win It is fun. It really is. It's impossible to watch the contestants taking on these challenges without comparing their performances to how you think you could do on your own. I polled a few friends right after the premiere, and a few of them admitted that they were planning on setting up a couple of the challenges at home to see how they and their families would fare. That's a very positive thing for the show.

Guy Fieri is a decent host. He gets loud and excitable on occasion, but his excitement comes across as genuine most of the time. He does seem to want the contestants to do well. Fieri tends to talk a little too much, especially during the actual games, but that kind of thing is easy to fix, should Minute to Win It move on to a second season.

Now let's look at the cons. It's copied from The Cube, there's no way around that. They even chose a female British voice to explain the tasks, much as The Body does on The Cube. The producers of Minute to Win It could have gone in a different direction with this - they could have camped it up and made it cheesy (on purpose), or given it some other spin. For whatever reason though they went for drama, or as much drama as you can manufacture amongst flying tissues, quarters being dropped into submerged shot glasses, and dragging a few M&Ms into your mouth via string hanging off your ears. And yes, it also borrows heavily from Beat the Clock.

The timing of the commercial breaks is annoying, much like Fear Factor used to cut away just as a task was getting started. And the repetitive lead-ins got to be a little much after two hours.

Overall, Minute or Win It was watchable, and even enjoyable for the most part. I can see this show picking up where Deal or No Deal left off in terms of casting people who don't want to be on a quiz show to earn a little game show cash. It wasn't spectacular, but it didn't suck. Guy Fieri mentioned several times that viewers could go to the NBC website to learn how to be a contestant, which I found interesting since all shows for the first season have already been taped.

What did you think of the show? Will you continue to watch? Is this the type of game show that will appeal to the masses, and if so, do you think it has any staying power? Let's hear your comments!

Photo courtesy NBC

If you joined the Facebook group in support of Betty White hosting Saturday Night Live, pat yourself on the back. White and executive producer Lorne Michaels have both confirmed that the Queen of Game Shows will host a special Mother's Day edition of the show on May 8th, 2010. As we mentioned earlier, the episode will celebrate women in comendy, and feature some former SNL cast members. On the roster are Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Molly Shannon, Maya Rudolph, Ana Gasteyer and Rachel Dratch.

Since so many people were on board to see White as host, Michaels has backtracked on his earlier claim that she would co-host with other women, and clarified that Betty White will indeed be the sole host of the show. She's been invited to host several times in the past, but always turned it down. This time, however, it was a combination of the rabid fan support on Facebook and her recent surge in popularity that sealed the deal.

With Betty's keen sense of humor and comedic timing, this should be a great show. It'll be the first time in many years that I've intentionally tuned in to catch something other than the musical guest!

Image courtesy CBS

Mark Burnett may be down, but he's not out. After what happened with Our Little Genius, many wondered whether Burnett would ever have another successful game show. While that's still up in the air, at least we know that ABC is giving him a chance.

The Hollywood Reporter has a few details on Burnett's new show, called Trust Me, I'm a Game Show Host. It's based on the familiar game show concept of getting contestants to guess whether or not panelists are telling the truth, but instead of using panelists, the show will have a pair of dueling hosts. The contestants will have to decide which host is telling the truth in order to win cash.

A pilot has been ordered, and Burnett and company are currently casting for the game show hosts. Really, in order for this to work well, they're going to have to find people who have hosted game shows in the past - at least if the title is to be accurate. It would also help if they had very different personalities, or at least contrasting public personas. You know what could be fun? If they rotated hosts for each show, bringing back some familiar faces from game shows past and present.

What do you think of the concept itself? And, assuming the show goes ahead and makes it onto ABC's schedule, who would you like to see as the two hosts?

Photo courtesy Getty Images