Eve of destruction

Yes, the title is too melodramatic but who can resist a Barry McGuire reference? As you might guess from the accompanying screenshot, I'm talking about tomorrow's debut of Improv-a-Ganza on GSN. Some game show bloggers have insisted they don't care about GSN running this non-game, non-competition, non-everything standup comedy show.

Apparently, Improv-a-Ganza is okay on GSN because, gee, Drew Carey does that little game show on CBS. Well, Liz Taylor once showed up on What's My Line. Maybe GSN can start running Cleopatra and National Velvet. They're game shows just as much as Improv-a-Ganza is.

I know I'm being a persnickety purist. But lots of whiners on the GSN boards and in the blogosphere scream bloody murder when GSN tries competition reality shows, or even poker. But they're giving this completely off-genre comedy show a pass. Just because it's a remake of Whose Line doesn't mean the show has any business running on a supposedly game show network. It's not a game. It's not within a zillion light-years of being a game.

GSN will probably get very nice numbers for the show. Then they'll do more comedy shows. Then they'll forget what those network initials once stood for. And then I hope everybody will be happy.

And that's my grumpiness for today. Tomorrow I'll post a review of the debut and I'll try to be as objective as I can.