Question

What if ABC had tried Million Dollar Mind Game in prime time instead of You Deserve It? It's a conundrum worthy of the well-dressed contestants on Mind Game itself.

Of course, the contestants couldn't have answered, because we can't run history over again. But that hasn't stopped some chatter on the web about how ABC chose the wrong game show to burn off in the schedule wilderness of Sunday afternoon. Especially now that You Deserve It looks to be tanking hard, with the second episode's 1.4 18-49 rating and only 4.4 million viewers. Both numbers are well down from the debut episode's already less than impressive totals.

Since it's pure speculation, I'll opine that Mind Game wouldn't have done any better and might have flopped worse. A painfully slow quizzer with painfully hard questions does not impress me as the ticket to Nielsen paradise. At best Mind Game might have collected a small cult following, which would have organized online petitions and letter-writing campaigns to save their unpopular favorite.

That would have been fun to watch but wouldn't have saved the show. You Deserve It's game is not sensational, but it's actually a lot better paced and more fun to play than Mind Game's numbingly tough puzzles. Too bad, but the producers stuffed way too many reality moments - hard luck stories and plentiful tears - into You Deserve It. If they had just stripped the show down to the gameplay, they might have lured decent ratings.

As it is, both shows seem destined for the famous six-and-out.