Hippity hoppity

Disclaimer: I'm not a fan of hip hop. I'm not even much of a fan of Hollywood Squares (too much scripting). And I never watch MTV2 or even MTV1.

With all that said, MTV2's answer to Paul Lynde, Hip Hop Squares, proved fairly acceptable to grumpy old me. They actually played the game, and the celebs didn't seem scripted. At least the answers didn't sound nearly clever enough to have been preplanned. Maybe hip hoppers just can't remember their lines.

Thing I liked most about the show was the announcer. She was hot. Host Peter Rosenberg was competent and cheerful, and the hip hoppers seemed glazed over, which is what hip hoppers are supposed to be...I think. The contestants on the first episode were cute and pleasant but not too clueful.

Truth to tell, I probably won't watch the show much, for all the reasons in this entry's first paragraph. But Hip Hop Squares could have been a lot worse. They could have trashed the format and not taken the game seriously at all. And MTV2 didn't do that.

UPDATE: The premiere got good numbers for MTV2. Hip Hop Squares was the network's highest rated debut ever in the target 12-34 demo with a 0.39 rating. Which is pretty good by MTV2 standards. In the latest published week, May 14-20, MTV2 averaged a 0.1 household rating and 135K/137K viewers prime time/total day.