Probably the event of many of our summers, GSN’s Grand Slam, has sadly come to a close. A champion has been crowned and his name is Ken Jennings. It was a very close game except for the third round, though. If you didn’t see the first round you need to look for it anywhere you can. I think I nearly vomited by the end I was so excited. A 0:00:14 second win was unreal. All of Embassy Row, the contestants, and GSN should be commended for this show. We haven’t seen a show this fast and smart in ages. It was a welcome change from shows like Set For Life.
I’m going to start with the few negatives I had so we can get it out of the way. First, I did not agree with the way players were seeded. I thought some sort of short minute quiz, off camera, would have been better. Second was the addition of the pop culture round for the championship game. I’m not calling foul and shenanigans because I wanted Ogi to win, but if you’re going to have a round in there, have it from the start. My final gripe was with Amy Kelly. If she reads this I am deeply sorry, but she had absolutely no place in this tournament. It’s obvious they wanted a GSN contestant for a cheap plug, but this bombed for them. She did not play that well on her game of Lingo and ended up getting lucky and getting a ball worth a lot of money. Is that worthy of a place in this tournament? There are two people I had in mind who would have been a lot better, two of which are easy to get a hold of. The first is Robert McKee of Lingo and Friend or Foe?. The man flew through ten Bonus Lingo words on his own and also won the incredibly tough online tournament game. He should have been an easy choice, and he’s easy t get a hold of. I know Embassy Row has his information somewhere. Second is Maria Lay, a $100,000 winner from Russian Roulette. I don’t know where you’d get a hold of her, though. Winning that show is tough in the first place, and answering all ten questions in roughly 51 seconds isn’t easy either. She apparently has the brain and speed.
However, enough gripes, because there weren’t that many. I think everyone deserves so much praise for this entire production. I’m relatively new to the entire game show world. I only started getting into them with Russian Roulette and Who Wants to be a Millionaire? so truthfully I did not know many of these people. However, they really got me interested and pulling for many of them. Phyllis Harris was my main example for that. It’s also amazing how this show has started a little community in many places. For one, we’ve had many many many contestants from Grand Slam communicate with many of our commenters, and I am thankful more than you can imagine. I still plan on making several Grand Slam posts, touching base with contestants as time goes on. There’s no reason to let this buzz die. In keeping the community together, Ed Toutant and runner-up Ogi Ogas have set up a website for fans at the Grand Slam Arena. There, on the site, are various stats, videos, pictures, and a message board to talk to fans of the show and contestants. Please be sure to keep checking it, as updates will be made as soon as available.
I think the main reason this show was so enjoyable was how fast, smart, and exciting it was. I was on the edge of my seat throughout many of those matches. I’m not that excited when I watch people randomly pick briefcases or boxes on Deal or No Deal. The play-along factor was amazing. There were several shout-at-the-television moments, moments of happiness, sorrow, and more. Plus the math round was a nice touch. We don’t usually see math oriented shows in America so that round was rather exciting I thought. I also just felt for the losing and winnings contestants the entire time. I felt sad when some of my favorites lost. I was cheering when my picks won. Again, I don’t get that from shiny light and big dollar total shows.
Though he was rough at first, Dennis Miller just got better and better. He ended up being great by the end. If he can stay in the non-horribly obscure area, he’s great. Amanda was also fantastic. And we all know Pat Kiernan was great as the Questioner. Next season, though, can we just call him Pat Kiernan? “The Questioner” got a bit goofy.
Now comes the big question: What are the chances this will be brought back? With so many new shows coming, I can’t see why not. I already touched upon two people who I felt would be great for the show. We’re bound to have at least one contestant from each Crosswords and Temptation that can make it. We have at least two contestants from 1 VS 100 who deserve a shot. Not to mention new champions coming from Jeopardy?, Family Feud, Duel, and many more. My main suggestion to GSN and Michael Davies is to hold either an online or regional qualifier to allow some civilians into the tournament. I think it would be quite interesting to see how a regular person who won a qualifying game would do against someone like Ken Jennings. This show was just all around entertaining. Yeah, there were a few issues (mainly with the Switches), but that hardly equaled a quarter of how fun, entertaining, and exciting the show was. I hope to see a 2008 Grand Slam tournament, and I’d love to hear your thoughts on the completed tournament.
Edit: I’ll have my final thoughts, some ideas for a new season, and, for lack of a better term, “good will messages”, on Monday. We won’t devote a separate article on the championship until then, as to not spoil people. If you’d like to be spoiled, feel free to go to the comments.
Tonight’s the big semifinal match. Whoever wins the two games tonight will move to the finals and be one step away from $100,000. We will see Ogi Ogas take on David Legler and Ken Jennings against Michelle Kitt. Interestingly we seem to have Ogi, Ken, and Michelle around here, so we might be able to get some fun commentary after the show. Keep checking in our comment boxes, as we have other contestants like Phyllis Harris around as well. Now for my crazy predictions.
The next match pains me: Ken Jennings versus Michelle Kitt. I have connections with both of them. I really like Michelle. Just from what I’ve heard from her in comments and emails, she’s incredible and I feel bad for ever doubting her abilities (I still don’t feel bad for doubting Amy Kelly, though). Then we have Ken Jennings. Back in the Blogger days of Buzzer, I interviewed him and he is also incredible, so I really don’t have any personal feelings swaying my decision. I think this match is going to be simply decided by Ken Jennings. If he stumbles at all, he’s going to lose. If he stays steady, he’ll win. Michelle has proven to be, for lack of a better word, a complete predator at the game. If you show any flaw, she will viciously attack you. She did it to Kevin Olmstead and she did it without mercy to John Carpenter. I just have to say Ken Jennings is going to win. He’s just too 
strong. If Michelle loses, she deserves such a huge applause from everyone for destroying so many top contestants after being considered an underdog. If she wins, I think I have to buy her flowers for saying she’s going to lose twice and proving me wrong.
Is it just me, or is it getting very difficult to call the Grand Slam games recently? It seems most of my calls have been on such petty items that it seems more like a guess than anything else. Anyway, on today’s Grand Slam on GSN at 7PM ET, we see Ken Jennings face off against Phyllis Harris and Michelle Kitt versus John Carpenter. Let’s take a look at Jennings/Harris.
We had major computer errors, but we’re back up and we’ll post what was supposed to be posted before this evening’s episode of Grand Slam on GSN.
Carpenter. Nothing against all the Tic Tac Dough fans, but that game’s material was for braindead people. It’s an issue I have with that Tic Tac Dough/The Joker’s Wild/Bullseye trio. I recently watched John Carpenter’s first win again on YouTube. His questions were a lot easier than was necessary, but he came back on the champions show and, with tougher material, won $250,000. He answered 28 out of the 30 questions correctly, going 25 out of 30 without using a lifeline. Plus he’s used to the Fastest Finger, so he may be more used to the extreme speed factor. What do you all think, and how do you think today’s show went?
I just feel like clearing this up: In the last post, I never said I didn’t like Grand Slam. I think it could get boring if there’s a very uneven match. But beyond that, this is GSN’s best show in a while.
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