Last night’s exciting (and rather depressing) episode of CBS’s Power of 10 marked the end of its summer series with its return date in the next few months.  It’s actually sad to see it go.  In a market crowded of shows for the dumb who  such as Deal or No Deal,  which I’ve just grown completely sick of, Power of 10 was a high sign of relief for me.  It’s nice to see that the market isn’t being over saturated with Deal clones.

Sure, Power of 10 is derivative of a few older game shows, but Michael Davies and the rest of Embassy Row took the correct basic ideas and made a show that’s more exciting than anything I’ve seen in a while.  The contestant coordinators did a fantastic job of finding contestants that are likable and exciting, but in a good way.  You won’t find people begging for ponies or flipping out for guest hosts every five minutes.  You’ll find regular, natural people showing their true colors when playing for $10,000,000 which was incredibly refreshing.

When thinking about it, this show is set up a lot like Who Wants to be a Millionaire?, which Davies is the executive producer of.  You have the natural contestant who is not over the top but exciting enough to care for.  The basic feel of the game play is there too.  Davies is a master of taking a small amount of game and making it a big, fun event.  I seriously don’t think Scott St. John and his Endemol lackies could have done half the job Embassy Row did.  My biggest fear when this show started was that it would be too easy to win.  The first episode really started to worry me, as I’m sure it worried production members as well.  Luckily we’ve seen it’s a lot harder to win more than $100,000 than it seems.

Power of 10 did a few unique things that no other show has done for me.   This show has the biggest play-along factor to come out since Millionaire.  A viewer’s game isn’t over when they know the answer.  On this show, you never know.  You’re always second guessing myself.  I don’t think I’ve shouted at the television more in my life than on this.  Also, I didn’t actually wish any contestant would lose.  On Deal or even 1 VS 100 there were a few contestants who I wished would leave with nothing.  I wanted everyone to leave with $10,000,000 on Power of 10.

All of the good does not come out with a few bad points.  My first one they corrected quickly.  Part way through the season, the audience started helping out in the elimination round which could easily hurt another contestant.  Luckily this was fixed a show or two later, so no problem here.  My second issue is with Drew’s dialog.  Don’t get me wrong, he’s an amazing host and probably the best one since Meredith Vieira.  However, if I have to hear him explain the elimination round as “X eliminates Y and Y has to eliminate X”, I’m going to throw a sandal at the TV.  Drew’s fantastic at improv.  How about either letting him come up with something or switching the lines every now and then.  The concept of an elimination round is nothing new and not worthy of that long explanation every single time.

The final complaint deserves a bit more time.  The $10,000,000 question rubs me the wrong way a bit.  We start out showing the percentage for all the answers, and then all of a sudden we don’t show you if you’re right?  Seems a bit of a swerve there out of no where.  Surely there has to be some way to do the final question better than “Guess which of the eleven percentages it is and you win.”  The rest of the game involves some skill while that last question is essentially pure luck.  Maybe just give the contestant one more 5% question.  Or at least let the audience vote again for that final question and throw up a bar graph.  Few will gamble the million for $10,000,000.  Let’s at least give someone a remote virtual shot at it.  Maybe give the contestant an extra percentage on the final question for each main game question they answered correctly?

All in all, these few complaints don’t even equal a quarter of the sheer enjoyment that was Power of 10.  Embassy Row’s been on a huge roll recently.  Pop Culture, Grand Slam, and this have all made me forget about Chain Reaction.  Sure, it’s not the smartest show on earth.  However, it is quite possibly the most exciting and the easiest to get people talking, which is essential for any show to exist.   Power of 10 is definitely a power player for CBS.

Now for you all.  What did you think of this series.  Also, if you could make a change or two without completely reformatting the game, what would you do?