The Syfy Channel is intent on expanding its original content into new areas. Time for a game show! Zachary Levi hosts this trivia show with a set that looks like the interior of a bar. Two teams of three geeks each compete to win some mostly irrelevant prizes and insignificant money. The real object of this contest is to display one's geekdom and to dominate the other team. The action is punctuated by the host's exhortations to throw back a shot.
There's a speed round, a toss-up question, a game about finding the common element in four pictures, some geeky math, a bar game that has nothing to do with trivia, and a final challenge. You might ask what is considered geek-worthy? The answer is anything (even remotely) related to superheroes, videogames, and science fiction, in general. I was expecting at least one question relating to The Syfy Channel's own lineup, like "In Defiance, how many members of the Tarr family are there, including Christy?" But, at least in the first show, they avoided plugging their own products.
Ignoring the question about how socially (ir)responsible it might be to encourage alcoholic consumption in such a frivolous manner, we might ask if the bar conceit makes the game more enjoyable? And I think many viewers will think so. I much prefer it to a dry discussion of obscure factoids.
Update 7/27/15: I am upping my grade to 7 after watching the second show. A lot of what makes this show fun is selecting good players for the two teams and I think they are doing a good job with both the celebrities and the non-celebrity players.
