Before I witnessed the horde of game shows with insane top prizes, before I got tired of game shows with annoying hosts and rarely challenging questions (withexceptions), before Ben Stein threw away his reputation with Expelled, I loved Win Ben Stein's Money.
The humor was goofy without being too embarrassing, the classic/high-culture atmosphere was superb and something I've never seen on any other "ultra-modern" game show, and the personalities were brilliant. Ben Stein's and Jimmy Kimmel's picking at each other never got old, and the questions and categories were entertaining while also being difficult.
The show had a perfect escalation of pacing from the first round, to Ben's "a challenger appears" round, to the final one-on-one confrontation. The show was never high-stakes, and yet it was always exciting, a true joy to watch.
I miss this show.
Before I witnessed the horde of game shows with insane top prizes, before I got tired of game shows with annoying hosts and rarely challenging questions (with
exceptions
), before Ben Stein threw away his reputation with Expelled, I loved Win Ben Stein's Money.
The humor was goofy without being too embarrassing, the classic/high-culture atmosphere was superb and something I've never seen on any other "ultra-modern" game show, and the personalities were brilliant. Ben Stein's and Jimmy Kimmel's picking at each other never got old, and the questions and categories were entertaining while also being difficult.
The show had a perfect escalation of pacing from the first round, to Ben's "a challenger appears" round, to the final one-on-one confrontation. The show was never high-stakes, and yet it was always exciting, a true joy to watch.