The shtick with the old "Hollywood Squares"-whose tic-tac-toe format was being adapted to various venues (VH1, CMT, MTV2) right up through 2023-was skirting the proprieties of network television with outrageous double-entendres and innuendo. The best of these came courtesy of the campy Lynde (who died in 1982). It becomes clear that the new Squares have a task on their hands trying to make the show as bawdy as they can while staying within the bounds of the network censors, even if those limits are a lot less rigid. In the second episode (only two were made available), Drew Carey, swinging for the seats, comes up with an answer that is mercifully bleeped, though it is obvious what he said and it even shocks his co-stars. (They include Tichina Arnold, Nicole Byer, Debi Mazar, Chelsea Peretti and Bobby Moynihan.) In the premiere, the comedians include Jeff Ross, Whitney Cummings, Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, and Tiffany Haddish, who seems ready to take her clothes off for a handsome body-builder contestant, though such eagerness is part of her comedic brand. "This is a family show," cautions host Nate Burleson, to which Ms. Barrymore responds, "a dysfunctional family show." The writers, like the censors, are mostly napping.The new version of "Squares" is neither offensive nor hilarious, but it can be entertaining. If it has anything larger to say, it is about changing standards, mores, comedy, and focus: What began as a game-between two ostensibly everyday people vying for cash and prizes-long ago shifted into a showcase for its stars and a kind of gymnastics competition among the writers to titillate (the audience) without actually giving offense (to the sponsors). The questions-some of which concern cannabis, vasectomies and sex-aren't tough. Who, for instance, is seated at the center of the table in Leonardo's "The Last Supper"? No, Ms. Barrymore, not JoJo Siwa. But that's the kind of answer that gets a lot of laughs, at least from the audience at Television City. There is also a considerable amount of product placement in the questions themselves, which is a bit of stealth advertising.<img src="https://cdn.magzter.com/1731070667/1736330199/articles/zZYK9WSoSetfl4gLj6sys/1377537317.jpg" alt="image">Other celebs filling the three-across-three-down scaffolding of "Hollywood Squares" include actors Julie Bowen and Thomas Lennon, comedians Ms. Pat and J.B. Smoove, and utility infielder Tyra Banks. The multi-talented Peter Marshall was the original host of "HS." (He died last year and gets a shout-out from Mr. Ross.) But Marshall was also part of a phenomenon among earlier TV audiences, especially kids, who would know the cast members only from the quiz shows themselves. Why would someone young recognize Kaye Ballard, Morey Amsterdam, Karen Valentine or Brett Somers? Or Wally Cox? Or Ruta Lee? Or even Lynde? (Though he did play the immortal Uncle Arthur on "Bewitched.") If a performer does the show, on a lark, it's probably harmless. But if it becomes a habit, "Hollywood Squares" opens the portal to the land of Famous for Being Famous, though that would certainly depend on a very old idea becoming an unlikely new hit.

A Game Show Thinks Inside the Box

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