It’s player vs. ‘mob’ in Bob Saget’s new show
Published 9:00 pm Wednesday, October 11, 2006
If you only know Bob Saget from “Full House” and “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” then you don’t know Bob Saget.
The Sag-Man is back on network television. Well, he’s “back” in the sense that you can see his face. He’s the narrator on CBS’s sophomore sitcom “How I Met Your Mother” as the future version of the main character, Ted Moseby.
Saget is the host of NBC’s new million-dollar quiz show, “1 vs. 100,” in which a single contestant tries to outlast every member of “the mob” of 100 people by correctly answering a series of trivia questions.
It premieres at 9 p.m. Friday on KING-TV, Channel 5.
Members of the mob are eliminated when they answer a question incorrectly, and the player racks up money for every member he or she takes out. If the player knocks out every member of the mob, he or she wins $1 million.
But if he or she gets an answer wrong, the accumulated money is split up among the remaining members of the mob.
After each correct answer, the player can choose “the money or the mob,” meaning he or she can take the money and run, or go on to the next question and risk getting it wrong.
The format makes the show more engaging than NBC’s popular “Deal or No Deal,” which only requires that contestants know how to count to 26.
What’s interesting here is the career move by Saget, who has worked to reinvent himself after years of being dear old dad to the Olsen twins on “Full House” and the guy who said goofy things on “America’s Funniest Home Videos.”
Saget has had some truly classic cameo appearances in recent years, starting with a bit in Dave Chappelle’s 1998 movie “Half Baked,” where Saget played a cocaine addict and explained “marijuana is not a drug” based on, and I’m paraphrasing here, what sexual favors he’d done for cocaine that no one has done for marijuana.
He also had a bit part in Showtime’s “Huff,” where he again played a cocaine addict, but this time it was one who had a penchant for midget prostitutes.
He also made a particularly memorable appearance in the documentary “The Aristocrats” about the dirtiest joke every told, and he played himself in HBO’s “Entourage” last year as the neighbor of star Vincent Chase who introduces himself to the guys and they have basically no idea who he is.
Saget keenly straddles the line between his edgier stand-up comedy, which relies on interaction with members of the audience; those movie and cable show appearances; and network television work. This show gives him a chance to blend them to the extent that network TV allows.
“I know that I’m being myself this time around, because I’m older and a different person, or artist,” Saget said. “It’s not my standup, but it does employ what I love about it.”
“But, here I am this cynical comedian standing next to a lady who works really hard and is excited to be on national TV. You can’t exactly short-sheet her dress.”
What works here is Saget’s ability to keep it light and fun, although the catch phrase “the money or the mob” could get old after a while.
“Over the years, I was always intrigued by doing something like Groucho (Marx) did with ‘You Bet Your Life,’” Saget said. “I love my standup because I’ll meet people and they’ll say things that you can’t, because they just say things.
“I want to make the show have its intense moments and its drama, but making it a comedy show – that was attractive to me.”
Victor Balta’s column runs Mondays and Thursdays on the A&E page. Reach him at 425-339-3455 or vbalta@heraldnet.com.
For more TV and pop culture scoop, check out Victor’s blog at heraldnet.com/blogpopculture.
On TV
“1 vs. 100,” 9 p.m. Friday, KING-TV, Channel 5
