Steve Harvey kicks off the four hour bloc with a repeat of his CELEBRITY FAMILY FEUD which is followed by a new episode of CELEBRITY FAMILY FEUD. No need to offer much here, the show anchors the night and Harvey's doing what he does well. (In syndication, Steve hosts the regular FAMILY FEUD and has since 2010.)
The ratings for both the hour rerun and the hour of the new episode are strong.
So strong, someone might need to worry.
Not Michael Strahan.
He's hosting $100,000 PYRAMID and doing a strong job.
He's not a Steve Harvey clone, he's got his own style and he lets the guests shine -- civilians and entertainers.
He instinctively knows when to come in on a moment and when to let it build.
He's a professional and his show is a hit.
Regularly, the show comes closest to Harvey's ratings -- usually just a half million less viewers.
It's a fun show, it moves quickly.
And ABC wins the night with its game show block programming.
But before you pop open the champagne, there's one more show in the block.
MATCH GAME.
Yes, it's part of the block programming.
And, yes, it gets ratings.
Just not really good ones.
It's usually two to two and a half million viewers less than the numbers for Harvey's new hour of CELEBRITY FAMILY FEUD.
What's the problem?
We like Alec Baldwin but we never would have hired him as a host.
He should be a guest, for sure. He and his four brothers should be on CELEBRITY FAMILY FEUD.
But why would you hire him as a host?
He's gone after ex-wife Kim Basinger with verbal remarks, he's gone after the child they had together with hostile and mean voice mails that are public knowledge, TMZ broadcast his homophobic slur for all the world to see (Alec is not homophobic, he is someone who when he wants to be mean uses terms he hopes are offensive), he's had encounters with flight attendents, he's had . . .
Can we stop now?
We can continue, but can we please stop?
The point is that he has public problems.
A long history of them.
Why would you risk a show by hiring someone with this pattern to host?
And then?
Political issues.
It's not that he has political opinions, it's that he denounces those whose political opinions differ. Loudly and repeatedly.
This is a man who couldn't even keep afloat a weekly talk show on MSNBC.
No, we never would have hired him to be the host of the program.
And we would have been right not to.
Each episode is all about Alec.
Each episode is him stepping over -- excuse, us, clomping, clomping over a moment that needs to breathe but he has to interject.
Here's a thought, if a woman from wherever in America is a guest player on the program and asks for a kiss, give her a kiss. We don't need to hear that you're married, nobody is asking you to have sex with her, just a quick kiss on the cheek for one of the few women in America who's still attracted to you.
The woman must be a chubby chaser.
Every time Alec turns side ways to march around the set, we're reminded of the animated opening to THE PARTRIDGE FAMILY, that's what Alec's body shape best resembles now.
And when your suits are tailored, get them to add a little more in the back when your ass is so far that it's hiking up the back of your suit jacket by at least an inch and a half.
The only thing more ridiculous may be the one button buttoned in the front which does nothing to slim him down.
No woman would be allowed to host the show and look like that.
Obviously.
Because no one woman's hosting a game show on ABC's game show block night.
Why is that?
It's 2016 and ABC got four hours of game shows and not one is hosted by a woman.
Maybe next summer, ABC can hire a woman to host whatever they replace Alec's MATCH GAME with?