HSGN Reviews NBC's Password Revival

This week, Password returned to NBC 33 years after Super Password was the last show to air in the 12 PM ET time period and 13 years after the show's last incarnation Million Dollar Password.  

HSGN did watch the premiere episode and it did some good points and bad points.  

First, let's look at the good points.  The basic set design is back with the two teams on each end of a table and a podium for the host in the middle.  As for the game, it's back to the original version of Password with a few modifications.  

The scoring system has been slightly changed from the first two versions.  Instead of 10 points for guessing the password on the first clue, the top value is reduced to six.  The first team to score 16 points (25 in the original) won the game.  Two games won the match and a chance to play the bonus round.  We'll get to that in a moment.  If both teams are tied at one game, then the contestants pick up signaling devices and are given clues to another word, which resembles Password Plus and Super Password.  The first player to identify the word wins the match.  

Looking at the bonus round, the contestant stands at a podium and 10 words arranged alphabetically like Alphabetics in the later Password runs.  The contestant picks a celebrity, which is regular Jimmy Fallon or in the first episode Jon Hamm and they have 30 seconds to guess as many passwords in the time frame.  Then the second celebrity plays using the words that have yet to be played.  If all 10 words are guessed before time runs out, the contestant wins $25,000.  less than 10, and it's $1000 per word.  

Now for the bad points.  Keke Palmer had no business hosting a show like Password.  She's way too loud and the best way of putting it, her style of hosting is like original host Allen Ludden on steroids.  If you saw Leslie Jones hosting ABC's version of Supermarket Sweep, she was also a screamer.  Palmer fits that description well.  But does the audience have to be so loud.  It was the type of audience that would be attending a rock concert instead of a cerebral word game.  

To sum it all up, it was great to see Password on TV again, the way it should be played but it would be a better show if they got a host like Anderson Cooper or Al Roker who didn't scream all the time.  It's your call.  Give it a shot on Tuesday nights or watch the earlier incarnations on BUZZR and YouTube.