I watched an episode of the new MTV2 game show Hip Hop Squares and though I'm not into rap and hip hop music, it turned out to be an updated version of the classic comedy game Hollywood Squares that lived up to its name.
The basic tic-tac-toe format hasn't changed as two contestants still try to determine if a star has the correct answer to a question or a bluff. There's also a variation on The Secret Square called "The G-Square", which earns a contestant a bonus of $1000 if they get the square.
New York DJ Peter Rosenberg does a good job as host, in the role originated by the original "Master of the Hollywood Squares" Peter Marshall. It was also a good move to have Nick Cannon as the Center Square. He is also the show's producer and he bring humor and enthusiasm to the proceedings.
The one thing Hip Hop Squares has got right is the bonus round, where the winning contestant picks a row and tries to guess the one star who has the correct answer for $2500. On the last version, hosted by Tom Bergeron, it was a major flaw because there were three different bonus games throughout his version's six year run.
To me, Hip Hop Squares is a fresh take on a classic format created by Merrill Heatter and Bob Quigley in 1966 and it's one of the few non GSN game show that's a success. It gets the square.
