User reviews

I actually like the game and the fact that they seem to gear it towards contestants who are the unsung heroes of the world. I'm not a huge fan of the immense amounts of drama that are added. It's almost more like a reality show at points. When the game ends and the two contestants have to stand there with tears in their eyes and profess their love for each other for 5 minutes before saying what needs to be said, I cringe a little. That whole portion of the show could be rewritten and be more concise so that it still gives has the same "wow" factor with less pain for the at home audience.

At the time I wrote this, there were 6 other reviews and I read them all. My favorite was by "atlasmb". I must admit, the concept for this game is intriguing -- you get money in your "game bank", you answer crappy trivia questions to hope to get more in your bank, but if you miss the answer, you have an equal chance of losing money in your bank. Then at the end of the round you have to perform an act where you can only lose money. Each time the odds of gaining or losing money are 50/50. So it's basically a demented PLINKO ripoff. The Price is Right might have a lawsuit (snicker).

Now here's the part that bugs me -- there are several phases of the game where drama is intentionally built. I'm not talking extemporaneous drama (like people just saying what's on their minds), NO, I mean scripted drama, like on your basic crappy reality show. It's all too-well rehearsed, and no amount of editing can hide that. I gave this show a 5/10 because I don't even know if this show is "real". And we'll never know...everyone involved has (no doubt) signed legal documents that if they come forward they get their pants sued off.

So welcome to the new world of reality game shows, where actors replace contestants, and life just gets more disappointing. Nice try producers, just make more Hell's Kitchens...at least Gordon makes me laugh.

I enjoy watching this show--in fast forward with brief pauses to watch the trivia answers and then for the question and then to watch the ball(s) fall. I can watch an entire episode in about 15 minutes. There is their phrase that the contestants can win over $12 million, but I have yet to see anyone even get more than $2 million before losing some/most/all of it. There is soooooo much talking and so little actual game. I really don't like listening to someone's long, drawn-out thought process as to which answer to choose or which of 7 numbered places to put the ball in. This show would be better if there were more game, less talking, and actual real chances at contestants winning more than $1-2 million.

Holy moly, this is painful. Kind of reminds me of that weird game show hosted by Ryan Seacrest a couple of years ago where people were kept underground in NYC...and then they were brought up to compete, then taken back down...they actually lived in this bunker... Oh, Lord, that was weird.

This compares. When somebody watches a good trivia show, they truly do not care about the contestant...except to feel superior to them when they get stuff wrong. This is a show that involves a couple, and then they separate the couple, and the couple professes their undying love for each other, and every question involves one or both telling a very boring, long story about why they are answering this way....interspersed is "I love you!" "I love you, too!" and speeches about their kids, and their hardships...

and this is AN HOUR. With one set of contestants. And then there are green and red balls, and then a rip-off of Plinko, and then some weird twist at the end when one half of the pair has to either accept a contract or tear it up..

I am not making any of this up. I wish I was.

Fantastic show, but they could cut out a lot of the talking and building suspense stuff. Great concept for a show!

They must tell contestants to talk it up as much as possible. Too many long drawn out "speeches" and reasons for number choices. It makes for a tedious and shallow game.

It is great to see game shows make somewhat of a comeback. After putting up with over a decade of reality shows, it is nice to see something that is quick paced and fun, and the people on the show actually have morals.

The Wall is a game that does require some skill in answering questions because some of the questions are challenging to say the least. Chris Hardwick comes across as a nice guy who really wants the contestants to do well.

The game itself is kind of interesting because the dropping of the game balls turns it into a game of chance more than anything. That being said, it is fun to watch and there are several opportunities to make big money. My entire household enjoys this show.

"The Wall" is a game show where a married couple competes against The Wall for money. And The Wall is very impressive: 4 stories tall, a massive video display, complete with built-in cameras. The host, Chris Hardwick, says the show is designed to provide "good opportunities for good people". We might wonder how they defines "good people".

In the first four episodes, the contestants include s school teacher, two marines, a parole officer, a police officer and couple that gives free donuts to police and fire personnel. Obviously, giving service--especially in the government sector--is what makes one good. As far as I know, this is the first game show with a political/philosophical agenda.

The game-play involves dropping balls down the wall, like a giant pachinko machine, and seeing if they land in slots designated as large money amounts or smaller money amounts. You can count the number of slots and their values to determine the odds of getting big bucks or not. But some balls subtract money, making it even more a game of chance. Yes, there are (embarrassingly easy) multiple-choice trivia questions involved at some point, but they only serve to distract one from the randomness of the outcome.

The ideal contestant is someone who (besides working for the government) is not too smart, likes gambling (e.g. dice, the lottery, or slot machines), likes to be the center of attention, is overly dramatic, voices every thought, and is superstitious. Expect to see every game show cliché. Expect contestants to give inane reasons for choosing certain numbers. Expect them to talk to the balls, perhaps even kiss them. And you can definitely expect them to provide lengthy, sometimes irrelevant justifications for their trivia answers.

The first couple is from Akron. So is LeBron James, producer of the show. A coincidence? Or just a totally random outcome, like The Wall?

If you like games of skill, try "Jeopardy". If you like games of chance that last an hour, "The Wall" may be for you.

Some of the other reviewers on here are annoying. Not everything has to have some profound meaning or premise. When I'm in the mood to watch something like that, it's what I do. When I'm in the mood to watch something exciting, I watch this show. The worst part about this show is the weird, melodramatic, heartfelt speeches the contestants do. It's obvious that the producers ask everyone to do this. That sort of thing isn't exactly new to game shows. Everyone always has some interesting fact about themselves or their family and some heartfelt b.s. that adds some level of emotion for the viewer. I personally find that stuff annoying. But it absolutely makes sense why they do it. They could stand to take it down a few notches. If they did that, it would be even more of a solid show. If you like games of chance with a little bit of strategy and some trivia, you will like this game. It's exciting to watch. If you're a pretentious dolt who thinks every game show should be like Jeopardy or some other game that already exists, don't watch it.

The premise is simple, the gameplay is too. I won't fault it for that. My issues with this show are that 1) The participants are all the exact same: Really stupid living saints. Meaning, while being "great" people, they obviously have lower-than-average intelligence, making their easy trivia questions way harder than they should be (I believe gameshows pick "dumb" people on purpose, to lower the prize value given away, and to make the audience at home feel "smart" by comparison), 2) For a "feel good" game show, most of the episodes end with (what I'm assuming will be) a lifetime of trauma for the contestants, when the show often ends with an individual being told by a smiling loved one that they just threw away millions of dollars. How "uplifting". 3) Cliched! Cliches galore! I really hope the 1:1 conversations were written for the contestants, it's so cheesy!

Chris Hardwick does a serviceable, if unenviable, job hosting, as he tries to piece back together the shattered psyche of his contestants, but I think he's good at that due to his years of experience (at his other job) of trying to make the most of a terrible situation (TWD).

The worst aspect of this show is that, in the end, every episode is a repeat of the last, nothing ever changes, and you forget the contestants 5 seconds after they leave the screen, meaning this show gets very boring after watching 2-3 episodes.

Our family watches a lot of game shows. This one seems very scripted.

With the amount of hyper-produced schmaltz that spews out of the mouths of these contestants, this show would be more at home on Bravo. Life is tough for everyone. If I thought I deserved to be on a game show everytime things get rough, I'd be a millionaire. Your parental status and breeding "skills" do not make anyone more interesting and/or more deserving.

Do you need to have a sob story to be on the show? Do you need to yell at an inanimate object falling, trying to convince it to defy gravity? Should we believe the ball they push into the floor is the same one that pops out at the top? There's a fair amount of showmanship I'm not willing to ignore in this show.

This should be a half hour show. Just play. Less talk, and because they are stretching it out for an hour, the contestants end up rambling. I skip forward 30 seconds whenever they're talking. The worst parts are when the person heads to the back, and they have to talk for a minute about how much the love the other person. Then, after they come back, it's even worse. Agonizing over it and blah blah blah. I end up watching this hour show in about 20 minutes. If they have to keep it at an hour, add more questions. I don't need 30 seconds of why they chose the number 6.

The show is the epitome of how low American TV has sunk. It is a celebration of cruelty. The show is despicable and the procduxers, writers, and everyone involved should be shamed doe exploiting people and creating opportunities for life changing wealth that is snatched away for the sake of "entertainment." The general premise is designed to make it "funny" to make people have to poco between the known and unknown. Hopefully it will be canceled soon. The host seems to revel in the cruelty and demeaning nature of the show. I hope the host and producers never experience the same cruelty and emotional pain they inflict for the sake of profits and entertainment.

Seen three episodes so far and my verdict is a waste of an hour. Too much going on and some of the rules are stupid. You first start by guessing answers and watch essentially plinko the contestants run up to the wall each time like it will make a difference. Then one goes behind the wall and answers questions, miss a red ball drops and takes away a total, then the contract part. If you sign the contract you get the initial sum plus your answers, if you tear it up you take home the amount left on the wall. A heart wrenching one was a father daughter team, she was behind the wall, he got 1.6 million and she signed it so they only got 200k. I don't see this lasting long Chris Hardwick is a decent host.

I watch GSN religiously and all day. I love game shows. I have never watched this during its initial run, but I am glad that I didn't.

This really is one of the worst game shows I have ever seen. I mean, the game play itself is pretty simple and the game can be played in a lot less than an hours time. And honestly I am not very fond of the game play either.

But what annoys me about this show is the melodrama. So much of the show is the contestants telling each other how much they love each other, and crying about their hardships in life. And most of it doesn't even seem sincere to me. It seems really scripted because they contestants are bad actors.

It's just bad. I won't be watching this hour of GSN every night.

Just like most "game shows" released in the last decade or so, it goes way too much into extremes. I don't need to know someone's life story and why they were brought onto the show.

It also seems biased on who is brought onto the show in many ways. Why can't people all sign up and then be put into a drawing to be on the show? Oh I know why... because they need to create unnecessary drama, and try to make overly sensitive people cry because the people's lives are so difficult.

The crying and other stuff, makes it complete garbage.

Back in the good days of game shows, it was a brief interview, and the rest was actually playing the game... with relatively limited commercials.

Now it's about 10 minutes of actual game play and the rest are commercials or stupid interactions of the people...

How these companies continue to think they are creative and keep on doing the same garbage setups with a different game, is beyond me.

Actually in this case it's not in any way unique. It's a ripoff of the classic PIR Plinko, and trivia shows like Who Wants to be a Millionaire.

Go back to the good old day setup, and stop putting this trash on national TV... and fire the fools who create and produce this trash.