Greetings to all. Brian Sapinski, Sonic Whammy, reporting on behalf of myself, Robert Brown, and fellow game show enthusiast Chuck Donegan.

We were all in attendance at the Manhattan Ensemble Theater today to see the pilot presentation of the new Comedy Central game show KEN JENNINGS VS. THE REST OF THE WORLD. As one of the people who auditioned last month, I was invited by the production staff to attend this pilot, and I wanted to share our day with you guys and see what you think of it all.

Today's pilot performance provided a very interesting show, and if any of you follow game shows in recent years, it has a mix of the elements of a couple earlier ones. I'll lay it all out and let you judge for yourselves.

SETUP:

Ken's desk is center stage, while the 5 players he faces are stage right, and they share a two-story desk (3 on top, 2 on bottom). Host's podium stage left with the world map/category board. In back of the set behind Ken is a monitor (overhead projector) sporting the show's logo and any visual questions. Overall, the whole thing looks, as creator Michael Davies called it, like the vision of a drunken college student who is obsessed with international geography and the United Nations. Personally, we all agreed that the set, along with the logo, screamed "Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego?" to us. Not that we minded.

THE HOST:

Joe Wagner is his name. LA comedian, it says here in the Playbill. Michael Davies said he chose him to host for the same reason he chose Jimmy Kimmel 10 years ago for Win Ben Stein's Money: He made Michael laugh 'til his cheeks hurt. And he was very funny. I wonder if perhaps they shouldn't have let him make a joke after every question, but he was still good.

KEN:

Just what you would expect of him. Came out at the beginning in a wacky Japanese getup to welcome us all. He read a set of cue cards in Japanese - and very convincingly accented, too - as a power-suited lady translated what he said periodically. Even during the show, threw a couple of jokes back at Joe which the crowd enjoyed. In short, he hasn't lost a step at all, although I was surprised at a couple of questions he didn't know.

FORMAT OF THE GAME:

This is, as I said, 5 players representing "the rest of the world" playing against Ken. The group has a common theme to them. Today, obviously, was "game show enthusiasts", but it can be anyone from (as the Playbill said) "Guys named Steve from Brooklyn" to "Ivy League college women in their third semester".

Round 1 starts with 6 categories, one for each of the 6 main continents. Each player in turn chooses one, and 3 1-point questions are played. Anytime a player buzzes in and gets it right, they get a point which is also added to the "World Bank" (more on that later). Ken also plays for points for his own bank. After all 6 categories are played, the two with the lowest scores are eliminated, but the "World Bank" does not decrease with their departure.

Round 2 is the same, expect there are 2 less categories for 2 less players. Questions are now worth 2 points. On the 4th category, Ken sits out, and 5 questions are asked instead of 3. The player with the highest score at the end of this round wins a prize, and earns the right to face Ken.

The final round now involves the "World Bank" and Ken's bank. Each of the banks are multiplied by $100. Ken's bank represents the amount he's playing for for a charity. The "World Bank" equals what the survivor is trying to win for EACH person in "the rest of the world". So if it's 20 points, that's $2000 for me, for you, for the 3rd guy, etc.

The player answers 13 questions (very odd #, I would've knocked that down one) in 60 seconds. Answers are displayed on the monitor, but not evaulated yet. After the minute, the other 4 contestants who were knocked out before get to confer and change one answer of the player's. (This makes sense since this person is playing for them, too.) Afterwards, those answers are covered as Ken comes back on stage and answers the same questions.

After Ken goes, answers are compared and scored simultaneously. High score wins the money in their bank. Interestingly enough, in case of a tie, EVERYONE wins!

Well, that's everything I have here. Let me know what you think of it. And if you want to know anything else from it, I'm here to tell.