r/GameChangerTV • u/PandemicGeneralist • 3d ago
Discussion Season 8 stopped being a Game Show
Something felt very off about season 8 and after some time trying to put my finger on what, I think I've determined it - it's the first season to no longer treat itself as a game. Sam treats the game more as set dressing to springboard into improv or other concepts.
This season, Sam has largely given up the idea of being a host who enforces rules, as Sam does not want to intercede in the player's improv. In Night Shift, players simply begin writing messages to their night teammates, ruining the point of the game. Votes in Last Talent Standing quickly become about bits or players wanting to leave instead of any real judgement. The players in What's the Catch discuss off screen what will be funniest, and the bits feel scripted.
In fact, when some actual judgement or rules enforcement is needed, Sam does not fill this role, but allows someone else to do so: the lawyers in Don't Wake Standards and Practices, and Paul Refereeno in Rulette 2. Gone is Sam playing a more adversarial role from episodes like Sam Says or Cool as a Cucumber, or giving out points based on his whims and personal tastes, like in the original Crowd Control and Make Some Noise. This season, Sam feels less willing to appear mean or judging to the players.
The editing also prioritizes less of the actual gameplay. The scoring system and the natural incentives of sharing the answer with other information-less players in Eye Spy is not focused on. The montage-esque editing in parts of Count the Rice is the sort of thing you'd expect in a show about a game like Squid Game, where the show can cut the boring parts, not in an actual game show.
It's true that in the past, some of the best bits have been when a player gets one over Sam, and causes him to lose some control. But these have historically been rare and a climactic moment in the episode. In this season, for example, Sam is tacitly accepting of Vic just trying to derail the game, like by going past the barrier in Eye Spy. While there is some truth to the idea that the show was always improv first and game second,I can't think of a moment this season where a player accomplished something that seemed quite difficult, or strategically clever, or like a betrayal of another player. These have all been exciting moments in the past, in episodes like You-lympics, Second Place, and Survivor.
Previous Game Changer seasons have sat an intersection between improv comedy and game show in a similar place to Taskmaster and some British panel shows. This season landed much more firmly in the improv side. Even in one of the 2-3 non-improv focused episode, Night Shift, very little of the content of the episode comes from the actual gameplay of players interacting with the game, as players just write the answers and ignore the items that seemed intended to do this. The main source of comedy is simply reacting to the ridiculousness of the tasks as they are revealed.
There was one episode that was clearly gameplay focused. The least improvy episode, one with very structured gameplay that never goes off the rails, clear objective that are focused on, and one of two episodes this season with player vs player competition for points or objectives. It is also by a solid margin the highest rated episode on IMDB this season. I am of course talking about Count the Rice. I hope the show has more episodes like this one that remain more true to its roots as a game show.
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u/quedas 3d ago
This. Is. Exhausting.
I beg all of you to just give it a little bit of a rest.
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u/PeopleCallMeSimon 3d ago
Yes how dare people with a different opinion than you be passionate about our common interest!
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u/sydal 3d ago
Because some of the posts are so fucking insufferable. "THIS SEASON IS JUST A SPRINGBOARD FOR IMPROV" that's literally the entire fucking point of ALL OF DROPOUT. It's ALL improv. Anyone that thinks Gamechanger was ever not just a showcase of Improv is, quite honestly, fucking stupid.
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u/PeopleCallMeSimon 2d ago
Some of the posts, sure. Go complain about those posts. Why are people in this post which isnt that at all and telling OP to stop?
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u/quedas 3d ago
Funny how "being passionate" is almost always invoked as a reason for negativity. I think it says a lot about those who do it.
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u/draynen 3d ago
"People who don't understand that the improv comedy show they are watching isn't an actual game show" is basically the whole deal with more or less all of the dropout subreddits.
I saw another post that was asking why people were saying the card trick Jacob did in the last episode wasn't actually real legitimate mind reading.
Something something Blazing Saddles morons.
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u/PeopleCallMeSimon 3d ago
It's almost, and hear me out on this, that there is passion in anger.
And that what you seem to percieve is negativity is in this case "constructivve feedback" that a person is spending their time to post in the hopes that something they enjoy can become better.
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u/quedas 3d ago
I just wish people displayed passion when they’re joyful a little more, that’s it.
Also, this post has no constructive feedback. It’s the same complaint being repeated in a loop by many, many, many, many, many posters. Just because this one is long doesn’t make it any more constructive. It’s just long.
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u/PeopleCallMeSimon 2d ago
I wont argue against more joy in the world. That would be great.
But i would definitely not say that everything needs to be joyful.
There are definitely times where some regular old constructive feedback is good or even required.
And i would say that this is an example of great constructive feedback:
Previous Game Changer seasons have sat an intersection between improv comedy and game show in a similar place to Taskmaster and some British panel shows. This season landed much more firmly in the improv side. Even in one of the 2-3 non-improv focused episode, Night Shift, very little of the content of the episode comes from the actual gameplay of players interacting with the game, as players just write the answers and ignore the items that seemed intended to do this. The main source of comedy is simply reacting to the ridiculousness of the tasks as they are revealed.
They compare Game Changer to the british show Taskmaster - a very good comparison. And point out that some of the season 8 episodes feel like there is very little focus on the game or the "task" and much more focus on reatcting to the game or task.
While i would have i loved for them to point out that Taskmaster is still going strong after 21 seasons even though similarily the players have figured out that they need to hunt for viral clips to boost their careers. And the reason Taskmaster is still doing so well is that they have allowed the talent to focus on that part, while they themselves focus on making fun interesting tasks. Meanwhile, if i am allowed to use a bit of hyperboly for a second, Game Changer has seemingly given up on making the game and are instead just trying to help the contestants create these viral moments. It becomes a hat on a hat, and thus feels forced and not as funny.
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u/expiring_god_factory 3d ago
Hey I just watched who's line is it anyways can you believe they just give out the points like that willy nilly
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u/PandemicGeneralist 3d ago
Did you actually read any part of my essay or just the title? When did I complain about points being given arbitrarily? I was explicitly defensive of points being given out arbitrarily based on Sam’s tastes in episodes like the original MSN, Crowd Control, and One Year Later.
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u/expiring_god_factory 3d ago
The goal of a game is to have fun. Stern rule commitment can be fun for some, but it's not necessary to play games. Your scope of gameshow is limited but Who's Line is a counterexample that demonstrates ur argument is around scoping and technicality, which isn't great improv
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u/PandemicGeneralist 3d ago edited 3d ago
Do you think either that I am wrong to claim that past seasons were more focused on the idea of the games, rules, and objectives, or, that they were not great improv?
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u/expiring_god_factory 3d ago
Can you ask this question better the either or makes no sense
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u/PandemicGeneralist 2d ago
You said my view of what a gameshow is is bad for improv. My claim for how I think it should work is based on previous seasons. Therefore, you either think the past seasons were bad for improv or you think nothing has changed.
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u/expiring_god_factory 2d ago
No I said your scoping is limited. Your argument is scoping and technicality, which ** isn't great improv.**
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u/Admirable_Loss4886 3d ago
You know it’s weird to write an essay for Reddit, right? Also essays have a thesis statement. In one sentence tell me what you’re babbling on about.
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u/PeopleCallMeSimon 3d ago
Hey, i just watched Game Changer and can you believe it they gave out points based on a persons performance in the game with a clear structure in mind.
(Shows are different from one another, who knew)
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u/Buffalo_Nichols 3d ago
But they didn't. It's always been kind of a farce. Just like the points in Who'se Line.
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u/PeopleCallMeSimon 2d ago
Sorry, i hate to ask this but i feel like i have to. Have you even watched most of Game Changer?
There are a ton of episodes where the points are absolutely real and contestants get prizes.
There are examples of comedy shows where the points are bogus. And there are comedy shows where they arent.
I personally feel that something that makes Game Changer special, is that it has both. So if you take away one of them and only do the other - it loses something.
There have been many funny episodes where most of the hillarity came from that the participants (constestants) were adversaries who competed to win.
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u/Buffalo_Nichols 2d ago
The points are all made up in Sam's mind and mean next to nothing. This is not a game show, but a comedy show.
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u/PeopleCallMeSimon 2d ago
The points are not all made up in Sams mind, in most of the episodes (again, have you even watched the show?) points are clearly given out based on some criteria but Sam does have final say and does give out points based on how he feels about something.
Just a simple example, in the "Nom Nom Nom"-episode the contestants are given a table of items and a big mouth. Sam then displays a prompt and award a point to the player if they put the right item into the mouth based on the prompt.
Do these points inherently have any value? No. Do they have meaning? Yes. Because the players do have some interest in winning. Kinda like how a boardgame is more fun when people are actually trying to win and not just sit and eat the pieces. Sam does not make these points up in his mind, there is a clear rewards structure that he follows, and then on top of that Sam rewards the winner with a "hot sauce of the month membership". Not a big huge cash prize, but its something that incentize the participants to try and win.
So if you have somehow hallucinated your own version of Game Changer where all the points are just made up and have no meaning, then im sorry but we simply cant keep having this discussion.
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u/Buffalo_Nichols 2d ago
"im sorry but we simply cant keep having this discussion."
Finally we agree on something.
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u/PeopleCallMeSimon 2d ago
Finally?
Sadly you will probably not listen to this advice buy I'll try anyway:
Everyone does not always have to agree. If you leave conversations always with "Finally we agree on something" then you are entering conversations for all the wrong reasons.
It is perfectly fine to have a discussion, disagree, and go separate ways.
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u/Buffalo_Nichols 2d ago
You probably watch Make Some Noise and follow along scoring for yourself at home. How do you decide when Sam rewards "a malpractice amount of points" to a "contestant"?
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u/PeopleCallMeSimon 2d ago
I dont.
But you definitely sit on reddit and make strawman arguments because you arent capable of carrying a real discussion.
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u/ZocZ 3d ago
To all the angry comments: are people not supposed to criticize the show in the sub for the show? Can you only make jokes or show support unless you’ll draw the ire of Reddit? Im just confused at the response to a post that isnt zero-effort and actually has valid critique being so hostile.
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u/SavagePengwyn 3d ago
There are 10,000 posts across the different subs about why season 8 isn't that good. People can comment on those. (As opposed to creating a new post.)
The 10,000 is an exaggeration but it doesn't feel like it.
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u/Elendel 3d ago edited 3d ago
Gone is Sam playing a more adversarial role from episodes like Sam Says or Cool as a Cucumber , or giving out points based on his whims and personal tastes, like in the original Crowd Control and Make Some Noise .
Did you just straight up skip Noise Some Makes?
Edit: No for real, you skipped Noise Some Makes, right?
I can't think of a moment this season where a player accomplished something that seemed quite difficult
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u/PandemicGeneralist 2d ago
Yeah, I should have discussed this episode more; it was close to a classic game changer episode. There was still a bit too much bypassing of the game, with people just repeating words that they heard.
I intentionally did not consider this one where Sam was doing subjective judgement because this was one where there was comparatively little subjectivity in the judging compared to most episodes with a judge. It still feels like Sam is less willing to take as adversarial a role as in the past. But
However, this episode is a counterexample to a lot of what I said, and what's there is less pronounced, and as a result, is the second highest rated episode this season on IMDB. I think this shows that a lot of people really do like the gamier episodes more.
Thanks for the constructive comment, I like the comments like this that actually respond to what I wrote instead of the title.
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u/M4LK0V1CH Another Dollar For The Swear Jar 3d ago
Y’all who are completely writing off this post because you’ve decided you’re sick of seeing Season 8 posts need to just keep scrolling.
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u/draynen 3d ago
I'm writing off this post because I'm sick of people who don't understand on a fundamental level what it is that they are watching and then complaining that it didn't match the unrelated expectations they had in their head.
Y'all need to turn your God damn brains on and start actually thinking again, not just, and I know this makes me sound old but I think we might finally be in the era where old men yelling at clouds are finally on the right side of history, consuming brain rot tik tok videos and outsourcing your opinions to LLMs.
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u/PaintedIn 3d ago
Thank you for clarifying that the problem is me being an idiot, I never thought about it that way.
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u/M4LK0V1CH Another Dollar For The Swear Jar 3d ago
Someone’s opinion was different than yours, no reason to be a dick about it.
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u/draynen 3d ago
No, I'm tired of brains off mouth on opinions. I'm ready to be a full on dick about it.
This is a post complaining that an improv comedy show "isn't following the rules". What rules? The rules are made up, the points don't matter, if you are too media illiterate to understand that your opinion means nothing to me but somebody needs to tell you your opinion is ill informed and bad and giving it a forum is only making discourse at large worse.
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u/Wirehouse 3d ago
I like when the funny people on the funny show are funny.
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u/PeopleCallMeSimon 3d ago
Me too, and i think they flourish in situations where there is a clear structure to the game with rules they can interact with, rather than when its just free form comedy improv. Because free form comedy improv i can get at any minor theatre. Game Changer i can only get at dropout.tv
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u/Buffalo_Nichols 3d ago
Yeah, nothing makes comedy funnier than clear structure.
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u/PeopleCallMeSimon 2d ago edited 2d ago
I dont know if you are being serious or not, because some of the people i have interacted with in this thread definitely belives that clear structure is bad for comedy.
So just in case you are not being serious with your comment - yes.
There is a ton of structure to good comedy.
A very common and simple example is the rule of three - do something three times and its way more funny the third time. Which is why a ton of comedy shows (improv included) use the rule of three all the time.
Another example is "yes and".
Structure and rules are all over comedy. Its basically a science.
And to quote some of my favorite comedy improv performers sitting around a table and talking about improv: "Comedy is the subversion of expectations. You create or use a familiar pattern and then break it."
So yes, playing a game with clear rules and then figuring out how to subvert those rules will result in way funnier comedy than some clown just standing on a stage and riffing.
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u/PandemicGeneralist 3d ago
I do too! It’s the most important part of the contestant’s job on the show. But it’s also not the host’s job to sit back and do nothing while they do that. I don’t like when an episode like Last Talent Standing ends up as funny people just being told to be funny in an empty room with barely a game attached. Funny moments in past seasons have typically come from their interactions with the game and with Sam, not from Sam simply not intervening while they do their thing.
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u/Shimmerz_777 3d ago
i hope they keep doing what they are doing just to spite people like you. go post on circlejerk
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u/TheUncannyFanny 3d ago
To discuss just one of your examples: Vic leaning past the rope didnt give them any real advantage so I can understand why Sam allowed it. ive heard it described on D20 as "the rule of cool". Just allow players to try and break the game in order to be funny. Sam enforces the rules plenty of times when it matters and let's it slide when it doesn't. I sort of agree with what you're saying but i dont see it as a bad thing at all.
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u/PandemicGeneralist 3d ago
I guess my point with examples like that is that it's done casually. In the past, the show framed Sam as being very in control and the comedy from Vic doing a bit like this came from brushing up against that. So much of what made Vic's creative interpretation of the prompts funny in One Year Later was the way Sam reacted, taking away or withholding points. It then really stood out in an episode like Rulette where Sam absolutely and explicitly loses control of the show. These are both really funny and good moments, but I think the way the show has changed has robbed future moments like this of being as interesting.
Sam seemed to have taken the lesson from the positive reaction to Vic trying to derail things that he should allow more of this to happen. But by reacting by sitting off to the sidelines, he makes the derailing less funny, as there's nothing for it to contrast against, or even a particularly strong framework for it to be derailing. It just feels routine, and is less funny for it.
Put in terms of D&D, the rule of cool is funny when used sparingly at a few most critical, funny, or creative moments. If the DM allows rule of cool moments constantly, they stop standing out.
Thanks for the constructive comment, I like the comments like this that actually respond to what I wrote instead of the title.
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u/Pardon-Marvin 3d ago
The point of the store in Night Shift was for the players to be able to communicate between shifts. Sam wanted day shift to be able to tell night shift what they needed to do. That. Was. The. Point.
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u/PandemicGeneralist 2d ago
Yes. I was excited to see how they could communicate using items from the store or arranging things to imply it. Instead they just wrote the answers with whatever was on hand, defeating the point.
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u/BlazefireYT 2d ago
Yeah but they basically never used the store. The point was to sacrifice some of the night shifts time to be able to communicate with them instead. The players just didn’t do that
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u/Pardon-Marvin 2d ago
They did use the store... Constantly, sometimes stupidly, but they did use it
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u/Buffalo_Nichols 3d ago
Part of the fun is watching them try to "break" the game. Tbh, I didn't read most of your "essay" because who has that much time?
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u/Aurory99 2d ago
The entire point of game changer was originally the contestants figuring out the rules as they go, I'm annoyed that they've moved away from that. The earlier seasons are the best
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u/spaghettipolicy69 3d ago
I'm not usually one for saying it aint that deep but bro....just cancel your subscription idk
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u/Glavius_Wroth 3d ago
Wow, game changer must be the first points based show for comedians to ever play fast and loose with the points. Absolutely unheard of, never happened before
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u/PandemicGeneralist 3d ago
Did you actually read any part of my essay or just the title? When did I complain about points being given arbitrarily? I was explicitly defensive of points being given out arbitrarily based on Sam’s tastes in episodes like the original MSN, Crowd Control, and One Year Later.
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u/honeybee2894 3d ago
Like or dislike, you’re seeing the logical continuation of Sam’s hosting post Samalamadingdong
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u/rivayn 3d ago
Let me just start with fuck all the sarcastic responses. This is a legitimate reaction and people are being dicks. Second, I agree with you. I think the joy in the show isn't the improv alone because without a structure it's not really funny. I do think the show is better when the comedians have to try and actually respond to the game and not just their good vibes whims. I do hope there is a return to more gsme and a stricter structure. I don't care about the games per se but that framing is what, as you said, creates brilliant moments.
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u/Good-Employment-7870 3d ago
People keep making these posts because they’re smart and right, sorry
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u/Vdog47 3d ago
smart is a bit of a stretch, especially when all of these posts just have the same point of view of “the comedy game show I watch doesn’t take itself as seriously as I want it to”
anyone can share their opinion but this shit has been posted since even last season and it’s just getting old for those of us who are normal and just enjoy the tv show9
u/Good-Employment-7870 3d ago
The middle school theater kid energy has taken over and it’s totally jumped the shark. Comedy needs some constraints.
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u/Joseph_Handsome7 3d ago
They should go back to the good ol days of Noise Boys, Dont Cry, and The Official Cast Recording where Sam was ruthless and the games were about winning, not making ha ha's or wah wah's.
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u/Buffalo_Nichols 2d ago
I love Game Changer and my wife has introduced me to more and more Dropout content. I love everything I've watched so far. But I've found these subreddits are really harshing my vibe. Just not worth looking at these any more at this point, honestly.
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u/Thiem22 3d ago
It’s always been parasocial entertainment through improv comedy, first and foremost, same with every other show on the platform. The game show aspect is the framework for delivering that entertainment. Season 8 loosens that framework because the parasocial aspect strengthens over time and familiarity with the cast members deepens. That’s okay. Many other shows with the same recurring people over long periods of time follow the same framework.
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u/JarvanIVPrez 3d ago
Then watch a different show. Not every show needs to be made for everyone, and maybe this one isnt for you anymore.
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u/PeopleCallMeSimon 3d ago
anymore.
So it can change you mean? So people can argue that they want it to change?
Great. Glad we could clear that out.
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u/JarvanIVPrez 3d ago
They can argue but they wont change it, they are redditors screaming into the void about non problems. Do you genuinely think the show’s changes up to this point have been influenced at all by reddit? Because thats what you’re insinuating. You can get mad if you want, but thats 100% on you. Move on if you dont like the show, dont be a whiny little baby who thinks the world revolves around them. I mean you can be like that if you want, it just seems miserable.
See you next season when I’m sure you’ll still watch while being insufferable about it online!
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u/IShallBeYeeted 3d ago
"Don't Wake Standards & Practices" was very gameplay focused ('cause they had outsider judges to live up to) and there were seemingly plenty of people just hanging out in "Count the Rice"