brockmporter
"Beat the Geeks" was essentially a time-filler for the Summer 2001 lineup. It was an irritating, low-budget, slow-paced yawner of a game show that didn't fulfill its network obligation of even being funny. Thankfully, the network goons at Comedy Central had the grace to let this one die, a process they are still struggling with at the time of this writing for the likes of "Drawn Together" and, to a greater extent, "Primetime Glick".The premise was this: There were three Geeks, a TV, Music, and Movie geek, who acted as defenders. The contestants were challengers, and had to outscore the geeks. Now, these were not respectable, Ben Stein-types geeks. They were low down, "I live in my mother's basement and am 35 years old and spend my time hanging out at a comic book store with other unemployed middle-agers bad-mouthing all the 'conformists' on the sidewalk" type geeks. Furhtermore, we are never really told what makes each Geek an authority. Just these guys are geeks. Beat them. You don't have to beat all geeks; just these geeks.The show was ungodly slow-paced. In fact, it made it seem that each 22-minute program had maybe 10 questions actually written for the show, and they were purposely pacing themselves to ensure they didn't run out of questions. The Geeks had correspondingly more difficult questions, which didn't strike me as particularly unfair. What was entirely aggravating were the 45-second answers each geek would give when asked a question, let you forget that they are geeks (which, I assure you, was not a heavy risk to largely to their haircuts which looked like the sort of thing you might have run into at Comic-Con 1976). For example, when asked, "Who played Mrs. Brady on the Brady Bunch?" the TV geek would reply with the actresses filmography, other TV shows, guest appearances, commercials, a list of past spouses, and her hometown before actually saying her name, Florence Henderson, two words which, if spoken at a comfortable speed, could easily be said inside of a second.Accordingly, the questions were spaced out in intervals of about 90 seconds. Thus, the actual asking of a question was a pretty special occasion, considering this was a game show, though the fact that questions were only worth about 25 dollars apiece made the average winning prize about $275, which probably didn't even cover air fare.All in all, not a good show. I'm happy to see it gone. And I will rejoice again when it appears that Primetime Glick has finally "Gone the way of Beat the Geeks".
CursedSlytherin
This is by far the absolute best television game show on the air. It is extremely unfortunate that Comedy Central replaced its time slot with the less worthy night time talk show that now haunts the station.The show has it all: comedy, fabulous prizes, excellent trivia, and intellect. Not only does it appeal to the trivia buffs and other geeks of the world (raises hand), but it appeals to those who wish to keep the intelligent side of television alive and running.TV does not have to be brainless, and Beat the Geeks proves it.My rating: a perfect 10
brutalpink
i love beat the geeks...when i first started watching it i thought it sucked but the geeks possess a charm that draws me to them. a few minor changes like the prizes from troma have also really enhanced the show. it's probably the only show i would like to be on. blaine capatch is the epitome of that really cute geek that you aren't supposed to like (but do) and he brings with him even more appeal. as with many other excellent and under appreciated shows- beat the geeks will most likely be canceled in the near future but hopefully comedy central will be able to produce more innovative entertainment in the vain of beet the geeks and avoid crap like win ben stein's money.
