I had low expectations going into this because I've been burned before by terrible American adaptations of great British panel shows (the US version of Taskmaster is *abysmal* while the British version is just fantastic through and through), but this is even worse than I expected.
Cutting the runtime in half doesn't allow any of the people on the show time to develop a joke and really play up any of their stories (whether a lie or not). This *dramatically* cuts down on the comedy potential and it just makes the whole thing feel soulless, like they're moving as quickly as they can from one story to the next just to give everyone a chance to have a turn so they can close out the episode. In contrast, the British version gives more time for people to ask questions and to bring out the comedy in these stories - that's the *whole point* - this US version just treats it like a game show, where the goal is to "win" by fooling your opponents - something that is entirely *beside* the point, but whoever adapted this for the US clearly didn't understand that.
I would love to see a competent US version of some of these shows - Taskmaster, Would I Lie To You, QI, etc - but unfortunately I don't think American networks are ever going to be willing to devote an hour of airtime to something like this so they can do it the right way.
Also, not to knock the team leads but they just don't hold a candle to Lee Mack and David Mitchell. You need team leads that can really drive the tone and pace of the show but this adaptation just doesn't have that.
Cutting the runtime in half doesn't allow any of the people on the show time to develop a joke and really play up any of their stories (whether a lie or not). This *dramatically* cuts down on the comedy potential and it just makes the whole thing feel soulless, like they're moving as quickly as they can from one story to the next just to give everyone a chance to have a turn so they can close out the episode. In contrast, the British version gives more time for people to ask questions and to bring out the comedy in these stories - that's the *whole point* - this US version just treats it like a game show, where the goal is to "win" by fooling your opponents - something that is entirely *beside* the point, but whoever adapted this for the US clearly didn't understand that.
I would love to see a competent US version of some of these shows - Taskmaster, Would I Lie To You, QI, etc - but unfortunately I don't think American networks are ever going to be willing to devote an hour of airtime to something like this so they can do it the right way.
Also, not to knock the team leads but they just don't hold a candle to Lee Mack and David Mitchell. You need team leads that can really drive the tone and pace of the show but this adaptation just doesn't have that.