Identity Redux
Identity Redux by Roxanne McDonald
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One contestant takes an early dive; another lasts longer than we might have expected; and the identities continue to be everything from interesting to superstar compliments to the greatest game show since “What’s My Line.” |
Well, I guess that latter reference dates me, or reveals just how much reality and reality game show television I involve myself in….
Whatever.
I am still madcap hooked on this sometimes tricky sometimes prickly show.
Here are the latest strangers:
For Jennifer Anderson’s segment
Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader
Personal Trainer
Banjo Player
Speaks Russian
Original Barney (David Joyner)
Infomercial Millionaire (a no-brainer, this one, as he [Mike Lesko] appeared in his Riddler jacket)
Cabaret Dancer
Attacked by a Bear
Sign Language Interpreter
NASA Test Subject
Marathon Runner
WWII Test Pilot (Sarah Payne Hayden)
For Melissa Sandvig’s segment
Jazz Pianist (Mike Jones plays for Penn Gillette in his Las Vegas show)
Trekkie
Supermodel (Joanna Krupa)
Co-hosted “The View” (Debbie Matenopoulos, eventually replaced by Rosie O’Donnell)
NBA Team Owner (Joe Maloof, co-owner of the Sacramento Kings)
Ghost Hunter
Mime
Porcupine Trainer
Invented TiVo (Jim Barton, co-inventor with Mike Ramsay—both “veterans” [according to Wikipedia] of Silicon Graphics and Time Warner’s Full Service Network)
Hostage Negotiator
Ice Skating Teacher
The Twists Get Tougher
The Twists Get Tougher by Roxanne McDonald
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“Identity” TV show and “Identity” online game share a cruel characteristic: giving the strangers alternative identities. |
I went online—so obsessed was I with the game show “Identity”—and got sucked into the labyrinth that is repeated playing of the simple but tough online version of the game.
Okay, I say simple because of the twelve strangers and the twelve identities, at least…at least…half of them are no-brainers: there’s the Golf Pro label which you attach to a guy holding a golf club. There’s the Houdini Specialist, who is easily identified by his black outfit bound by chains. There’s the Cat Lady label, which you drag and drop onto the lady holding…you guessed it, a cat.
But as easy as this part of the game is, so is it addictive
enough that you click “play again” again and again. And again. Then it gets tougher, as you are given the same strangers but a slightly altered set of identities: now the one you correctly identified as the blacksmith (as he is wearing working safety goggles) is back on a pedestal, but there is no Blacksmith label. Instead, this same guy is now a Video Game Champ.
And, oh, you know how we can play the game at home and think how easy it is? We can play the game online and think the same…the first couple of runs. Then it gets harder and harder and harder, and we are more humbled and more sympathetic toward those who have the guts to go on television and play.
More Famous Folk Fall through Identity Crack
More Famous Folk Fall through Identity Crack–while Some Don’t by Roxanne McDonald
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You win some, you lose some, you know some, you don’t. |
Well, I suppose that’s why it works to call them strangers? Still, it’s interesting to see how known celebrities are…or how many celebrities a contestant knows. I suppose it also depends on one’s definition of “celebrity”.
Also cool is to view the toybox of dolls in each lineup. Well, cool and fascinating to me.
Over the last two installments of “Identity”, the following strangers have appeared—identified and not:
Brad Pitt’s Drama Coach
Beekeeper
Lives in an RV
Rodeo Clown
American Idol Finalist (Michaela Gordon was guessed correctly—whew!)
Crime Analyst
Rubik’s Cube Record Holder (Tyson–wasn’t guessed, but that’s what the player gets for not watching “Beauty and the Geek”!)
Hawaiian Tropic Model
Born in 1977
Test Tube Baby
Has over 1 Million MySpace Friends
Deer Hunter
Harlem Globetrotter (Eugene Edgerson)
NYC Firefighter
Shamu’s Trainer
Roller Derby Girl
Has Prosthetic Leg
Flight Attendant
Hugh Hefner’s Girlfriend
Celebrity Body Guard (has worked for Alycia Keyes, Naomi Campbell, and Lauren Hill)
Plus-sized Model
Sly Stallone’s Brother (Frank)
Chippendale Dancer
Never Been Kissed
Lived in Biosphere (Dr. Geri Neilsen)
Chimney Sweep
Air Guitar Champion (2006, New York City)
Competitive Eater
Pickpocket
White House Intern
Weighs 124 Pounds
Celebrity Blogger (Perez Hilton)
Mail Order Bride
KO’d Mike Tyson (Buster Douglas)
Dated Flava Flav (Abigail)
Music Video Dancer
How Many are with Me in Loving Identity?
How Many are with Me in Loving Identity? by Roxanne McDonald
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I loooove this show. Of all the straight-up (whatever that means these days) game shows, “Identity” has got to be the most at-home fun. |
No offense to “1 vs. 100,” which is great because of the play-along-able questions and the dreamy host; and similarly, no offense to the show I watch every single week, “Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader?” for the content as well as the jokes of the smart-mouthed Mr. Foxworthy.
But I am just absolutely compelled by and then riveted to “Identity”.
Maybe it’s because of the hulking genius of a host who with his booming presence and very tactful manner. Penn Gillette is a babe—all mystery and brain and jocularity.
Maybe it’s because of the fact that I taught advanced composition/critical thinking for a few years at the local community colleges and an art institute, and I become
fascinated by the methods of discernment, the order in which the contestants play their guesses, and how their reasoning powers—when narrated aloud—work for or against them. [And ever the instructor, I still think of ways the show would work so nicely in a practice session in class—as the students learn inductive and deductive strategies, inferencing, and whatnot.]
Last time, the strangers were as follows:
Chewbacca (the guy who played him/it in the 70s)
Most Downloaded Woman on the Internet (Cindy Margolis)
Pro Drag Racer
PTA Mom
Born in Japan
Age 35
Home Design Guru (Christopher Lowell)
Stem Cell Researcher
Rock and Roll Drummer (formerly with SkidRow)
Clown
Magician (Lance Burton)
EMT
More Mistaken Identities
More Mistaken Identities Makes for More Fun TV by Roxanne McDonald
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If one of the aims of “Identity” is to further branding and promotion for shows, so far the odds are not all that favorable. |
If one of the aims of “Identity” is to further branding and promotion for shows, so far the odds are not all that favorable.
The odds are against using recognition by a contestant as a way to increase viewership of any particular show, so if “Identity” producers have agreed to take on recognizables to advertise, promote, or enhance increase viewer numbers, the strategy may have backfired?
Okay, I understand that 1) being at home and being able to make all the right guesses or give all the best answers is a phenomenon that evaporates, evidently, the minute you step on stage of the actual game show; and 2) not everyone is as addicted to and consumed by
television— which in my case is on every minute I am conscious.
I have already spoken to how one player didn’t recognize Bruce Jenner; another had no idea who the celebrity stylist Jonathan Antin was. But the missed opportunities continued in the latest installment of Identity, when Craigslist creator, Craig Newmark was mistaken for “possibly” an undertaker’s apprentice, for instance, just get too depressing to watch.
Thank the lord for friends and family who are allowed to join in after a couple of rounds, for at least, for another example, the creator of Tae Bo, Billy Blanks, and the creator of Microsoft Word, Richard Brodie, were identified. [The support team knew Blanks; but they helped their friend i.d. Brodie by critical thinking/process of elimination, finding that he was the only one old enough to have created MS Word.]
Strangers Spotted By Many, Identified by Few
Strangers Spotted By Many, Identified by Few by Roxanne McDonald
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On “Identity” pedestals they stand, all twelve of them, like dolls or figurines. They do not give away too much by facial expression and they maybe only hint at their true identities by way of certain clothing pieces. But when they are an Olympic medalist or an American TV icon, and are not i.d.’d, whooo boy. |
When the old-enough-to-know-better contestant missed Jerry Mathers, then another missed Bruce Jenner, we at home resigned to the possibility that the easiest “Identity” matching was going to be overlooked.
It’s not like the contestants of “Identity” are given really hard to identify strangers like Howard K. Stern or Condoleeza Rice. And in the television age, when celebrated sports figures cross over into reality TV shows (besides having been all over the news or all around the stations in interviews or all around the bookstores in their own tell-all biographies, we might expect that celebrities would be the first to be identified.
Then again, I have to be fair: one, most of those contestants likely do not watch as much TV or read as many TV blogs or participate on as many reality boards as you and I do. Too, there is supposedly this weird phenomenon that game show contestants experience: when they are at home, they can answer all kinds of questions even Ken Jennings might miss. But as soon as they get in front of the cameras, around the host, on the stage and in the spotlight, they go numbnuts and forget or lose whatever discernment skills they had just a few minutes prior.
Anyway, I love the show, Identity, and I love anticipating whether the contestants will in fact get help or get smart and i.d. strangers and celebrities alike.
The strangers to have appeared who are not famous include the following: (read more…)
Identity Returns!
Identity Returns! and so Does Quality Game Show TV by Roxanne McDonald
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The warp-speed “What’s My Line?” is back and some of us can hardly contain ourselves. |
Myself included, but the latest contestant for sure hardly contained herself during the running of the returned “Identity” episode: Christina Howard, an actress doing Shakespeare for kids somewhere in California, goes completely loose and loud on the return episode. She is grabbing and hugging Penn, flailing about, and feigning punches…every time they are about to crack the identity of another stranger and Penn instead announces they will do so…right after this commercial break.
But I’ll tell you, I was on edge, too. No, it wasn’t the simulated heartbeat. It wasn’t the contestant, per se. I don’t know what it was, really, that made this passive viewer so actively engaged. Maybe it was how Christina had no clue about number 5, who is a now well-known celebrity hairdresser, well-enough known because of the reality TV show that showcases his skills and angry
tantrums, well-enough known that luckily for Christina, her friends giving assist overheard the audience members saying number 5* was on TV!
Maybe it was how with every identity answer she locked in, I was wanting to see game-show history of sorts, wanting to witness an actual win before the walk-out or the lose-out…. And low and behold, Christina won, naming every single one of the twelve strangers (well, eleven of them, of course) by careful or haphazard and lucky locking in—and thereby making herself only the second to ever win all 500 grand.
Maybe it was just the interesting character choices, the freshened format as a take-off from “What’s My Line?” and the sexy boisterousness and booming Penn Jillette as host.
Regardless of the reasons, the show is back and I am thrilled!
*By the way, celebrity hairstylist was number 5, Jonathan Antin…who came very close to being tagged by Christina as the prison guard or the phonebook-tearing guy, were it not for the faithful TV-viewing folks!
Identity the Hottest New Game Show Despite Lukewarm Reviews
Identity the Hottest New Game Show Despite Lukewarm Reviews by Roxanne McDonald
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While the traditional game show is all but lost, “Identity” has some interesting elements and moments. But can it sustain our interest? |
Just when we thought the traditional question and answer or guessing game TV show was going the way of the obsolete, along with the once-great “What’s My Line,” for instance, “Identity” catches our interest.
Hosted by Penn Jillette, whom we can see is just barely restraining his opinion when a contestant can’t, for
instance, figure out who the child star (Jerry Mathers) is or cannot read how number 11 (Bruce Jenner) is the Olympic Gold medalist, “Identity” is quick and clean. And challenging enough that the contestant turnover is high. Hell, in the second episode, three contestants played in the one-hour space.
The contestant is faced with 12 strangers and a kind of leader board list of identities—rodeo wrangler; Vegas stripper; rocket scientist; cancer survivor…. And he or she must guess correctly all 12 identities. There are three forms of help: ask the experts; one mistaken identity forgiven; and ask your support group (friends or family members who come along and stay downstage for the duration of the contestant’s stay.
I found it a fun and watchable show, and couldn’t help but muse that it would be a great exercise for critical thinking students—as one needs to use what “Identity” producers say are perception and instinct combined. So, for instance, while one player was quite smart about inferring that the hand model was the stranger who was hiding her hands, he was also a bit silly (or too young) for assuming that because Bruce Jenner was in a tux he was the ventriloquist.
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