Viva Attack!

Finally after being stuck in a perpetual rut for almost a year and a half, “Attack of the Show” is fun again. Is it as good as it used to be? No, but is it the bottom of the viewing list as it used to be? Nope. Now with a new co-host, a new set, a clear idea on who the hell they’re trying to target for an audience (for a while they weren’t sure if they were appealing to nerds, tech geeks, or frat boys), “Attack of the Show” is on the right track once again. I can fondly recall Kevin Pereira interviewing a celebrity back in the middle of 2010 during the rut and asking them, “So what is it like to be on a show people actually watch?” And it’s an apt observation.

Sure, “Attack of the Show” has entertainment value and some intellect, but it’s still a show on a channel barely anyone watches, on a network that almost went bankrupt that now plays nothing but COPS reruns and episodes of Cheaters. Back in 2009, the CEO of the G4 network explained that appealing to the fan boy simply wasn’t getting them the ratings and in order to save the network, they had to cut corners and prevent their imminent bankruptcy. Giving the fan boys what they wanted didn’t work, apparently. No one turned out for the Comic Con coverage. No one tuned in to see the Gaming tournaments that were much hyped. And no one showed up to the marathons of their classic shows. Instead the channel went on a format change now just rerunning basically autopilot programming that involves Cops, Ninja Warrior, Cheaters, and Campus Police, while airing mediocre to abysmal movies that are described as “Movies that Don’t Suck!” The only really original programming on a channel that once played all original shows is now X-Play and Attack of the Show.

X-Play suffered immensely by being cut down to just three episodes a week, while Morgan Webb and Adam Sessler retreated to Attack of the Show where X-Play practically became a throwaway segment only to re-premiere in January of 2011 with new episodes after a long hiatus off the air. “Attack of the Show” suffered through a sort of mid-life crisis where the show could never be sure what it was and who it was trying to appeal to at all. They pandered to just about everyone exploring war weapons, sneakers, hot rods, local bars, comic books, swimsuit shoots, robots, film set visits, and even went through a phase of regurgitating old segments to save money and time! When the show actually stopped to figure out what two plus two was we were served up nothing but half baked episodes where we were subjected to a numerous supply of boring guest co-hosts all of whom ranged from “trying too hard” to “there for the pay check.”

After Olivia Munn’s uneasy departure it wasn’t shocking Attack of the Show wanted to do it just right. Munn has left a stain on the show for a long time with her departure that left a shadow on the show where fans were constantly wondering if she was coming back at all. When it became clear she wasn’t, we were left wondering if the show was finally going to move on. Hell in Comic Con, it became clear Olivia was all about her own personal career as she did nothing but promote her own work, tried to squeeze in to projects with other celebrities and even made an announcement at the end of Comic Con turning the focus to her and only her. Munn has surely been the David Lee Roth of the show, the person who was talented and really brought home what they were trying to accomplish, but after she’d decided she was too big for her group, it became her show, and Kevin was left standing back wondering if he was even apart of this program at all.

So through the course of the year, the show went through a transition where “Attack of the Show” basically tried out co-hosts for the jobs and the results were mixed, confusing and exhausting. Fans were absolutely irritated with the unstable co-hosting unit, but Kevin seemed to be refining his spot for show as well as his co-hosts. There were valuable contenders like Alison Chobot, but she was much too experienced for the job and had so many other prospects in line to stick with the show for too long. Candace Keegan was basically the same. She was gorgeous and delectable, but she wasn’t a fit for the show, especially with her delving in other more notable networks.

Folks like Sara Underwood and Tiffany Smith seemed much too bore to be standing next to Kevin most times. And while Chris Hardwicke is a blast, you can only chuck so much homoerotic jokes before it becomes tedious. The constant name that came up was Alison Haislip who hosted with Kevin constantly and seemed like a surefire ace in the hole for the job but shockingly, she wasn’t even offered the job. And I couldn’t be more thankful. Haislip’s shrill and obnoxious personality is better suited for small increments during remotes. The obvious permanent co-host for the show was Candace Bailey, and after a trial run, her experience hosting television came in to inevitable play and she was granted the job.

This was turning point not only in “Attack of the Show” but for Kevin Pereira who seized control over the show once again and seemed to garner his own personal choice for a job that would demand the person in question would co-host and not turn the show in to their own personal promotional tool. Bailey is a delight, a humble and adorable woman with a hilarious sense of humor and odd reluctance to be risqué that only goads Kevin in to pushing her in to baudy material that invariably leaves her chuckling bashfully and apologizing to her mom on-screen. “Attack of the Show” is fun again, it’s close to what the show used to be when at one time Kevin and Olivia threw a party every night and we were the guests. Now Candace Bailey is the hostess and she’s much more pleasant than Olivia ever was, and perhaps with this new format, it can be a turning point in a network that is on its knees looking for an audience that only tunes in for the occasional drunken bar fight and domestic disturbance. Viva AOTS.