Bringing Back Password

Game shows were a staple of daytime television twenty to forty years ago. Situated on either side of their soap opera programming blocks, housewives and school-aged children on summer break couldn't get enough of watching the common man have a go at some riches. Daytime game shows have mostly been pushed aside in favor of talk shows but after an almost twenty year absence, one of the oldest game shows made it's return to television this week.

Million Dollar Password debuted Sunday evening on CBS and I must say that I really enjoyed it. This updated version of the original Password kept enough of what made the original a ratings hit yet amped it up enough for the modern viewing audience.

Regis Philbin is the host and guides two contestants and their celebrity partners through two main rounds of competition. In the elimination round, the celebrity begins by giving clues to their non-celebrity partner so that they can guess the "password". For each password they guess correctly they get a point. Then the non-celebrity contestant gives clues to the celebrity and after that the celebrities swap partners. The team that wins the most points by the end of this round advances to the bonus round where the contestant has a shot at winning a million dollars.

The bonus round begins by trying to guess five out of ten passwords to win $10,000. If successful, the contestant can choose to continue on to the $25,000 round where they have to guess five out of nine passwords. If they make it through this round, the contestant wins the $25,000 and won't leave the show with anything less. But why stop there? They can take their chances with harder passwords, fewer clues, and fewer passes to move up the ladder and win $50,000, $100,000, $250,000 and finally $1,000,000.

Rachel Ray and Neil Patrick Harris were the two celebrities this week and they did a surprisingly good job. Neil Patrick Harris was the lucky one that advanced to the bonus round in both games this week but fell short in guessing the word "fiasco" with his second partner. The guy had a shot at walking away with $100,000 but chose to press on for $250,000. I must say that I had no idea which three clues I would give so that my partner came up with "fiasco" even though I had plenty of suggestions for the other passwords of the evening.

Million Dollar Password airs Sundays on CBS at 8:00 PM ET/7:00 PM CT. I definitely see myself sitting with clenched fists and yelling out words at next week's show. If you missed this week's premiere, you can catch it on the show's official site. You can also watch some clips from upcoming episodes. Hooray for a Betty White appearance!