THE RETURN OF THE HOLLYWOOD SQUARES

Let’s face it. No one can match the campy and snarky Paul Lynde as the center square on Hollywood Squares. Joan Rivers couldn’t do it. Whoopi Goldberg couldn’t do it. Martin Mull couldn’t do it. Nor could anyone else that might have sat in that prestigious spot on this classic game show. So, giving that honor to Drew Barrymore, who is not a comedian, is an immediate miscalculation in this latest revival of Hollywood Squares.

Of course, Drew Barrymore already hosts a daytime talk show for CBS Media Ventures (the syndication arm for CBS). And she is also an executive producer on Hollywood Squares. So, we get why she is the center square. But she is just not qualified for it. That aside, two episodes into the revival of Hollywood Squares and it was just plain fun.

Hosted by Nate Burleson of CBS Mornings and The NFL Today in a flashy set complete with a modernized theme song, the interplay between the celebrities was quite entertaining. Burleson adepty contolled the comedic hijinks. And the rapid speed zingers through each half-hour makes you hunger for more. So, to package back-to-back episodes of Hollywood Squares in an hour-long window was the right decision for CBS.

Like any showcase of a roster of “celebrities” (some of which you may not consider worthy of that descriptor), there are hits and misses. I will leave it to you to decide who you liked...and didn’t. And the list of participants in these first two installments of Hollywood Squares included Julie Bowen, Tyra Banks, Tiffany Haddish, Drew Carey, Pete Holmes, Bobby Moynihan, Whitney Cummings, Thomas Lennon, Jeff Ross, Debi Mazar, Chelsea Peretti, JB Smoove, Tichina Arnold, Nicole Byer and Triumph the Insult Comic Dog...