The Gong Show (2017)

The new Gong Show set is a suitably gaudy mix of reds and oranges, Which proves to be perfect for Married with Bananas (don’t ask) and Uncle Clutch, a fright mask-wearing slayer whose thorough commitment to character is quite hilarious.

Is it beyond stupid? Yes, and happy to embrace the fact that no brain power is required to watch. There’s no true crime to solve, no political drama that feels uncomfortably close to the bone, no real-life Senate hearings or scary North Korean missile tests. Just people and the games they play, with witty commentary from judges and utter weirdness from maybe-Myers.

The new Gong Show, even with the unfunny Tommy Maitland, is a bit more fun than those other attempts [such as The Match Game and To Tell The Truth] at revival.

Tommy Maitland adds almost nothing to the pleasure of watching the Gong Show premiere, which otherwise is at least moderate.

ABC, which has a lazy habit of exhuming old game shows, brings “The Gong Show” back Thursday night essentially unaltered--it’s a dank and shticky amateur talent show with the admittedly clever stunt-casting of actor Mike Myers as host Tommy Maitland, a past-his-prime British comedian who speaks only in double en-tawdries.

From the host to the acts to the infamous gong signaling a bad act worthy of banishment, the revival is a constant exercise in trolling, leaving us unsure who's in on the joke and who's the butt of it. ... Myers never fully connects with viewers, and doesn’t let us in on the Tommy Maitland joke. ... Gong does manage to elicit laughs, depending on how much you buy into it.

This show is supposed to be big, dumb fun. It's definitely dumb. It's occasionally fun. And it's actually too big. The original "Gong Show" was 30 minutes; at an hour, it's a bit much to sit through.