Glad there was no skunking, but in terms of the literal, smelly sense, today's show WAS, in fact, a real skunk.
Drew was way off his game today. He sort of just phoned in his performance, at best seeming unhappy to be at the show, at worst seeming frustrated. His jokes were really awful and I felt bad for poor Ann Marie. Here she is, all excited and enthused to be on the show, and Drew just ruins it by rudely asking if she needs an exorcist and referring to The Omen. I felt that joke just sucked out the life from her excitement and slowed down Pocket Change from there.
Another thing that stuck out to me was Hi-Lo. When Ryan picked the hot chocolate, Drew frustratingly mumbled, "What is the price of...whatever that stuff is" (or something along those lines). Then Rich says, "Its hot chocolate, Drew." Is it just me, or did that sound dubbed in in post production? Something was really awkward about that and seemed to be trying to cover over Drew. Perhaps I'm seeing it the wrong way, but it didn't flow naturally, either.
A strong point to the show was the line-up. I felt like we got a regular, decent line-up, and I feel good having seen More or Less yesterday and Pocket Change (again!) today. Swap Meet 6th was a very nice surprise, and I really didn't expect Balance Game, either. We got only one quickie in the form of Switch, and I'm not complaining. What I will complain about is the fact we've now seen Range Game three times in one week. I know episodes are being aired out of order, but still, my gut is to say, "Enough Range Game already!"
Finally, what was up with those cheap showcases? $15,000 in 2009 seems really off. It was obvious they were setting up for a double overbid, and boy, did they get it!
Overall, great lineup, but not such a hot show today.
