What did I think? Well, I kept channel surfing, but I saw a lot of the TPiR episode of Game$how Marathon to give a review:
The host - Ricki wasn't bad, but not good either. She really needs to calm down by the end of the Marathon. Plus, it felt like she only wanted to do the show just to hang out with the celebs.
The announcer - Rich was still great, as he is on the daytime show (thank god we didn't get Daniel Rosen!).
The set - I unfortunately expected them to use the current set rather than go with a replica of the 1983-2002 set, a replica of the 80s set would've been better.
Camera shots - Way too cool. And hey, they got the SS arrow back!
(I actually expected the SS arrow to appear on the special, but not in green without a black background)
Format - I thought it was all right. Like everyone else on this board said, it would've been better if the top two scorers in their pricing games went on to the showcases rather than just use the wheel (I thought I was watching an episode of one of the European TPiRs for a second!). And when Kathy lost Hole-in-One, I myself thought, "THEY ONLY GET ONE SHOT?!", but then again, someone on Invision did say that she did do a second putt, but that was edited out, which is a BIIIIIIIIG mistake, in my opinion (and pretty much everyone else's).
The celebrities weren't too bad, but they could've done better.
Overall: B-. Not bad, but I'll take double-B over Ricki any day. Like I always say, if it ain't broken, don't fix it!
At least the other specials will be better (hopefully!).
That's my two cents worth.