Inquizition

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Game show hosts are such two-faced SOBs. “You’re all winners, as far as I’m concerned,” they’ll lie through their capped teeth. Meanwhile, you know they’re thinking the same thing as you: That idiot with the lowest score deserves public humiliation.

The Inquizitor isn’t having any of that happy-talk malarkey either. On the Game Show Network’s Inquizition, this malevolent, faceless quizmaster banishes losing players with a curt, “Please leave now.” And that’s when he’s feeling sunny. Throughout three brutal rounds of Jeopardy-style trivia questions, the Inquizitor mocks and berates contestants. Taped in a dim, abandoned airplane hangar, Inquizition doesn’t look like any other game show on the air. And it doesn’t play like one either—viewers can compete at home by calling the show’s hotline number, squaring off against other high-scoring audience members for cash and prizes.

In a TV grid crammed with copies of copies of good game shows, Inquizition has managed to offer something unique. Whether the premise holds up might depend on how nice a person you are. Us, we’ll be tuning in regularly from now on.