Family Game Night TV Show Review – Discovery Family Channel

Family Game Night TV Show Review – Discovery Family Channel – Review of Family Game Night TV Show on Discovery Family Channel (formerly Hub TV).

I don’t review TV shows too often but Family Game Night on Discovery Family Channel (formerly Hub TV) is excellent. Family Game Night is a game show for families based on classic Hasbro games and board games.

I tripped into Family Game Night on Hub a few years ago and my kids have really enjoyed watching it ever since.

Family Game Night episodes are an hour long. Each episode begins with an introduction to 2 families of 4 (typically mom, dad, sister and a brother). Each family or team plays against the opposing family in an oversized version of a classic game or board game with new twists on the rules.

The joy in Family Game Night is the entertaining manner the games are portrayed and the watching the families interact. The host, Todd Newton, emphasizes fair play and really gets the kids involved. The games themselves quite a spectacle. For instance, they take the game Connect 4 and turn it into a mega-sized version called Connect 4 Basketball where you must shoot basketballs into the slots instead of checkers. Each episode contains 4 or 5 different games. Like the Connect 4 version, the games are very amusing to watch. The games encourage sportsmanship for the participants. Battleship, Bop It!, Jenga, Sorry, Yahtzee, Barrel of Monkeys and other Hasbro favorites. The folks at The Price is Right could take some lessons from some of the games featured on Family Game Night. The games are extremely fun and well-produced. The prizes awarded for each game are great (family vacations, music packages for kids, trampolines etc) and the winner that advances to the final round gets a shot at a car plus large chunks of cash!

Family Game Night on Discovery Family Channel has changed through the years since we began watching it in the Hub TV days. The old format dealt with two families going head to head for an entire episode. Now, instead of 2 families playing all the games until 1 family wins a chance to go to the bonus round, Family Game Night selects different families to play each game with all families getting a chance to go to the bonus round at the end. I prefer the old format.

I have criticisms of the new format for the Family Game Night TV show. First, there seems to be way more “filler” and drawn-out explanations of how each game is played. They seem to have tweaked the games themselves to take as long as possible (Battleship especially). The viewers don’t need to be reminded after every turn how many more chances a player will get to draw the winning Sorry card. The player and family intros are also far longer than they need to be. The multiple family format really slows down the pace of the show. Some of the games featured on Family Game Night are definitely more entertaining to watch than others and they seem to get rid of the best ones just to incorporate something new (and usually slower). Too much tweaking!

The newest season of Family Game TV show is now airing on Sunday evenings (repeats on Fridays and Saturdays). Sadly, it looks like they’re sticking with their current format. This year’s new wrinkle is to include a celebrity and his/her family to participate in the game (for just a segment) with money going to charity. I’ll admit the celebrity addition to the show is a nice touch.

Criticisms aside, Family Game Night remains fun to watch. We’ve been watching the show for so long that they’re actually growing out of it. Even though they’re getting a little big for the show, they still watch it.

My kids enjoy most game shows like Wheel of Fortune and The Price is Right. Family Game Night Discovery Family Channel is extremely fun for them to watch because it is geared toward their age group.  Family Game Night is enjoyable for adults to watch as well. The best part about Family Game Night is that it inspires family game nights without television once the show is over.

To find TV listings for Family Game Night TV, visit the Discovery Family Channel website.