Word Up: Words fail new panel comedy

Word Up, the new panel show.

Bemused comedians starved of material is not a winning recipe.

"Hold on ... what is this game?" asked Steve Wrigley, one of the bemused-looking panellists on Word Up (Thursdays, 9pm, TV One). Well it ain't The Krypton Factor. The contestants had just been asked to identify a picture of a young Robyn Malcolm in a section called "Wind Back the Clock".

Each week, the show pivots on a one-word theme. This week's was "wind" (as in the swirly stuff in the sky). Or "outside" in Wellington, host Jaquie Brown wisecracked in one of the more successful punchlines of the evening.

"I thought you were trying to mislead them," Wrigley continued, saying aloud what everyone at home was thinking. "Does this face ... look like the face?"

Next they had to decipher a strange noise - like metal shutters clanging, or the sound of TV sets dying of embarrassment around the country. I heard it whistling through my head again when Brown asked, just before the second ad break, "What do turkeys have to do with the word meaning unintelligible jargon-filled language?" It was part of a section called "I Did Not Know That".

The show is on at 9pm. It's not meant for kids.

"How does that relate to wind?" asked panellist Stacey Morrison when the answer was revealed as "gobbledegook". It was the only smart question of the night in a gameshow that promised "genuine information and trivia" along with "outrageous antics".

The South Pacific Pictures format appeared to have neither, unless you count the discovery that wind is called a willy willy in Australia or you think Morrison doing a turned-on weather girl act is outrageous. There's that metal clanging again.

Of course, it's not meant to be taken too seriously. The show appears to be inspired by British comedy skit shows, and was conceived in the wake of 7 Days' success. Talented host? Check. Panel of likeable comedians ready to chip in with hilarious comments? Check. Wrigley, Morrison and Rhys Darby are usually good for a laugh. Why not give them a simple format and watch them - and their mates - turn it into comedy gold?

That's the idea.

I'd desperately wanted to like Word Up, secretly hoping its title might allude to nerdy board game-style fun that we could play along with at home.

Problem is, on 7 Days they open the floor to current affairs commentary and rude jokes, whereas Word Up is restricted to gags about one word each week. That might bode well for a beer-soaked game at the beach but even this panel struggled to make it work.

By the time the panel had warmed up and got into the quick-fire quiz round, things had improved somewhat.

But Word Up, in its first outing at least, roused only a few forced laughs. Although there was so much laughter coming from the studio audience, I feared one of their number had become hysterical any time someone uttered anything remotely close to humour, as though they too couldn't handle the sight of bemused comedians listening to odd noises.

Word Up the board game, was designed to help players improve their English. Word Up the TV show, is, so far, a bit of harmless gobbledegook.

Bring back The Krypton Factor.

- TimeOut