Taskmaster US falls apart at the seams, it seems.
This version of the show is insane
If you have not seen this version and are a fan of Taskmaster, it IS kind of fascinating. Myself, my husband Zac, and my friend Shel made an evening out of it. I think I can boil the problems with this show down to "executives meddling with something they don't understand so that it has more Mainstream Appeal to Americans."
Above all else, it is important to understand that the US Adaptation of Taskmaster represents everything wrong with the US television industry.
This version is lazy. Very lazy. Americans should not try and adopt foreign comedy formats, but because The Office was such a hit for NBC, they're going to keep trying to do it.
From a timeline perspective: Taskmaster US aired in April & May of 2018, and UK Season 6 would have started airing right as this version was ending. There are eight 23-minute long episodes. There are significant changes to the format.
I'll put a read more here, in case you would like to subject yourself to this on your own time & come back to this post, OR, in case you simply don't want to know. You should stop reading now if you want to experience this yourself. If you do want to watch this, try and go in knowing as little as possible.
I had a good time and laughed a lot, primarily because of jokes Ron Funches made. But it also revealed by way of contrast exactly what makes taskmaster work… all the little details that make it congeal… I spent a lot of it speculating on better American comedians or actors to have cast instead of these mostly not even D listers. And better people to have cast as the assistant who would have had a better dynamic with Reggie.
It still feels like taskmaster it just flops and flops… 22 minutes is not enough
