As TV schedules get larger and more spread out, the more opportunities there are for shows that could potentially be hosted by Joel McHale. While it's true that fans are mostly used to him dishing out snark-tastic reactions to video clips from a variety of TV telecasts, McHale is heading somewhere unexpected for his next hosting gig: a broadcast television game show reboot. ABC announced that the former Community star will head up its upcoming Card Sharks revival.
As part of its successful ongoing run of classic game show revivals, ABC is set to try its luck with Card Sharks, which was announced in mid-March. Since every good primetime game show needs a charismatic and attention-grabbing host to anchor things, ABC went after a fan favorite. With a talent to poke fun at everyone equally, including himself, Joel McHale knows how to keep people laughing while still moving things along. Only now lots of prize money will be involved.
To be expected, Joel McHale had a fun quip in the big announcement.
I’m very excited to be hosting Card Sharks. Game winners can win tens of thousands of dollars and in an updated twist – losers will be fed to a pen of adult Tiger Sharks.
Well, I guess that's just an educated assumption that he's only being facetious about the tiger sharks, since they weren't mentioned anywhere else in ABC and Fremantle's announcement. But I guess some producers really do have to think outside the box in order to make these game show revivals relevant for today's audiences, who obviously love watching sharks eat people.
(Okay, there won't be any actual tiger sharks chomping down on the less successful contestants. Probably.)
Joel McHale found his first big claim to fame in 2004 when he was tapped to host The Soup, E!'s revised take on the similarly formatted Talk Soup. He had that gig for over a decade until E! cancelled the series in 2015. (McHale says the show was doomed as soon as the decision was made to pull back on Kardashian coverage.)
Before too long, Netflix brought McHale in for its fairly similar series The Joel McHale Show with Joel McHale, which mixed celebrity guests in with the video clip critiques. Sadly for all involved, the show was axed after just 19 episodes were produced.
He's kept up his acting career as well over the years during and after Community's six-season run, too. Joel McHale appeared in The X-Files' latest seasons, he starred in CBS' The Great Outdoors, he recurred on Netflix's Santa Clarita Diet, and took part in the witch trials on Drunk History. Plus, he's one of the stars of DC Universe's upcoming Stargirl live-action series, so that should make for a strange balance with Card Sharks.
With its initial network run spanning from 1978-1981 on NBC, Card Sharks has had a fairly simple yet addictive set-up over the years. Half of the game involves answering survey-based questions in the style of Family Feud, and the other half involves a Price Is Right-esque "higher or lower" system of guessing each turn of a new card. I'm hoping for endless number-based jokes from McHale from the opening moments.
Fans can catch Joel McHale hosting Card Sharks whenever it debuts on ABC in Summer 2019.
