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| Nicole Sullivan on Hollywood Squares. |
"Stars laid out on the Hollywood squares
Going 'round and 'round like musical chairs
But be ready to rumble
Be ready to fight, if you wanna live through the boulevard night"
- Slash, Just Like Anything
Nicole Sullivan on Hollywood Squares. "Stars laid out on the Hollywood squares
Going 'round and 'round like musical chairs
But be ready to rumble
Be ready to fight, if you wanna live through the boulevard night"
- Slash, Just Like Anything
Nicole Sullivan appeared as a guest panelist (square?) on Hollywood Squares; the episodes aired the week of July 8, 2001. When I say "Hollywood Squares" I mean the latest incarnation of Hollywood Squares. In case you've been living in a broom closet for the last forty years, I will enumerate the basic principles. Celebrities occupy a giant tic-tac-toe board; there's one celebrity per square for a grand total of nine celebrities. The contestants must correctly guess the accuracy of the celebrities' answers to the host's questions in order to win. While this may not seem the most brilliant premise for a game show, it's one that has a certain banal appeal and has sustained four different incarnations of Hollywood Squares: the original Hollywood Squares (1966-82), the Match Game/Hollywood Squares hour, in which the six Match Game panelists from the first half hour are joined by three new panelists in the second half hour (1983-84), the New Hollywood Squares (1986-89), and the current incarnation (1998-present).
The new Hollywood Squares, like the previous incarnations, has had several regular panelists: until recently, Whoopi Goldberg was the center square, and Caroline Rhea was a regular panelist for the first three years. But there are also a number of guest panelists who are on the show on a more temporary basis. Nicole Sullivan was one of those panelists, appearing on the show only for a week. As you may have guessed from my synopsis of the show, the main qualifications for panelists are as follows: (a) a panelist must be able to convey the sense that he/she knows the answer, even if he/she doesn't know the answer (or if he/she knows the answer but is lying) - otherwise the show wouldn't be a challenge; (b) it helps if the guest can throw in some persiflage in response to the host's question - some light raillery makes it more entertaining - thus the panelists tend to have a background in comedy.
I must qualify my review of Nicole Sullivan's week on Squares by first mentioning that I didn't watch all five episodes (more like one and a half). From what little I saw, however, I can state that she fulfilled the basic requirements as outlined above. The panelists don't prepare their answers in advance, as far as I know, and as a result one shouldn't expect hilarious responses, but Ms. Sullivan displayed an ability to extemporize which was on a par with several of the regular panelists. When called upon, she can convey a smarminess that is indistinguishable from sincerity - as in "I really know the answer to this one." [In other words, a lifetime of pursuing her chosen profession was not wasted.] Whether or not she could rank with the most renowned Squares panelists (e.g. Paul Lynde) remains to be seen, but her brief stint on the show was an auspicious start. Interesting also is the fact that the host (Tom Bergeron) plugs Mad TV ("Saturday night on Fox") even though she had already taped her last episode as a cast member.
Video clips (in QuickTime 4.0 format):