Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Generation Gap’ On ABC, A Kelly Ripa-Hosted Game Show Where Kids And Seniors Answer Questions About Each Others’ Generations

 If the idea behind the new game show Generation Gap looks familiar, it’s because Jimmy Kimmel did segments like this on Jimmy Kimmel Live, where seniors and kids try (and mostly fail) to answer questions about the other’s generation. Kimmel is one of the executive producers of this series; it’s taken 3 years for this show to go from a network pickup to actually hitting the air, which is a long time even with the pandemic factoring in. Was it worth the wait?

GENERATION GAP: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: In a scene from Season 1, host Kelly Ripa asks a question about a Transformer that’s a Beetle (we think it’s Bumble Bee), and the senior who tries to answer it says “Paul McCartney.”

The Gist: Generation Gap is a comedy game show that pits two teams, each consisting of one teen or preteen and one senior citizen. For instance, the first episode has a kid and his 70-year-old great aunt vs another kid and his 75-year-old grandmother. Ripa asks the younger contestants questions about things the older generation would know and vice versa. If the contestant gets the answer right, money is deposited in their bank; if not, either of the other-generation contestants can ring in and get half the money for a right answer.

There’s a pop culture quiz, a round about music, and a “mystery guest” round, where the mystery guest — shockingly in this episode, it’s Ripa’s morning talk partner, Ryan Seacrest — asks questions related to what they do, leading up to a “who am I?” guess. In another round, Ripa’s dad Joe sing-talks lyrics to a song, and the teams have to figure out just what the heck song he’s butchering.

In another round, each contestant has to describe an object the other generation would be familiar with without using the words in the name itself. Finally, the teams play a “Same Name Game” lightning round, where two people are shown who share a name. The winning team not only keeps their bank, but then another twist happens: In “Toddler’s Choice,” an even younger member of the family gets to choose the grand prize: A car or something decidedly more kid-friendly.

Photo: Raymond Liu/ABC

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Mark Burnett, Jimmy Kimmel, Ripa and Mark Consuelos are essentially bringing back a short-lived ABC game show from 1969 called The Generation Gap. Kimmel has done “Generation Gap” quizzes on his show, as well.

Our Take: Generation Gap has the potential to be a really fun time, but the episode we saw had a number of flaws, not the least of which was Ripa as host. We’re a Ripa fan, but we know she has a penchant for turning the spotlight on herself instead of making the contestants look good. She does that a lot in this first episode, and while we always appreciate her self-deprecating jokes, it sometimes felt like another episode of Live With Kelly And Ryan than a game show where the contestants are the focus.

We are ok with the contestants not knowing the answers about the other generations’ pop culture, and the things we use or used everyday. It’s a comedy game show, so seeing a kid not figure out who Josie and the Pussycats are or a senior having no idea about Kid Cudi is pretty much the point of the show. It’s surprising when someone either knows something about the other generation or guesses right, but having the cross-generation answers be right more often than not would make the show boring. Besides, the “save” feature, which allows a buzz-in for half the amount gives the game a chance to be more than just a zero-zero contest for multiple rounds.

The questions are all pretty easy if you’re in Ripa’s age range (as we are) and well-versed in most modern pop culture as well as the stuff from the past; making the teams kids and seniors ensures that most of the guesses will be wild and stupid, which is of course good for easy laughs. There’s also the notion that some of the “new” generation questions aren’t that new — Bert from Sesame Street is 53 years old, Julia Roberts has been around for almost 35 years — and the “old” generation questions are way too old — what 70-year-old used an abacus?

What Age Group Is This For?: As the title indicates, people of all ages can enjoy and play along.

Parting Shot: The kid who is doing “Toddler’s Choice” (who isn’t a toddler, by the way), picks what he would want for the grand prize. You can guess what that might be.

Sleeper Star: Not sure why, but we’d watch an entire show of Joe Ripa butchering song lyrics. And he doesn’t even have to move from his office in New Jersey to do it.

Most Pilot-y Line: One of the “Name’s the Same” questions shows Napoleon Bonaparte, a historical figure that both Boomers and zoomers should know about, and Napoleon Dynamite, from a movie that’s almost 20 years old. Which generations are they trying to talk to with these questions?

Our Call: SKIP IT. Generation Gap isn’t funny enough to make up for its glaring flaws, including questions that neither generation really has anything to do with. We’d rather watch GenXers and millennials try to answer questions about each other’s generations; it might be more competitive and it’ll likely be a whole lot more interesting.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.