One of the coolest things about the social media age is the ability to quickly Google answers (in other words cheat) to questions you don’t know. Sometimes you’re refreshing your knowledge, other times supplementing it but more often than not you’re learning new things.
Why are we talking about the Internet instead of diving into a review of this new Chronicle book, Name That Show? Because this is one of those books that’s best enjoyed far away from the tap of the keyboard and the click of the mouse. Composed of 100 double page spreads, Name That Show asks the reader to guess the TV show via 6 vague pen and ink drawings. Some are easy, some are very hard but all of them get you thinking.
Written by Pasadena based author Paul Rogers, the book was written primarily for the American market and as such is littered with classic American TV shows, many of which younger UK readers won’t be aware of. For every Sopranos or Dexter there’s a Gillligan’s Island or a Leave It To Beaver. That said the book is also cosmopolitan enough to include classic UK comedy like The IT Crowd and Absolutely Fabulous, so it covers all the angles and both sides of the Atlantic.
As well as offering classic UK and US shows it’s also bang-up-to-date. From the ‘50s and I Love Lucy right up to the Netflix era of Daredevil and Stranger Things and everything in-between, this is a book that will test the brain cells of everyone in the house from grandparents right down to grandkids.
Picking a random number, turn to page 78. Here are your clues: A house, a black t-shirt with Sunnydale emblazoned on the chest, a black car, a notepad with a ticklist including ‘Reschedule plumber’, ‘Become Invincible’ and ‘Haircut’, two women kissing and a couple of photographs. Not the toughest one ever, but page 7 gives us an office building, a road sign for ‘Slough Trading Estate’, a plastic chair…you get the picture (no pun intended).
The back of the book reveals all of the answers, saving frustrated readers from hitting the internet and Googling all the answers.
A definite knowledge tester, this will really get the old grey matter tingling and while there are plenty of spreads that will evade a wide percentage of UK readers, there are equally just as many that are solvable. The fun of figuring these out is well worth your time, and as a Christmas book for a puzzle crazy relative this would be a great choice. Retailing at £9.99, it’s a handsome book that would be welcome in any Christmas stocking.
NAME THAT SHOW / AUTHOR: PAUL ROGERS / PUBLISHER: CHRONICLE / RELEASE DATE: 5TH SEPTEMBER
