Newly-Reviewed Programs
TV on DVD
All Shows: A-Z Index
Advanced Search

2008 Summer Season
2007-08 Midseason
2007 Fall Season
2007 Summer Season
2006-07 Midseason
2006 Fall Season
2006 Summer Season
2005-06 Midseason
2005 Fall Season
Best Of 2007
Best Of 2006
Best Of 2005
How Metascores Are Calculated
Discuss TV In Our Forums

Identity
SERIES: NBC, Weekdays 8:00p (60 minutes)

4.0 based on 8 reviews read critic reviews how did we calculate this? based on 19 votes read user comments rate this tv show

Get more information on this show at TV.com.

• Official Show Site

Starring Penn Jillette (host)

NBC's latest "Deal or No Deal"-style, slow-moving primetime game show (which gets a trial run this week) asks contestants to guess the professions of various people standing in front of them for a chance to win up to $500,000. It's not as hard as it sounds.

GENRE(S):	Game Show
FIRST AIR DATE:	December 18, 2006

Airs from 8-9p each night this week.

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

58

Entertainment Weekly Paul Katz

Penn Jillette can't pull off the illusion that he's as likable as Howie Mandel. [22 Dec 2006, p.75]

30

Philadelphia Daily News Ellen Gray

Considering how hard people on shows like "Survivor" and "The Amazing Race" work for their prizes, there's something almost unseemly about giving people prizes for not much more than showing up.

30

The New York Times Alessandra Stanley

“Identity” is to game shows what a gastric bypass is to dieting: a choice that defies convention and social niceties.

25

New York Daily News David Hinckley

It's not good.

10

Newsday Verne Gay

Problem is, the show is more comfortable with cliché than subtlety.

10

Philadelphia Inquirer Jonathan Storm

Now, you may be saying, "There he goes again, that elitist toad." But believe me, even Paris Hilton, Britney Spears and Bill O'Reilly would think this show was stupid.

10

Slate Troy Patterson

A degraded update of What's My Line?

0

Washington Post Tom Shales

One's first impression of "Identity" is likely to be that it is a miserably tedious mess, a reaction that probably will grow stronger the further one slogs into the Big Muddy that is the show.

The average user rating for this tv show is 4.0 (out of 10) based on 19 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

David P gave it a9:
I like this show quite a bit, and I have a higher I.Q. than most of the people posting here who claim the show only appeals to idiots. Those who say the identities are ridiculously easy to guess haven't really watched the show more than once, I think. Generally, there are some easy identities to figure out but then things get progressively harder. To be fair, I will agree that the show does have a major negative: it moves at an extremely slow pace and has far too many commercial breaks. Like Deal or No Deal, I deal with this situation via Tivo. I'm not sure I could watch the show comfortable without TiVo.

Scott gave it a1:
excruciatingly boring

[Anonymous] gave it an8:
I enjoyed this and I'm glad they will be bringing it back. There were a few things that could be improved and hopefully they will do that.

Maine Mike gave it a2:
I mean really...how tough is it reason out that the gal in the cowboy hat is a professional rodeo rider? Yet, we have to spend an excruciating amount of time listening to people reason through that. And, I wonder, how long it took to find contestants who couldn't recognize Bruce Jenner or the Beaver.

Tom G gave it a10:
People it's a game show, and it's way better than Deal or No Deal, aside from the hosts. This is much more challenging to the dwindling pea brains of TV game show viewers.

linda b gave it a1:
dull, stupid; a waste of time.

Brian T gave it a10:
I think the show is a refreshing change from Deal or No Deal- at least here you can use some judgement and process of elimination. No its not exactly meant to stimulate rocket scientists, and its not politically correct. I think Penn is a great host- those who say he is "trying" to be like Howie obviously have never seen him perform before, either in Vegas or on his Showtime series. He is just being himself, so get over it. I hope the show continues, if not for any other reason than to irritate the politically correct.

Read more user comments...

Discuss this tv show in our forums