• by Adam Buckman , Featured Columnist, July 18, 2024

Sometimes TV is like Forrest Gump’s proverbial box of chocolates -- you never know what you’re gonna get.

As luck would have it, Thursday’s prime-time lineup on ABC is a case in point. 

The three hours begin at 8 p.m. Eastern with back-to-back, one-hour game shows with the word “luck” in their titles.

The two shows -- “Press Your Luck” at 8 and the new “Lucky 13” at 9 -- will serve as a lead-in to ABC News’ coverage of the grand finale of the Republican Convention -- Donald Trump’s acceptance speech.

To paraphrase the great “Dirty Harry” Callahan: Do you feel lucky? 

Many may feel unlucky about the prospect of Trump winning a second term as President, but aren’t we lucky to have network television, where two silly summer game shows can serve as lead-ins to a convention acceptance speech?

ABC’s newest prime-time game show, “Lucky 13,” has contestants answering 13 trivia questions posed by Shaquille O’Neal (photo above), who co-hosts the show with Gina Rodriguez.

The contestants are not told whether their answers are correct until later, when they make various wagers on how many of the 13 they answered correctly or not.

Like all prime-time game shows in the modern TV era, “Lucky 13” is an hour long. The TV Blog watched the first half of Episode One, which was taken up with one contestant, a genial young dentist from Chicago.

The test of whether a quiz show’s questions are easy or difficult is always the same for me: If I know the answers, it is an easy show. If I do not, then it is difficult.

In “Lucky 13,” I knew some and not others. “No motion picture sequel has ever won the Best Picture Oscar. True or false?” I knew it was false -- “The Godfather, Part 2” and “Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” both won. The dentist knew it was false too.

“Indiana and Kentucky are separated by the Ohio River. True or false?” said another question. It happens to be true, but I had no idea.

True or false: Pepsi has a high-profile, in-show presence in “Lucky 13.” The answer is true.

After the dentist contestant finished his 13 answers, and before the co-hosts revealed how many he got right or wrong, the Pepsi logo appeared on a large screen.

Shaq then introduced a segment called “Pepsi Play,” in which the player is offered an opportunity to pause and refresh his answers if he so chooses.

The ultimate goal of the show is to answer all 13 questions correctly and win a million dollars. 

Along the way, contestants gamble on how many questions they believe they answered correctly, in order to win various amounts of money. 

This description likely makes “Lucky 13” sound more complicated than it is. It is really rather simple, and also fun.

I can hear the promos now: “It’s ABC Lucky Thursday! The fun continues with Donald Trump’s acceptance speech -- next!”

“Lucky 13” premieres Thursday, July 18, at 9 p.m. Eastern on ABC.