Stream It Or Skip It: ‘The Final Straw’ On ABC, Where Janelle James Hosts A Game Show That’s Basically A Massive Game Of Jenga

The Final Straw, hosted by Abbott Elementary breakout star Janelle James, has a pretty simple idea: Two teams of two members each take turns wiggling out a prop from a massive stack that’s engineered to topple at the slightest provocation. In the first episode, for instance, the themes of the stacks are a ’50s diner, a sloppy kids’ room and a medieval castle.

THE FINAL STRAW: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: As we hear the opening strains of “Fur Elise,” we see massive piles of goofy props. An announcer says, “A smart man once said, every action has a reaction. What goes up must come down.”

The Gist: As we said, the teams take turns removing items from the stack. If the stack tumbles, the team that caused it or was the last to touch it is out. The winners of the round win $5,000. Two new teams compete in the second round, then the winners from each round compete in the next round. During that round, one team gets “sabotaged,” which is usually being instructed which kind of piece to remove. The winners get $10,000 and a chance to work on the Mega Stack.

The Mega Stack has money levels, where you can either pull out an object to help get to the money level, or buy 2 more minutes of time. If the team achieves the level — $10k, $25k, $50k, $100k, with the grand prize being $250,000 — they can either stop or move on. But if the stack topples, they get knocked back one level and leave with that money.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? In the realm of simple-premise game shows, The Final Straw isn’t as simple as Deal Or No Deal, but it’s not exactly Wheel Of Fortune, either.

Our Take: Let’s face it: The Final Straw is basically a massive game of Jenga, with props in place of simple blocks. The stacks are quite well engineered, designed to withstand certain elements being removed but still lean in an ominous way. Also, when the stack falls, it generally falls away from the contestants, and in a manner where the parts don’t crash with much impact.

Like we said, it’s a pretty simple idea, but the executive producers — one of which is Peyton Manning — know this. It’s why James is the host; she’s a fantastic ad-libber, and makes self-deprecating jokes, like saying she wants to stress eat pancakes in the diner stack, all to encourage the contestants and keep them at ease. She banters with the silly deep-voice announcer Fred (Josh Robert Thompson). The stacks emit a creaking noise that we assume is heard in the studio, even if it’s generated by the effects team, to make their wobbliness even more intimidating. The contestants are encouraged to talk, both in encouragement to their teammates and gentle discouragement to the other team.

It’s all a goofy good time, and we’re sitting there with the contestants as the stacks wobble and creak as the contestants try to shimmy the tightly-fitted objects out of their spots. Because there’s no real strategy involved, the show’s freshness will rest on the design of the three stacks that lead to the Mega Stack. The Mega Stack itself is a tiny bit of a downer, because the items being pulled out are just lit cylinders. But there is a feature that is tacked onto the end of the episode that makes the conclusion more interesting to watch. We won’t spoil it here, but we were pleasantly surprised when we saw it.

What Age Group Is This For?: The Final Straw is definitely appropriate for all ages.

Parting Shot: We get a shot of who is dressed as the panda who comes in between rounds and tries to wreak havoc.

Sleeper Star: This goes out to the people who designed and engineered the stacks. They’re fun to look at and the various ways it can lean and/or topple are well-thought-out.

Most Pilot-y Line: There seems to be “stack traps” in the first two stacks — bubbles in the diner one, wayward socks in the kids’ room one — but they don’t have much impact on the game play.

Our Call: STREAM IT. The Final Straw is just a fun show to watch, from the design of the stacks to Janelle James’ hosting to just the sheer satisfaction of watching these stacks fall to the ground. Sometimes, simple isn’t always a bad thing.

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.