Awake: The Million Dollar Game Show Season 1 Review

June 21, 2019 at 3:54am
By Jason Stettner

This is a Netflix Original Series that presents a new unique game show experience. In this setup contestants are sent into a room to count money. They do this over a twenty four hour period and aren’t supposed to sleep, they need to remember just how much they’ve gone through. This number and their close estimation factors into later parts of the competition.

Not every challenge is based on money, but a large portion of it is. Between these money based challenges are a series of what I’d consider rather mundane tasks. While they come across as that, they can be challenging to a sleep deprived individual. This element is interesting, and it would have been better to get more of an idea of how each person is handling their lack of sleep.

I liked that it didn’t focus on the individuals as that type of game show style is super annoying, at the same time it would have been better to get a clearer idea of their state of mind while competing. You get to see some tired people at the start, but from there it’s sort of left alone aside from jokes littered throughout.

I found the presentation to be rather fine, definitely a step up from Flinch, the other game show that Netflix has running. There was a clean showcase, it looked fancy and felt like something you might catch on a traditional TV setup. The host was solid and while not every joke landed, there was a nice balance of relaxed narration against general regular interaction.

There was a good selection of mini games for everyone to compete in, and a sense of competition as the contestants aimed to win big. I thought some of the hard set games came across as repetitive at times when it came to the start and end, but this added a needed structure.

The Conclusion

Awake: The Million Dollar Game Show Season 1 is a fine watch, it brings a new concept and delivers a fair selection of episodes. It was an easy viewing and honestly works fine as background noise if needed. You can also watch it and find some enjoyment in seeing drowsy individuals try to count coins, or well compete after doing so.

There’s a good presentation here, and it works well for the show. There was entertainment in just how far off people could be, or in regards to the mistakes when it mattered the most. This was alright, I didn’t find it to be mind blowing yet at the same time enticing to a degree. There was just enough variety to keep it fresh, and perhaps it was a bit short in terms of the episode count.

Awake: The Million Dollar Game Show Season 1 Review at Home with Streamed Viewing
Content Access was Provided by Netflix

Rating Overall: 5.4