Tuesday night, I watched the premiere of the College Bowl revival and my reaction to the show that I advocated its return was mixed.

On the positive side, it was a fun show to play along with as I tried to answer the somewhat tough questions.

On the negative side, the format changed drastically from the original show that ran on CBS and NBC from 1959-70. Three players were on a team instead of four. No coaches were mentioned. It was a category based game like Jeopardy unlike the original version, which covered many academic subjects. Also, Cooper Manning, Peyton's brother was out of place as a sidekick. The original version, hosted by Allen Ludden and later Robert Earle never had one.

The producers behind the show apparently didn't watch the original GE College Bowl or study old episodes to see what worked. I wouldn't be surprised if this tournament format lasts only one season.

Anyone watch last night's show? Feel free to post your thoughts on the return of "The Varsity Sport of the Mind."

I really liked the College Bowl revival and think it can do well with today's audience. Peyton Manning was a wonderful host, he also would have been a lot better football player host on Jeopardy! rather than dull as dirt Aaron Rodgers. :crazy: There is nothing wrong with being a category based game like Jeopardy! Three player format also worked fine, considering only the captain can answer in the 2 minute drill four players would have been too much. Cooper as the sidekick was funny. I have never seen the other College Bowl versions, am sure Allen Ludden was a good host but had no problems with how this revival was made. I wish the Peyton Manning version a lot of success.

I happened to see a preview of the new College Bowl today on ION and I don't think it will survive. For one thing why Payton Manning hosts it is surprising because I think this will start a trend with sports stars when they retire to become game show hosts but Payton Manning is probably hoping to become a game show star and that's why he hosts College Bowl. Another thing I learned about College Bowl is that it's actually called Capital One College Bowl because Capital One sponsors it and I bet Capital One will replace Samuel L. Jackson with Payton Manning in the commercials. So College Bowl should've been on ESPN not NBC
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