Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Barmageddon’ On USA, Where Blake Shelton, Carson Daly And Their Buddies Play Extreme Bar Games

Barmageddon is a celebrity game show executive produced by Blake Shelton and Carson Daly, among a roster of others. Hosted by former WWE star Nikki Bella, with Shelton and Daly hanging out to throw in commentary, two celebrities play a series of extreme bar games. The celebrities are paired with a “civilian” who has had a social media fail that has gone viral.

BARMAGEDDON: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: Downtown Nashville. Blake Shelton and his band are on stage at his Ole Red bar; he’s singing “Margaritaville”, and Carson Daly is mixing drinks behind the bar.

The Gist: In the first episode, Shelton steps forward to be one of the celebrity guests, along with fellow country music superstar Kane Brown. In the second episode, Gwen Stefani faces off against Shery Crow. Other pairings include Jay Pharoah vs. Martin Kove, Trace Adkins vs. Mike Vrabel, Lil Rey Howrey vs. Malin Akerman, and more. The civilians looking for a little bit of fun and redemption are Stefano, who got a catfish stuck to his back, and Chisa, who fell into some rapids as she tried to do a handstand on a log.

Like we said, the games are like extreme versions of bar games. There’s a massive version of beer pong, where big balls are thrown off a balcony into huge cups. In another game, contestants try to hit ping-pong balls into buckets with a humungous paddle. Air Cannon Cornhole is exactly as described; in another game, contestants try to draw on a vertical pool table using chalk on the end of a pool cue. In the final game, “Sharts” (Shelton Darts, get it?), darts are thrown at balloons, some of which reveal a symbol that’s part of a phrase.

During the entire contest, a losing team can gain a point via the “Wheel of Redemption,” which has three eating or drinking challenges and a “tiny sliver of Hope,” which gives them an automatic point.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Barmageddon has the “fun with celebrities” feel of a show like That’s My Jam or Lip Sync Battle. In fact, we were shocked that Jimmy Fallon wasn’t somehow involved with this show.

Our Take: It’s kind of hard to pan Barmageddon. Granted, watching people play bar games on TV, even ones as extreme as the ones designed for the show, feels about as interesting as, well, watching people play bar games at a bar. Things get repetitive fast on the show, and because the producers have to resort to slow motion for dramatic effect so often, they acknowledge that it’s not the most scintillating thing to watch.

But, depending on the grouping of celebrities, we’re always open to watching celebrities have fun and show their competitive side. And as many seasons of The Voice demonstrated, there’s very few celebrities more competitive than Blake Shelton.

It’s good that Shelton is on every episode, even if he’s not playing the games. We need his taunts and jokes and his cursing, and we need Daily knocking him down a bunch of notches every chance he gets. The two episode provided to critics have Shelton rooting interests — as much as he’s buddies with Crow, you don’t think he’ll root for his wife Gwen? — which should bring out the goofiness that people loved from him since he first sat in one of those red coach chairs. We’re just not sure how it’ll play during other episodes, where it’s just two random celebrities.

We also like the “Viral VIPs” part of the game, where two people who were in embarrassing viral videos get a chance for redemption. They seem like good sports about their viral fails, and they certainly get into the game as it goes along, usually having good chemistry with their celebrity partner. Bella is a decent host, but we wish she was a little less scripted at times.

Oh, one more thing: The winning “civilian” contestant gets a prize, somewhat related to their viral fail. Let’s just say it’s a decent prize, but nothing life-changing. Perhaps that’s for the best, as the game is more about fun than winning stuff.

Sex and Skin: None.

Parting Shot: Shelton gets back on stage with Brown, the contestants, Daly and Bella and sings “Margaritaville” with his band once again.

Sleeper Star: We were kind of surprised at how sharp Daly’s barbs were. Perhaps it’s all those years around Shelton, but he got some really good shots in during various points in both episodes.

Most Pilot-y Line: In the ping-pong game, the level of difficulty goes up when the massive paddle is traded for a massive paddle with multiple holes in it. All well and good, but then that paddle is traded for one with a huge hole in the middle. To us, that feels like an easier one to work with, because you just hit the balls with the bottom edge.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Barmageddon is one of those shows that you switch on if you’re just in the mood for mindless fun, or something to have on when scrolling TikTok. When you look up, you’ll see something funny or exciting. But it’s definitely not a show to stay riveted to for an entire hour.

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.