Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard have been trying to find the next phase of their careers for a while. Dax tried his hand at a TV series, Bless This Mess, but I guess I was the only person who liked that show. He’s seems pretty content with his podcast, though. Kristen still has healthy Disney ties. But she definitely has that strike-while-the-iron-is-hot approach to cementing something for her future. She has her #Momsplaining show on YouTube, but that’s not her cash cow. It’s obvious that Kristen is trying to secure some kind of talk show deal. Kristen constantly hovers near Ellen DeGeneres. So near, that when Ellen’s future looked questionable over the summer, Kristen’s name was floated frequently as Ellen’s replacement. However, since Kristen did not come for Ellen’s crown as her head was bowed, Ellen rewarded her – big time. It was announced yesterday that Ellen is giving Kristen and Dax their own game show called Family Game Fight! Here was the announcement on Ellen’s show:
The gist of it is that Kristen and Dax will host a competition show in which two “families” compete against each other. I put families in quotations because Kristen and Dax clarified it doesn’t have to be in the traditional sense, the competitors can define family on their own terms, which is cool. Ellen said the show idea was inspired by the game Taste Buds that Kristen and Dax played on her show, which is a blind taste guessing game. It sounds like Family Game Fight! will be a collection of different competitions and not just Taste Buds, which is good because Taste Buds is kind of dumb. But the difference between this and Ellen’s Game of Games is that Kristen and Dax will not only host Family Game Fight!, they’ll be playing too. On opposite teams.
This sounds like a great vehicle for them. Their weird, chaotic dynamic as a couple translates well in competition. Kristen is wildly competitive and, as she said in the announcement, she tunes out, which could lead to some funny outbursts. And I don’t think Dax cares that much, so he’ll be the perfect foil for Kristen’s adrenaline rush. Plus, for all of her faults, Kristen can take a joke, which plays well with Dax’s deadpan sarcasm. So this could work as long as it stays friendly and doesn’t get mean.
I said above that Ellen rewarded Kristen for not kicking the chair out from under her when she was vulnerable. But I do recognize that Ellen is keeping her friends close and her enemies closer. Ellen knows who is being eyed to replace her. If she tucks her replacements away in cushy little game show hosting jobs, she contains the threat… for now.
I will click on a gossip post about these two but I will NEVER listen to one of their podcasts or watch a show with them in it. Too over the top for me.
Maybe Bell can write another (at best) tone deaf book that race apologists love to push and Ellen can bully everyone into liking it.
This shows their true colours, no?
Please just go away……
They are determined to squeeze every bit of fame they can out of their lives. That’s what’s so off-putting.
I love Kristen. I would so have tuned in if she had replaced Ellen. Ellen has all the money she could ever want and she seems to hate actual people, so producing seems like a way she can continue on in the biz after her show goes off the air.
No thanks.
Ughhhhh these two are insufferable.
Firstly, I LOVED Bless this Mess. I am a writing snob and it was so great on this show. As a Nebraska girl I always get so nervous about how we’re depicted (we speak with a non regional dialect and don’t have southern accents TYVM, largely college educated including in agriculture) and the characters had depth. I was super bummed the show didn’t make it
I also loved BLESS THIS MESS! I’m a big Lake Bell fan (she and Dax had decent chemistry), and the show is wall-to-wall quality character actors. I miss it.
As another Nebraska girl here, I totally agree! I was so bummed when the show was cancelled. It was such a great show and I was also SUPER nervous about how they were going to depict small farm town Nebraska.
I love game shows, but a Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard hosted show produced by Ellen? That’s way too much for me, lol.
Yuck, another mean-spirited Ellen game show? No thanks.
Ellen left me when she found such pleasure in these people being goofs for her.
Hard pass on all these people.
Kristen bell is not my favorite, but she is wildly talented and has now had 3 hugely acclaimed, even iconic roles. Why is she hosting a game show? Either the money is great or she is helping hubby find work. Or maybe keeping an eye on hubby by working with him?
I have been a fan, and defender of hers, for a while, but it’s just…too much. I don’t begrudge anyone taking on different aspects of the business, getting deals while they can, and exploring different options, but there’s something almost manic about the pace these two are on to be everything all the time.
And I can’t really understand aligning with Ellen right now, other than $$$$$.
Whoooah — this article felt like psychoanalysis of something deep and dark. I’m not sure what (or sure I want to know) but I doubt it has anything to do with Ms. Bell. Who by the way is an amazing talent.
Whenever I see a post up about them, I assume it’s a divorce announcement.