Best TV Show of the Week

Game of Your Life on NBC

By catherine Nailog

Walmart and Procter & Gamble's Family Movie Night presentation  Game of Your Life which aired on NBC Friday, December 2nd, at 8:00 p.m. (ET) was a touching and entertaining movie about a young man who must decide between living in the past and living out his dream, and has earned the title of Best TV Show of the Week.  Zach Taylor was a phenom when it came to video games and their designs.  With a full scholarship at hand, he was excited to begin his studies at the prestigious Digital Institute for Game Design, but he was wary of leaving behind his dog, Jackson, and father, Billy, who was financially struggling with his automobile mechanic business.   Zach’s mother had died four years earlier.  Her passion for video games was passed on to Zach.

Zach didn’t make a good impression on his first day at the Institute.  He arrived at the campus very early in the morning and slept in his car.  It wasn’t until he woke up that he realized he had parked in the wrong area, and was blocking a major walkway to campus.  He even caused Dr. Abigail Lambert, a professor at the Institute, to spill coffee on herself as he suddenly opened his car door.  At orientation, he was relieved to see a friendly face, Sara, a fellow gamer a.k.a. Ultima Girl, in the audience.  His off-campus housing consisted of a loft and two roommates, Don and Phil, with Abbie and her husband, Dean David Cameron, serving as their landlords.

As part of the curriculum, the freshmen were required to work on a team video game project from concept to launch.  The project had been known to eliminate half of the incoming class by the end of the semester.  It was vital that a student be focused and committed to the team and to the project.  It was stipulated that no outside consulting work would be allowed during a freshman’s first semester.  Dr. Marcus Bentton, an admired and well-respected video game legend, introduced the project’s theme:  resolution and how we make decisions.  Zach was teamed with his roommates Don and Phil and convinced Sara to join them.  Zach was unaware that Dr. Bentton wanted him out of the Institute.

Dr. Bentton hosted a party at his sprawling, luxurious and lavish home for the freshman class.  Zach met Dr. Bentton, who asked Zach if he was interested in earning some money testing a video game.  Zach was flattered and tempted by the opportunity.  With growing concerns over finances back home, Zach decided to accept the consulting job, unbeknownst to his teammates. Zach and Sara become great friends while working on the project.  Their team’s video game project  was titled MiChoyce and it was a cross between Second Life and Facebook. 

Meanwhile, Bentton’s assistant Andy would secretly hand Zach a game to test, and Zach would stay up late at night doing so, causing him sleep during class.  Zach began to feel the pressures of working on both the team project and the work given to him by Dr. Bentton.  Sara became suspicious of Zach’s behavior.  He would leave at odd times during project meetings which caused her to worry about his commitment to the project. As acting producer, Sara told Zach that she would remove him from the team if he wasn’t dedicated to the project.  Zach completed the game test for Dr. Bentton, and he received $10,000 for his work.  Zach was then given another game to test, but he no longer wanted to do consulting work for the sake of the team video game project, but Dr. Bentton insisted.

Zach missed Abigail’s class, jeopardizing the team’s chance to continue with the program.  Sara found out about Zach’s consulting work and removed him from the team.  Zach confessed to Don and Phil about the outside work that he was doing.  Furthermore, though Abbie was aware of his finances back home, she put Zach on probation and gave him a week to decide whether or not he wanted to stay in the program.  Zach returned home to get advice from his dad.  Billy told him that it wasn’t right for him to disappoint his team.  He added that home was defined by one’s love and loyalty to the people one cares about.

Zach returned to campus and was ready to re-dedicate himself to the team.  He returned the game test and the $10,000 check to Dr. Bentton.  Abbie reinstated Zach into the program, but he still had to make amends with his teammates.  Zach apologized to his teammates and they accepted him back to the team.  They continued to work on their video game titled MiChoyce, and became excited when it went live. 

Andy gave Zach one last game to look at.  It wasn’t a game, but rather information regarding Zach’s application idea, stolen from him by Dr. Bentton.  Andy told Sara and Zach that Dr. Bentton wanted to expel Zach so that his theft would never be discovered.  He also noted that Dr. Bentton never created anything in his life.  Zach then told Dean Cameron and Abbie about Dr. Bentton’s theft of his idea.  Dean Cameron and Abbie figured out a plan that would indicate their knowledge of Dr. Bentton’s stealing of ideas without hurting the school.

The team’s project was successful on campus.  On the final day of judging the projects, the team, anxiously awaited the assessment of their MiChoyce video game.  Zach confronted Dr. Bentton about his stolen application, and Dean Cameron suspended Dr. Bentton from the school. Lincoln Alley’s MiChoyce project won first prize.

Best TV Show of the Week

The Parents Television Council - www.parentstv.org