Someone has figured out a reality show for adults who love to play with their favorite toy as a kid and turned it up a notch. I am talking about LEGO Masters. It is on Wednesday nights at 9 pm EST on FOX. It is based on a British show of the same name. The best part about the show is its family-friendly feel.
There are ten teams of two and what a great group they are. The diverse teams are made up of fathers and sons, brothers, couples, friends, and even a team that met at a club for adults who love LEGO. The winners will win $100,000 and a LEGO Master’s trophy. The first week they competed for the Golden Brick, of which the winner is immune from being eliminated at a time of their choosing.
There have only been two episodes so far. It premiered on Wednesday, February 5th and is hosted by Will Arnett (In case you don’t know he is the voice of LEGO Batman, but don’t worry. He will remind you.). He is the perfect host for this show. He has two expert judges with him. Amy Corbett is a senior design master at the LEGO Company. She works on the LEGO Friends line and worked on the concept team for The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part. You can follow her on Instagram at @brickmasteramy or on Twitter at @BrickmasterAmy. Jamie Berard is the other judge, and he is a LEGO Brickmaster, with thirteen years of experience with LEGO. He works on LEGO products for teens and adults with a focus on the Creator Expert and Architecture lines. You can follow him on Instagram at @brickmasterjamie.
So far, there has been one guest star appearing on the show. The second episode featured an appearance by Mayim Bialik. We don’t know if that will continue or if that was a one off to promote her new show.
Each week, there is a different type of challenging build. In the first week, the teams had to build an amusement park around a elevated train that ran through all the different parks. What each team created was more amazing and beautiful then the next.
For the second week, they needed to build an outer space related project that would get destroyed. They were either smashed by a bat swung by Will (Of course, he used a Batman reference there.), dropped from a catwalk along the stage, or blown to bits with a detonated concussive explosion. Again, the creations by the teams were incredible. It broke everyone’s heart (yours, mine, the contestants, and the judges) to see the builds being destroyed, but, at the same time, it was so cool to see it happen. The slow motion replays really let you see the spectacular destruction in action.
Another great thing about this show is the set. It is like a candy store for LEGO fans of all ages. Every type of LEGO is there for the contestants to use and play with. It is bright with lighting, and very open and colorful. Arnett gets into it by having humorous interactions with the contestants about how they are doing during the build, which is part of the charm of the show.
Amy and Jamie interact a little with the contests, but when they do, they are giving them some guidance on their creations. It is not always delivered in the most kind manner. They are serious about how to build LEGO and as experts they don’t sugar coat anything.
This is not a vindictive or vicious reality show. There is friendly banter and competition, but at its core it is a bunch of LEGO nerds building stuff and rooting for each other. The emotions on display in the show let the viewers know just how much the contestants love LEGO and how much it means to them to be on a show like this. There are no villains here.
The build challenges so far have allowed eleven and fifteen hours to complete the creations, but the show is only an hour long. It is edited so well that it leaves you wanting to watch another episode and to make LEGO creations of your own.
This is must watch TV. Wednesdays can’t come fast enough. Check it out.
