This show is a nice example of how important it is to pick the right host for your game show to work. Just like Steve Harvey makes the latest incarnation of Celebrity Feud work, Michael Strahan (who looks and sounds like Dr. Jekyll to Mike Tyson's Mr. Hyde) is a very fine fit for the type of show the latest incarnation of The $(xyz) Pyramid is. He's funny when he needs to be, he's quick on his feet, and he makes sure that everyone is having fun despite the huge cash prize that's at stake here.
Every contestant gets his or her celebrity partner, often a comedian, and the more competitive the celeb is, the better the episode turns out. The contestants themselves can also get highly emotional, especially when they lose their money over one dumb word-association question, but then again, there's always the chance of winning the paid 7 days trip to some exotic location as a consolation prize (or an added bonus, if they win both the trip and the money).
The categories that hide the words and phrases the contestants have to guess usually have spectacularly tacky puns or very intentional double entendres for titles (which, ironically, makes this in-theory-family show pretty edgy). As for the words and phrases themselves, they are mostly really simple yet often surprisingly hard to mime or describe. That's one of the things that engages the viewer the most - how will the contestants or the celeb try to explain the word to their game partner, and will the game partner get it? Also, as each game is timed, things really do get pretty tense when there's only 10 seconds left and the celeb guest simply can't figure out what his or her game partner's clues "Attenborough" and "Duchovny" refer to.
At the end of each turn, the contestant and the celeb switch places (the one who was guessing now gets to explain the words and vice versa), at the end of every round, the celebs switch places (each celeb helps one player during the first part of the show, and then goes to assist the other during the second half), and at the end of the game another two teams of celebs and contestants arrive, as each episode actually features two full games.
All in all, it's mostly a tense, fun show with a fitting host that gives you a tiny insight into the ways people associate things both in their minds and under pressure thanks to the show's ticking timer.
