TV REVIEW : ‘Say What?’ Says a Lot About Rejects

As bad as prime-time entertainment often is, it’s instructive now and again to look at what didn’t get picked up to become a series. The lesson is that things really can be worse--as we see tonight in the first of three “Say What?” episodes that CBS has had sitting on the shelf for more than a year.

The premise for the show (airing on three consecutive Fridays at 8:30 p.m., Channels 2 and 8) is a TV staple that dates back at least to Steve Allen’s late-night glory years: Take footage of real people and dub in made-up dialogue, so they appear to be saying something very different than what you’d expect.

Producers John Moffitt and Pat Tourk Lee used the technique to wonderful effect in their HBO series “Not Necessarily the News,” but they have “dumbed down” for commercial TV to a level that makes sophomoric humor look good. The second show features dogs “talking” about lifting their legs on a tree.

On the other hand, maybe this witlessness is the perfect companion to the tribute to trivia that precedes it on CBS, “Hollywood Game.”