With this month marking the 20th anniversary of the theatrical release of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, the TBS/Cartoon Network special quiz event series, Harry Potter: Hogwarts Tournament of Houses, celebrates the whole universe and its fandom. Airing over four weeks, the high-end game show sets up the four Houses of Hogwarts — Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin — to battle against each other until the House winning the most rounds wins the Tournament of Houses cup. Altogether, it’s an entertaining celebration that’s challenging for even the biggest of Potterheads.
The Mistress of Ceremonies is Dame Helen Mirren, perhaps one of the last British thespians to not appear in any of the Potter films. In the first episode, Mirren has the vibe of someone just learning this world and terminology as she reads the questions and trivia to the teams. She relaxes more, though, when she’s talking to the individual team players.
The three contestants representing each House are selected, Price Is Right style, at the top of the game by a flurry of letters that fly out of a fireplace and are randomly collected by a bewildered Mirren. Delightfully, the contestants represent a wide swath of ages and backgrounds, from a new Potter fan in her 20s to a longtime fan in his 70s. The three participants in each house are allowed to commiserate on the right answers and the variety of people makes that inherently more interesting to watch.
In Episode 1, the two Houses battling are Gryffindor and Hufflepuff. They play three rounds of trivia generated from a Jeopardy-esque video board that presents film clips, quotes from the films, books or other media, and even some Potter celebs asking questions. All the questions have multiple-choice options for the right answers. That format allows for playing at home, but it would have been fun to allow the contestants a lightning round or standalone round to highlight their solo knowledge. It’s a small quibble, but the multiple-choice format ultimately doesn’t allow for a lot of point disparity between teams if one pulls ahead, which makes the last rounds less dynamic.
Overall, the rounds have a variety of unexpected elements that make for interesting challenges for even the smartest players on the teams. There’s some team strategy to make it interesting and even a few unexpected cameos, including one where I’ll just tease “Pop Pop!” and let you discover what that means for yourself. In the end, the winning House will move to the Finals, with the losing House going into a Wild Card round, which means wherever you’re personally sorted, you can continue to watch with some hope for where they end up.
Verdict
Harry Potter: Hogwarts Tournament of Houses is an entertaining, and sometimes challenging, celebration of all things Potter. The gameplay is a mash-up of Jeopardy and Family Feud with the random selection process of The Price is Right. Mirren gives great Headmaster Host vibes even if the terminology seems slightly confusing to her. She’s still infinitely watchable, as is the series.
