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Arts & Entertainment

TV's 'The Vineyard' Tries New Twist on Old Game

"EVERY SHIRTLESS SHOT = 4 PUSH-UPS," hollers the Facebook page for "The Vineyard," the ABC Family "coming-of-age docu-soap" that's been lathering up the screen since late July.

TV-watching games used to be about drinking — slugging back a beer every time someone said "Hi, Bob!" on one of Bob Newhart's shows, for instance.

There was also a way-too-complicated version dreamed up by the Yalies who created the "Complete Book of Beer Drinking Games" and its "Exploitative Sequel." This game involved MTV, back when it was still a music channel, and had many rules including "Everyone must drink when the Apollo rocket takes off and the little guy on the moon plants the MTV flag."

Fast-forward a generation and it's no longer about swilling flab-adding alcohol, but quite the reverse: The latest TV game on the entertainment scene demands push-ups, not elbow bends.

"EVERY SHIRTLESS SHOT = 4 PUSH-UPS," hollers the Facebook page for "The Vineyard," the ABC Family series that's been lathering up the screen since late July.

The show's "ABSOLUTELY AWESOME WORKOUT" could wind up burning almost as many calories as any old-school drinking game would have added: Martha's Vineyard Patch has painstakingly observed every minute of the first five episodes of "The Vineyard" and concluded that (male) shirtlessness is a recurrent leitmotif.

But add two ab crunches for every sleeveless shirt (male) and backless dress (female) and you've got a workout worthy of "The Vineyard," whose cast the Boston Globe's Matthew Gilbert called "mannequins on the beach."

If you've watched any of "The Vineyard," filmed on Martha's Vineyard in May and June, you'll know what he means. 

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