Sunday, 6pm,
ITV
Do yer remember Bullseye? Do yer? Do yer remember “stay out of the black and into the red, nothing in this game for two in a bed?” Do yer remember “iiiiiiinn one?” Do yer remember the speedboat? They were always giving away a speedboat weren’t they! Do yer remember that bit where they’d “check that with Bully?” Do yer? Do yer remember that? Do yer remember the Bendy Bully? Do yer remember getting yer BFH? Bus Fare Home? Do yer remember pounds for points? Do yer remember “the ones that are lit are the ones you can hit?” Do yer remember the “ooo-OHHH-eee-ooohhhh” sound when the board revolved? Do yer? Do yer?
Let us know what you thought about the Xmas Special in the comments below!
I’m just hoping they bring back the rule where the low scoring team is eliminated after Round 1. Not having it takes the drama out of the first round and makes the second round cluttered
If they want it to be an hour they’ve really got find a way to extend the game more naturally. Very very odd to have main game wrapped up by halfway mark and for so much of the second half to feel like fluff. Wouldn’t say it particularly dragged, but there’s only so many times you can cover the lack of content by shouting round names making Luke walk off and on (the poor boy, give him a chair or something). Game definitely needs rebalancing as well, far too much on offer in round one for there to be much chance of an upset in round two.
Freddie much better than I expected, suitably low-key in a pleasantly Jim Bowen way. The cheap applause cues detract a bit (come *on*, no one is that excited by the words ‘Pounds for Points”), but I’ll blame the producers for those.
Do yer remember “pounds for points”? Do yer?
Wasn’t sure on Freddie at first but actually he brings in a bit of Jim Bowen with his accent. Glad they kept the show pretty much identical to the original that has been a real let down on ITV with certain reboots as of recent (EG. Wheel Of Fortune, Jeopardy) The fact that they had all the classic rounds really stood out as a positive bringing the nostalgia back to our screens but keeping it fresh for newer viewers. Defo deserves a slot in the Saturday or Sunday night schedule as a full series from the reactions i’ve seen online so far it appears people enjoyed it. This and You Bet! which also also needs a full series run back to back would work a treat. Had a fun night chilling on the sofa with quality programs like these.
Brig absolutely nailed it with his preamble, given how pointedly heavy on nostalgia and references this was. In fact you could say… he scored a bullseye.
Not a bad effort at all – Flintoff fits the format perfectly. They overused Luke Littler and whenever they did it dragged, but always enjoy a game of Round the Clock and that’s more tense TV than just scoring 301.
Of course all ITV shows suffer from being 30 minutes dragged to 60 but this got away with it more than most. Do feel the Pounds for Points round could be fleshed out by having all scores count rather than just the highest so you have nine questions rather than three. Format wise though the Luke Littler throw at the end of it made the entire round redundant, although of course the beauty of the Bullseye format is that the second placed team can end up playing for the star prize.
I liked the shirts that the darts players were wearing, and a bit of thought had clearly gone in to turning a half-hour show into a full-hour one… and if it weren’t Christmas, I’d say what I thought of the rest of the hour.
Just going through my notes:
* Goodness me, those titles are low effort aren’t they.
* The contestant interviews are amusingly perfunctory. I don’t want life stories, but you could probably ask questions plural.
* Flintoff actually suits the show quite well, even if he’s not quite a natural host, his banter is quite funny and he feels authentic. His jokes with Richard a bit obvious but not much different from Bowen/Green double-handers.
* At first I wondered how they were going to stretch it to an hour, it turns out the answer is extended bits of applause.
* I’m always a bit worried with Bullseye in that the stakes haven’t really been raised since 1984. Here the category board has been raised *a bit* – £50/100/150/250 and questions worth £50/50/100, up from the old £30/50/100/200 and £30/50/100 questions. Fine. Except…
* …Pounds for Points, already usually a bit underwhelming, now a complete waste of time. Three rounds of darts and if you’re lucky a question worth about £12. Through luck or design the numbers just about worked in 1980s stakes, it was usually close enough that this could make a difference. Now the round is so low stakes it’s a complete waste of time. The Luke Littler Golden Snitch not even being enough for the last placed team to catch-up.
* Hate the buzz-in sound, unnecessarily strong. It’s a pity they spent to much on the constant Bully putting his thumbs up animations they couldn’t afford proper titles isn’t it.
* I quite liked the Fred and Luke Round the Clock challenge. Of course not having a clock on screen with a timed challenge is a pet hate.
* Alright, We’ve Got A Luke Littler And We’re Gonna Use It, his inclusion on Bully’s Prize Board is unnecessary.
* Keep the sad music going through the credits! Come on.
I think there’s a *serviceable* 45 minute show there, but you’ve had Luke Littler on, what are you going to do now? Do you think other professionals coming on and weaving themselves in many of the rounds is going to have the same appeal? Are you going to make Flintoff and whoever do Round the Clock every week? Now you’ve done your “do yer remember Pounds for Points? Do yer remember the speedboat?” schtick, now what? Evidently they’re fully expecting to go to series (although it’s a bit weird putting it on and there being no adverts other than promos during it, might as well have been a repeat of Celebrity Catchphrase), now how are you going to fill the inevitable 60 minutes?