Edit: Thanks to Nico W for the tip off, German show Cash Crash (being piloted in the US for Fox as Don’t Drop the Cash IIRC) starts 8:15pm UK time tonight on RTL. In it people try and keep hold of cash as they go through obstacle courses. If you watch let us know what you think, regrettably I’m elsewhere tonight. I have already decided a UK version of the show under the title Dale Winton’s Cash and Carry would be massive.
Do you like it deep? Well that’s GREAT, because it’s the first deepstack tournament of the 2013 BSOP Sunday at 8pm. $10+1 to play and open to anyone regardless of talent or league ambition. Top player/players get paid. Come and join the “fun”!
Also it sounds like Louis Murphy is back with a new computer, and a new episode of Fifty 50 Show is being threatened on Monday. He is looking for guests for a Sunday record, to have a word with him on Twitter @Fifty50show.
Meanwhile it sounds like Bother’s Bar non-favourite The Money Pump is being piloted in the US. We don’t think that much of the Israeli original but Buzzerblog points out that it turns out the original pilot did indeed have a proper physical setpiece. Although by the looks of things it still doesn’t pump so much as just blow the money round a central tube:
And for comparison, the new and improved pitch film (I am proud to have invented the term “pitch film”, I meant “sizzler” but I had a mental block once).
We discuss the original Israeli show here. ITV Studios have bought the international rights, for whatever reason.
Another show that will be piloted by US television (Fox) is “Cash Crash”. The show is a German invention (they claim, I think) and its first episode will be broadcast today at 21:15/ in your time 20:15 on RTL. It’s hosted by Daniel Hartwich and it’s about carrying 500.000€ in cash across some obstacles in various rounds. The team will keep all the money they don’t drop. (In the UK it should be called “(Not a) half a million pound drop” 😉 )
Ah, yes that’s being piloted as Don’t Drop the Cash with Mark Walberg, IIRC. Thanks.
Why is this being piloted in the US? American audiences trend towards disliking the “Watch people lose money” formula.
Cash Crash is actually ok. Needs a little more pace. Game ideas are pretty good. Daniel Hartwich (or as I call him Mr. RTL) is as good as you would expect.
For me, the only problem is that it’s got ‘pilot and no more’ written all over it.
Small FYI, Rasb’s Wok WM (11th year amazingly) is on tomorrow. The qualifying is tonight and started at 9.05pm our time. To let you know, Blue (the band that is) are representing the UK in the Team-Wok event. They’re really going places. 😉
I think Cash Crash is surprisingly boring. I agree with James, it needs more pace. The ideas for the games are actually not bad either, but the time limits don’t seem like they have ever tried the games themself. Sometimes they got too much time, sometimes they don’t have any time at all… I won’t watch it again unless it had a great end game, but it doesn’t seem to have any direction right now (and there are only ten minutes remaining)…
Okay, the end game was great. Everyone of the team wore a different weird costume and they had to catch as much money that fell from the ceiling as they could. Very funny, hope you will be able to find a video of this.
The end game was great, one of a few comedy moments (that and the beer goggles game). They started the end game with just short of €200k, but walked away with €43k, which is shared between the team of 4 people.
With some serious reformatting, this show could be quite good. It’s made by ‘Shine Germany’, and is an original format. I read an interview with RTL’s entertainment head, where he said that it was one of a few new formats created by German producers. He believes that the international television market should be tuning into what’s going on in Germany, and in fairness he has a point.
Thoughts, not terribly organised:
I agree that there’s some great ideas for games that nevertheless didn’t quite work; I loved the premise of the Newton’s Cradle one, but there was way too much time with them dangling trying to regain momentum. The tray game was hard to pick up from the explanations, easier to see in action, and quite a good little balance task once I understood it. That said, I wasn’t quite sure what the belts they were being restricted with were doing – electric shocks?
It suffers a bit from a lack of a climax, really. There’s a final game, and after that, they’ve won some money. And given the nature of that last game, it’s significantly less than the amount they came into it with, so the climax of the show is them getting enthusiastic about a number that is suddenly *much* lower than previous numbers; it doesn’t quite work.
The final round reminded me of Grab a Grand in later years when they’d play it in the entire studio. I think it didn’t quite work in the context of the other games; the other games were taken seriously, even though there were hints of silliness, while the last one felt like it was played completely for laughs; if you like, the rest of the show was Friends Like These, the last game was It’s A Knockout.
I liked the vaguely sale-of-the-century ‘buy a tool to help you in the next game’ feature, and it seemed to be handled in a nicely tongue-in-cheek fashion, particularly in light of the ridiculous pricetag applied to mundane objects. That said, I’m not sure the pricetags were pitched very well; When you’re waving around 500,000 at the start of the show and the tools max out at 2,000, they do seem rather a no-brainer. It does feel like that’s why they added a ‘you can only use three across the show’, with *that* being the real limiting factor, while the pricetag is simply for flavour. I’d suggest dropping the three-joker limit, but make the pricetags meaningful. That said, having the host wander over and take the cost of the item directly out of their stash was quite a nice touch to emphasise the fact that they’re working with real money.
I think one thing the show would benefit from is better feeling of progression and movement towards a final goal, because at the moment there’s not a lot of sense of how many trials you have still to come. A graphical ‘map’ of the journey from A to B with each game represented by an icon, something like that.
Oh, one other thing; given the nature of the game, an awful lot of game time is taken up by people basically arranging money in neat piles as rapidly as possible, it’s often quite a long time – in the context of a 150-second game – before we actually see the first attempt at the task take place
Cash Crash wasn’t bad. The last game was kind of a joke. Not exciting, chaotic and it felt a bit like RTL only wanted to take away as much money from them as possible. The entire show just pales in comparison with classic programs like “Die 100.000 Mark Show”. That one was for a lot less money but still the scale of it all was much bigger. The studio was huge and the games more original.
Ever since Millionaire came along, game show pay-offs have gotten bigger and bigger while the sets are stingier than ever.
In conclusion, the show is solid. The host, the studio, the games, all okay, but not spectacular. I’d watch it if I came across it by accident but for me it’s not “mark your calendar”-television.
Cash Crash.
Four security guards bring in a perspex case containing €500,000 in bundles of varied amounts, €500, €1,000, €2,000 etc… There are a team of four friends. As stated in the advert, teamwork is key in this game. All the games apart from the finale all have the same objective. Simply transport the cash from one case to another in the allotted time via the use of a relay. Any cash that land on the ground or fail to land in the end case when time expires is removed from the total.
Before each game the host offers the team an item to help them transport the case at a price. They can do this up to three games.
After each game ends an adjudicator counts the cash and reveal the remaining amount.
Game 1
A pool of bubbling green goo is used. For those who know the walking on custard theory on Brainiac. If you keep walking then you will not sink. Stay still and you will sick to the bottom of the pool. Two people have to stand in the pool with the other two standing outside. They can buy a silver platter for €500.
Game 2
Bundles of money are placed on top of poles of varying height. One at a time each team member must collect the money without dropping it and place it in the case. However, each person wears specialised goggles that makes their vision blurred. The person collecting the money wears the goggles whilst the other three are directing them. They can buy a shopping trolley (one mainly used by the elderly) for €500.
Game 3
Three people are strapped to bungees on separate spinning turntables. The first person transports the cash to the first one on the turntable and pass it to the next etc… They can buy a Tupperware box for €1,000
Game 4
The cash needs to be transported over an obstacle course via the use of serving trays, two at a time. First, the trays need to stand on two pillars then carried under a bar then over another bar and placed in the finishing case. All members of the team receives short electric shocks. They can buy a tray with handles for €1,000 but they get two. Buy one get one free.
Game 5
All members are hung upside down above the studio floor and have to pass the cash onto one another via the use of trapeze. Swinging in rhythm is key as you can get stuck. They can buy a small bucket, like one to build sandcastles for €2,000.
Game 6
A giant catapult is used. One person loads the catapult. They can use rubber bands to have more than one bundle together at no cost. The second person launches the catapult by jumping on it. The remaining two people are attached with bungles who has to catch the flying cash. They are allowed to use one net.
Grand Final
Any money left over is now split into individual notes. The team are wearing unique costumes. One person is wearing a sticky yellow raincoat with giant sticky gloves. One person is wearing a pair of baggy trousers. The other two are wearing giant funnels on their heads. One of them can use two nets. Any money they obtain without landing on the floor is theirs to keep.
That’s it really. The whole show lasted 75 minutes. The problem I have that with the production is too serious for a game with zero tension and jeopardy. Had it been in the style of Push the Button or even The Whole 19 Yards/17 Meter then it could’ve been better. They had a commentator in the style of Schlag den Raab but it was a run of the mill commentator. Not someone like Glenn Hugill.
No doubt it would be fun playing it for real with four friends but after the show I feel underwhelmed. It feels like one gigantic bonus game. The games are good but nothing brilliant.
I partly agree. I thought the set was quite impressive, and Heiko Wasser (RTL F1 commentator, I think it was him) was quite good.
At the start of each of the games, there was a little tension. I don’t think it could’ve been done like Whole 19 Yards/Push the Button because the games weren’t lightweight (if you know what I mean). They were games that shouldn’t be dressed up with bright lights and detailed sets. The simpler, the better.
You see that’s quite interesting because I didn’t think the set was overly serious at all, modern without being overly dark. Arena-like.
It’s on http://rtl-now.rtl.de/ although you will need some sort of German proxy or VPN connection.
Happily I have one, so I will watch in a bit.
Not sure if it is a last minute change or the Germans have a different end game, but the US/UK end game is radically different and involves the winning team deciding to play the final game or pass it to the losing team. If more than half the cash is lost before the game is over, team not playing wins it. If they win, they take home what they have left. US version for up to $250K
I see what everyone means about the commentary, it doesn’t feel like it has a connection to the action at all. He’s no Frank Buschmann!
I’m quite enjoying this, like a crazy studio version of Ton of Cash. However I’m also understanding the comment about the time limits seeming like the games haven’t been quite playtested, also intrigued to see what happens if the team have a complete nightmare early on.
Right, I dug that. I didn’t think it felt slow or dragged at all, the games were mainly very good, simple to understand but proper skill based and with lots of scope for strategy and tactics.
I think there needs to be more of a sense of immediacy with the money counting, a visual totaliser as they get the money in the case. The endgame is OK (they should all wear giant funnels I reckon), it probably goes on a bit too long for what it is.
Would watch again.
And yesterday the last episode of German Pointless adaptation “Null gewinnt” was broadcast. Unfortunately it didn’t manage to get great ratings throughout the season and is unlikely to be continued.
Oh that’s a shame, I think it did self-contained episodes quite well.
Cash Crash ratings. 3.40m (11.6%) total audience. 14-49 audience was 1.66m (15.2%). Pretty good ratings, did better than Shooting Stars last week (Shooting Stars is an adaptation of Born to Shine).
Thanks for that, I saw that on the RTL Now site and idly wondered.
Just a head’s-up that the Radio Times listing for the Comic Relief episode of Only Connect on March 11. The correct people are:
Charlie Higson, Rufus Hound and Susan Greenfield (neuroscientist) play Rosie Boycott, Bill Turnbull off of Breakfast and the (not unrelated) David Mitchell.
And the missing words were “is wrong”. Well done if you got that at home.