So this was spotted on The Artist Formerly Known As Twitter last night:

There has been no legitimate way to watch Survivor US in the UK since it launched, apart from the very first series being shown on Challenge TV back in the day. I mean, this obviously hasn’t stopped the diehards, but still.

Metro going with first pictures and a schedule date of October 23rd for Jeopardy. Interestingly none of the other TV news sites seem to have picked up on this and there’s nothing in the ITV Media Centre, so I don’t know if they’ve got a scoop or broken an embargo or what.

It is really weird to publicly have an airdate so far out and it gives us more questions than answers. We have it on reasonable authority that Deal or No Deal is a twenty episode run destined for the The Chase slot, so is this set to be a 1-2 replacing Tipping Point for a bit? Will this be going in the 5pm slot also with Deal following its run? You’re willing to gamble a 3.5m viewer show come November for that? We reckon, and this is baseless speculation based only on how crazy the strategy is given it still absolutely dominates the timeslot, that this is ITV making a powerplay on Potato to make The Chase a bit cheaper because they’ve got other things they could put in the slot, and it’s not like Potato have had much other success recently (we’re hoping The Finish Line is as good as the idea sounds) – I can’t help but think this might backfire a bit if this is the case though. Especially if it *does* go out at 4:00 and the BBC have a new series of The Travelling Auctioneers ready to go out.

I just don’t think Jeopardy as a ‘new’ concept offers much for modern audiences, especially at the stakes on offer (oh no, you’ve lost £25!). Also don’t forget you’re getting 1.5x the material of the US show, but 2-and-bit times the runtime, I think it’ll be a slog. On its side: Fry is a spectacular choice of host, and it’s right in the middle of Autumn season. On the other hand, if they’ve kept A and Q (and my understanding is they have), the audience is going to say ‘nah, fuck off.’

We’re thrilled we’re going to be able to test a hypothesis though as this is something we’ve long thought. Don’t be surprised if it gets a series two, because everything these days gets a series two, but I’m not holding my breath for anything further.

Meanwhile SRO have a placeholder advert for Wheel of Fortune which I understand will be filming in October – eight normal eps and two celeb specials, set to go out on weekends in Q1 2024 (I love SRO but I wish they’d update their website so I can link to things directly – it’s about a quarter of the way down the list of shows), it’s interesting that that and the original press release for the show make a big play of Graham Norton being there and no mention of a co-host/letter toucher. Would this be the first territory in the world not to have one? It’s another show I have my doubts about, despite the great and unusual choice of host, we’ll see.

This “dropped” very recently. Do you remember I Survived A Zombie Apocalypse on BBC3 with Greg James? Probably not, nobody watched it, but it was surprisingly dull for such a high-concept show.

Well now the Koreans have had a go on Netflix with Zombieverse. Is it better? It’s certainly a bit funnier, there’s quite a good mix of contestants but it’s clear there’s quite a mix “how seriously are we taking this?” from the involved celebs. I’m a couple of episodes in, about half of each episode is plan-making and arguing, the other half Metal Gear Solid-esque stealth escapades going out into the area to collect supplies/key items and that – the whole thing plays out very videogamey with item pop-ups, suspicion indicators above the zombies heads, “new zombie type” arrivals and the like. It can be tense and exciting, but maybe it got me in the wrong mood as I didn’t think it all that compelling. Similarly to ZombApoc, contestants can die by getting overwhelmed and bitten, but fans of seeing extras getting punched in the face are catered for.

You can watch it with subs and/or an English dub.

Always happy to plug anyone that plays along with #hostholdingaquestioncard, here’s Roman Kemp and Sarah Greene’s interpretation.

The Finish Line starts soon on BBC1 from the makers of The Chase. Do you remember Ejector Seat with Andi Peters? A really fun idea for a show that didn’t quite nail the execution? This appears to be exactly the opposite, instead of avoiding getting questions wrong to not make it to the end of a track, here you answer questions correctly to propel your chariot towards the finish line, inspired by those donkey derby machines you see at funfairs and the like. I love these machines, hope this is as fun.

Studio Lambert have just announced the OFFICIAL Traitors Puzzle book.

There’s an Amazon listing for a Traitors puzzle book, although it looks a bit different and the dates are all over the place so buyer beware. Edit Edit Edit: This one looks much better.

Edit: I don’t know when this came out but there’s already a new edition of the card game with some digital implementation.

Edit Edit: And here’s the board game out August 10th. Looks like a straight reskinning of an existing foreign version, which probably explains the prisoner’s dilemma endgame we have here.

The new Big Brother logo was revealed during the Love Island final last night. I wasn’t a great fan of it as a still, looks a bit cluttered, I think I like it a bit more when it’s animated. Anyway it’s supposedly coming for six weeks in October.