Right, I’ve just watched the first episode of this blind to your comments (use this to talk about ep 2 if you like), here’s what I briefly think:
- It is so, so important for this sort of thing that people have to be able to buy into the set-up – if people don’t like the challenges, they can still end up quite liking the show. Unfortunately the world of The Door tries to be Twilight Zone-esque, but fails in that it’s not odd enough nor gritty enough. It looks and feels like it’s all being done in a big studio.
- The challenges are actually a bit dull to watch. They have nothing like the ingenuity of The Crystal Maze, involving as they do rummaging through lots of nasty things and little else. Admittedly the team-y bits at the beginning show some signs of thought (but once again, once the ‘trick’ was found it’s more rummaging through awful things), but as there’s no real sense of risk or jeopardy involved in these little teasers, all we’re left with a rather crap version of Now Get Out of That.
- The bit where Frankie Saturdays and Louisa Eastenders dueling to escape the first scenario was a bit odd, not really telegraphed before it happened and then for no particular reason some boxes and some more doors appeared. Consistency of setting is quite important in This Sort of Thing.
- Amanda Holden adds, quite literally, nothing to the show.
- Tomorrow night’s show is meant to be “more cerebral”, and in fact features a laser maze which has in fact never been done on television before, so good stuff there.
- Redd Pepper’s voiceover is really unnecessary and actually detracts from the show. But! Michael Underwood remains great value.
So… rather disappointing. So what did Estate of Panic have that people quite liked that The Door doesn’t? Well it all comes down to point one, doesn’t it really?
That and quite a clever game structure.
The Door: 3.6m and a 14.4% share according to the posted overnights.
Will be interesting to see how night two does with the Ant and Dec lead-in.
They have got the Ant & Dec series finale lead in but are up against Who Dares Wins. I have a feeling both might suffer as BBC have got a strong line up tonight with 10% New Total Wipeout, The Doctor, Over the Rainbow and Who Dares Wins.
You’re right about Amanda Holden, she did nothing to add to the show. Definitely a poor man’s Estate of Panic. Endemol should bring the format across and use Maidstone’s huge studio to set up a false mansion or something.
No need, Endemol rented a large house in Argentina to do all the international versions. Of which there were, er, only Quebecoise by the looks of things.
Wow i was expecting it to rate better than that, even the show was not done to my taste.
I would have much rather that they just did Estate of Panic, surely it would have been cheaper to fly the celebs to the set rather than constructing one which is nowhere near as atmospheric. As Brig pointed out it still does feel studio esque rather than the feeling of being ……. wait a sec where are they supposed to be?
They were…
[REDD PEPPER] Behind… The DOOOOOOORRRRR [/REDD PEPPER]
Total wipeout had a prime example of why you shouldn’t be able to skip obstacles…
OK, The Door has massive Soundtrack Dissonance.
Chris Tarrant saying “The Door” in some stupid voice is doing my head in now…
What an amazing anti-climax.
SAUDI CUBE!!
http://www.youtube.com/user/falllawi#p/a/u/2/mlMpQVSSjPo
Thanks David
After some trial and error I have found a live TV feed to Saudi 1. Next question is to work out when the show is broadcasted.
http://www.saudi1.tv/alinks.aspx?id=2
Wiki says the first one was broadcast on Saudi TV on March 24th so that would suggest Wednesday nights.
And this website suggests 11.30pm (which would be 9.30pm our time).
http://www.ceholding.com/
Well, the second episode was better than the first, but only because of the Nuclear Reactor game…
…Which seemed to be a completely different ethos to the rest of the show, so… Uhh…?
Agreed, although I thought the second episode was just better generally, really. But still not what you’d call “great”.
Who Dares Wins this week…
(SPOILERS MAY FOLLOW)
Tex and Alison’s first challengers, Jamie and Mark, slipped up after just two answers on the first list, as neither of the two Oscar nominations that Cast Away received were for Best Picture. They did better on popular UK cities for international visitors – but fell one short when they found that Sheffield wasn’t in the top 20. (And Reading was…)
So, without having to give an answer, T & A got to play the money list again, and the knowledge they had of beer-drinking countries netted them a further £10k.
Their hugely entertaining run as champions wasn’t to last much longer, though. They had no trouble getting Britain’s six best-loved authors, but Ian Fleming wasn’t in the top 50. (The books are somewhat overlooked compared to the films, aren’t they?) And when the second list was revealed, and it was clear they had no knowledge of Oasis while Cassy and Clint had plenty of it, well, there really was only one outcome.
So, C & C took the crown, and proceeded to sweep a list of recurring Simpsons characters. Given what Clint wanted to do with any money he won, it’s no surprise that he was even more emotional than Alison was at the same point last week.
And to speak of Cassy, her name is actually quite appropriate, as (to me anyway) she doesn’t look all that dissimilar to Cascada’s Natalie Horler.
Two things.
1) It is only the second time a team won a match against their opponents by not playing any lists.
2) It is also the first time a winning team won £50K on their first attempt.
I must confess this series is replicating The Money List in the US, where there hasn’t been any consistancy for a team to win a good 3-4 games.
BBC would be mad not to comission a fourth series as 12Yard have got a strong two Lotto show combo for the Winter and Spring schedules.
Christian and Rob managed to win four games – although the first of these came at the end of the last series.
I agree that the Beeb would be mad not to commission a fourth series – not only is the show a ratings winner but it must also be less expensive than the likes of Winning Lines or 1 vs 100. But, I’ve said this several times before, they can make some funny decisions sometimes…
Forget the Door, forget Estate of Panic.
Just bring back Fort Boyard or Crystal Maze. Problem solved.
And if they do, it probably won’t be as good as the old ones.
Crystal maze probably wouldn’t work without Richard O’Brien, but Fort Boyard would work just as well, and showed changes aren’t always a bad thing (5 keys instead of 4 made the programme much more enjoyable for me as teams struggled, but then I’m a bit of a game show sadist Also preferred Challenge’s presenters over Channel 5’s).
Oh, that hurts.
You can also bet it would feature celebs rather than real contestents.
So if Estate of Panic is all that, then why did it only get one series? And only one foreign version? FWIW, I liked it enough but at least on The Door you could follow the progress whereas dollar bills is a stupid idea because they all look the same so the progress has to be updated through those terrible ‘confessionals’.
I quite liked The Door, but I would argue neither host suited the format. I liked the idea of the corridor of doors, but the illusion is ruined by making it look like a TV studio not a fantasy place, which has also shattered when they showed all the backroom staff when Louisa quit.
Dunno, but I’m not sure what it could have done with a second series anyway – it was getting better ratings than Cha$e, a cursory glance at the internet suggests. It looks like it’s still repeated occasionally on SyFy and Chiller (you can still watch it on the SyFy site). Perhaps it was too expensive for the channel?
In fact, more Really Poor research suggests not to rule out a second series just yet…
>in fact features a laser maze which has in fact never been done on television before
In fact, I presume this was ironic, in fact?
Yes, in fact it was.
Wouldn’t the corridor of lasers in the Super Round on KF ’95 be considered some sort of a maze?
Or indeed Friends Like These, Crystal Maze, Big Brother et al.
Although the Crystal Maze ones were only lazers by name. They were ropes in actuality.
…Wasn’t the lines in the ‘maze that exists only on a computer screen’ game in Future Zone said to be done with lazers (Rather than, the actuality, of ‘cameras and a hat’) as well?
I think that was all infra red stuff as the lighting in the room changed once the contestant walked inside.
David is right in a way. I remember the spiders web being all ropes in but I cannot recall any game using actual lasers apart from the laser tag game (robot vs challenger) in series 2.
The lasers in the robot game were largely added on in post-production. Cameras can’t pick them up usually because their light is too polarised.
Just saw the first part of “The Cube” in its Saudi incarnation. It’s likely that there are a lot of Saudi expatriates in London. Both I and Chuckles Gardner (close friend) found it just as entertaining in the Arabic tongue. It works without knowing the language.
Here’s hoping that CBS greenlights the show for the USA. We’re waiting, having seen the six episodes that are offered on YouTube. (For some reason, the 8/29/09 show is not among them.)