Sundays, 8:30am,
CITV
We’ve long thought some of the most fun ideas on telly are kids shows, Spy School is of interest as it’s from the team behind Fort Boyard: Ultimate Challenge, a fairly successful adaptation of Fort Boyard for a specifically kid’s market.
Spy School, led by Agents J and L, asks a team of two kids to complete a mission by disrupting the intentions of the evil Goldfist. This seems to involve doing a spy obstacle course in a warehouse (doing it within a time limit earn “hacks” – extra advantages in challenges to come), solving a load of puzzles at HQ with Agent J to give Agent L information out in the field then finally going out into the field to do a task of their own.
Really this sends out a lot of 90s kids show vibes – a bit Timebusters, a bit Swap Team, rather a lot of Mission: Pirattak – but that’s in a good way. The kids don’t seem to have to do a great deal, mind, except solve a couple of puzzles (which are quite inventively spun even if in episode one they were basically just touchscreen Mastermind and anagram solving), ending with a communication test at the Natural History Museum. I would suggest the time limits for most of the tasks seem a bit tight, especially the end one which they need to pass in order to “graduate”.
A fun enough way to spend 25 minutes though. Watched it? Let us know what you thought.
Interesting comment from a writer on Twitter, suggesting stuff’s been cut for time. Which I don’t usually have a problem with (I’m fine with elision for largely physical tasks) but definitely sets my alarm bells ringing a little when it comes to mental tasks (which I’m presuming is why the limits look quite tight) – we need some actuality to understand what the game is, whether in playing along we have the same conditions as the contestants, whether we should feel impressed with the performance or not. I find just throwing a clock up with 30 seconds left or whatever really frustrating in this regard because we don’t get a real measure as to whether the contestants are any good, only what the producer fancies us knowing.
It annoys me in Fort Boyard as well, but at least most of the events are governed by an actual real physical prop, regardless of what the graphics say.
This would have been the thing that I would have loved as a kid. Viewing it as a semi-adult, it’s quite good when you can tell it has a low budget. Liked the character of goldfist. I do wonder, if the show lasts until 2021, what will they use for their headquarters seeing as Big Ben is not going to be quiet forever.
I also like the fact that there are opportunities for different games each episode. It would be good to have variety. It’s also the kind of show where kids can be learning and not know that they’re learning which is the best kind IMO.
I say this is the best of all the new shows this weekend.
possibly the weirdest The Wall drop ever
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6ctour
Oh I hadn’t considered the possibility of the balls getting stuck.
Are there any innovations to Avanti un Altro this year? Enjoyed the first episode but didn’t look like much new.
Bonolis lampshaded it early, when he told the writers “you sure worked hard… there is nothing new!” 😀
A few new characters were named. Two were shown in the first episode, the Mayor and the Old Woman but they said there will be an Indignant and a (she) Ventriloquist.