Wednesdays, 9pm
Dave (also UKTV Play)
It says something about a show that we’re willing to put up a show discussion post every time a new series comes up, but there’s usually so much to comment on regarding Taskmaster it seems the best way really.
So here we are again. The victims for season six are:
- Alice Levine!
- Asim Chaudry!
- Russell Howard!
- Tim Vine!
- Liza Tarbuck!
I reckon Howard will be the one Davies tends to pick on, Tim Vine will do well in most of the objectively judged tasks and Liza Tarbuck will end up winning. Levine and Chaudry are unknown quantities for me in this regard (although I can at least say I liked Alice on Big Brother’s Bit On The Side years ago)
The show has gone from a tight six episode run to a slightly flabbier eight episode run to a supersized ten episode run. We felt the hit rate for tasks for the recent runs was a bit lower (although to be clear the show was still entertaining) so we at least hope there’s not too much filler across the next ten weeks. And there are three more series of ten to come.
10 episodes is a hell of a run, I’ll settle for two “hit” tasks for three “not so-hit” tasks a week with that rate. Although even when the tasks are duds Greg & Alex bantering makes it enjoyable nonetheless.
Gut feeling on the finishing order:
– Liza Tarbuck
– Alice Levine
– Tim Vine
– Russell Howard
– Asim Chaudry
Well, not a week ahead, but “tonight’s” episode is already up on UKTV Play.
Do worry as well that the longer run will see the barrel being scraped in terms of who they sign up.
Ratings are interesting – Dave’s number one show when it’s airing but rarely topped 800k in the 28 day viewing window. Might do well On Demand but I just assumed it was doing better than that and closer to 800k in the overnights.
Decent enough first show but think nostalgia is already ruining it. You expect every task to be a Throw the Potato in the Hole but of course they’re not.
Next week’s episode has gone up too, so there we go.
But more importantly, the outtakes are back on the UKTV YouTube channel too, hurrah.
Hmmmmm… got to say I didn’t love it last night. The studio task at the end was great but the regular tasks were pretty poor. Liza couldn’t really be arsed and not in a funny way, Asim wasn’t great, Tim’s outfit was annoying. I don’t think this is going to be a classic series.
I’m sure I have my reservations occasionally about the cast every series, but 10 episodes is a lot with a cast where only two are stand up comedians and only one of those has done the panel show rounds. Taskmaster is a slightly different beast for sure, but episode one didn’t do anything to quell my fears. Asim is the main one that seems a bit uninspiring at the moment and I’ve never really seen him in anything as himself. Mind you I had never heard of Lolly from a few series ago and she was a delight. Hoping it starts to gel more Episode 2
It does feel a bit like the show is starting to get a bit too knowing, not so much from the task design (I thought the lemon tower task was pretty great) but the studio stuff and way everyone is approaching tasks feels like it’s starting to lose a bit of the magic.
For the unknowns I was surprised how much I quite enjoyed Alice and Asim (in fact I’m now resolutely Team Alice). The only one who didn’t click for me is Russell Howard who seems to be trying to portray someone who is frankly above all this, but apparently not in a way that’s entertaining or hugely convincing.
Funnily enough I thought it was a pretty decent opener, the wheelbarrow stunt one was quite funny, Tower of Lemons and Wardrobe Orienteering pretty classic Taskmaster. I’m happy if the final task now has disqualifications as a permanent addition, widens end potential. Never a fan of Greg splitting the points, you have one job man!
I think the innocence going is definitely a thing, and then you risk becoming just another panel show. It’s quite difficult I think to get the balance between writing the task so that the contestants do it in the spirit of the game but allowing enough room for outside the box thinking. Really you need elegant ways to rule out the obvious hacks.
Yeah, Russell is potentially not gel-ing particularly well, hopefully he evens out soon enough.
Yeah, I wonder if people not being aware of her may underestimate her. She’s not traditionally a comedian, but in a similar way to Osman is very smart and has a very quick wit, really holds her own in interviews and conversational comedy things. Definitely one to watch for doing well.
Episode 2: The Darts task might be a new favourite of mine. So simple, so effective.
Well, I did predict Liza Tarbuck’s not putting up with nonsense approach would probably win…
So, er, did no-one else spot the extra envelopes in the background of the “What do we have in common?” task? I wonder what was in them?
Oh, yes, I noticed them at the time. In the end I assumed it was a bit of Taskmaster-y decor for the pub set, but it’s possible there’s something to it beyond that.