Wednesdays, 9pm,
Dave and UKTV Play
I think Taskmaster‘s the only show we’ve bothered to give a show discussion post to seven different series now and here we are again as Rhod Gilbert, Kerry Godliman, Phil Wang, James Acaster and Jessica Knappett compete in ridiculous tasks over the next ten weeks.
In related news, Alex Horne did a very interesting Ask Me Anything on Reddit on Tuesday, including the revelation that We Need Answers might be due a comeback.
The Taskmaster book is out on Thursday 6th, £7.99 on Kindle and (right now) £9.35 hardback on Amazon.
Oh Dave have just tweeted the episode will be up on uktvplay at 9am tommorrow
My one word to look out for this series:
“Feelings”.
I am currently suffering from severe esprit de l’escalier as I realised that I’ve missed out on asking Alex about my crazy theory about Greg Rutherford, as previously discussed. Fingers crossed that Alex does do another AMA and I remember to ask him next time.
Unconnected thought: the next time I have some tedious work that I want to get other people to do for me, I will dress it up as a game show RUN-THROUGH and claim it to be a FUN TASK AND/OR CHALLENGE for which I will pay travel expenses. It’s almost surprising that nobody has tried to scam cheap labour that way yet…
I used to have a maths teacher that asked if we wanted to have a “quiz” or a “test”. They were the same thing, obviously.
Quiz sounds more fun than a test though.
That’s sort of the joke.
Don’t forget to include a well-known COMEDIAN.
That’d be me, obviously. I’m WELL-KNOWN.
First episode was easily good enough, much in a similar way to series six. No spoilers; the attempts at the tasks weren’t inspired but the humour was definitely there.
I’m quite annoyed with myself for missing the AMA, let’s hope he or Greg does another one some time soon.
Lots of interesting comments on the AMA – particularly that Alex seems to think that extending to 10 episodes improves the show, or words to that effect. Given that Dave is keeping him in work, you might guess he was unlikely to say anything to the contrary, but his answer did seem genuine. Personally Season 6 dragged, and the number of episodes may be a factor in that, and I never really wavered from my opinion that it was by far the weakest lineup so far. That said, there are a couple of series I could have easily watched more of, so swings and roundabouts. This series does look stronger though, Acaster alone assures me of that.
Wish I had seen the AMA too, I’ve always wanted to know more about the tiebreakers, given they aren’t that likely to be shown so I guess can’t be too interesting, but also need to have enough in the bank. I got tickets to one of the Taskmaster Book nights in Manchester next month, so hopefully a Q&A chance then.
Maybe he thinks 10 eps gives the show time to breathe. I’d personally would rather have 8 eps where you get 2 really good ones, 5 decent ones, and one clunker rather than 10 eps with no real bad eps but no really good eps either.
I thought it suffered when it went from 5 to 8, but actually the last series of 10 didn’t seem to drag as much. Guess it depends on who is in it.
I get the impression they film far more tasks than we see anyway so probably a case of less content making the cutting room floor.
FYI- Chase The Case starts September 17th
https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/proginfo/2018/38/chase-the-case
Ta.
100k Drop is looking for contestants again. https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/showbiz-tv/100k-drop-davina-mccall-brummie-15109667.amp
I thought this was a pretty fine opener all things considered, tasks were average to good but I’m really pleased the panel are pulling their weight in the studio – they all seem very competitive, and I like the fact they’re willing to answer back and argue amongst themselves – for me this is the essence of a good Taskmaster line-up. And everyone is bringing something to the table.
Good stuff!
2nd episode is up on uktvplay
Box tower thoughts, I wonder if this would be allowed (the location suggests to me it may well have been intended):
Take two boxes, don’t assemble them. Instead, fold each in half and tape them together on one side.
Go over to the nearby tree that seemed to be suspiciously bare of branches on the lower side, wrap them around, tape on the near side.
Repeat, adding in each new layer at the *bottom* (so push the old stack up the tree, then fold the new one in).
The real question is whether James or Phil will end up being the buttmonkey this series, cause I’m really not sure after watching episode 2.
Liked seeing the house when it was snowing in episode two, felt a bit like a Christmas special (and in fact a proper Christmas special would be really good).
I found it greatly pleasing that the points for the prize task were awarded in ascending order from left to right, and then in the first round proper in descending order from right to left, leading to surely the first ever five-way tie in the scores.
Been watching the older series as I was a fool for not seeing them sooner and there was a five way tie after task 2 in series 3 or 2.
Still thoroughly enjoying this. I’m really warming to everyone. Jess and Kerry are fantastic; I wasn’t familiar with them beforehand but will be looking out for them in the future. Rhod Gilbert is playing in a way we haven’t seen before; it’s not about the winning, it’s about the taking Greg apart. James Acaster is surprisingly quick. I was hoping for a lot from Phil Wang and not getting it, but at least he’s trying things.
Episode five airs on Dave tomorrow, I think, but is up on UKTV Play. Didn’t someone have a story about Rhod Gilbert asking for them to be thrown out in episode five?
I think episode four of this series might be one of the best episodes they’ve ever made, for reasons I’ve forgotten since watching it.
I think it’s important that all the contestants are engaging with it with quite aggressively.
I think tonight’s (9pm) show contains one of the best twists ever.
I think this is really shaping up to be the best series they’ve done, fun tasks and crucially some really entertaining contestants.
Nine episodes have been released on UKTV Play and this is a fantastic series. It’s genuinely going to come down to the final episode which is great.
And will not be pushed online after Wednesday premier of episode 9.
Went to a Taskmaster book event at the comedy store in Manchester tonight. Very fun evening with a try out of a yet to be filmed Series 8 task. Some Q&A elements towards the end – most notable thing I can remember is that he isn’t keen to do Champion of Champions again. He said the show works better when everyone is “fresh” and doesn’t necessarily know how to work the show, so the specials felt a bit flat – wouldn’t agree myself but plenty in the room seemed to.
Met Alex and his was very nice as you’d expect. He answered my very dull question about tiebreaks, saying in a series of 10 they film five, but he doesn’t know which ones will come out of the bag until they are needed and it’s randomized.
English subbed Swedish ep:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rJFv4xeOVM&feature=youtu.be
Unlisted, so share considerately.
Well, this series was fantastic. For it to all come down to one point and to have four people in with a shout of winning the series from this episode (James was tied with Rhod at one point) is amazing.
Tremendous episode, among their very best, to finish an excellent series. It wouldn’t come as a surprise if they loaded the best tasks into the first episode and the last episode, series after series. Delightful, deserving winner; I’m tempted to wonder whether Rhod might have won it if he hadn’t used the same gag over and over again in the prize tasks, but apparently not.
I was hoping for an explanation, or at least comment, about the way that everybody else wore a different outfit to each of the studio segments of the episodes but Rhod appeared to wear the same shirt over and over again… at least, until the last episode. Quite possibly he has a favourite shirt and many identical shirts of the same design, like Tom Scott.
Last episode of this was just terrific, loved the video game recreation task, and the tie-up/boiler suit task was just excellent, like a long form version of the exotic sandwich task. In many ways it’s a shame Rhod Gilbert didn’t win because I think he’s been the most surprising and inventive throughout, but can certainly live with Kerry Godliman and her Brig Bother style route one thinking.
I think this was probably the best cast of the seven series all told, could have watched ten more episodes with them. Really interested to see who they get for the two series next year.
I think it’s fair to say that our collective fears of stretching the run to 10 shows were unfounded, and it’s good to see them get the right combination of characters again after the somewhat less successful S6.