Weekdays, 2:15pm
BBC1
New daily afternoon quiz fronted by BBC Breakfast and sports host Dan Walker.
Five contestants and five cases, each with different amounts of cash. However nobody knows what’s in their own case, but by answering questions they can earn the right to find out what’s in somebody else’s. At the end of the show there’s a big quickfire case swapping finale. Who, if anyone, will leave with the jackpot case?
Watched it? Let us know what you think in the comments.
Hm. Dan Walker has almost no presence, the graphics are appalling, and as far as I can tell the terribly out-of-place post-game interviews appear to be filmed in front of a low-quality picture of a brick wall. The game just about held my attention, but at no point did I particularly care.
3/5 for the front door on the vault that was shown opening once and then amusingly ignored for the rest of the show.
It’s a bit convoluted, though the final game was fairly exciting today. Not essential viewing, but I could watch again.
sorta meh, but a couple of interesting ideas:
-5 contestants start. Before the show they were given one of 5 cases which have these amounts: 0,100,500,1000,5000
-The first four rounds are chances to get information about other people’s caes (they never look into their own).
-All questions in the first four rounds are descriptive questions (think $otC Fame Game)- each round is based on a category, but the question may not necessarily be based on it (fox example, in a category about drinks, one question described the island of Manhattan, not the drink Manhattan)
-First two players to three right get a chance to get information. The first player to get to three has a choice of two options- Peek into another players case, or pick a case and find out if their case is more or less than the chosen one. The 2nd player to get to 3 gets the other option.
-After four rounds, the final starts. All questions are from various subjects and standard-type on the buzzer (only acknowledged by name- no light).
-Correct answers move you forward one space on a four space track, incorrect knocks you out of the next question.
-On your 2nd, 3rd, and 4th correct answer, you can challenge someone for their case (but you don’t have to). Each player gets two questions, most correct win, a tie after two goes to sudden death. The loser’s case is out of the game, as is the player.
-To win, you either have to be the first player to get off the track (5 correct answers) or be the last player standing.
You can split any game show into 2 parts. The game (the rules and general format) and the show (music, set , host and other presentation stuff).I look at each part separately.
Game: I wasn’t completely sure I understood the rules at the start, but I got it fairly quickly. Not terribly broken, but not fun either. The contestants don’t look to be having too much fun either.
Show:The set is great l, especially as they were probably on an extremely tight budget. Jesus Christ, the graphics are ugly. Host is the very definition of competent. Why oh why are there post-game interviews here? They feel really old-fashioned and out of place , and the only show that did them right in my opinion is PokerFace. (Not even Weakest Link. I know, fight me.)
Overall opinion: It’s alright, but not exciting. I only watched to the end because it’s a new show. I can’t see this making a big dent in the ratings of whatever is on the other side at that time. I read somewhere that it’s already been commissioned for another series and I can’t really see why.
When they come to put “daytime quiz-based show” in the dictionary, I think they’re going to have a picture of “Chase the Case”.
Good to see the first round of Accumulate! make it to network television, the tenuous connections could be something they can work with. Liked the physical movement, too few shows use the players as their own tokens on the playing board.
There’s enough quiz to keep people happy, and just enough strategy to make it more than a quiz. Plenty of ways to mix up the game in the future, too.
But… it’s going to fall into the trap of “competent early afternoon show”, good enough that no-one minds it, uninspiring so no-one’s going to love it. I’m probably going to see two more episodes, and that will be enough.
The font for Chase the Case is just…terrible.
This is a curious beast and no mistake. Set and titles which suggest HARDCORE ESPIONAGE, font and sound effects that suggest lighthearted comedy romp. Not sure how impressed I should be with a vault that opens at the front but only at the top of the show, requiring everyone else to go through a door, somehow a set piece that’s both under and overworked. See also: Debs.
I think the Reconnaisance rounds are basically OK. Fair rate of questions which are well written.
The peeking in the cases aspect feels like something isn’t quite right, like the viewer is getting *too much* information – I get that it’s being drip fed through the rounds, but it means that the end reveal is a bit rubbish and not much of a mystery. Ooh what have you won? Well you and everybody watching knows already. Why would you ever choose More or Less when you can get certainty?
The end game was quite fun though, a sort of mixture between chicken and poker, giving me Breakaway vibes. There’s definitely something in it but I suspect it needs a bit more unpredictability.
Will need to see a few more episodes to see if things play out differently, but certainly initial reaction is of the ‘boringly competent’ variety.
Well the set probably cost less than the jackpot to knock together so that is something I guess – even the floor visibly wobbles as the contestants walk across it!
Dan Walker going through the motions of forgetting and opening cases a lot also wears off fast, why can’t he just be told through his earpiece?
It does need a few more episodes as today was a bit too one sided, as soon as you see the £5,000 you might as well go back to the green room until the final
To me yet another example of a show which would be ideal for a 30 minute slot, but adds nothing with the extra 15 minutes.
Well everyone has clearly come away as torn as I was after seeing this.
I found the reconnaissance rounds deeply boring, to be honest – and as I was only half-watching at the time, I didn’t entirely grasp everything that was going on. It’s asking quite a lot of the audience to be fully switched on for the duration, which doesn’t bode well for the ratings, I’d suggest.
The end game was entertaining, however – and I thought Dan Walker did an excellent job in charge of proceedings; his contestant chat is way more natural and unforced than the likes of, say, Sean Fletcher.
Presentationally, yes, there are issues – my biggest gripe was the music, which sounded like a Bontempi keyboard ripoff of every daytime quiz from the early 2000s. I also think if you’re going to have a quirky comic strip logo, you need to reflect that idea in your set in some way, rather than building No Win No Fee with some square floortiles and a soundproof booth.
But while there are redeemable bits of the show, I think I’d get tired of it pretty quickly – and that’s mainly down to the very low prize fund. The whole game revolves around small sums of money, giving a very ‘meh’ outcome – even when someone wins the jackpot.
Dan Walker is not right for this show at all. You need a host that is going to inject some excitement into this format. I also think the pacing of the show is a bit slow and wow those graphics look like something I did on a school project 20 years ago. Watched the first episode won’t be back.
This must be the dullest show I’ve seen in a long time.
It’s so middle of the road I struggled to get to the end of the episode.
Dire.
Is this more likely to end up in the Hall of Shame than the Hall of Fame then? 😉
I don’t hate this – in fact, I kind of enjoy it – but I honestly was expecting so much more…
Frankly.. this show needs to be redone.
What should be done is this in my opinion.
We start of by having the contestants introduced as normal, then as the game is started, each contestant is given one case to pick from a set of twenty cases. Inside the cases are cash values ranging from £100 to £10,000. No one knows how much their case is as they keep it on their podium.
We then step into the main game, 3 rounds are given to earn extra cases while the 4th round is used for stealing cases. In the first three rounds the first two to answer three correct get to add another case to their collection. In round 4 it’s a timed game where players get to steal cases from a player through the game. After round 4 ends the cases are then opened to reveal the combined cash each player can try to win. In round 5 it’s a dash for their cash, 5 questions is all it takes to leave with the cash however in the final round right answers advance you while wrong answers send you back. The player who makes it to their case first takes their pot and leaves victoriously.
I’ve watched all 4 episodes and still haven’t completely grasped the rules, probably because it’s not holding my attention. Dan’s OK and the questions are just the right level but the whole thing is quite boring and a bit
thrown together. I shan’t be bothering any more.
Very disappointing difficult to follow poor show will not be watching anymore
Steve
Some great tactics in today’s final as the best player knew he had the jackpot going into the final but challenged twice anyway, deliberately throwing the questions, to put the others off
Contrary to what seems to be the popular opinion, I enjoyed this quite a lot. The tactics involved are very interesting and I can’t help but feel that someone like the “I’ll pick Steal and we’ll split after the show” guy from Golden Balls will break the game with an ingenious tactic. Haven’t been this invested in a quiz show for quite a while. Deborah doesn’t add or take away anything. I would have called the rounds 1,2, 3, 4 and The Final. “The Reconnaissance” would be a better name for the show itself. Chase the Case sounds too similar to the Chase and I have a feeling that may have been intentional. All it does is confuse youtube into thinking I’m looking for the Chase when I search for episodes of this. The only problem I have with the format is that it gets lopsided because in the 2 episodes I’ve seen, It’s usually the same 2 people in the vault and at least one contestant is largely ignored. I can’t think of any way to fix this. (Perhaps have the worst player choose the category for the round?) I do like the question writing style but I feel that it would better suit a different show. What I did have a problem with was the aesthetic, namely the visuals and music. As Brig pointed out, the music suggests a hardcore espionage show, The font says comedy show. The font used does not fit at all, I know these are cliche but Impact or Eurostile would fit so much better. Secondly, the music. The theme song is fine but a retooling wouldn’t hurt. The music used in the quiz rounds is grating as the quiz round is lifted straight from The Edge (thankfully, the podiums don’t reset. would be unbearable if they did, I barely made it past the first quiz round, though I’m glad I stuck around) I quite like the music in the vault. Was music even present in the final? During some questions it seemed like there was, and some question there wasn’t. I really couldn’t tell. The presentation needs work but the game is strong enough that It outdoes the wonky presentation. 9/10 for me. I’d give this a daily watch if I didn’t live in the US where I have to hope that a kind soul will upload episodes.
Also, what are ratings like? I’d love to see this go long enough to get a Barnstorm app or board game.
Also, as stated above, It might be a good change to have all 5 contestants pick their cases from a wall of 20 each containing different amounts. Thus adding variety to each show.
Questions asked are answered by contestants in unbelievable quick times
Can’t help thinking first part of show is staged – to not overrun
Does not encourage audience participation
Will not continue to watch
Shame as good format and Dan is fab host
Common mistake in today’s episode.: Questions were Scottish related and one answer was Hadrian’s Wall which has nothing to to with Scotland! Contrary to popular belief it is NOT the border between England and Scotland and never has been. At one point it is 68 miles South of the border.
Debs makes the show.
They’re rerunning the show on BBC2, and my episode is on, bringing me back to this thread.
The show was super fun to film, great game to play while in studio.
I saw the show for the first time today, struggled with the concept to start with. For that reason I watched an episode on youtube. There were two differences that I still don’t follow. In the first episode on TV, in the final chase up the board. When one person challenged another the loser was then eliminated, and I understood that. When I watched the one on youtube I noticed that one lady challenged another lady and won. I was thinking then, that the lady that lost was out. Then to my amazement, the lady that lost was given another chance to challenge the lady that had won. This time, the lady that lost the first challenge now won and went thought. Can anyone shed any light on this for me please.