Actually, possibly I should have started a new post for episode 3 after all that.
So I think it’s fair to say, the TV moment the entire show is based around is that of people losing a ton of cash on the final question and having their hopes and dreams dashed as a large amount of money slides down the chute. The only point in the show the money isn’t abstract and represents an actual amount of cash they can take home.
Well it’s happened now. And the question is: was it worth it?
I’m no particular advocate of having no sharp edges, and I don’t think the rules need to be rewritten by Americans to make it, eurgh, “nicer”. It is what it is. What it wasn’t was particularly gratifying, and to be honest I’m getting bored of the show now and all its faffing. What more does it have to offer?
It doesn’t really help that once you get over the novelty “ooh, we can only do this question LIVE!” element, the questions are a bit pub quiz machine-y, arent they?
And what are pub quiz machines intended to do? Produce no winners.
Or, OK, “produce many losers” might be more accurate and fair.
You’re obviously not as sadistic as I thought then Brig. It was the moment of the series so far, and arguably the gameshow moment of the year – though quite uncomfortable to watch. That doesn’t mean it shouldn’t happen though – is it really any more brutal than a 1p/Power of 5 situation on Deal when they play to the end . Well, yes probably – but I’m sure we’ll come immune to it if it happens enough.
It’s the first quiz show in ages which has got me watching – but of course much needs sorting should the show get a second run. I think the basic gameplay and concept should remain untouched (shows fall apart when they mess with that!), but the question difficulty level and basics like the size of the drop and how categories are chosen need addressing – although I don’t think the questions should strictly get more difficult throughout. It’s a good idea to throw an easy question in the middle somewhere by which point contestants are probably doubting their own name.
P.S. Did we decide whether or not this was the biggest loss in gameshow history, or would we say people answering the £1m question on Millionaire are effectively losing £968,000 rather than £468,000?
Probably the biggest all or nothing loss though.
Well I love the idea that I’m sadistic.
Time to scrap those “Million Pound Flop” headlines I suspect – last nights show up to 2.4m, peaking at 2.7m.
I’d just like to repeat my pre-series prediction:
“I predict 2-2.5m viewers, rising to 3m by midweek (initial excitement and word of mouth), dropping back down to 2m or less by the end of the run (it’s a bit slow, it’s got irritating contestants and nobody wins very much). What say you?”
It’s looking good so far!
Although I suspect C4 will be over the moon with that.
In fact I would think that if it stays above 1.5 million they will recommission it within weeks. Not sure what the slot average is, but I suspect 2 million-ish is almost double it. All three episodes of MPD would have got in C4’s top ten shows for the latest week data is available – and that’s comparing MPD’s overnights with proper ‘consolidated’ figures.
I’ll be interested to see how it fares against the Eurovision on Saturday.
And Britain’s Got More Talent shouldn’t be underestimated either. Would have been better to run Sun-Fri really, or just over five days.
I’ll be annoyed though if C4 don’t recommission, claiming ratings didn’t meet expectations. I think for all of us it’s very much met our expectations of what it can achieve in the 10pm slot – the question is when it returns should C4 keel it as a 10pm thing or move it to 9pm in search of a wider audience, but risk losing viewers in the more competitive slot.
You might be annoyed by C4 when they don’t recommission it, but it’s plainly obvious ratings haven’t matched their expectation. C4 advertised the show a lot and they would’ve been expecting 3m+. It’s getting less ratings than the dying Big Brother FGS and Come Dine with Me usually does as well if not better. No way will this get another series.
Lol 1m lost on a single question on Q1 lol
Wow, those are terrible ratings :(. Only 2.4m and that’s the highest so far, that’s less than what BB was getting last year and that got axed. I was enjoying this show but it’ll probably only be for one series unless tonight’s show sees a major improvement in the audience figures. I’m shocked at how bad those ratings are!
I’ve decided that the absolute worst thing about this show is not the format, or even the staging (following the tweaks) – but the questions.
Through the decreasing number of answer options (along with the ‘leave a drop free’ rule) – a player in theory has 3/4, then 2/3, the 1/2 chances of taking through some money on each question. In other words; it gets harder. That’s fair enough. Lots of quizzes do.
But if the formatting naturally makes the show progressively more difficult – then it seems unsporting to make such a huge jump in question difficulty too. Last night’s 8th question was a straight 50/50 gamble dressed up as general knowledge. It wasn’t even ‘trivia’. The two events were seperated by 12 months. Ozzy getting married was not at the time ‘an event’, even if you lived through it.
In single player games (which this game is, despite them playing together as couples) the game itself effectively becomes the players ‘opponent’. And just when two members of the public are facing off against eachother – when the odds are so heavily stacked in favour of one opponent (in this case; the game itself) – it leaves a bad taste in the mouth. I’ve always respected Millionaire for their ‘no trick questions’ policy.
Apart from this gripe – an alarming number of the other questions are varying degrees of dull and pointless. The live questions are particularly redundant. Knowing full well that the contestants haven’t been able to watch the last ad break; the Sarah Jessica-Parker question may as well have been worded; “Which of these films start Sarah Jessica-Parker’. The ‘liveness’ was a totally pointless conceit.
Why are well over half the questions chronology sequence based? And why do they come one after the other? If it’s an intentional aim of the format – then why not flag it up? Why not have all the questions sequence based? They aren’t hard to write. The way it is just makes it look like unimaginative question writing. Like a half idea not fully seen through.
And in the first question of Thursday’s show, there was a typo on the weather question.
One option had DEGRESS written instead of DEGREES. Sigh.
seem to be doing well so far- they got this one right (41 years since man was on the moon- dialing code for UK is 44)
The standard of quzzing tonight is terrible.
Some of these contestants must be actors surely!! Some of them seem too fake
Maybe it’s all an illusion and they are all the new Big Brother housemates???
Have they just plucked this crazy woman on her own out the audience? I know they didn’t say they had but i have a feeling they did.
The applications said you can either apply as a pair or on your own. So that is that box ticked.
The questions are much easier tonight – got every single one right
me too
Has there ever been a question about gay porn on a UK gameshow before? I think that might’ve been a first!
And now this poor woman’s made the Million Pound Drop quite literally happen. Nice job.
Ouch, they lost a million pounds on one question!!! That must hurt!
And twice in a row!!
I must confess I was so twisted/sadistic with tonight’s show, actually wanting the producers to open all the three trapdoors on the Bond question “open all three I want to see quick pain”
Then again I have had a drink…
Yes, I applaud the director for that – it says a lot that that was probably the ‘best’ moment of the show, watching £1million cascade down that transparent plastic funnel…
I am SO happy to know that I’m not alone in this! I actually laughed out loud and threw my hands in the air. That moment was truly awesome.
I think the justification I had was that, like yesterday, if they were correct, they would only have a third of the potential prize to play with on the next show… and like many of us said before, who wants to tune in tomorrow to see that? So when I saw all three zones open, I was absolutely elated. Quite an amazing chaser to the depressing 525k drop.
Now it’s clear (and has been clear for a while) that no one is going to win ANYTHING from this show, I’m actually finding the losing part quite hilarious now! Tonight was classically awful, i mean we saw a total of £3,375,000 go down the chute I think (was it 4 sets of contestants… such a turnaround it became a blur), that’s gotta be the most effectively ‘lost’ in a hour’s TV!
Tonight was so bad that I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s NOT on tomorrow…! It was real car crash TV tonight, as the questions were a lot easier so you could see the disaster coming!
Why aren’t they picking any contestants aged over 30? It’s so unfair!
They are, some contestants earlier this week are in their early/mid-30s,
As I said on Tuesday, I’d bet they will not select ANYONE aged 40 or above. It’s basically the same selection process as 24 Hour Quiz.
Because they’re trying to save money, of course!
And trying to avoid getting commissioned for a second series…