On Netflix tomorrow (the 26th), four episodes this week, five the next Tuesday, three the following to finish.
To say we’re excited is an understatement, there have been two shows in the past decade that constantly had me thinking “this BLOODY show” – in a good way. The first is De Mol – the full fat Flemish one, the other is The Genius, both share common elements: smart challenges, an understanding of light and shade, fun contestants and really, really good editing.
And this is, to all intents and purposes, The Genius Mk 2. Largely the same production team, similar games of strategy and betrayal. When De Mol originally finished they decided to end on a high, and since it came back it’s been spectacular, not a duff series amongst them. The Genius similarly ended on a high. It’s been off almost ten years, could this be similar?
Of course it might be rubbish!
That’s just over £300,000 in case you were wondering.
Very similar graphics to the original, the set has all sorts of rooms for people to strategize in, we know at least one of the dealers is the same and towards the end it seems to be building up to an electrostomper of a soundtrack (Idiotape are very much still going and just released a new single last week but I don’t know if they’re involved here). Is there something special about the Pieces given their unusual design? Is there a potential strategy in using your currency to buy advantages to go bust in the expectation you’ll end up winning loads by the end of the game? Already stuff to think about.
My only worry right now is that Millennial In A Hoodie isn’t as good as Bandage Man, but we’ll see.
We know The Genius has been a difficult sell, if this is as good or at least on a level, hopefully it will make this sort of thing a bit of an easier sell if it’s seen to be popular.
I have started episodic discussions of it in #geniuschat on our Discord server.
In other news, thanks to an anonymous contributor for a report on tonight’s Pyramid pilot recording, apparently hosted by… Jane McDonald.
Yeeeessssss this is good! Although having a first Main Match with what felt like a five minute explanation is certainly a choice.
Suggestion here it’s doing well: https://www.pinkvilla.com/entertainment/seventeens-seungkwan-and-lee-si-wons-the-devils-plan-claims-3rd-spot-in-global-top-10-non-english-tv-shows-1248147
Don’t think there’s been a great deal of cut-through in the West, certainly not compared to Physical 100 I think, but as long as it’s doing well enough to make more that’s what matters.
This seems to have been doing well – first week 3rd in non-English on Netflix, week two 6th, 14.7m hours viewed, #1 in South Korea, Top Ten in big Asian markets and also, for some reason, Morocco.
The making of The Devil’s Plan titles: https://www.behance.net/gallery/181506233/The-Devils-Plan