TV Zone reporting Bullseye returning with Freddie Flintoff at the helm with a one-off Christmas special, but they’re never really one-off specials are they? I kind of wish they’d just leave it alone, it’s cult status derived almost entirely from its original point in history and people involved.
But let’s go wild, darts is extremely popular, why shouldn’t it work as a show on its own merits in 2024? Whenever they’ve bought it back for Gameshow Marathon or Epic Gameshow (and, indeed Challenge TV with Dave Spikey) they’ve stuck pretty rigidly to the points and prize structures of the 1980s (although see Daniel Hurst in the comments). As a game played for points, Bullseye ‘works’ fine. Are people really going to be excited by people answering a question for about £34 in 2024 for a show standing on its own merits? It feels unlikely.
Everyone is going “but look… Luke Littler!” and yes, Luke Littler. But unless they’ve changed the format so it’s a quizzing celebrity paired up with a famous darts player Big Break style, he’ll only be on for two minutes throwing for charity (possibly winning a whopping £600+), and then so what really? But what if they do change the format up so it’s a quizzer and a professional? Well that’s already been done when it was used for Gameshow Marathon, and the professionals just hit the Bullseye all the time anyway so it wasn’t actually that much fun. Anyway, Sky’s One Hundred and Eighty was a perfectly serviceable quiz darts format that did exactly this, and was also hosted by Flintoff anyway.
How are you going to get an hour out of it? Epic Gameshow played round one twice and had an endgame that lasted 15-20 minutes. Fine, but it never hit the same as 101 or more in six darts, let’s have a look at what you could have won, did it?
Basically you’d need to change everything to make it worthwhile in 2024, and if you’ve changed everything then you’ve just got a new show but with a cartoon bull that can wander across the screen occasionally. Is that what people want? I guess we’ll be finding out soon enough. Besides, it should be Peter Kay for Bullseye, Freddie Flintoff ought to be rebooting The Indoor League.
“They” should just do a Bullseye FAST Channel, but that’d probably sink Challenge, so.
Edit: Apply if you want.
Peter Kay would never do it obviously, but I would have thought Paddy or Jason Manford would have been ahead of Flintoff for this.
Why they are doing this I don’t know, but it backs up what the news in Stool Pigeon said about ITV only wanting legacy formats.
Epic Gameshow didn’t stick completely to the scoring system. They slightly increased the amounts on the category board and they had double and triple money rounds in Pounds for Points, I think.
Fair.
Had a feeling this was coming.
I know it’s different from the Bar view but I’ve always felt Bullseye is genuinely compelling format beyond the well-worn jokes. The original was lightning in the bottle but there’s something fundamentally watchable about it, much like Tipping Point or Deal. It doesn’t hurt that it is fundamentally a proper game show format rather than just an excuse for light entertainment, unlike other big shows of its time like The Generation Game or Strike It Lucky. I feel similarly about Big Break, despite fewer jokes at its expense, which I can also see getting a revival one day.
There’s definitely a tricky balance to be had between modernising, retaining the spirit of the format and not drenching it with tedious nostalgia and irony which will tire quickly, especially if this becomes a series. I didn’t hate the Game Show Marathon version despite Alan Carr being an odd fit.
Flintoff is an interesting choice as the requisite northern host, especially as Manford feels like a perfect fit. I’ve never really had Flintoff down as a chatty game show host, perhaps unfairly.
I *like* Bullseye, but you’ve still got to get a compelling hour out of it for today’s marketplace. The original is a *tight* 30 minutes. People will watch a one-off, but I think a series will struggle.
The application suggests it’s very much not going to be Big Break style.
I would prefer to see something new but can’t blame ITV (or the BBC for that matter who’ve brought back Gladiators, Blankety Blank, Weakest Link) for rebooting another show. Most new shows aren’t landing. I don’t think that’s all to do with the marketplace being so competitive but that the shows themselves aren’t good enough.
It’s interesting that the definition of a proper gameshow format is raised further up when the creators of new shows would probably see Bullseye as stupid and themselves as proper but they don’t have what Bullseye has. Everyone can wax lyrical about the theme tune, speedboats, Bully, the catchphrases etc but most new shows have one objective – contestants win money or they don’t. No going home with crap prizes, no gambles, no luck involved apart from knowing the answers to questions. Just cookie-cutter, industry standard production. How is that unique (particularly nowadays)?