Yes, as Brig says I do work in telly (and yes, I co-created Colour of Money – sorry about that). To clarify, I’ve heard “through the grapevine” that it’s not coming back, not from any horse’s mouth, so maybe I’m being lied to. Not sure why, if it’s true, I would guess that the ratings were only ‘OK’ when weighed against the budget (see also: Beat the Star).
P.S. The results of the survey will be done soon. This week has been quite busy due to Magic Numbers starting and a few pitches to get stuff ready for, should be finished next week at the latest.
Gary
On a related topic, 1 vs 100 will not be coming back for a 3rd run. @1vs100LIVEUK just confirmed that on Twitter
I actually know one of the guys who beat the 100 (I saw it myself!), it took several weeks of pestering several months after the event to get the holiday voucher he won. Really quite poor.
Joe
Hopefully it doesn’t come back. The new version was too dumbed down to suit ITV’s audiences. Give it to the BBC and it’ll return back to form and we can have more rounds!
I just assume he’s bemoaning the lack of intelligence round in the 2010 series…
(Personally I’d criticize the 09 series for weighing too much towards mental over physical (rather than the ~66/33 split it had an ~80/20 split, the 2010 series meanwhile had an ~75/25 split, I think the show works best with as near to a 50/50 split as can be reasonably attained without repeating types of mental/types of physical, though not at the loss of the freaking Intelligence Round)
The new version was too dumbed down to suit ITV’s audiences.
I have to say, I’ve never ever heard the criticism that a show was too stupid for ITV. Too clever for ITV, certainly, but too simple?
Don’t agree with the substantive point, either. The Observation round could have had clips from Dickinson’s Daily Challenge and This Loose Morning, but concentrated on ITV’s heritage shows, Morse and Miss Marple. The assault course could have had people splashing down into water like Total Wipeout, but didn’t.
Yes, a fifth round was needed, some of the Response tests out of the aircraft simulator could easily be re-created. But Krypton Factor was (is) not a stupid show.
It was perhaps the least interesting implementation of the observation round I can recall, ignoring the clip choice, but… I don’t think any observation rounds have really been magnetic television (And, yeah, I’d have dropped the Response round rather than the Intelligence round if going down to four rounds (including general knowledge) from five in the second series. Not so much an anti-dumbing down criticism, more a ‘Why on earth did they remove one of the two iconic rounds?’ criticism.
…Especially seeing as it seemed to be in order to include more chat.
So if you’re cutting it down to four rounds, and you cut Response, would Obervation be the next round to go? I agree it was the weakest round for most of the run, and they never found the right format. The version from 1977-1985 did have the Identity parade, but it was slow and awkward-two two-point questions per player, four one-point toss-up questions, then the two-point identity parade. I think they should stick to original films, then have eight toss-ups and the identity parade, with the most correct answers winning the round and the time used in the Identity Parade be the tiebreaker.
I wouldn’t cut it down to four rounds, however if I were to it would most likely be the observation round that went (assuming cutting down from five… If cutting down from six the observation round would be the first I’d eliminate and then the response round would be the second round I’d eliminate (To try and keep the physical/mental proportion to ~33% – 25% is closer than 50%)
Des Elmes
IMO, the three Observation formats used between 1986 and 1993 (Double Take, Spot The Continuity Errors and six multi-choice questions) were the best – all featuring specially made sketches as well as enabling viewers at home to participate.
If Observation used one of these three formats or something similar, then I’d definitely keep it.
Anton Spivack
What about the Identity Parade from 1977-1985? That was included in the first US adaptation in 1981, except they used six actors instead of nine.
And what format would you use for Mental Agility, the knockout rounds or the speed test?
If you’re cutting Observation out of six rounds, then the physical/mental proportion becomes 40%, which is closer to 33 1/3% than 25%.
And what about the Personality round from series 1? I suppose it doesn’t quite fit in, and the producers found that out.
Des Elmes
And what format would you use for Mental Agility, the knockout rounds or the speed test?
Though the knockout rounds were usually just as good as the speed tests, I’d probably use the latter, by virtue of the fact that they take up less time.
Anton Spivack
What about the 1995 version of Mental Agility, where they show four common objects and players have to select the one or two objects that fit the clue? I think something like that could work, if they had a different lineup of touch-screen exercises, such as those on the Train your Business Brain website.
GrimFandango
The second series of The Krypton Factor was almost (if not entirely) funded by Sage. It will depend on whether Sage considered it a wise investment.
Two obvious idle questions as regards Vernon Kay’s Family Fortunes, which unfortunately is coming back for a fifth series this autumn, are:
* Who will be the celebrities on this series?
* How many episodes will we have to put up with? According to Wikipedia, it is likely there will be more than the 17 of the last series – if so, this would continue a steady increase from the eight episodes of the first.
I honestly believe the show succeeds in getting sillier every year, so an idle question of my own is: will this continue?
Such a shame if The Whole 19 Yards and The Krypton Factor don’t return. Neither may have set ratings alike but seem appreciated by those who do it – and though Krpyton didn’t reach that mark, The Whole 19 Yards regularly got over 4m and frankly outside the soaps and big reality shows, not many ITV shows break that barrier nowadays.
And would be so much more interested in Family Fortunes if they went back to using the general public. Mass record them and they can easily prop up a schedule whenever ITV needs them then, especially if they go back to 30 minute slots.
I think the spotlight was on The Whole 19 Yards when it fell to 1.9 million viewers towards the end of the series. ITV will probably say it was too expensive to run if it was getting 4 million where Take Me Out costs less and gets 5 million.
If 19 Yards does get the axe then Vernon Kay is slowing becoming the 21st century Chris Tarrant. He has got one strong show (All Star Family Fortunes) but everything he has hosted lasted between one and two series. Boys & Girls flopped, Celebrities Under Pressure disappeared, Hit Me Baby One More Time bombed here and in the US, Game Show Marathon wasn’t brilliant. Yes, it was an one-off but the celebrity selection was crap. Finally, Beat the Star lasted two series but felt ITV/Gallowgate shot themselves as it would’ve been cheaper using the German crew and the German studio, rather than importing it here and charging £1 Million per show to produce it, also it was more suited on Saturday than Sunday.
All Star Family Fortunes is a great family show. Everyone in my household watches it because it appeals to all generations and you can play along at home. Obviously it’s not a show for the highly intellectual type, but it’s good entertainment and Vernon Kay is a better host than Les Dennis and up there with Max and Bob.
I agree with Brekkie, however, that there needs to be a normal version too. They had a daytime version about 5 years ago with some bloke (Andy?) presenting it but I dunno why they got rid of that?
1) Andy Collins tried too hard to be like Les Dennis and failed massively.
2) Nobody watched it as Weakest Link was still king in 2002 and nobody wanted to see a family win £1,000 or £3,000. Even when they failed to win Big Money the value of cash and prizes nearly reached £1,000 anyway. Also ITV did it on the cheap by having a canned audience and went OTT by having a CGI audience in place for Big Money.
Andy is better to what he does best by being the dogsbody/warm up guy on The 5 O’Clock Show/Paul O’Grady Show.
The American’s know how to do daytime Fortunes (Family Feud) but I’m surprised it’s taken this long to offer a car.
It begs the question whether a civillian version of the show can get figures between 5-8 million to what the All-Star versions acheives now. Plus there is the audition process, it will take endless hours for researchers to audition famillies at certain locations. While now, all they have is a team of celebrity bookers who simply ring certain celebrites.
All this talk about shows coming back or not. It looks like BBC wants to split Strictly Come Dancing across Saturday and Sunday but Brucie might only do the performances and not the results show.
If true then it will open the door for National Lottery Secret Fortune to air in the autumn.
I would be even more surprised if we didn’t see him do something similar in something else. He was absolutely hilarious. But can he only do Endemol shows now? I suspect yes.
Off topic: France is getting their own version of “Baggage”… with Benjamin Castaldi.
Discuss.
Is The Whole 19 Yards coming back, also?
As I understand it 19 Yards won’t be coming back. No idea about Krypton Factor.
Are you the guy who created The Colour of Money??
Shame, I really liked it. I guess it’s quite expensive to produce?
From where do you understand the Whole 19 Yards isn’t coming back? I would have thought it would.
I’m sure he could tell you this himself, but Paul works in TV and tends to have a good idea about these things.
Yes, as Brig says I do work in telly (and yes, I co-created Colour of Money – sorry about that). To clarify, I’ve heard “through the grapevine” that it’s not coming back, not from any horse’s mouth, so maybe I’m being lied to. Not sure why, if it’s true, I would guess that the ratings were only ‘OK’ when weighed against the budget (see also: Beat the Star).
P.S. The results of the survey will be done soon. This week has been quite busy due to Magic Numbers starting and a few pitches to get stuff ready for, should be finished next week at the latest.
On a related topic, 1 vs 100 will not be coming back for a 3rd run. @1vs100LIVEUK just confirmed that on Twitter
Erm, that’s on the XBOX 360, of course.
That’s sort of a pity, although it didn’t seem to be getting very good numbers towards the end. And the scoring mechanism was irritating.
I’m sure I won a couple of prizes that never ended up being sent my way, actually. I probably ought to chase those up.
I actually know one of the guys who beat the 100 (I saw it myself!), it took several weeks of pestering several months after the event to get the holiday voucher he won. Really quite poor.
Hopefully it doesn’t come back. The new version was too dumbed down to suit ITV’s audiences. Give it to the BBC and it’ll return back to form and we can have more rounds!
Given how difficult the rounds were, I’m intrigued by your definition of “dumbed down”.
I just assume he’s bemoaning the lack of intelligence round in the 2010 series…
(Personally I’d criticize the 09 series for weighing too much towards mental over physical (rather than the ~66/33 split it had an ~80/20 split, the 2010 series meanwhile had an ~75/25 split, I think the show works best with as near to a 50/50 split as can be reasonably attained without repeating types of mental/types of physical, though not at the loss of the freaking Intelligence Round)
Joe wrote,
The new version was too dumbed down to suit ITV’s audiences.
I have to say, I’ve never ever heard the criticism that a show was too stupid for ITV. Too clever for ITV, certainly, but too simple?
Don’t agree with the substantive point, either. The Observation round could have had clips from Dickinson’s Daily Challenge and This Loose Morning, but concentrated on ITV’s heritage shows, Morse and Miss Marple. The assault course could have had people splashing down into water like Total Wipeout, but didn’t.
Yes, a fifth round was needed, some of the Response tests out of the aircraft simulator could easily be re-created. But Krypton Factor was (is) not a stupid show.
It was perhaps the least interesting implementation of the observation round I can recall, ignoring the clip choice, but… I don’t think any observation rounds have really been magnetic television (And, yeah, I’d have dropped the Response round rather than the Intelligence round if going down to four rounds (including general knowledge) from five in the second series. Not so much an anti-dumbing down criticism, more a ‘Why on earth did they remove one of the two iconic rounds?’ criticism.
…Especially seeing as it seemed to be in order to include more chat.
So if you’re cutting it down to four rounds, and you cut Response, would Obervation be the next round to go? I agree it was the weakest round for most of the run, and they never found the right format. The version from 1977-1985 did have the Identity parade, but it was slow and awkward-two two-point questions per player, four one-point toss-up questions, then the two-point identity parade. I think they should stick to original films, then have eight toss-ups and the identity parade, with the most correct answers winning the round and the time used in the Identity Parade be the tiebreaker.
I wouldn’t cut it down to four rounds, however if I were to it would most likely be the observation round that went (assuming cutting down from five… If cutting down from six the observation round would be the first I’d eliminate and then the response round would be the second round I’d eliminate (To try and keep the physical/mental proportion to ~33% – 25% is closer than 50%)
IMO, the three Observation formats used between 1986 and 1993 (Double Take, Spot The Continuity Errors and six multi-choice questions) were the best – all featuring specially made sketches as well as enabling viewers at home to participate.
If Observation used one of these three formats or something similar, then I’d definitely keep it.
What about the Identity Parade from 1977-1985? That was included in the first US adaptation in 1981, except they used six actors instead of nine.
And what format would you use for Mental Agility, the knockout rounds or the speed test?
If you’re cutting Observation out of six rounds, then the physical/mental proportion becomes 40%, which is closer to 33 1/3% than 25%.
And what about the Personality round from series 1? I suppose it doesn’t quite fit in, and the producers found that out.
And what format would you use for Mental Agility, the knockout rounds or the speed test?
Though the knockout rounds were usually just as good as the speed tests, I’d probably use the latter, by virtue of the fact that they take up less time.
What about the 1995 version of Mental Agility, where they show four common objects and players have to select the one or two objects that fit the clue? I think something like that could work, if they had a different lineup of touch-screen exercises, such as those on the Train your Business Brain website.
The second series of The Krypton Factor was almost (if not entirely) funded by Sage. It will depend on whether Sage considered it a wise investment.
Two obvious idle questions as regards Vernon Kay’s Family Fortunes, which unfortunately is coming back for a fifth series this autumn, are:
* Who will be the celebrities on this series?
* How many episodes will we have to put up with? According to Wikipedia, it is likely there will be more than the 17 of the last series – if so, this would continue a steady increase from the eight episodes of the first.
I honestly believe the show succeeds in getting sillier every year, so an idle question of my own is: will this continue?
Such a shame if The Whole 19 Yards and The Krypton Factor don’t return. Neither may have set ratings alike but seem appreciated by those who do it – and though Krpyton didn’t reach that mark, The Whole 19 Yards regularly got over 4m and frankly outside the soaps and big reality shows, not many ITV shows break that barrier nowadays.
And would be so much more interested in Family Fortunes if they went back to using the general public. Mass record them and they can easily prop up a schedule whenever ITV needs them then, especially if they go back to 30 minute slots.
I think the spotlight was on The Whole 19 Yards when it fell to 1.9 million viewers towards the end of the series. ITV will probably say it was too expensive to run if it was getting 4 million where Take Me Out costs less and gets 5 million.
If 19 Yards does get the axe then Vernon Kay is slowing becoming the 21st century Chris Tarrant. He has got one strong show (All Star Family Fortunes) but everything he has hosted lasted between one and two series. Boys & Girls flopped, Celebrities Under Pressure disappeared, Hit Me Baby One More Time bombed here and in the US, Game Show Marathon wasn’t brilliant. Yes, it was an one-off but the celebrity selection was crap. Finally, Beat the Star lasted two series but felt ITV/Gallowgate shot themselves as it would’ve been cheaper using the German crew and the German studio, rather than importing it here and charging £1 Million per show to produce it, also it was more suited on Saturday than Sunday.
In fairness, Celebrities Under Pressure did get several series. Just Melanie Sykes hosted most of them.
All Star Family Fortunes is a great family show. Everyone in my household watches it because it appeals to all generations and you can play along at home. Obviously it’s not a show for the highly intellectual type, but it’s good entertainment and Vernon Kay is a better host than Les Dennis and up there with Max and Bob.
I agree with Brekkie, however, that there needs to be a normal version too. They had a daytime version about 5 years ago with some bloke (Andy?) presenting it but I dunno why they got rid of that?
That’s because.
1) Andy Collins tried too hard to be like Les Dennis and failed massively.
2) Nobody watched it as Weakest Link was still king in 2002 and nobody wanted to see a family win £1,000 or £3,000. Even when they failed to win Big Money the value of cash and prizes nearly reached £1,000 anyway. Also ITV did it on the cheap by having a canned audience and went OTT by having a CGI audience in place for Big Money.
Andy is better to what he does best by being the dogsbody/warm up guy on The 5 O’Clock Show/Paul O’Grady Show.
The American’s know how to do daytime Fortunes (Family Feud) but I’m surprised it’s taken this long to offer a car.
It begs the question whether a civillian version of the show can get figures between 5-8 million to what the All-Star versions acheives now. Plus there is the audition process, it will take endless hours for researchers to audition famillies at certain locations. While now, all they have is a team of celebrity bookers who simply ring certain celebrites.
All this talk about shows coming back or not. It looks like BBC wants to split Strictly Come Dancing across Saturday and Sunday but Brucie might only do the performances and not the results show.
If true then it will open the door for National Lottery Secret Fortune to air in the autumn.
If The Whole 19 Yards isn’t coming back, at least bring back Glenn’s voiceover!
I would be even more surprised if we didn’t see him do something similar in something else. He was absolutely hilarious. But can he only do Endemol shows now? I suspect yes.
He was the voiceover for Mission Implausible on Sky in 2006, which regularly does the rounds on Sky3 every so often.