This is the week of internet games, amongst other things:
- The Weakest Link (5:15pm all week, BBC1) – ten years old this week, and a number of special repeats to mark the occasion. Thankfully, the one from ten years ago where I was a contestant is not one of them, instead we have the very first edition on Monday followed by celebrity lookalikes, hairdressers, alternative world cups and (always good for a laugh) drag queens on Friday.
- Pinpoint (Monday, Wednesday, Friday, iTunes/GSN) – the second podcast gameshow from Alex Davis off of Buzzerblog’s 5Hole Productions, this is a survey based quiz hosted by Buzzerblog contributor Bob “Cafe” Hagh and, correct me if I’m wrong Alex, music by Little Timmy Halbert, Young Musician of the Year 2001? Double Cross had issues, but it was certainly a good try and well produced. The top prize for this is 25,000 Game Show Network Oodles, which by the way they make it sound sounds like a very exciting prize until you realise what 25k Oodles actually buys you. Still, it’s nice to see talent being given a chance so I wish it and them best of luck. Here is the iTunes link.
- 321 Ways To Win a Gameshow (nightly, Bother’s Bar) – we have a winner and it’s The Internet’s Tom Scott, star of Only Connect and Treasure Hunt. That will be good practice for the difficult and highbrow riddles awaiting him on Bother’s Prize Table where he could win something nice, naff, or a ceramic bin. And you get to help him by chipping in with your ideas of what the prizes may be!
- Mantracker (weekdaily at 10am, 1pm 6pm, omnibus Saturday from 2pm) – it’s the Interceptor your Dad would like.
Hey.
Yeah, Tim did do the music and he’s blown me away. I’ve had talks with GSN and they love it also. They’ve complemented the music more than anything. The show’s getting a larger page tomorrow and he’s getting his due on there. There is a chance of some TV promotion or a TV version down the line so he may get some US television exposure.
And yeah, 25,000 Oodles doesn’t buy much but in respect their main Oodles games like Deal or No Deal offer you around 2,000 a week max and you have to play perfect. So if nothing else they are letting us go above and beyond anything else which is flattering. It turned out shockingly good and I can’t wait for you all to hear it.
And Double Cross will be coming back in a few months with a format change to make it less complicated. We’ve got another show based off the board game Would You Rather in a few weeks so I’m booked.
To be honest, you should do a special version of any of the shows for the Under Prize Age generation *hint hint*
The Oodles age limit is 13+ so that’s fine. Not sure about the international thing, though. I can check.
Cheers Alex, if UK is allowed, I’m signing up to Oodles
EDIT: 2. ELIGIBILITY.
2.1 The Program is open only to legal residents of the fifty (50) United States and the District of Columbia and Canada (excluding Quebec) who are registered members of GSN.com (the “Website”) and who are 13 years of age or older as of the time of participation (excluding residents of Maine).
No chance 🙁
Aww, Little Timmy’s come such a long way!
The main other gripe about Double Cross is that the question level was too difficult to bluff with. Unfortunately you need thicker contestants or harder questions, I think.
Maybe you’ll have an opinion on this then. I know there is a definite problem with the show since the overwhelming complaint, even though we get pretty good reviews, was that it was just too confusing and a bit tough in a few places. We just got reviewed by a huge podcasting website and that’s even what they said.
When we were first developing the show my thought was to have slightly easier questions but no choices. It was then suggested we add choices, and I saw the reasoning. If we run into a group of special contestants and we don’t get a single right answer the entire time from anyone it’s going to be frustrating beyond belief. I’ve thought about switching it back to no choices but easing it up a bit. I’ve also thought about switching to just two contestants. I also had this weird idea to involve betting points or whatever we use to try to scare your opponents off of the answer, but that’s really early.
As stupid as this sounds I classify this as a British quiz show since I’m the only American working on it. Every single other person of our team is from England.
And trust me I will go to Tim first on anything I ever do in the genre or any media. He’s talented as hell.
I think the problem is that the sort of people who apply to play through Buzzerblog are the sorts of people who would skew high in a general knowledge test, and therefore it’s very difficult to have people making neccessary plays (the very plays the show is about!) with the material you use, and then it’s just a quiz in Hollywood Squares form. I quite liked the the idea of having an e) Something Else? answer, as long as it was Something Else on occasion.
Yes it took me about an episode and a half to get the scoring down, and I’m normally very quick to pick up on that sort of thing, although I don’t think in retrospect it’s genuinely complicated.
Has anybody found anywhere hosting The Amazing Race: China Rush yet? I think it is basicly The Amazing Race Asia 3.
Also in slightly related news i see The Amazing Race has been picked up in Australia for a local version.
When is the UK going to get their own version of the Amazing Race? Even Australia are getting their own versionn FGS!!
We did but nobody likes to mention it
http://www.ukgameshows.com/ukgs/The_Race_(1)
New twist on Survivor this season- The Medallion of Power. This is used during the tribal phase, and it gives one tribe an advantage in the immunity challenge. The catch is, once used, it goes over to the other tribe so they can use it.
Apropos of nothing, can anyone remember a quiz-meets-poker game show, a video of which I’m sure appeared either here or on Buzzerblog in the last 2-3 years? The set was large and modern, and involved an unwieldy amount of chips being pushed around by models.
Was Richard Orford involved?
Was it that Last One Standing show?
That sounds very familiar.
If it is Last One Standing I’ve got the UK pilot from 2waytraffic, but I haven’t posted it because I’m always weary of legal issues involving posting these uploaded pilots for mass consumption. I’d be happy to send it to someone who wants it, though.
No, don’t think so… It may have even been a foreign show like French or somesuch.
I definitely remember seeing a video somewhere. Most frustrating.
It’s not that Dutch one, is it?
Not unless it was a recent remake. I saw that one back in 2002.
The original lighting on The Weakest Link was dire, wasn’t it? Completely obscured some of the players during the voting reveal.
Also nice to be reminded of Anne Robinson’s initially snail-like delivery.
Compared to Millionaire and Deal it really isn’t that much different today as it was back then though!
Nice to see ‘The’ in the logo again though 😀
Listened to Pinpoint, and I have to say up front, I was very much expecting a full game in one show. I didn’t realize that when it was going to be three times a week, it was going to be one game split over three podcasts. Perhaps I was spoiled by what I experienced in the runthrough process, but I’m not sure the game will really stick together when split apart like that (though ask me again on Wednesday or Friday, maybe it’ll work better than I’m expecting). I’d be okay with one game per week if it was all clumped into one show.
I did like the tweak you made to the end of the round when the contestants can decide if they’ll leave the game. Having a buzz-in method was probably more fair than asking each contestant one at a time. (I’m assuming the buzzing in was done by being the first to PM someone?)
I’ll definitely say this much though, listening to this (and being involved in the game in pre-production) has actually made me want to sign up for an Oodles account. I doubt I’ll ever use it aside from playing along with the Twitter question, but this game really has been an interesting promotion for the system.
The splitting of shows into three episodes was calculated by GSN and I, but first brought up by them. And to be honest, I agree with them fully. We tried hard but we could not get an episode to be timed under around 32 minutes. I edited the crap out of the thing and it was just impossible given the audio nature. Another big issue I had with Double Cross was I wanted each episode to be timed at 20-25 minutes, and having it be up to a 35 minute show annoyed me.
GSN suggested, to build listener loyalty and to keep the show in the charts and relevant, to split it up. Otherwise, like DC, we’d have a week-long lull between episodes, pushing us far down the charts. This also gives people a chance to win more in our listener competition. Would You Rather is probably going to be a long-term show split into two episodes, on Tuesdays and Thursdays. We recorded PinPoint all at once, obviously, but we go to great lengths to make sure it flows together. Including a little “Last time on PinPoint” segment before each episode.
That does make sense, eliminating the week-long gap. I guess quantity does make a difference when you’re trying to gain followers.
UC tonight: Newnham Cambridge v Southampton.
Although there are now only three all-female colleges in the UK (all at Cambridge), it is still usual for at least one to appear in an individual series. Newnham keep up this trend while making their second consecutive appearance, and sixth overall in the Paxman Era.
Southampton are making their third appearance in a row, and fifth overall PE. They actually faced Newnham in their first appearance, in 2000/1, losing 240-120.
Another terrible game-changing ajudication this week. They should never have let that girl work out the K question on the hoof.
“The Slammer” goes stateside. Er, sort of… http://livefeed.hollywoodreporter.com/2010/08/prison-idol-discovery-announces-two-jailhouse-talent-shows.html