Thanks to a tip from a forum, here is a very interesting BBC documentary from 1984 called Come on Down fronted by film critic Barry Norman on the American gameshow:
The other parts aren’t linked very well, so here’s part two, part three, part four and part five.
Back when SKY was a fledgling service, it used to show US gameshows quite a lot. The two things you’d notice was a) how excited the contestants get and b) how big the prizes were. These days, we seem to be able to outdo the Americans in the prizes stakes, but our contestants remain slightly more, er, reserved. Unless they’re shouting at each other of course. In that sense, I find the contestant co-ordinator interviews here quite interesting.
Also, reports from recent recordings suggest that Deal or No Deal is getting a third ad break. It seems pretty easy to infer that that means it’s becoming an hour show, therefore (although we must stress we have no absolute proof of that, other than you’re not allowed more than three ad breaks in an hour unless your show is longer than an hour).
I have to say I laughed at this
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/s131/dont-stop-believing/news/a282292/c5-seeks-refund-for-dont-stop-believing.html
I’m back from Bristol after seeing another two recordings of Deal or No Deal and discovered they are going to extend the show time for the daily show in the new year. I will explain later (once my head is cleared) but there are now THREE ad breaks.
Veeerry interesting. This wouldn’t be something to do with a “mystery value” idea the Banker was floating round Twitter a while ago, would it?
Big risk for the show. On the few occasions when people have dealt early, they have struggled to fill the show and have even been scuppered from a Banker’s Gamble to finish.
As of today’s recordings (10th & 11th February) the format and the values of the 22 amounts stay the same. Although I wouldn’t rule your theory out as Love Week is not far from this morning’s recordings.
The interesting thing abour DoND going to an hour is that it takes 15 minutes away from the schedule elsewhere, of course. Will Countdown start 15 minutes earlier? Are 45 minute episodes of Come Dine With Me for 5:15-6pm a shoo-in?
Now my head is cleared a bit I can explain more. To make it fair to the confidential contract, I will not reveal anything from this morning’s recordings (to be aired on 10th & 11th Feb) regarding the contestants and their result.
Firstly they never said that the show will be extended to one hour but I’m guessing they have done this as there are now three ad-breaks. I will confess that I was surprised at the first DoND decision (after five boxes) as they would open two more but not any more. Therefore they are now doing the following.
Open five boxes
Phonecall/DoND decision (17 box)
Ad-break
Open three boxes
Phonecall/DoND decision (14 box)
Open two boxes
Ad-break
Open one box
Phonecall/DoND decision (11 box)
Open three boxes
Phonecall/DoND decision (8 box)
Ad-break
Open three boxes
Phonecall/DoND decision (5 box)
Open three boxes
Phonecall/DoND decision (2 box)
That means once they say deal/no deal after the first round they go straight to an ad-break. Same when they decide on eight boxes, they go straight to an ad-break. Therefore if they decide to deal at eight box then the final part of the show will completely be the proveout. The playing contestant does their bit to the camera at the second adbreak.
I think it’s pretty safe to infer from the three ad breaks that’s what will be happening, to be honest – you can’t have more unless your show is over an hour long as it stands.
Also the main gameboard has had another revamp. Rather than keeping the display of the board as it is since January 2010 (with the wooden effect surrounding the amounts), the board is show exactly the same as we see it on the TV, with each amount inside a curved rectangle. In other words it looks more like an Italian/French board display and not old fashioned.
On another note. They have not upgraded the set or the equipment so for any HD fanatics out there, the show will continue to be broadcasted in Standard Definiton in 2011.
Given the show’s extension in the new year I suspect Countdown will be moved back by 10 minutes to 3.15. DoND airing at 4.00 then shows like CDWM and Coach Trip at 5.00.
It’s that or as Brig mentioned, 45 minute episodes of CDWM (and probably Coach Trip).
CDWM is a relatively big hitter, and would be quite easy to make 45 minutes I would assume.
I can see why they might go for this – relatively high ratings for Deal across an extra ad break for not much in the way of extra outlay. Very clever, I hope it doesn’t backfire.
Thanks, Travis, that’s very interesting indeed.
My gut feeling was that Countdown won’t be moving too far from 3.25 so that Channel 4 doesn’t have to take it off for the racing. But then I wonder, how much racing does Channel 4 actually have on weekdays? Would the Countdown fraternity accept the loss of ten more episodes through the course of each year? Would the racing bods mind their meetings running ten minutes earlier, the big race starting at 3.00 rather than 3.10? Is this an excuse to return Countdown to a 30-minute slot?
We shall see.
Just to add what Travis said (and again without revealing anything about games), I saw some games where the 3rd ad break was at 6-box but I’m guessing it depends on the status of the game.
I did suspect the board had changed but wasn’t sure (I’d thought for a bit that the lights round the board were new before I realised that they weren’t).
I do remember when seeing the Christmas shows filmed in May hearing some sort of remark that might have implied a longer slot from January 2011 but I wasn’t completely sure.
Worth noting that per Ofcom regulations, a 55-minute timeslot can now also have three internal breaks.
I think each adbreak will actually be shorter, and the overall amount of advertising unchanged – Channel 4 are limited to 12 minutes of advertising in a single hour, and I believe they’ve had that in the 4pm-5pm hour for a long time. (In fact, I suspect the reason for the change to a 4:10pm start time last year was purely to make sure the final adbreak in Countdown didn’t creep past 4pm, reducing the amount of potential advertising in DoND.)
This might even be a sign of the producers listening to the fandom, who have long noted that one can tell a big game is coming simply by the pace of the early rounds. No longer will these games be rushed early on; the new structure appears to allow for more flexibly timed adbreaks. (Although I wonder how 11-box Deals are going to be handled. Possibly through a redoubling of efforts to prevent them…)
That would probably mean Countdown will be shunted five minutes back to 3.20pm.
Couple of extra notes.
-Although they are recording four shows a day and featues three adbreaks. The adbreaks at the recordings are now that minimal it only takes one minute (two at most for make up) to restart shooting the next part of the show.
-The audience holding area is now basically a storage place for their special shows props. When they opened the permanent holding area in late 2006, it had nothing but a LCD TV, tables, chairs and a portrait gallery. The portrait gallery featured drawings of The Banker from audience members. Now it’s got the 1,000 oblong mat used in the 1,000 show countdown, the Cheshire Cats from Easter, the ice creams stand from the summer specials, the Christmas advent calendar and the fireplace from Halloween week. The are still features a framed photo of Nick Bain incased in a perspex box.
-Most of the crew who started in October 2005 are still working on the show five years later. Including floor manager Greg Williams and local comedian/warm up man Mark Olver.
-Mark confirmed at the recording the show uses seven cameras. Two cameras behind the gameboard, two cameras sitting on the top of the centre audience seating area, two cameras next to the West Wing and a steadicam. He also mentioned in the early days there was a camera situated above The Banker’s phone looking down but was removed since it was never used.
-If anybody is interested to see the show in Bristol, they are a well oiled and professional production team, unlike Brig’s previous experiences with other Endemol shows. I went inside the audience holding area at 8.45pm, after moving to the main studio, Mark giving the instructions and introducing the contestants we started recording for the first show at 9.30pm. I left the studios after the second show at 1.30pm.
I should just point out for fairness that I think Spin Star used the same production people, and that too was a good recording experience.
Travis – I presume you mean 8.45am and not 8.45pm.
Having been for my 4th visit this week, I can agree it’s a very well run recording. I’d recommend any fans of the show seeing the show filmed at least once – it can be very tense at times but often some of the stuff that never makes the transmitted show (for whatever reason) is very funny.
Yes, I mean 8.45am.
Keeping on topic, the Sunday Mirror magazine featured Noel getting into costumne for the upcoming Trick or Treat week. The theme this year is a woodland theme with Noel dressed like a woodland devil-like creature with horns in his forehead and pointy ears. The background of the set features stripped trees and branches with the Pound Table being transformed into a tree stump.
A satyr?