After not much last week, this week it’s loads and a lot of it Comic Relief related:
- The Bother Series of Poker Game 5 – I do feel quite ill at the moment, so what better time to come along and clear up? Don’t forget if you’re playing in the US your clocks have gone forward, so you will want to come along at 1600 ET. (8pm, Full Tilt, Sunday) – Discussion page.
- 24 Hour Panel People – I have no idea if this is going to work in highlight form, especially as it will be condensing 20 different shows into a little over two-and-a-half hours. Also it looks like they’ve added an extra episode because it’s starting tonight. (10pm Sunday and Wednesday, 10:30pm Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, BBC3)
- Double Cross – First in a new series of podcasts. The live streaming was fun (hopefully they will be doing it again this week), you can download them on iTunes from here. (Monday)
- Pointless – New series with Alexander Armstrong and the very tall Richard Osman (4:30pm, Monday, BBC2)
- Only Connect – Comic Relief celebrity special featuring much the same celebs as the Children in Need one. I predict The Coren will wear a red nose whilst giving the impression she’s slightly displeased about it. (8:30pm, Monday, BBC4)
- Survivor – although I’ve not yet watched this week’s. (Wednesday, CBS)
- Accumulate – it’s a semi-final! (Friday, RUON)
- Comic Relief night – Do give generously. (From 7pm, Friday, BBC1)
- Take Me Out – doesn’t normally get a billing (although I do like it), but I’ve noticed that it’s been increasing its airtime recently – this Saturday the show is going to be 90 minutes long! There is no Secret Fortune because of the rugby. (8:35pm, Saturday, ITV1)
I think that’s it. Meanwhile, whilst I deliberately stay away from political stuff, it would be wrong I think to advertise Red Nose Day and not point out that the British Red Cross are now taking donations over the Japanese disaster.
Surprised that they slipped in the start of Pointless series 4 tomorrow. Wasn’t expecting that.
24 Hour Panel People
It’s meant to start tonight. They announced weeks ago it would be 5 highlight shows with more highlights on Red Nose Day itself.
As for Take Me Out. The extra 15 mins is to see how the couples got on for that final show. Rather than cover it for the next series, they tend to it on the last show. They also did it last year with the final show of the first series extending it from 60 mins to 75.
I’ve actually ended up quite enjoying Take Me Out this series. What a disaster. Maybe because it’s simplicity shines when juxtaposed with formatting mish-mash ‘try and please everyone, end up entertaining no one’ Push The Button.
Maybe it’s the greater diversity of types of girl – including one woman that was quite happy to call the chap a misogynist twonk on Saturday’s show (he ended up picking Peggy)- and the woman who seemed infatuated with the beardy wizard man and when asked by Paddy what she liked about him couldn’t quite work out why anyone *WOULDN’T* fancy him; “…he’s a WIZARD!”
I still wish there would be swap at halfway with a line-up of blokes and girl pickers though. I think they do that in the Aus version.
They did do that, but the Aussie version also wasn’t very successful, regrettably.
Immediate Only Connect response:
Best. mss gvwl s. Category. Ever.
(And what do you mean no Calling America?)
Since I can’t watch, would I be correct in guessing it was something like “words with no vowels”?
No, there was a group of clues about tongue twisters! 😀
>(And what do you mean no Calling America?)
Er… what?
Calling America by ELO for the music question. (And, no, I wasn’t actually being fully serious when I asked, it’s just that it’s the first song that comes into my head given that category. Literally. It’s been stuck there since the team answered the question.)
Ah, I see. The non sequitur threw me.
I like ELO a lot but Calling America only got to #28 here so it seemed a bit borderline in the notability department.
Any love for Hanging on the Telephone, a UK #5 hit as covered by Blondie in 1978, or do I just keep listening to the wrong radio stations?
I very much liked David Dickinson being the fourth clue in his particular set, but I don’t think it would have worked as well as a clue than as a gag. (And I think you realised that, and made sure that it could come out as a gag rather than as a clue.)
I was betting on them getting at clue 3. They did well to get it earlier, but even our verifiers agreed that he is orange (they found plenty of news articles to back this up – apparently its to do with his Armenian heritage) so it was a valid question, I think, if slightly tongue-in-cheek.
Blondie would certainly pass the notability mark – if only I could tap your collective brains when writing the question!
There are quite a few songs about leaving messages on answering machines too, which is left as an exercise for the reader.
I agree with Gizensha, but am as puzzled as David re the America comment. I got a couple of answers right for 5 points (but only because the questions appeared in my audition for the next series!). The contestants were playing very well tonight.
Well done David (and the rest of the OC team). Great fun.
After a triumphant Only Connect, I’m currently watching (recorded) Iron Chef Australia. It’s… well, oddly laid-back. Symptomatic of this is the extended delay between the revelation of the secret ingredient and the start of cooking. I know, or at least strongly suspect, that other nations’ versions don’t start the action as immediately from the revelation of the secret ingredient as presented on-screen, but it’s a definite stylistic difference. The format is otherwise authentic enough. The commentary is not nearly as frantic as that of the original, or Alton Brown, or the British… er… reformatting. I don’t quite get the impression that the quality of the Iron Chefs and contestants is quite as unimpeachable as elsewhere.
Lastly, I have this nagging suspicion that – while the US Chairman’s Nephew reprises his role from the US, he isn’t really there and appears through cunning use of green-screens, body doubles and graphics, and that’s just weird. It could so easily have been different had he just interacted.
It’s not bad, but I can’t get excited about it. Which probably means it is bad, really.
David B – what was the reason behind having the same “celebs” for both editions? It can’t be budget as I’d assume there were no fees involved?
Timing?
The plan was that the captains would stay the same and the other 4 would change for the second show. But it was a tricky time to get certain people, such as comedians, because things like the Edinburgh Fringe. Also a few people dropped out a few days before recording for entirely understandable reasons.
We have an excellent line up for next year’s specials but you’ll have to wait 7 and 12 more months to see those!
Besides, the idea of Brian Sewell and Grub Smith on the same team is, in itself, quite funny.
Brian was trending like a good ‘un during the show and some time after.
7 months? Mmm… strikes me as a bit early for Children in Need, though 12 months would take us around to the Sport Relief time of year. It could always be a generic non-charity celeb special, I suppose.
Well, 7 months from recording. 8 months from now.