It’s that time again, the time where German television star and Eurovision host Stefan Raab attempts to deny another member of the public his money. Tonight, one million Euro is likely to depend on a game that involves shoving a pencil as far along a desk as possible but without going off the end. Shove Ha’pencil, we used to call it.
The fun starts at 7:15 UK time (that’s 8:15 German time). It is broadcast live on ProSieben, but hopefully there will be some naughty live streaming somewhere.
I’m going to be out for a lot of this evening, but it’s likely to still be running at 10-11pm so.
The only sad thing about watching Beat the Raab is that it brings into focus how badly implemented the ITV version was.
That’s interesting, I don’t think the ITV show did all that much wrong really, bar game repetition in series two. I certainly wouldn’t be convinced that a five hour thing ending at half one local time would fly here, regrettably.
Always the issue with the Brit one (and indeed lots of other versions) – it never looks good when someone famous denies a member of the public a large sum of money.
Isn’t that part of the point, though? A slightly obnoxious, ultra-competitive comedian can get away with this. Dame Kelly Holmes beating someone out of £100,000 looks mean-spirited in comparison.
Once you’d taken out the “beat the host” element, the epic running time, the open-endedness, the live coverage, the large jackpot, the “special event” nature (as opposed to weekly) then… well, there’s not a whole lot left. They’d kept the rules, but had thrown out the hidden elements that made it special.
Yes indeed, that’s what I said at the time, it needed someone who doesn’t care (or at least can convincingly look like they doesn’t care).
The show is basically a showcase for a load of disperate games. I accept that the way ITV did it was less special, but I still thought it was entertaining.
The other thing, of course, is that Germany has a very game-y culture that accepts lengthy games in a way that most other countries do not, there is therefore always going to be an attention span issue elsewhere.
Maybes, but 1 hour to open 22 cardboard boxes suggests it’s how you keep things interesting.
I still think that SdR could speed things up a bit more. In past shows, talking about the rules of Kobb for 13 minutes wasn’t fun.
I’d put myself up as a Kandidat for Schlag Den Bodycombe!