I actually thought the first episode of this filmed tonight thinking today was Wednesday, but in fact it is Thursday and it filmed last night. Richard Osman informs me it was very funny, did anyone go? It is actually recording tonight (and indeed Wednesdays and Thursdays for the following three weeks) as well.
I’ve come to the conclusion it might do quite well, or certainly better than I had originally anticipated, if only because the Brits quite like to pry. It starts June 18th.
Reading tweets from people who went last night, nearly all of them LOVED it and thought it was INCREDIBLY FUNNY. I was worried that the format’s US success wouldn’t transfer to Britain due to cultural successes but I think it can be even bigger here than the massively successful US version. Dermot apparently settled in very well (you wouldn’t have expected it as he’s regarded as more of an autocue reader) and the panellists were hilarious, with Sarah Millican in particular getting top praise. I know am sure this will be a massive hit. 🙂
”massively successful US version”
Is that why it’s being buried in the Summer schedules of NBC after being dropped as a regular season programme and as Brig points out losing 70% of your audience is hardly massively successful.
Also the US version had Ricky Gervais and Madonna we get Geri Haliwell and Jimmy Carr????
For the hard of researching, the US Marriage Ref began very well, but by the end of the season lost 70% of its initial viewers.
Because I can search Twitter too:
“There’s 3 shows going on at the BBC 2night: Shooting Stars, Marriage Ref and Pointless. Guess how many are here for Marriage Ref? None.”
In fact that’s the only reference I can find, apart from someone saying they went, and high fived a picture of Doctor Who. I do not mind having an opinion, I do mind bare-faced lying.
The interesting thing is that I think the show could be a success.
I’m not lying. I saw tweets about people praising it from recording. For example: http://twitter.com/katielouiseliaX/statuses/78609100761612289
There’s others too but I can’t find them now. But I wasn’t lying 🙁
Well, here’s another one: http://twitter.com/davepwebb/statuses/78606835703234560
But yeah, I wasn’t lying when about that.
Mmm, OK then.
Shooting Stars is back? Gooood.
Yep, tickets went very quick. Angelos is also returning as score keeper once again.
Also Brian Butterfield aka Peter Serafinowicz is a regular panellist, I think.
We shall see come next Saturday but until then here’s a question. Apart from Piers Morgan’s Life Stories, name me the last 9pm Saturday show on ITV that had a sucessful run?
I can think of The Prisoner and Thank God You’re Here but they were flops.
I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here is shown at 9pm and is very popular. The X Factor airs after 9pm on Saturdays and is very popular. Take Me Out is popular and shown after 9pm sometimes.
I’m a Celebrity doesn’t count as it’s on for three weeks of the year. I will give you credit for naming X Factor and Take Me Out but can you name me a “summer” show that has been sucessful at 9pm?
I remember sometimes a certain show called Who Wants to Be A Millionaire used to run past 9pm on Saturdays, and that was a big hit!
Not always, it usually aired around 8pm on Saturday nights BUT it only aired as a summer series in 2009 but didn’t set the world alight. Try again.
Stars In Their Eyes, special episodes back in the day before Kat Deeley got her hands on it, were must-watch TV in this household and millions of homes around the UK!
Surely they just run films at 9pm in summer?
Mostly and also repeats of Frost. There have been a number of shows but haven’t done massively ratings wise. If Joe is hyping The Marriage Ref (like he hypes 90% of the things he says) then it should be a success.
Endemol have done something right with The Marriage Ref by selecting a decent bunch panelists. Only James Cordon might put viewers off, like Huggable Dermot, not everybody likes him.
For those who don’t know, the new lineup for 18th June is this.
7.15pm – Odd One In
8.00pm – Penn & Teller: Fool Us
9.00pm – The Marriage Ref
Right, here’s the list of shows that have been on ITV for at least two Saturdays between 1 July and 31 August, starting between 8.30 and 9.30, and are not football. Audience figures for game shows are an approximate average, and exclude weeks when Pop Idol (2003) or The X Factor (from 2006) aired.
1998 – repeats of Wycliffe and A Touch of Frost
1999 – repeats of Morse and Bond films, Alright on the Night
2000 – repeats of Morse, Alright on the Night / Laughter File
2001 – Stars in their Eyes, This Is My Moment, Poirot repeats
2002 – The Brian Conley Show, A Touch of Frost
2003 – The Vault (5m), It Shouldn’t Happen To…, Stars in their Eyes (6.5m)
2004 – Stars in their Eyes (4.5m), Alright on the Night, Die Hard films
2005 – The Big Call (3.4m), Stars in their Eyes celeb (5m), Millionaire (4.5m), pop tributes
2006 – Millionaire (4m), repeats of Midsomer Murders
2007 – Now That’s What I Call Television, Sing It Back Lyric Champion 2007 (3.5m), Millionaire (5m)
2008 – Who Dares Sings (4m), repeats of Foyles’ War
2009 – Millionaire (3.8m), repeats of A Touch of Frost
2010 – 30 Years of An Audience With, Magic Numbers (2.8m), Odd One In (3m)
I would like Penn and Teller to be successful, but a part of me thinks it’s the wrong slot for it. I think The Marriage Ref may play better to UK culture than it does to the US and could become the ABC1’s very own Take Me Out, although I’m unwilling to stick my neck out until I’ve seen how the UK show ‘feels’ on broadcast.
I would have loved to have gone to one of this week’s recordings but unfortunately it clashed with work.
Was “Don’t Scare the Hare!” completely removed from the schedules? As far as I can tell there aren’t any episodes coming up despite their being (if I remember correctly) 8 or 9 episodes. Will the others be airing any time soon?
BBC One have shown six episodes. So there are two more plus a highlights show. Given the timeslot move to 4.30pm, it’s being put on the shelf due to sporting events. This Saturday is the Canadian Grand Prix, next Saturday is European Team Athletics with the next two Saturday’s for Wimbledon. Therefore I suspect the next one they will air will be on 9th July.
But 9 July is the Scottish Open, which I think goes on till about 6pm. 16 July is the Open championships, and that drags on later. The Final Score slot is unavailable on 23 July, thanks to the absurdly early start to the football season in Scotland; it may be usable on 30 July, but that’s the GB Athletics trials.
And so it goes on. My gut feeling is that the last shows may go out here and there around the schedules, possibly not before the end of the year.
It will finally be Sir Bruce this week, I hear.