- Bother’s Bar reality favourite Playing it Straight is making a comeback, Lion television producing for E4. We loved the original, but it also had lots of great talent behind the scenes, not all of whom will be working on this one so it will be interesting to see how this holds up. It’s being hosted by Jameela Jamil.
- American fans of Vernon Kay! Million Dollar Mind Game is being burnt off on Sunday afternoons on ABC from October 23rd. The show is a US adaption of popular intellectual Russian show What? Where? When? set in some sort of underground club where viewers send in tricky logic based questions. I had no idea until today the Russian show has been going out live since the eighties – it must be the influence of The Million Pound Drop. Being an American adaptation, it will probably miss the point.
- It sounds like each judge will lose an act this weekend on The X Factor. This could be hilariously devastating for some Fantasy X Factor teams.
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Frankly, I don’t know what got into ABC to pick up on this show in the first place. Was somebody drunk?
ABC should have realized that logic-based games go over the heads of most Americans. We are not great at logic puzzles. Some of us have trouble with the crosswords in “TV Guide”,and those are some of the easiest on the market! A show based around logic puzzles is just not going to go here, in any time slot.
Apparently, the ABC “owned-and-operated” stations–including the one here in Los Angeles–have been running reruns of prime time shows on Sunday afternoons. You could have fooled me!
Meanwhile, the other networks here–CBS, NBC and Fox–are showing picturs of twenty-two grown men running into one another. We call if “football”, although there may be other, more apposite names for it! (American) Football gets enormous ratings–it’s all that’s keeping NBC going these days! Most football fans are perceived as having a plate of hot wings in their ample laps, and a cold beer right close at hand. This is not the sort of audience that wold go for logic puzzles in the first place!
I’ll hold off comment on Vernon Kay, as I’ve not seen any of his work.
To sum it up, ABC had these episodes, and knew they would not draw flies, even if covered in syrup! So, this is how they will use them, and be well and truly rid of them!
What you just described is a perfect example of counterprogramming. Every other station is showing football, this would be a perfect time to draw in a non-football crowd. Not that they would necessarily go for logic puzzles, but it’s a legitimate programming strategy.
The wings do sound good though. Who’s buying?
What non-football audience? You mean there is one??
I’ll skip both the wings and the beer. The wings will be too hot and spicy for my taste. And I’m pretty much teetotal. One alcoholic drink and I’m ready for bed, and I feel like–er, shinola the next morning!
Idea for US market: make the bastard child of Only Connect and Richard Bacon’s Beer & Pizza Club.
Somebody on Another Website posted eight minutes of Vernon Kay hosting “All-Star Family Fortunes”. He strikes me as the very stereotype of a modern Game Show Host. He appears to be all teeth and slicked-down hair, and plenty of the kind of enthusiasm that some feel is required for the position.
I can see where some folks might find him just the tiniest bit annoying!
I can’t picture him hosting what sounds like a dry-as-dust show with six people trying to solve logic problems. He’s just not the type!
He used to wear his hair longer in his early presenting days (don’t forget he used to be a model). It was around 2007 when he decided to chop it off.
Ooh, you’ve reminded me. The older he got, the longer his hair got, and the wilder and more untamed it became. Going short worked well for him.
I’ve got quite a lot of time for Vernon; he comes across as friendly and genuine more effectively than most, and I don’t ever remember anyone coming here and saying that he’s actually a bit of a git in real life. Fingers crossed that he gets a genuine hit of his very own before too much longer, before the curse of Kielty overtakes him once and for all.
When I used to be a regular of LordKat’s live stream, we affectionately called American Football ‘handegg’.
I’m delighted to see MDMG will be getting run, even if it’s just to ditch it as fast as possible. I’m very curious to see what the ratings for this will be. I can’t imagine that Americans would like a big money game that’s not a 90% clone of Millionaire (though it’s at about 70%, with the format reworkings).
I’m interested to see how Vernon Kay will do. Despite our countries xenophobic tendencies, we seem to have an affinity for foreign hosts, and I particularly like Vernon. He’s one of those hosts who always seems like he’s enjoying himself and getting involved in the shows, unlike most of our hosts who are clearly just there for the paycheck, these days. I’m kind of worried that ABC will do what they did with Ant and Dec and make him talk reaaaaaaaaally sloooooow liiiiike thiiiis buuuuut leeess exaaagerate, since we Americans seemingly can’t understand an accent unless we’re spoken to like we’re a tad thick.
…By coutries, I mean country’s, and by exaaagerate, I mean exaaagerated.
Vernon Kay also hosted the US version of Hit Me Baby One More Time, didn’t he?
…The great Wikipedia sayeth so. He also hosted Skating With the Stars, though some unreliable sources told me he was absolutely awful…
Well, he’s ALWAYS absolutely awful IMHO. 👿 😉 8)
YES, forgotten about Skating With the Stars.
I don’t really have a problem with Vernon Kay really. He’s hosted almost as many shows as Chris Tarrant, you know.
Like Chris Tarrant, Vernon Kay has only one successful show under his belt. Any other show he presented are either one-off specials (Elvis) or got axed after one/two series.
There was something with Headjam, shame it wasn’t recomissioned.
So All Star Family Fortunes never existed?
Ignore the above comment.
Well it sounds like today’s Deal or No Deal was fun.
Yes. That has to be, in context, one of if not THE biggest “No Deal” of all time, surely? (not raw money, obviously, that was £165k, I mean in terms of the board). Close between that and Corinne anyway.
Second most money risked at any point in DoND, after the £130k risked (and lost) in declining an AMO £140k on £10k/£250k earlier this year.
Discounting Million Pound Drop (where the format makes it difficult to ascertain what’s actually being risked at any point), the only show that has seen anyone risk more than £90k other than DoND is WWTBAM. (Unless I’m very much mistaken, anyway. I know nobody had the chance of risking £90k on PokerFace, at least.)
No. I can’t think of another show either.
Yes. That’s true in the sense that there has been more money risked, I hadn’t though of that – Not on such a weak back-up, though. (Obviously risking an over-average offer with Kerri-Anne was a bit daft but at least she had £10k to fall back on – still a decent sum).
I’ve been thinking too what an amazing year it’s been for the £250k. I believe in the history of DoND they’ve opened the final box “looking for” the £250k, 10 times, half of which have been this calendar year.
And by discounting the deus ex machina of Alice’s finish, that means that more than half of the games where a player has turned down a two-box offer with £250k in play have been aired this calendar year alone. Furthermore, three of those have either had a blue in the other box or an above-mean offer; only one player had gambled with either of those conditions present prior to this year (that, of course, being Corinne).
The only other potential one I can think of is if someone goes for the jackpot on The Cube. And we know how unlikely THAT is.
Good one. Skimming down the “Big Prize” category page on UKGameshows.com (which is kind of cheating I know!) you can probably count the following too:
Are You Smarter…? Primetime
For The Rest Of Your Life (if you count the prize as one sum)
Heads Or Tails (top rating favourite of 2009)
In It To Win It (that bloke last year kind of lost £100k)
Shafted (top rating favourite of 2001)
Any more for any more?!
Don’t Forget the Lyrics! had a risk of £120,000 to win another £125,000 since £5,000 was guaranteed. Two people decided to pass on it. The final series of Are You Smarter (Than YOUR 10 Year Old) was mad. Since they kept the money tree the same, the top prize was increased to £500,000. So you had to risk £95,000 (£5,000 guaranteed) to win another £400,000.
That was me. I always remember Head or Tails and their double up method. You could have £400,000 go up to £800,000 but the next correct guess would win you an extra £200,000.
Of those, Shafted didn’t involve any choice to gamble – though there was a £200k+ jackpot that was shafted away to zero, of course – and In It works identically to MPD in terms of “last question is to defend the money you’ve earned earlier in the game” (it’s just that MPD does that bit in reverse).
The other three are conscious gambling choices in the WWTBAM/DoND mould, but not many even got into position to risk a six-figure sum, and everyone who did chose not to. We’re not America yet 😉
Looks like there’s an Inferno coming to the BB house…