6pm, ITV1
Well it’s got a live studio audience and it’s got celebrities playing for charity. But does it work in early primetime Saturday night? Have a chat about it here.
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6pm, ITV1
Well it’s got a live studio audience and it’s got celebrities playing for charity. But does it work in early primetime Saturday night? Have a chat about it here.
Bradley Walsh seems to be improving as a presenter
He’s always been a good presenter… 😕 😕 😕
I agree, but I think he’s getting better and better. He’s now excellent.
I get this feeling that they’ve dumbed down the questions a bit, seeing as they’re celebs. On the civilian shows, I’d put them at about a 6 or 7 for difficulty. On this show, they seem to be around a 4 or 5, 6 at a stretch.
What a surprise (!), first show and all 4 get through to the Final Chase and win £56,000 between them.
Very embarrassing for Mark. He needs to do some revision, his form has been poor in the latest series and now being beaten by celebrities? This will damage his reputation as a professional quizzer.
The general consensus here is that Mark might have been told to throw a few questions as it’s for charity. No evidence, mind, just a theory.
“Very embarrassing for Mark. He needs to do some revision, his form has been poor in the latest series”
You haven’t been watching the latest series, haven’t you? Amateurism from you once again.
Mark Labbett – Played 12, Won 11, Lost 1
Paul Sinha – Played 9, Won 8, Lost 2
Anne Hegerty – Played 12, Won 9, Lost 3
Shaun Wallace – Played 7, Won 4, Lost 3
Mark has become the strongest Chaser for the latest series by a country mile.
“This will damage his reputation as a professional quizzer.”
I very much doubt it. It’s all a bit a of fun and I don’t think he cares one little bit. It’s exactly like a team of celebrities beating the Eggheads. Especially if the Eggheads team losing to the celebrities contains Kevin Asham and/or Pat Gibson. Since they are the top two in the world. They won’t care if they lose to some c-listers.
I seem to remember many years ago darts player Phil Taylor beating Kevin Ashman on the head to head but he just shrugged it off.
Edit: Paul Sinha – Played 9, Won 7, Lost 2
I’ve seen Mark make some big mistakes this series from the episodes I’ve seen. He should be looking at improving his general knowledge and music knowledge, both of which are quite weak. I expect higher standards from him.
🙄 🙄 🙄 🙄 🙄
That felt like it worked, the audience definitely shows the change in atmosphere, and yes the questions were definitely dumbed down a bit. It felt like in the final chase Mark threw a few, him losing and looking like a fool was still probably better than denying nearly £60k to charities. That seems to be the only flaw, but it is quite a large one that I feel will only really become prevalent when the team loses. Maybe it would make sense if The Chaser then chose a charity, I don’t really know.
Oh and it’s still really annoying when people interrupt Bradley or The Chaser in the final round (I’m looking at you, Jenny Frost)
You might say the questions might cater for the celebrities since they’re nore pop culture based but don’t forget the show is slotted as a Saturday night programme. Like In It to Win It, the questions cater for the whole viewing family.
I think interrupting is acceptable within reason, because it gets through more questions which would result in more money in the Cashbuilder or steps in the Final Chase.
It’d be a tactic I’d use if I got on the show, I’d interrupt if I knew where the question was going.
I’m fine with interrupting to answer, but when it’s like Jenny taunting Mark by saying stuff like “Don’t get nervous”, it just annoys me then.
Alex McMillen might be onto something there.
Here’s a thought. Have it stated plainly that the Chaser is playing for his/her own charity, and that if he/she wins, that charity, and not the Team’s will get the quid.
This could provide for some interesting confrontations–say, if the Team is playing for Amnesty International and the Chaser is playing for a charity that helps the victims of crime. Or if the Team is playing for a save-the-whales group, while the Chaser is playing for a group that works to aid fishermen whose livelihoods are impaired by saving the whales.
Charities fighting each other on screen might be a true reflection on how the real-life charity sector has to operate but generally it makes for a feel-bad emotion in what ought to be a feel-good show. It’s something I would change about Holding Out for a Hero.
That said, HOfaH seems to have served a useful purpose (if only as a spoiler show for Dick de Rijk’s You Deserve It) and, even if it rated a little low, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a recommission.
And, of course, the spoiler role can be enough of a purpose for a show to be aired.
Just look at Minute To Win It.
Surprisingly it rated quite well for the timeslot averaging 3.7 million. Considering it normally airs at 5pm and clashed with Strictly for half an hour and was at 6pm that’s not a bad result at all (similar if not slightly better than what Family Fortunes has been getting recently in the 6pm hour). It was way higher than the much more promoted and expensive High Stakes or Holding Out For A Hero too, and the latter has even had an X Factor lead out.
If it holds at that sort of level I think we can expect to see more of The Chase in primetime.
Comparing a Saturday night show with ones on Tuesday and Sunday doesn’t feel equitable.
On the other hand, comparing with High Stakes isn’t exactly unfair, seeing as High Stakes was earmarked for this timeslot as far back as July (we were told as much at auditions) and then got shunted back to Tuesday.
At the very, very least, you’d think that getting much higher ratings with much less promotion than High Stakes is vindication of the decision to put something else in that Saturday slot.
3.7 million is a bit underwhelming, isn’t it?
Not really considering it was only at 6pm and faced Strictly for 30 mins. Considering The Cube was getting around the 4 million mark in a 7pm slot away from Strictly earlier in the year (admittedly in the Spring) it’s pretty good going. It’s worth remembering that this was its first ever primetime episode and it did better than all of ITV’s new entertainment shows this year except Red or Black and Sing If You Can, both of which had much more promotion.
3.7 Million falls squarely into the “good but not great” category really
Yes, that sums it up I think. A pretty good performance given the circumstances. I’ve just had a look and the last 6-7pm episode of All Star Family Fortunes averaged 3.1m on 8th October and the other ones on 3rd and 10th September had 3.5m and 2.6m respectively (no SCD on 3rd Sept). So it actually rated better than All Star Family Fortunes did in the same slot, and that show is regarded as a hit by ITV.
That’s actually very interesting, I thought ASFF was doing a bit better than that.
ASFF improved as it edged later in the schedules, with 3.7m on 1st October at 6:30pm, 3.4m on 15th October at 6:15pm and 4.0m last week at 6:30pm. Of course the episodes at 7pm did best as they didn’t clash with Strictly and they had an X Factor lead out. Those 4 episodes averaged 5.5m (20th and 27th August, 17th and 24th September). So basically Family Fortunes is very inconsistent depending on the timeslot and the competition.
Mark Labett is the biggest person on The Chase in terms of appeal to the public. Can the show continue with 3.7 million with people like Shaun in the hotseat and the celebrity novelty gone? I have my doubts.