This does sound as though it might be quite good, although if the hourglass full of cash is replaced by a Money Pump-esque computer graphic, I will be very disappointed. Six days a week, interestingly. Also Davina is basically our Linda de Mol, so fingers crossed this will be worth getting excited about.
Also the title is rubbish. Still, though, we do love an exciting cash countdown.
In other news, Challenge TV have bought the rights to series one and two of Fun House. Tweet of the day:
@BothersBar They saw the ratings from the CITV retro weekend and didn't need long to mullet over
— Max Preston (@MaxSkyNews) January 10, 2013
As I’ve said previously, you’ve got to respect a guy who can dine out today on a haircut he’s not actually had for twenty-five years.
Two things this might be:
1) a rushed-to-air spoiler for Money Pump (did that format sell to ITV in the end?);
2) DoND summer break filler.
Given how much DoND suffered from the lack of a summer break last year (the consequence being two weeks on More4 and a £250k win airing directly against the middle Sunday of the Olympics), I’m expecting the latter.
Twenty episodes, so Summer is a decent shout.
There are a one more thing reading between the lines – daily for £50k and celeb on weekends for £100k. If it IS going in the Deal slot, I would be very much hoping for two games an episode because I expect one will come across as too slow in an hour.
Given Victory Television (The Exit List/Celebrity Millionaire) are producing this I suspect it will be one game per episode. Guarantee there won’t be any straddling games.
Well it looks like its a physical working hourglass with pound coins rather than a digital representation, interesting.
“In the studio stands an imposing 15 foot hourglass containing thousands of pounds.”
http://www.channel4.com/info/press/news/c4-challenges-contestants-to-win-a-fortune-in-five-minutes
Also it looks like the game researcher post for this is up for grabs, one advert is on the http://www.mediaparents.co.uk site.
First – 5mins for a fortune.
Reading the Channel 4 presser fills me with rage.
In essence the format should be as simple as 1 contestant has 5 minutes to perfom 5 tasks. Do it – scoop all the dosh, fail, win a decreased amount based on the games sucessfully completed.
That is obviously far too simple for Victory, as they have two contestants, one doing the games and one standing around occasionally in shot controlling the cash, and deciding which lifelines are to be played. Why over simplify it?
Plus if anyone is hired as a games researcher, just watch some of the cheaper games from the last few Schlag Den Raab’s and you will pick up plenty of good ideas for games.
Second – Fun House.
Great if you want to frogmarch yourself back to your formative years and relive those Friday 4.40pm moments again.
Personally, I just wish someone at Challenge (dunno if anyone there grazes these pages occasionally) would tap ITV Source on the shoulder and ask to run Punchlines again.
It’s never repeated, and I used to love it as the gag rate was high, and the format to match the set-ups with the gag lines was quite clever. Beats watched 4 kids pumped up on E numbers from sweets and pop running around Studio 1 at the old STV studios in Glasgow, that’s for sure.
No, I can see where they’re going and I think it might be quite clever, featuring as many as SIX moments of jeopardy and a fair bit of relationship testing. And a giant egg timer.
I am cautiously optimistic. It sounds very grand for daytime, I hope the reality matches it.
I feel the need to much less cryptically link to this Tom Scott video. Keep watchin’, it’s worthwhile.
Did you see the episode of Finders Keepers shown during the CITV Old Skool weekend? That had a round of Punchlines in between the first half and the second half of the raids in order to work out which team got to do the second half. It was all right.
5M2aF (no, that’s horrible, sorry) definitely has potential if the games are varied and interesting. At a pinch, varied from week to week would do if they were sufficiently interesting and were not repeated. However, I am worried about the prospective ratio of show length to game action. There will be more than five minutes of game action, not least by virtue of the endgame, but who knows just how quickly the timer will spill the coins through? Can’t see the show being less than half a TV hour per contestant team, and that may end up being slow. Not Million Pound Drop slow, but slow nevertheless.
Edit – the last line of my 5 Mins thoughts, should of course read “Why over-complicate it?”
Even “A Fortune in Five Minutes” sounds a better title than “Five minutes to a Fortune”
Five Minute Fortune works better for me.
As ever, thoughts in bullet pointed form:
– Like everyone else, I hope that title gets changed. “The Hour Glass” or “Five Minutes” should do it.
– Could potentially be quite good. Will depend a lot on the pacing and the games themselves. Suspect from the press release that it’s a quiz rather than anything involving physical/skill challenges. Probably for the best.
– It sounds a lot like Downfall on ABC a couple of years ago, which wasn’t too bad a format (even with the giant conveyor belt and the throwing prop pianos over a roof).
– With that kind of money, would be very surprised if it aired before 4 or 5. Wouldn’t be at all surprised if it turns out to be stripped Bank Job style instead.
– I’d be surprised if they’ve actually thought out the practicalities of having an hour glass fifteen feet tall…
If the production team are reading, please, for the love of all that is holy, get the pacing right. Please.
I’m sorry, I missed the “exciting combination of daytime shows and primetime shows”. So, yeah, I’m guessing DoND summer break and then primetime Saturday.
I’ve been on the show and its bloody hard
Can’t see ANYONE winning more that 25k