OK, so Objective’s Reflex is an actual Thing That Is Happening, Broadcast reporting (note: behind paywall) that it’s going to be 6 episodes of 45 minutes length for Saturday nights, and the legend Shane Ritchie is going to host it.
FOTB Martyn went and saw the pilot in Mediacity last July and didn’t sound very impressed although it sounds like they have made some changes – now it’s two families of three battling it out for £20,000 for a start. The contestant call on UKGameshows.com suggests the games might be a little more involving although the Broadcast article suggests otherwise.
Commissioning exec Karl Warner says:
“Reflex will be the fastest game show on TV, bringing together state of the art technology and brilliant game design that BBC1 families will hopefully enjoy”
The fastest gameshow on TV, with three or four different tasks over 45 minutes strung out with endless super-slo-mo replays there.
Gut feeling is not good on this one. But you never know.
As the one who suffered blisters (ok, maybe slightly sore feet) for this site in the name of the occasional ‘watching telly’ page, I am, and then, I am not really surprised its got the nod for a series.
One the one hand, I stand (and boy did I stand that afternoon) by my original review. I’m still convinced that this will appear on screen less of a gameshow and more of a broadcast demonstration for the super-slow mo camera facilities company that provide Objective with the kit.
The games played in the pilot whilst interesting once, soon became repetitive and no amount of post production and replays (although David Bodycombe did say that he’d heard you see each round once in super slo-mo rather than the choppy alt angles employed by The Cube) will save viewers heading off en-mass over to Sky News for a bit of light relief.
That said, talking to members of the crew I did get the vibe that Objective expected big things for this show (having been shown the door for it by Channel 4) so a reformat making in family v family doesn’t surprise me – but then doesn’t excite me either..
..as does Shane Richie hosting the show. He won’t have that much to do, but at least BT Sport’s Jake Humphries did a good ‘post game interview’ with the loosing contestant just after elimination – Something that Richie, I fully expect will fail to do time after time, instead employing forced chummyness with the contestants.
And if you are going to a recording – take some comfy shoes, unless studio design has had a reformat as well and they’ve found some seats for the audience to sit on..