Wednesdays, 8pm
ITV1
Warwick Davies is the unusual choice to front a revival of Bobby’s Big Box Game, this time round with a £20,000 jackpot prize and with Tim Vine and 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown favourite Joe Wilkinson as regulars. And an extended 60 minute running time, so expect more arsing about from the guests than ever before. Maybe it will work in its favour, maybe it will not. Who knows?
Friend of the Bar Lewis Murphy went to see a pilot of this being filmed last November, he didn’t think much of it.
Of course Wednesday at eight is a traditional ITV light entertainment slot and Big Star’s Little Star and Mr and Mrs have had some success there. However it’s found itself up against the UK’s hottest show in The Great British Bakeoff on BBC1 – if it does 3.5m then it’s not doing too badly, certainly comparable to what’s been in the slot previous that isn’t football.
Well I mean for how they extended the format to an hour I don’t really have any problems with the rounds or them mixing it up a bit, but it all felt a bit lacking in energy and really could have done with a bit more pace, not helped by the scripted bits Davies has to give after each question which don’t feel natural – when Monkhouse did them they felt like quick asides. Davies didn’t seem quite comfortable in the role. And Joe Wilkinson remains an acquired taste.
I didn’t think it was completely awful, I did feel it start to warm up a bit towards the end of round one, but it never really got out of that gear for me.
i largely agree. I didn’t mind it being an hour. I did mind it being slower than a snail that feels sleepy. i think warrick was more of a ‘name’ as host, rather than selected for his hosting abilities, which were poor. I’m not sure it was helped by a one sided contest and dull male contestant in the first week however.
Only caught up on the first part but a glaring error – Warwick (not great) said £50/square and £500 for the board but then at the end of Round 1 the winner with 5 squares had £600 and loser with 4 squares had £100 – so seems £25/square + £500 for the win (without the money for the square)
I don’t think that’s quite right, £50 for earnt squares, sqaures given away don’t earn money.
Seems that they basically ditched all the changes they planned in the revival’s pilots – Secret Square prizes are actual prizes again; end game *basically* the same as ever – which isn’t a bad thing overall.
The show itself isn’t bad – the spirit of old Monkhouse is definitely still there – but it really felt like it lacked an atmosphere. The game definitely felt slowed down and quite padded – the way Warrick paused between every “I agree/disagree” before revealing whether the contestant called right was particularly jarring. Much of the attempts at humour from the non-comedic celebrities fell flat.
I also dislike how the only sounds in the show besides the theme tune – which is so short and too quiet compared to the audience applause I originally thought it didn’t even HAVE one and still have no idea what it actually sounds like – seem to be generic sound effects: a “cha-ching” for money recaps; the generic “time up” buzzer in the end game… for a show giving away a potential £20,000 a week, it feels cheap. Plus, when a game is won and all you hear are a few quiet “dings”, when in the Monkhouse days there’d be a nice jolly blast of music, you don’t feel like the victory was really acknowledged or emphasised. In fact, lack of any actual music across the show lends it a lot of dead air.
One more jarring element – if you’re going to show next week’s celebrities at the end of the show, AT LEAST keep it on screen long enough for us to see all nine! That was flashed by WAAAAY too quickly in this first episode; hopefully it’s corrected in the future. On that note, why is it that when we’re shown the celebrity in the secret square do we not see that celebrity’s name any more? Fair enough, it’s still possible to follow along from the face alone, but if the chosen square isn’t a celebrity I or my family actually recognise, how are we supposed to say, “Oh, X is the Secret Square this time” for the benefit of that one person who mistimed a loo break or was otherwise briefly out of the room? It’s a minor niggle, but it irks me a little.
Most of the issues of the show are presentational; those that aren’t, are due to the slowness of the game due to the extended format and neither Davis nor the celebrities doing a good job to liven up proceedings. Still, it’s great to see another revival of a classic show that’s still instantly recognisable to fans of the original; and both contestants keeping the money they’ve won should happen way more often.
3.4m for this last night (15.8%), which is actually fairly respectable considering, and about in line with other revivals.
Thought Warwick was OK, if a bit bland, but the show just felt a bit too long, especially as there was very little variation in the gameplay. If you’ve got five rounds to play with, surely more than one could mix up the format a bit – and that was only with the WILTY-style statements. I think three rounds were actually won in exactly the same way with the same celebrities as well, which didn’t help.
Enjoyed the fact it’s going to be introducing some new names to primetime ITV, though, someone said to me on Twitter that they’d be fascinated what the ITV heartland audience makes of Joe Wilkinson. Of course Bridget Christie is on later in the run.
Probably won’t watch it again, though. If it was a bit shorter and on a Saturday teatime I might have.
What happened to Bridget Christie on Celebrity Squares ? was this show ditched ? I went to the recording of this episode but it has not aired ???
Good question, I have asked Twitter and we’ll see there’s a good answer.
What was pleasing to see was the main core element of the game is still in tact and has not been tampered with but I found the pace of the show very lethargic and sometimes a bit scripted if i’m being honest.
No disrespect to Warwick Davis but he ain’t even in the same league as the legend that was Bob Monkhouse but overall it was enjoyable to watch and for me has the potential for another revived show to be a success.
Schlag den Raab Alert
Show this Saturday, starting at 7.15pm UK time. I don’t know if you will be doing a live commentary, but I thought I’d give you a heads up.
Music guests will be Maroon 5 and Kiesza.
Some ratings bits and pieces;
• The Voice of Holland not doing too well. Some changes ahead for the live shows though. The ratings are down, but it still wins its’ night.
• Utopia launched on Fox in USA on Sunday. Ratings were good, based on the fact it was up against the NFL. Ratings halved on Tuesday for its’ 2nd episode though. Not looking good.
• X Factor, Strictly and Gogglebox all clash at 9pm on Friday 26th Sept.
• C5 have given the greenlight to a joint-commission with MTV called 10,000 B.C. It’s basically Survivor set in the Stone Age. Announced after C5 was bought by Viacom (who own MTV & Comedy Central)
Yep was going to put a thing up tomorrow, thanks James.
Thursday’s Quiz & Game Ratings News
BBC One
Bargain Hunt 1.60 (30.8%)
Pressure Pad 0.55 (11.1%)
Pointless 2.75 (23.4%)
BBC Two
Two Tribes 0.96 (6.6%)
Eggheads 1.00 (6.4%)
ITV
Dickinson’s Real Deal 0.66 (12.9%)
Who’s Doing the Dishes? 0.86 (11.2%)
The Chase 2.19 (19.6%)
Channel 4
Deal or No Deal 0.58 (7.6%)
Come Dine With Me (R) 0.71 (6.4%)
Channel 5
Celebrity Big Brother 1.68 (8.0%)
Celebrity Big Brother’s Bit on the Side 0.46 (5.4%)
ITV2
Bad Bridesmaid 0.48 (2.3%)
Celebrity Juice 0.85 (5.3%)
Two Tribes seems down a lot but I’m guessing people were watching the Pistorius news at 6. Pointless seems to be winning the 5pm battle comfortably.
It seems to get 1.1m usually so down a bit (although as I’ve said previously, on paper I think it should be doing a little bit better than it is).
Pressure Pad not really doing anything this time round, and ITV has just collapsed.
Looks like Pressure Pad is moving to BBC2 at 4.30 from 22 September, with new episodes of Perfection at 2.15 on BBC1.
On the down side, it’s BBC2, and daytime BBC2 hasn’t had any new entertainment since the end of 2012, so viewers might think it’s a repeat.
On the up side, it’s 4.30, and the show’s very different from Dishes and Deal and Antiques Road Trip.
Might be a shrewd move.
Two Tribes Ratings to Date:
TX1 MON 18/08/14 1.57 (10.0%)
TX2 TUE 19/08/14 1.37 (9.4%)
TX3 WED 20/08/14 1.27 (8.6%)
TX4 THU 21/08/14 1.17 (7.7%)
TX5 FRI 22/08/14 1.19 (8.3%)
TX6 MON 25/08/14 1.44 (8.1%)
TX7 TUE 26/08/14 1.23 (8.2%)
TX8 WED 27/08/14 1.30 (8.5%)
TX9 THU 28/08/14 1.19 (8.0%)
TX10 FRI 29/08/14 1.20 (7.6%)
TX11 MON 01/09/14 1.12 (7.1%)
TX12 TUE 02/09/14 1.10 (7.4%)
TX13 WED 03/09/14 1.16 (7.9%)
TX14 THU 04/09/14 1.15 (7.7%)
TX15 FRI 05/09/14 1.13 (7.5%)
TX16 MON 08/09/14 1.11 (7.7%)
TX17 TUE 09/09/14 1.10 (7.0%)
TX18 WED 10/09/14 1.05 (7.4%)
TX19 THU 11/09/14 0.96 (6.6%)
AVERAGE 1.20 (7.9%)
The slot average for the thirteen weeks immediately prior to TX1 is about 7.6%. Revenge of the Egghead was hovering between 5 and 6% by the end of the run.
So it’s doing fine. On the basis of its first four weeks it’ll almost certainly be back. If it slips consistently below a million for the final two weeks they might be a bit concerned, but there are good reasons for them to give it another run:
– It’s fronted by a great and established BBC daytime talent.
– It was commissioned by the new Daytime Controller, while other returning series like Pointless, Perfection, Pressure Pad and Eggheads are holdovers from the previous regime.
– It’s increasingly difficult for new series to break through, so a new show doing above the slot average in a slot which has barely tried anything new for half a decade shouldn’t be written off in a hurry.
Skipping the third an fourth round of this show, I really liked it. The length is my only problem with it…
I’m a bit taken aback with lots of people saying Davies was good. He seems like a nice guy don’t get me wrong, but I think Squares in the UK requires either someone who plays a Wogan-style weary straight man to the celebs, or someone with a sharp enough wit to put everyone in their place without relying on the autocue (Monkhouse). If there’s going to be an hour of it, it needs someone who can be consistantly entertaining and I’m just not quite convinced yet.
Just 2.48m for this last night apparently, although I don’t think that includes +1. Even so, got to hurt a little.
Edit: 2.7m with.
As someone who found the Monkhouse version – whisper it – a bit glib, I think it’s not a bad attempt, actually. Yes, the bits where Warwick turns to the camera to do a gag take you out of the room too much, but there’s some nice innovation in there too.
It’s just too long for the slot, and some of the questions are difficult for the celebs to riff off. Who cares if there are quarter or half a million Boy Scouts? And the bloke last night got stiffed because the woman got one more question than he did.