This started in the US on Monday and is hosted by Scottish comic and chat show host (although about to be replaced by James Corden) Craig Ferguson.
And it’s basically Hollywood Game Night with fewer celebrities and only one game and a bit dull. It functionally works, but there’s not really much compelling reason to watch.
https://twitter.com/MathieuD_S/status/514453537884229633
A Prendre ou A Laisser‘s new set. Looks better than the new boxes !
Yes not bad, I don’t get why they appear to have gone for a brick metaphor.
I think this is a sprat to catch a mackerel, the syndication partners in this seem to want Craig to bring his talk show to them, so this is just prepping audiences etc. For something that has been put together this cynically, it works reasonably well.
I quite enjoyed Celebrity Name Game, largely because Craig Ferguson is such a good host that he elevates an otherwise competent but generic show.
I’m not quite sure what I was going to be expecting from Ferguson, I’m aware of his chat show and I’ve seen clips and it didn’t really connect with me to be honest. I like the fact that he’s quite a loose host here (generally speaking I’ll take loose over hugely scripted all the time), but I feel like it could do with some writing and direction, or at least more than we got. What they’d refer to as “a bit wacky” in the US would be seen as not that off-the-wall over here really.
I think it does hinge on what you think of Ferguson. (I quite like it, but I don’t think it would sustain a UK half hour in its current form.)
CBS picked up Big Brother for two more seasons today (the 16th season ends tonight- so this will take it up to 18 seasons over 17 years at the very least; it still does very well over the summer).
BBC One
Bargain Hunt (R) 1.92 (33.9%)
Perfection 0.80 (14.5%)
Antiques Road Trip 1.83 (19.4%)
Pointless 3.04 (23.9%)
BBC Two
Pressure Pad 0.37 (3.9%)
Flog It! (R) 0.66 (5.2%)
Two Tribes 1.06 (6.9%)
Eggheads 1.06 (6.4%)
Celebrity Antiques Road Trip 1.51 (8.1%)
ITV
Dickinson’s Real Deal 0.78 (13.8%)
Who’s Doing the Dishes 0.80 (9.6%)
The Chase 2.47 (20.3%)
Channel 4
Countdown 0.43 (6.8%)
Deal or No Deal 0.72 (8.6%)
Come Dine With Me 0.78 (6.4%)
ITV 2
Bad Bridesmaid 0.38 (1.9%)
Celebrity Juice 0.89 (5.7%)
All include HD and +1 where appropriate.
Thanks Paul.