Do you know? This morning I had a feeling that there is something I’d usually do on Sunday night which has just passed me by this week. And then I remembered I had completely forgotten I Survived a Zombie Apocalypse was on, I was too busy doing things that were actually quite exciting, like playing Assassin’s Creed and watching House of Cards.
Has any other show gone from excitement to forgotten exists within the space of two episodes?
Sorry to anyone involved in this, but rarely have I seen such a badly misjudged show.
Apparently the producer used to work on Big Brother and it shows – lots of chatting and not enough doing. The tasks that are there seem to be mainly ‘go and get X, come back in time’. I think I’ve already seen enough supermarket shutters to last a lifetime.
If you’re going to do something filmic, you have to follow the conventions of a film. In particular, there is the concept of ‘clocks’. Have a look at Titanic – the action sequences are almost all to do with tasks that have to be done within a certain time or X will happen. The main problem with Zombie is that there’s no real sense of what the clocks are. They just seem to appear out of nowhere.
And then there’s the issue of cause and effect. I didn’t really understand the stand-off in the supermarket in show 2. Did the zombies appear because the contestants were too slow or were they going to appear anyway? Was there a solution to avoiding the zombies? Could they be distracted? Could they be outwitted?
It’s such a shame that a brilliant idea has been left stranded in an exposed no man’s land between game show, reality show and drama.
From the Public Service Film before that supermarket task I got the impression that the zombies were blind and the intent was to distract them with noise. I’m not quite sure how they were meant to do that, though; what we *saw* was the survivors throwing stuff to try to lure them into the other aisle and the zombies not really responding to that.
I wonder if there was something else, a more explicit audio alarm they were meant to work with? Or if it was, as you suggest, just a bit haphazard.
Yeah, I agree – the audio stuff was the clue (at least to us) but, as you say, they weren’t really falling for it.
Gaaaaah! Aaaargh! Grrrr! David B is right.
And this programme really annoys me. There is a fabulous, engaging, gripping show buried somewhere in here. We’re not getting that show. We can see tantalising glimpses from time to time, but the result is moments of possibility followed by minutes of letdown.
The production team went on some of the zombie chase runs. From experience, I have a nasty feeling that they’ve recreated some of the weaknesses from that sort of production. A paper-thin and very predictable plot, challenges about speed and not tactics, opposition that don’t obey the scripted logic. Challenges that are set up to extract their pound of flesh. Moments of possibility followed by minutes of letdown.
(And, to be fair, the chase run people are aware of these weaknesses and attempt to address them.)
There are potential narrative developments I don’t expect the BBC to explore, and there’s at least one meta-reading to entertain.
Also of note: between recording and transmission, there’s been one metric truckload of opprobrium from BBC3 viewers, annoyed that drama hasn’t been renewed. That’s got nothing to do with the show we’re seeing, it’s poisoned half the audience against the show from the start.
Last show to go from yay to pfft.. and last spring?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-K7S4nr8CA
Fort Boyard Morocco just revealed itself. Always nice to see a new country play it simple with the single team format.
Nice. Sounds like it’s doing pretty well as well.
I was excited for this show because I was expecting to to be kind of like “The Colony” a show that aired in the USA a few years ago. I Survived is lacking in so many ways. I am hate watching it in hopes it pulls together in the end but I doubt it will.
BBC ONE
Bargain Hunt 2.2m (36%)
The Link 0.9m (13%)
Pointless 3.5m (24%)
BBC TWO
Two Tribes 1.4m (8%)
Eggheads 1.3m (7%)
University Challenge 3.1m (13%)
Only Connect 2.6m (11%)
ITV
Judge Rinder 1.3m (19%)
Tipping Point 1.8m (25%)
1,000 Heartbeats 1.4m (15%)
The Chase 3.3m (23%)
CHANNEL 4
Countdown 0.4m (5%)
Deal or No Deal 0.4m (5%)
Come Dine With Me 0.6m (7%)
Four in a Bed 0.8m (6%)
Coach Trip 0.8m (5%)
CHANNEL 5
10,000 BC 0.7m (5%)
And from Sunday:
I Survived a Zombie Apocalypse 0.32m (2.1%)
Repeat 0.064m (2.3%)
Thanks Paul. Zombie Apocalypse dropping about 100k a week, there.
Thanks Paul. 1000 Heartbeats looking a little bit weak there. A couple of years ago that acting would have been enough for a renewal but I’m on the fence about its chances now given that the rest of their afternoon is stronger.
It does look like a weak link in that line-up, but in fairness it was doing 1.2m last week, so we’ll see.
That’s true, it might find a few more yet. If it can get the other side of 1.5m they’ll probably renew it, although it might be worth putting it at 3pm with Tipping Point at 4pm.
That makes sense to me. I get hammocking, but I can’t think of any examples off the top of my head where it’s been very successful – people are clearly making a decision on what’s in front of them and then coming back later for The Chase, I think an afternoon that builds on the preceding show feels more correct.
I agree, they should be looking to build across the afternoon. Tipping Point could do 2.2m at 4pm (the fact it has been getting 350k on +1 which for daytime is very high suggests it would be better later) and then 1000 Heartbeats or whatever 3pm show they aired could get away with lower figures (and would still get a decent Rinder/Tipping Point sandwich).
being selfish, please can tipping point move back to it’s 4pm home. We love it as a lead in 🙂
Seconded.
Looks like Tipping Point is taking some kind of break as the week beginning Monday 16th March has Dickinson’s Real Deal on at 3pm. The other shows remain in place so it’ll be a test to see how 1000 Heartbeats copes without the big lead in.
Although as 1000 Heartbeats ends that week Tipping Point might find itself back the following week but at 4pm as I can’t think of any other new shows they’ve got lined up.
I’m sure I Survived a Zombie Apocolypse was planted on BBC3 in the hope to show it only produces crap and won’t be missed. I gave it 20 minutes.
Not a game show (though actually by the lose definition used here sometimes might be as the participants can win jobs beyond the show) but the Worlds Toughest Jobs on Mondays showing exactly why it should be saved. It’s not the sort of show I could see other BBC channels making, and even if they did it would be a very different show.
I Survived a Zombie Apocalypse 0.23m (1.5%)
Repeat 0.10m (3.5%)