That old fallback when we’re too busy to research something else worth sharing:
- Bang On The Money is a pilot with DJs Rickie and Melvin where players will “require a steady hand and nerves of steel” to win big. Could this be the UK adaptation of Denryu Irairabou we’ve ALL been on tenterhooks for? That’s filming in Maidstone on Saturday night, tickets through Applause Store. Is likely to be full-on yoof.
- This might have a game element in it I don’t know (in as much as Blind Date did), Meet the Parents with Holly Willoughby is a new dating show for ITV where parents decide who you’ll go out on a date with. Could be a lorra lorra fun. Filming Saturday 6th February at ITV Towers. Tickets Applause Store.
- No-one’s done a TV version of Scrabble for a while, this one promises celebrity team captains paired up with civilians and bonus games on premium squares. Don’t know who’s hosting (i.e. it’s probably Stephen Mulhern etc) but TWO pilot recordings are filming on February 8th at ITV Towers on the South Bank. Tickets SRO.
- Catchphrase is recording episodes in the middle of February in Maidstone. Tickets through Applause Store.
- Pointless is filming end of February to the end of March initially. We always say this is worth going to see filmed if you get the chance. That’s at Elstree, tickets through SRO.
Lots of things filming at Maidstone, not ideal but certainly much more pedestrian friendly than BLOODY Pinewood if you’re training in, or at least it was last time I went which was some time ago.
Denryu I. brings back some happy memories of procrastinating while playing around with NeoGeo ROMs on arcade emulators. Here’s the original video game version of the TV show in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XPlIdQpV3A
IIRC, I think in Japan they had special arcade cabinets for this game that actually gave you a mild shock when you lost a life…
What I love about watching DI playthroughs on Youtube is that the courses are wacky (robots!) but they play out exactly like that on TV – Challengers on Fire (Sports Bakka is the German repackaging and there’s loads on Youtube) worked a bit like Muscle Ranking (Unbeatable Banzuke) in that the challenges stood until they were beaten then they got harder IIRC. Some of the builds of the later courses are incredible.
I do love how Japan has basically cornered the market on the “do an impossible thing, win money” show.
Surprisingly, I’ve only seen one that offered anything other than an all-or-nothing scenario (but typically me, I have forgotten the name!), and it gave people 10 yen for trying and added a zero for each stage they got through. Fairly derisory money until the penultimate stage, but still.
They’re so creative and easy to watch and understand – that’s why they’re so often repackaged. Surprised that Ninja Warrior is the only one to take off as an international format of itself really, I could probably watch Irritating Stick forever.
Not that it’s necessarily of the same ilk, but what about Hole in the Wall?
Not unfair, unusual in that it was a part in a variety show though.
You can give half a point to Muscle Ranking, we got it as Under Pressure and Germany got it as Champions Day.
Whenever I think of Sports Bakka, I remember two guys that won a game, where one of them had to stand on a platform 30 meters above the ground and throw a marshmallow, which had to be caught by the other one with his mouth. The weird thing about it was that one guy didn’t throw the marshmallow at first, but spat down, where he wanted to throw, to know, how the marshmallow would fly. His friend ran to that ball of spit and almost caught it, but he realised several meters before landing, that he shouldn’t catch it. Then the guy threw the marshmallow and it landed exactly in his friend’s mouth and the won the million yen.
Of course I also remember rebuilding mini cardboard versions of that red wire (is that the english word for this kind of electric game in the video? in German it’s Heißer Draht (hot wire)) game. I would love to see a show featuring that as it has always been my favourite game on Die 100000 DM Show as well.
Sleeper lottery hit Win Your Wish List is back next Saturday. Feels like rather a long time since the BBC last showed a lottery quizzer!