For some reason 3% has exploded over my Twitter timeline today, it’s actually been on Netflix for a little while, but when you scan through Netflix it’s quite easy to go past Brazilian sci-fi I suppose. Anyway it’s quite good and Very Much The Sort Of Thing You Might Enjoy. It’s a drama, it’s in Brazilian Portuguese (although there’s a dubbed English version, but come on), it has english subtitles, it’s what Survivor would be a bit like if it was done through the prism of Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror and The Hunger Games by way of the board game The Resistance. It has violence but not excessive amounts, it is rated 15.
In the future the world is divided into the haves (who live in the ‘Offshore’) and the have nots who live in big run down cities on the mainland. Everybody gets one shot to live in the Offshore by taking part in The Process, a series of tests and tasks with a view to eliminate people who don’t ‘deserve’ to move on, only 3% of the candidates will be allowed to make it. If you like characters and personalities you are well rewarded. If you like tests and challenges then you get those as well – there’s quite a fun murder-mystery logic problem in episode two. If you like thinly veiled political statement then knock yourselves out. The other half of the drama relates to the people administering The Process and the secrets they may hold.
The drama gets down to a core set of characters and motivations quite quickly and if there is one thing we like it’s fiction based around eliminatory processes. I’m only a couple of episodes in but so far it is quite compelling, if you have Netflix you might enjoy it as well. Episodes are about 50 minutes.
I am the 97%.
Yes I don’t think you’d pass.
This reminds me, the other day I was trying to recall the name of the youtube series that I heard about here, reminiscent of the Cube. And I believe they released a follow-up with another reality-game-show themed scenario on netflix that I never got round to watching?
The Vault, and they did a film called Circle.
5 Golden Rings airs this Thursday on SBS6, not sure if the promo is geo-blocked:
http://www.sbs6.nl/programmas/5-golden-rings/videos/qM3dhF2VISWj/5-golden-rings-begint-12-januari/
I can’t get it to work right now but will try again later, thanks!
Edit: Likely Geoblocked.
OK well the set looks quite swish, will guess that the interactive floor is a circle about 20ft diameter and the gold ring shown about a foot and a half.
The question on the advert shows a picture of a skeleton and challenges the contestants to point out where the appendix is. There appear to be lifelines.
It has interactive app (although we knew that already).
Interestingly, CBS are *really* pushing Hunted, gave it comfortably the biggest chunk of promotional time in their NFL playoff game yesterday, leading up to a premiere in a fortnight that gets a lead-in from the AFC Championship Game (essentially the semi-final before the Super Bowl, and reliably the second or third most watched TV show of the year along with the NFC Championship Game which is the exact same thing for teams on the other side of a decades-old historical divide). Last year the equivalent lead-in got used on the X-Files reboot and it did very well, CBS obviously hoping for a similar boost here.