Specials Board

The specials board is where you can find all of our feature content – opinion, shows from around the world you’ve seen somewhere before, and shows you really probably won’t have. The bracketted date is the year the feature originally went up.

The old features will be tidied up and added over the coming days and weeks, in the meantime…

PODCASTS

We did some Podcasts for a format called The Line Up in 2012 and 2013, meant to be an amazing pub quiz. It was quite good fun, here are the episode guides with links to mp3s should you fancy a listen. Questions provided by the lovely QuizQuizQuiz.com.

• Episode 00 – The Pilot Special – In which contestants Dan and Nathan test the game out for me and the sound goes horrifically, horrifically wrong.
• Episode 01 – The PROPER CELEBRITY Special – In which Ian Symes from Big Brother’s Bit On The Side and long time Friend of the Bar and Gadget Geek Tom Scott – PROPER CELEBRITIES – battle it out and I privately ponder getting someone else to host.
• Episode 02 – The Halloween Stroke Guy Fawkes Stroke David vs Goliath Special! In which Only Connect dungeon master David J Bodycombe takes on giant of the podcasting world Lewis Murphy. And someone ought to oil a door.
• Episode 03 – The Non-celebrity Special de Facto Christmas Special! – There’s mulled wine in the air as Ronald and Caroline battle it out in the sort – of monthly pub quiz.
• Episode 04 – The Gameshow Losers Special! Andrew and Shanine attempt to break their gameshow duck.
• Special Presentation: The Best (?) of 21 Questions Wrong – M and Dan Peake lovingly ripped off Avanti un Altro‘s endgame for Fifty50 Show.

VIDEOS

• Schlag den Brig – Live! Four hour gaming marathon devised by David J Bodycombe and based on the German show Schlag den Raab. I’m a contestant. The internet has never seen the like before or since.
• Schlag den Brig 2 – Live! UNTIL NOW that is! This one’s FIVE hours of entertainment and includes TWO outside broadcast elements. You can’t even begin to conceive the excitement.
• The Smartest Person at Bother’s Bar – LIVE! Series 1 – Our tribute to Belgian show De Slimste Mens ter Wereld.

A MAN WALKS INTO A BAR…
Brig Bother conducts HARD-HITTING interviews with some of the genre’s leading lights.

• Tim Child – gave us a terrifically candid interview for the 20th anniversary of Knightmare. (2007)
• Peter Davey – talks to us about The Mole, inventing I’m a Celebrity…, Playing it Straight and Beauty and the Geek. My first ‘proper’ interview, and also one of my faves. (2006)
• Phil Edgar-Jones – I got hilariously drunk and e-mailed Phil for an interview. He kindly agreed. It’s basically me yapping on about how Big Brother wasn’t as good as it used to be, and basically is a fairly terrible interview if I’m being honest. (2007)
• Glenn Hugill – This was a fun interview, Glenn agreed to be interviewed for Deal or No Deal‘s first anniversary. There’s also some stuff about The Mole and you’ll be pleased to hear I’m much better at poker now. (2006)
• Mat Steiner – A light interview to promote the Release the Hounds app. (2014)

DEAL OR NO DEAL AROUND THE WORLD
Bother’s Bar was well ahead of the game when it came to Deal or No Deal, we had experienced versions from other countries a good 18 months before it hit the UK. Why not join us as we take a look at some of them?

• Australia (Daily) – the first one we wrote. The comments are amusing. (May 2005)
• Netherlands (Miljoenenjacht) (2006)
• Belgium (Miljoenenjacht) (2006)
• France (A Prendre ou a Laisser) (2006)
• Germany (2006)
• Italy (Affari Tuoi) (2006)
• Mexico (Vas o No Vas) (2006)
• Spain (Alla Tu!) (2006)
• Spanish USA (Vas o No Vas) (2006)
• United Kingdom (2006)
• United States (2006)

FORT BOYARD
Fort Boyard is one of the most important television shows in the history of the world ever, and it’s testament to the show’s power that it’s still being made twenty-years later. Here are some features I have written about the show.

• A Retrospective (Originally written 2004, updated periodically after)
• Conquer Fort Boyard (2005)
• The Early Years (2006)
• Oh no – Aaaaarrrgh! Locked in the Treasure Room (2004)

DIFFERENT PEOPLE, DIFFERENT NATIONS, DIFFERENT GAMES!
A section dedicated to various versions of shows from around the world different to our own. You’ll know the show, but you probably won’t have seen it like this!

• Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? (2007)
• Le Bigdil (2006)
• Die 100,000 Mark Show (2005)
• Dog Eat Dog (2005)
• Les Forges du Desert (2010)
• Happy Family Plan (2005)
• Kies de Kluis (2006)
• Der Klügste Deutsche (2013)
• The Krypton Factor (US) (2005)
• La Piste de Xapatan (2010)
• Let’s Get Married (2012)
• Set For Life (2007)
• Storm the Castle (2005)
• Traumhochzeit (2010)
• Wanna Bet? (2005)
• Wetten Dass…? (2006)
• Wipeout (2008)
• A Word or 2 (2005)

WORLD O’ GAME
Formats unknown to the UK.

• 20Q (2009)
• Alta Tensione (2006)
• Avanti un Altro! (2012)
• Blokken (2004)
• La Carte Aux Tresors (2004)
• Cash Crash (2013)
• Cresus (2006)
• Cultura Moderna (2006)
• Dasshutsu Game DERO! (2011)
• Die Chance Deines Lebens (2006)
• Drôle de Couple (2006)
• Extreme Activity (2006)
• Family Game Night (2010)
• Fattore C (2007)
• The Game of Life (2012)
• Glücksritter (2009)
• Knights and Warriors (2008)
• Le Mot Le Plus Long (2010)
• The Master (2007)
• Mein Mann Kann (2012)
• Mercante in Fiera (2007)
• Mission: Pirattak (2005)
• Les Mondes Fantastiques (2004)
• Quizmaster (2005)
• Scrabble Showdown (2012)
• Secrets of the Cryptkeeper’s Haunted House (2006)
• De Slimste Mens ter Wereld (2011)
• Test Pattern (2009)
• Tokyo Friend Park II (2009)
• Tout le Monde Veut Prendre sa Place (2010)
• Tutto x Tutto (2006)
• Twee Tot De Zesde Macht (2012)
• You Don’t Know Jack (2005)

SEASON COMMENTARIES

For (mainly) foreign shows we especially like and follow we’ll set up a separate page for discussion of the season. You can find those here.

• Aussie Mole 2013 – It felt like it went on forever and you can see our enthusiasm dwindling as it progressed. But find out what we thought of it all here!
• Crime Scene Season 1 – Korean celebrities turn detectives, but who cannot be trusted?
• De Mol 2018 – Discussion of the best (i.e. Belgian) version of the best reality game in the world.
• De Mol 2019
• De Mol 2020
• De Mol 2021
• Fort Boyard 2014
• Fort Boyard 2015
• Fort Boyard 2016
• Fort Boyard 2017
• Fort Boyard 2018
• Fort Boyard 2019
• Fort Boyard 2020
• Fort Boyard 2021
• The Genius Season 2 – Our discussion page for awesome Korean reality game.
• The Genius Season 3
• The Genius Season 4
• Society Game – From some of the people behind The Genius. But not as good as The Genius.
• Wie is De Mol 2013 – Discussion of the Dutch version of the best reality game in the world.
• Wie is De Mol 2014
• Wie is De Mol 2015
• Wie is De Mol 2016
• Wie is De Mol 2017
• Wie is De Mol 2018
• Wie is de Mol 2019
• Wie is De Mol 2020
• Wie is De Mol Anniversary Special Season
• Wie is De Mol 2021

IPOD, THEREFORE I AM

We used to have a separate page for iPod stuff but as it goes out of date so quickly I’m retiring it and sticking everything in here. New reviews of apps will be integrated into the main site under the iPod, therefore I am category clicking on that link should direct you to the newest posts.

• The Amazing Race HD
• Bamboozle
• Bullseye
• Catchphrase
• The Chase
• Come Dine With Me
• Countdown HD
• The Crystal Maze
• The Cube
• Deal or No Deal
• Ellen’s Know or Go HD
• Family Fortunes HD
• Fort Boyard
• Jeopardy HD
• Wordbreaker HD [was Lingo HD]
• The Million Pound Drop
• Minute to Win It
• Only Connect
• QuizQuizQuiz
• Wheel of Fortune HD
• Who Wants to be a Millionaire?
• Who Wants to be a Millionaire? HD 2011
• You Don’t Know Jack HD

MISCELLANEOUS
The articles that don’t fit into the other categories!

• ACTUAL SPECTRUM SCREENSHOTS!!! Gameshows on the Speccy. (2004)
• Bother’s Bar Streaming Setup 2020
• The Cellar – All Bother’s Bar news-y stuff from before 2010.
• The Future of Gameshows… From 1999 – Kaye Adams, David Young and Paul Ross chat about jeopardy in gameshows. (2007)
• The Idiot’s Guide to Downloading things on IRC (2007)
• Jacques Antoine: The Games Master – tribute to the late French producer and devisor (2012)
• Knightmare VR Pilot 2004: A virtual reality-ized version of Knightmare was trialled out in 2004, I dissect it mercilessly. (2004)
• Maid Marian and her Merry Men: A transcript of Tunnel Vision, the episode that takes off The Crystal Maze. (2005)
• Necromunda: Wanted: When I was younger, I thought it would be a fun idea to turn action adventure show Wanted into a tabletop wargaming scenario. This is my story. (2006)
• A Very Basic Guide to Soundmixing Using VoiceMeeter – something you might find useful over Google Hangouts or Skype. (2017)
• We Heart The Mole: My little tribute to one of the best shows ever. (2005)
• Wheel of Commodore: Play all your favourite 80s gameshows on the Commodore 64! (2004)