Show Discussion: Pictionary

By | December 23, 2024
15 Comments
It’s a #hostholdingaquestioncard my loves

Xmas Specials 23rd and 26th December, 5:30/5:40pm
Series proper starts 6th January 2:30pm
ITV

Two lines of thought here, it’s an extremely old-school show with an old-school premise – people draw pictures for others (each team two civilians and a celebrity) to identify against the clock for a nice prize. On the other hand everyone says they’re crying out for 30 minute formats so, well, here is one.

The US show it is based on in an undemanding and frankly non-essential watch but there’s nothing outstandingly wrong with it, I just can’t see anyone deliberately tuning into it. Mel Giedroyc has hosted this sort of thing before, Draw It! about a decade ago on Channel 4 which had a big money prize attached to it – didn’t matter, ended up being a one-series wonder still. I love Mel, but I don’t think she has the claws necessary to get the biggest comedy out of bad drawing and bad guessing, it’s not really her thing, but it was the thing that people most remember about Win Lose or Draw in the 90s. We’ll see!

Let us know what you thought in the comments.

Show Discussion: Bullseye

By | December 22, 2024
19 Comments

Sunday, 6pm,
ITV

#hostholdingaquestioncard

Do yer remember Bullseye? Do yer? Do yer remember “stay out of the black and into the red, nothing in this game for two in a bed?” Do yer remember “iiiiiiinn one?” Do yer remember the speedboat? They were always giving away a speedboat weren’t they! Do yer remember that bit where they’d “check that with Bully?” Do yer? Do yer remember that? Do yer remember the Bendy Bully? Do yer remember getting yer BFH? Bus Fare Home? Do yer remember pounds for points? Do yer remember “the ones that are lit are the ones you can hit?” Do yer remember the “ooo-OHHH-eee-ooohhhh” sound when the board revolved? Do yer? Do yer?

Let us know what you thought about the Xmas Special in the comments below!

Show Discussion: Beast Games

By | December 18, 2024
10 Comments
#hostholdingaquestioncash

2 eps on Friday 19th December, 1 ep weekly thereafter
Amazon Prime

This has become a bit of a curio really. Mr Beast, world’s most famous Youtuber famous for his big money challenges and giveaways (and basically doing Real Life Squid Game in 30 minutes), now throwing his considerable weight around for Amazon Prime with a show with a very similar eliminatory premise – 1,000 people whittled down to 1 (so it’s Ultra Quiz then) – and a very similar (albeit bigger) prize – $5m which remains not “the biggest single prize in television and streaming” as X Factor US was offering it years ago and many shows have offered more in the past.

Like Squid Game: The Challenge there have been stories of the contestants not being treated in a way you’d hope to be treated. However despite this SG:TC ended up being a hugely compelling final product in a way I was hoping it wouldn’t be really. This show is promising 41 different challenges, quite a lot more than the 6 large-scale games SG:TC offered (although not counting its Moral Dilemmas of course), it will be interesting to see how many are repurposed from Mr Beast’s existing video ideas and how the whole thing is paced – it’s meant to be six episodes total, so ought to be getting through them quite quickly.

For such a big event show we’re slightly baffled by the lack of promo it’s had recently, you’d think Amazon would be pushing it a bit more, and next week on Boxing Day it crashes slap bang into Squid Game 2 on Netflix which may be diminishing returns but is going to get most of the press that weekend.

It might end up being really fun and good! Let us know what you think in the comments.

Funds for Fort Boyard

By | December 17, 2024
2 Comments

We knew this was in the works and it looks like the lines have recently opened, France’s Department of Charente-Maritime have launched a charity drive to look after and restore the Fort to its original glory.

The project will include the repair of the very deteriorated embankment that surrounds the structure, as well as the restoration of a berthing haven to the south-east and a spur to the north-west.

The objective is to ensure the fort’s durability by restoring it to its original appearance. Once the work is completed, a dream will come true for many people: for the first time, Fort Boyard will open to the public and tours will be organised from 2028.

Fingers crossed they will still be making the show by then, 2029 will be series 40 effectively.

Impression of what the finished Fort will look like

If you want to throw it a few Euros, here’s the site set up for it. The aim is €1.4m over three years which feels eminently doable. Presumably Pere Fouras can’t afford it himself.

Awooga!

By | December 17, 2024
1 Comment

More retro fun! A really good-quality (condition as opposed to content) episode of Cyberzone from 1993 has turned up. Smack bang in the middle of the Tim Child Virtual Reality era.

I love the aesthetic of Cyberzone (including an unexpectedly rocky banger theme from Ed Welch), but God watching people try and Do Stuff in it was a bit of a chore wasn’t it? I wonder how many tasks they thought teams would get through – they’ve built all these areas, and they’ve a vehicle strategy dimension, but nobody gets past more than three puzzles. I watched all of these when they went out, I don’t think anybody ‘found Thesp’.