More RTL Plus

By | October 18, 2017

About a year ago, unofficial Bother’s Bar German correspondent Nico W alerted us to new German digital channel RTL Plus and its idea of making new episodes of classic gameshows and rather cleverly using the same adapted set for all of them. We wrote about the new version of Jeopardy here. These still seem to be in production.

The other night we watched the new version of Der Preis ist Heiss which has just launched, apparently to decent numbers. It was quite interesting.

  • They’ve got some of the music from the US show, and it’s gold and glittery everywhere. However quite clearly the set has also been built with a Geh Aufs Ganze/Let’s Make A Deal revival in mind seeing as it’s dominated by three large round doors in the background.
  • Prize levels were interesting. In the main the range probably not all that different to what was on offer in the UK in the 80s – lots of small items, occasionally a major prize would be in the low thousands.
  • It seems a real shame not much has gone into the game set ups really, largely it’s functional things bought on standard plinths.
  • There were a couple of interesting things though. They seemed to have made an effort for their version of Cliffhanger although for whatever reason each of the three items has been given a range of about €30, and the mountain climber has 30 steps instead of twenty-five. It did feel like you could go down the middle each time and win but I may be wrong on that.
  • They played a game with no US equivalent I don’t think called Ratselcent. Four products (worth €x.xx) and four prices. The contestant seemed to have two goes to put the prices in the right place next to the right product, correct placements locked in place. If they solve this bit of the puzzle, they must then select which column reading downwards was the four figure price of the major prize on offer (a nice table/bar thing) in order to win it.
  • The Showcase Showdown is only one spin of the wheel. Don’t know if there’s a prize for landing on 100. Like in the US they spin after each half so there’s two players for the Showcase Final (or the Superpreis as they call it here)
  • Showcase is quite fun, they’ve put some effort into making it feel like a bit of a comedy sketch. Both contestants bid on the same showcase, and if my understanding is correct not only do they have to be nearest they’ve got to be within €1000 without going over. This was a five figure showcase so that feels quite challenging.

So some fun ideas but can’t escape looking a bit cheap. If you are able to use the dark arts, you can find it on tvnow.de although be aware the catch-up service can put the ads in quite unusual places. You don’t have to be registered for free shows, which most of RTL Plus seems to fall under.

7 thoughts on “More RTL Plus

  1. Nico W.

    The ratings are still very good and it’s still the best rating of the five game shows, pushing Jeopardy’s ratings up a bit. Unfortunately my favourite (after The Price Is Right) Hot Streak/Ruck Zuck is rating the worst, but it’s ridiculously cheap and not far off the others, so no problem there, I think.
    Cliffhanger always had 30 steps in Germany, I was surprised to read it had 25 in the US. And also there are no prizes for bidding exactly right in the contestants’ row or spinning 100 on the showcase showdown, which I don’t like. At least 100€ should have been a possible prize imho.

    Reply
    1. Brig Bother Post author

      I always found the LaGaf French version fun in that regard, if your one-bid was exactly right you got a comedy oversized cheque for €100 and a trophy.

      Reply
  2. gyroscope

    There was a silly situation in today’s DPIH – The wheel landed smack bang in the middle of two sections (as the wheel is different to the American one, which can only possible be on one section due to the way it is built). They didn’t really seem to know what to do – so they made the lady spin again, which led to her losing!

    Reply
  3. Nico W.

    Forgot to point this out: The warm-up guy from German Price is always taking part in the end of the show. Most of the time he’s acting with the models in the showcase presentation, but he’s always present in the end when they all get on stage together to say goodbye. I love that they include him!

    Reply
  4. Marcoraymondo

    On a related channel, I don’t know if you’ve seen these, Brig, but there are full episodes of the SAT1 German version of the Cluedo TV series and I’m rather enjoying them.

    https://youtu.be/aVG66FavmYI

    Reply

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