Show Discussion: Beat the Internet with John Robins

By | November 14, 2018

Thursdays, 8pm,
Dave

An interesting commission from Dave, a straight no-frills low budget gameshow where members of the public try and predict the sorts of things search autocomplete comes up. Episodes are half an hour and they’re doubling up right now.

Comic John Robins hosts, Sunil Patel is the richardosman.

I suspect this will have to turn out to be above-averagely funny if it’s going to do anything at all because the look and idea feel rather prosaic – I suspect it’s closer to being the next Compete For The Meat than the next Taskmaster. However clearly they can record twenty episodes for around ten pounds so probably doesn’t have to do especially well to be worthwhile.

Let us know what you think in the comments.

19 thoughts on “Show Discussion: Beat the Internet with John Robins

  1. Chris B

    John played a round of this on his Radio X show with Elis James on Saturday where some callers could win some prizes. The producer had clearly not thought it through and because there were prizes at stake and the question was too open-ended, it made from some of the most excruciating (but also very funny) radio I’ve heard in a while.

    Hopefully, the people making the TV version thought about it a little longer.

    Reply
    1. Whoknows

      I must admit I didn’t find it funny at all, just unbearable! Not a great ad for the show if that’s what it’s going to be like.

      Reply
  2. Brandon

    I wonder why they’re doing double 30 minute episodes, instead of 1 hour episodes. It’s rare for a show to be half an hour these days.

    Reply
  3. Whoknows

    Oh yikes. Just watched the first ep on UKTV Play. It’s… something else.

    Reply
  4. Brig Bother Post author

    I actually think Beat the Internet is OK, rounds make sense (I’d go as far as to say some of the rounds, including the endgame, are legitimately fun), goes along at a fair clip it has *very much* the sort of feel of a Channel 4 mid-afternoon show in the pre-DOND wilderness years. I quite like Sunil Patel, time will tell if John Robins’ inflection is annoying.

    It is, of course, going to get absolutely lost in the Thursday night melee – it’s lightly entertaining, but I can’t see anyone going out of their way to watch it. I don’t really understand it as a commission for Dave, as daily afternoon fodder it might have picked up an audience.

    Reply
  5. Dan

    I like this, it has a slight CBBC show for adults tone which i think works in it’s favour. it’s fun, quirky, just the right type of show for dave, since it’s so low budget, wouldn’t be surprsied for it to get a second series.
    things that could improve, we don’t need that with john robins joke after every start, it was funny the first time but now after watching the first two episodes it is stale.

    I like the idea of having the host play the final round but it felt like there wasn’t any point to it other than proving the game’s playalong. Maybe if the contestants do beat John’s score they get a bonus prize.

    I do wonder how many computer topic elimination puns they can come up with, they might be short on storage soon.

    Reply
  6. Simon

    I watched the first episode and it was fine – nothing special. Didn’t engage me enough to want to watch the second episode of the double bill though.

    Reply
  7. Clive Of Legend

    I thought I would absolutely loathe this, but it might actually wind up in my Hall of Fame picks this year. John Robins did a really good job hosting, and I thought he had a really good sense of when to switch from host to comedian and back again. I was shocked that they’d actually given the format some thought and come up with a game with proper play-along value. The only thing I really could have done without were the air horns, but I’m starting to suspect I might be the only person on the planet who dislikes them so I’ll let that slide.

    It’s nice to see two unassuming, fast-paced, 30 minute quizzes premiere in the same year. If only it were a trend.

    Reply
        1. Clive Of Legend

          I was thinking of Britain’s Brightest Family, but sure, give Mr. Bother good reason to rip your tonsils out, why don’tcha?

          Reply
  8. Kniwt

    That was surprisingly fun and a strange combination of, yes, high-concept and low-brow. When the picture round came up, I couldn’t help but think of it as Only Connect For Everyone Else.

    Reply
  9. M

    A good idea for a fun gameshow sadly presenters and their style make it utterly tedious and boring. Such a shame.

    Reply

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