Well here’s some fun, there’s been some discussion recently on Twitter between myself, @davidjbodycombe and @richardosman about which sport has the best format and would therefore could have its theories adapted to make for a good gameshow (Richard believes it to be darts, I have come to the conclusion that it’s actually the amazing bar billiards). In the midst of all this, International King of Sports gets mentioned, and in particular ‘Association Bobbage’ actually has an entry in the Guinness Book of Records 2012 – Laszlo Fazekas (either “The Human Dolphin” or “The Professor” (because he wears glasses) depending on who you talk to) which stands at 2m 40. Association Bobbage, if you can’t remember, is where you jump into water from as high as height as possible without your head going under (whilst wearing flippers if I remember correctly).
Here’s episode one of International King of Sports, although it doesn’t feature Association Bobbage, regrettably:
In other news, friend of the Bar David B is working on a pilot for Cloned (a show I heard about a while ago and didn’t think that much of, but has presumably developed in the interim). They’re looking for teams of four to be contestants for the pilot show.
I’m currently working on the pilot below and, if Brig will premit it, we’re looking for contestants:
http://ukgameshows.com/ukgs/Contestant_Calls#Cloned
Of course I will. Hang on I’ll put it up on the main page.
Are you allowed to apply if you’ve appeared in another BBC light ent show in the last 6 months?
As one of the guinea pigs who tested some of David (and team)’s games this afternoon I can honestly say I enjoyed all of them, except for the one that involved me jumping around like an idiot and flailing at thin air as my colleagues sniggered.
Joe – while I’m not really involved with the show at this stage (it’s in the hands of the production team) it’s a non-transmittable pilot, so while I can’t be 100% certain I would assume the main concern will be to find great contestants with a great team dynamic, irrespective of previous ‘form’.
Is there likely to be a studio audience for the pilot?
No, it won’t appear on Applause Store because it’s too long a shoot (yes, I know that doesn’t normally stop TV types).
A pity, but it’s true I probably would have slagged it off for that reason.
Watched the Derren Brown thing too- it’s not quite like Game of Death- here it involves more of a mob mentality theory- but similar in it’s approach. I thought it was interesting.
Yes just this minute finished watching it – quite the bleakest thing I’ve seen in a while and much more affecting than last week’s Brown experiment I thought. Really enjoyed it as a piece of television.
It was quite unpleasant but interesting. I was fooled by his opening spiel with “in the next 50 minutes” as I thought it would finish at 10pm as he said it at 9.10pm.
I was wondering if it was inhuman if Kris was actually kidnapped and the audience had one final decision. Whether the kidnappers beat him to death or for someone to save him.
I know Derren read out some figures for the vote. First one was around 81% but the final one was 60%. Obvivously with Derren’s misdirection they might not been the correct figures and the audience might have voted the other way. An interesting observation with the first outcome there was a few people not laughing when Kris was in that row. A sign of either “oh no, what I have done” or “but I wanted to avoid it but majority rules”.
I saw the trailer for that on Late Night Poker, investigated the web for more details and thought “Mmm… really not my cup of tea”. If even strong-stomached viewers like Brig regarded it as bleak then it’s certainly one I don’t mind having missed.
My standards for even fictional violence or malfeasance presented in a game show context mean I have no interest in watching The Running Man, let alone Slumdog Millionaire, let alone any show which actually plays with arbitrary unfair punishment or the boundaries of informed consent for viewers’ entertainment. Now I don’t necessarily live up to these standards, but there are more and more shows I’m not watching as a result, and not feeling like I’m missing out as a consequence. To be honest, I’m not enthused about going and being an audience member for game shows with unknown content in a day and age where production companies consider this acceptable. Your standards may well vary and that’s OK.
I’d like to think that if I had been in the audience then I would have walked out as soon as people did, or even had the chance to do, something egregious, and ideally called the whole production team on it even in the middle of the recording – some sort of rant like “you always have more choices, including the choice not to play, the choice to dissassociate yourself from what’s going on”. (I’m not going to watch it; did anybody do this? I’d like to think that someone would have done.) Fingers crossed that I never find myself in a situation where I have to find that out about myself, for myself.
Part of me would like to think that I would have actually taken a parting shot at someone on the production team to get retribution on the victim’s behalf, up to the point of Derren Brown himself if nobody else would have taken responsibility, but that way vigilanteism lies.
I can sort of understand the value of research into the darker sides of human nature, but Brown deliberately delights in not having an ethics panel to have to consult. (Compare with Richard Wiseman’s desire – never a truer word spoken in jest? – to start an institute for unethical studies.) There’s a difference between research performed to expand the sphere of human knowledge, and research performed to titilate. I’m glad that ethics panels draw a distinction where TV comapnies cannot, or will not. Just because you can do something, and because a TV company will pay you to do so because it thinks it will gain viewers, does not mean that you should.
Rant over. The Guardian has a “The Joy of Six” story in its sports section with links to lots of YouTube videos of sports show theme tunes, and is sufficiently liberal to include things like the theme tunes to Superstars (“Heavy Action”) and It’s A Knockout! (“Bean Bag”).
Hmm, anyone read the story of Sushil Kumar in the news recently? A lot of similarities between him and a certain gameshow-based Danny Boyle film.
If anyone watched it, can you translate what the 5 Crore question was?
Can I ask why BBC or ITV don’t ask some 1970s/80s big name presenters to come back to host some new shows. People like Ronnie Corbett, Cannon and Ball, you know the people. It’s time these people were given a chance, they have more personality in their little nail than many of the autocue readers presenting TV shows these days. The host is very important and can change the perception of a TV show. I don’t think Deal or No Deal would’ve worked with Noel Edmonds who brings a lot to the table. I even think Paddy McGuinness brings something to Take Me Out which is a show that could’ve been a big flop if they had chosen an autocue reader. Broadcasters need to start using entertainers and comedians as hosts like the old days rather than autocue readers.
So who’s hosting The Bank Job then Joe, Jack Whitehall or Claudia Winkleman?
I don’t know now, I’m afraid. Certain circumstances prevent me from knowing this information at this moment in time.
It’s an interesting one that.
The problem is the longer a entertainer is away from the screen, the more difficult it is for them to get back on screen with a format that flies. Noel’s return with Deal was probably the right gap of time away from television and a serious pitch from Channel 4 and Endemol that it’s time he came back to television because that’s what he is good at (esp live tv – as demonstrated with the live Deals recently)
Most production teams are now full of a generation of bods who grew up watching big sprawling ‘cheesy’ entertainment shows hosted by those people you namechecked in the 80’s and early 90’s – the sort of programmes that for them were ‘the sort me gran liked to watch’, and over time have become the sort of show they want to avoid making their show like – and sadly, the variety host gets dragged into that air of avoidence.
Can you really imagine Jimmy Tarbuck hosting a new lottery quiz show? Maybe Liza Tarbuck, yes – but not Jimmy. Could you really see Cannon and Ball hosting Red or Black? Little and Large doing Beat The Star (if it was still on) No chance.
Sir Bruce is only getting regular work because he’s always been around jumping from BBC to ITV/LWT – but would he have really got the Strictly gig, if say, he’d been off our screens between 1991 – 2001? Probably not.
Each generation of programme makers make shows with people of their own generation, it’s always been the same and it will always continue as such.
And then you add to that, for commercial broadcasters, the fact that younger viewers are frankly worth more money to them in advertising revenue. Which adds a financial incentive to the above.
Maybe the broadcasters should look for new talented entertainers? Sometimes a gameshow needs an entertaining host who can interact well with the contestants and make people at home and in the audience laugh. Brucey is/was the King of this. There seriously needs to be more of these entertainers hosting gameshows. BBC and ITV need to look at the comedy circuit and pick out people who can do this. Fair play to them for choosing Alexander Armstrong as host of Pointless but they need more entertainers for game shows. Same for ITV.
I was thinking that good game show hosts are likely to be out there from other forms of entertainment, and stand-up comedy is as good as any given its inherent unpredictability. Maybe it’s not seen as a likely source by UK producers because of the contentious adult content common to many of today’s comedians, but that didn’t stop the US from having a string of stand-up comics as game show hosts (Howie Mandel, Jeff Foxworthy, I think there were others).
So… I’m not that great at picking up and interpreting this sort of gossip, but I’m guessing ABC is making another season of Million Dollar Mind Game? https://twitter.com/#!/MDMGABC/status/130744660363722753 (I’ve tweeted them asking if that’s what they’re implying, we’ll see if it gets a response.)