Show Discussion: Release the Hounds Series 2

By | September 29, 2015

releasehoundsWednesdays, 10pm
ITV2

[The premiere is viewable at time of writing on ITV Player if you can’t be bothered to wait for Wednesday. Involves signing up. It looks like it will go offline at midnight Tuesday and return tomorrow.]

We’re super pleased for the return of horror game Release the Hounds, now Reggie Yates and his van have moved to the woods of Eastern Europe where contestants will be subjected to dogs, the creepy and the horrible whilst Yates tries quite hard not to laugh at them and inevitably fails.

The pilot was very rough, the first series showed a real improvement, we’re very much hoping this second series continues going in that direction. The first series was on Mondays at 9pm (with a repeat after Celebrity Juice on Thursday) and initially did very well until Made in Chelsea started against it, this time it’s been moved out of the way to ITV2’s prime entertainment slot so fingers crossed it shines there.

19 thoughts on “Show Discussion: Release the Hounds Series 2

  1. Brig Bother Post author

    Alright, I watched the premiere ep last night on ITV PLayer, if you’re waiting for Wednesday night be aware that there are likely to be spoilers here although I’ll try not to be too specific, but I’ll add some space so it’s your own fault if you read on.

    >

    >

    >

    >

    >

    >

    >

    >

    >

    Right then, really happy this is back, there have been a few changes – there’s a new voiceover at the start with an extra bit about the game moving to Eastern Europe because the laws don’t apply there (rubbish of course, but scene setting). Contestants are well aware they’re on Release the Hounds now, they get a short video intro before their ricketty van ride to the new forest. The new forest clearing feels a lot more oppressive and claustrophobic, Reggie has a watchtower to watch the contestants outrun the dogs. I will still vouch for Reggie, I quite enjoy him winding them up a bit and looking to camera when they’ve said something really stupid.

    There have been no real changes to the rules (except one fairly major one I will get to), presentation wise there’s a sort of halfway house between the last series and the Xmas Special (there’s an on screen headstart distance-o-meter, once again in a red box, but it only shows up during the VT cuts of the gate moving). The graphic illustrating the dog run is new and neat.

    I won’t spoil the challenge set-ups, only that they’re fun. The first episode includes something that will have you shouting at your television in frustration. The team are from Birmingham and frankly a bit thick and took a while for me to warm to, but there’s an exchange post challenge two which is probably the hardest I’ve laughed at a TV show in some time.

    I would also suggest me warming to them coincides with what feels like a change in editing direction about twenty minutes into the show – the first challenge felt rather manic to watch – too fast almost, but it seems to settle into a more familiar rhythm after that. Perhaps it’s just me. It also throws to a break in challenge one I reckon just the wrong side of a reveal, expect there might have been some arguments in the edit suite over it.

    The big change: When they get to the gate and about to run for freedom Reggie offers a choice – to the side of the gate is a large bundle of cash but if they want to take it it comes with a further 5-10m headstart penalty. I know it looks like strategy and yay strategy, but I didn’t like it, it’s not a decision unless you’ve already got a 80-90m advantage which will happen rarely (and as we know features that nobody uses are an absolute pet hate of mine, you haven’t thought it through) but the real issue is that it’s a total buzz killer for the build up – they play it out like the contestant is about to run then Reggie comes up on the tannoy to offer them the decision. Hate it hate it hate it – this bit is all about tension and explosive release and you’ve ballsed it up. If you’re going to do this I think the time to offer this is post challenge when the group are all together and you might get a bit of peer pressure into the team dynamic. As it is you’ve wasted two minutes across the show which would be much better spent on something scary or funny. Which is what we’re here for!

    It’s a shame really, it still feels like a show that’s *almost* there, but one I will enjoy watching to see what they’ve come up on a weekly basis. Hopefully it does well, season three ought to nail it.

    Reply
    1. Liam Davis

      I thought the show was good for a season two episode. Though I do agree the idea of having to choose to take the extra cash at the start of the chase did lose a little tension. My suggestion on a chance is to place the box where the chest is with a note placed inside the box saying as follows… “To the Contestant, Congraulations on gaining the key to open this box, inside is £3,000 in notes ready to be picked, however I have an offer inside the small box. Inside is another £2,000 you can add to your cash pot, however it will come at a cost, you will need to sacrifice 5 meters from your running advantage as part of the trade. If you wish to take it, just press the button in front of you and the deal is done. If not, you can take the money as it is and make your way to the starting gate.”

      Reply
      1. Malcolm Owen

        Yes, the tension is destroyed when Reggie opens his mouth at that bit, but the shifting the gate for more money misses out an opportunity to potentially restore tension.

        Since the teams all know of the show before applying, they all know you need at least a 70m head start, and if they get less than that, the runner is effectively signing themselves up to be pulled down by dogs, and will go to the gate with that mindset.

        What if, as an alternative to pushing the gate back for extra money in the kitty, a contestant with a poor headstart is given the option of extending their headstart, in exchange for giving up some of their backpack funds.

        At least with this, they will still run for some money, they have “a chance” of actually doing it, and in turn the viewers get a slightly more even fight instead of a foregone conclusion…

        Reply
  2. Brekkie

    Didn’t find this episode very engaging at all and the team rather unlikeable and completely agree with your hatred of the twist to the run. Would be better to have a gamble as part of a challenge.

    Also the move to Europe just screams mass produced international format now – I think the former English Country House setting actually did add something.

    Reply
  3. Marcoraymondo

    I was rewatching the season one pilot again last night and am quite impressed at how far the show has come in such a short time.

    In the pilot, the fence was made up of the temporary kind of fencing seen at festivals and building sites, while the ladder to get over said fence looked like the sort you could buy at your local Argos.

    Clearly a lot has been done to develop the theming over the last few years and I am happy with that, as the new series is looking better than ever.

    Saying that, the pilot had the creepy scarecrows and the infamous bedtime story skit. Sometimes simple works.

    Reply
  4. Paul B

    259,000 (1.8%) last night. 41% down on quarterly slot average. I’m not sure if early VOD viewings are counted in that or not. Will see how it consolidates.

    Reply
    1. Brig Bother Post author

      I also noticed they toned down the build up to the twist reveal slightly, although that second run should have had more build up after the break, it was pretty epic.

      Also I’d like it noted that there’s no way those gate tracks are starting ten metres from the wall as suggested by the graphic.

      Reply
  5. matt s

    episode one now consolidating at nearer 500,000 and 2.5 share – up from last year. Time-shifted viewing now accounting for over 40% of total viewers

    Reply
  6. Brig Bother Post author

    Fun Killing Joey Essex special tonight, intrigued to know if Reggie genuinely didn’t know that was going to happen or if he was using his acting skills as made famous on ITV2’s Trinity also featuring Charles Dance. Truly this was the Ghostwatch for the Millenium Generation.

    Not as funny as the Diversity “Bruv!” Special, but enjoyable enough.

    Other interesting thing of note, the shot from the end of the run behind Joey suggests there’s a minimum headstart of 30m I reckon, the gate tracks didn’t extend much further back from his start point. Similarly a 160m headstart isn’t possible as the gate tracks don’t start until about 40m in, possibly more!

    Reply
    1. Alex S

      The tracks don’t start until, say, 40m away from the wall, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s not 160m away from the dog start. Presumably even if a team completed a game in a ridiculously fast time you’d still want a bit of a run.

      Reggie’s reaction to me felt very genuine, if it was acting I’m impressed but I think you can even hear some quiet laughter in the background from crew when the truth has been revealed. Either way, a clever little segment.

      Reply
      1. Brig Bother Post author

        No I’m pretty positive we’re being lied to in some way re: the tracks and the timings, the diagram clearly shows the dogs are 160m away from the wall, and it’s suggested the gate starts moving form 160m. I don’t really care, I suspect ultimately the maths works on some sort of par time, but it looks a bit obvious and sloppy if you’re the sort who might notice this sort of thing, i.e. me.

        Reply
  7. Brig Bother Post author

    This has been quite an interesting series, now there’s just the Xmas Special to go, it did a lot of things right – really liked the effort gone into the set-ups and thought the challenges were logical and sound (although the manic editing in some of them meant it was difficult to work out what they had to do for a few of them).

    But. But but but. For some reason I didn’t ‘feel’ the show this year quite the same way I did last year. I certainly didn’t find myself laughing as much, I’m not sure if that’s down to the casting (I do find that episodes with teams that are a bit cocksure tend to provide a greater range of reactions than thick screamers that seemed to make the majority of the teams this year) or whether the more extreme nature of the challenges doesn’t lend itself in quite the same way (intrigued to find out how far the buried alive thing could have gone and at what point you’d take a contestant’s withdrawal of consent seriously, and so many kidnappings!), although as ever impressed that while they could take the easy route out and just fill their challenges with awful creatures the team are creative enough to play about with the many other ways to freak people out. Also it felt like it needed more Reggie observations.

    I don’t think the built set in Eastern Europe quite fires up the imagination that a grand estate does although I understand the production reasons. I preferred the wall when it was a wall and not a load of corrugated iron. And I’ve already suggested that the offer of the gamble is a buzz killer, although I accept I was wrong on nobody taking it. Fascinated by how few of them comprehended what the stuff on the money meant without Reggie having to tell them.

    That all sounds a bit relentlessly negative but overall I did enjoy it and hope it’s done well enough for a third series, I’ve no idea how well it’s done.

    Reply
  8. Brig Bother Post author

    Reggie’s gone full-on Bernard Falk for the Christmas special!

    Really liked the twins bedroom set-up, must have been great fun being the voice on the tape.

    Enjoyed it, still think there’s *something* a little off about it this series and wish I could put my finger on what it is.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.