We actually discussed this in comments about a fortnight ago but we’ve seen requests for applications from a few places now, ITV are doing a water-based game called Cannonball which appears to be basically It’s A Knockout in a giant pool, with extra emphasis on the blob from Wipeout.
Too light to set the world alight I very much suspect, but here’s a random episode of the Dutch original, Bommetje!, so you can see what it’s about:
On a tangent, in theory Ultimate Beastmaster starts on Netflix on Friday. Can’t say I’ve seen much promotion of it though.
http://tvseriesfinale.com/tv-show/ultimate-beastmaster-season-two-netflix-series-already-filmed/
It’s already been renewed for a second series, which has been filmed.
That’s quite interesting, certainly cost-effective, although there’s an argument that part of the entertainment of Sasuke and Ninja Warrior are legends built up around repeat contestants which is not going to have quite the same effect if you’ve recorded two series back to back with no real time for growth.
Also I hope it means we’re not going to get exactly the same course for all episodes, and they’d only be so much you could change in the edit for the second series based on audience feedback.
Very wild theory, but I thought I read it somewhere else: series one has contestants from six countries and six localised commentary teams; series two might have contestants from six other countries and six other localised commentary teams, with the intention that almost nobody (except us mutants) will be interested in watching the series where their country doesn’t take part. For instance, is series one even going to be made available on Netflix in the UK?
That is a salient question, I’m *assuming* it is as content but I don’t actually know. What I would suggest is that Netflix has an increasing amount of non-English programming (usually with subtitles or optional dub) so not being made for a domestic audience is not the barrier it might have been once.
It will definitely be on Netflix UK, they have it on their website. But you obviously can’t watch it yet.
I hope Gabby Logan will host this – so that she can jump in the pool at the end of the series!
Maybe it’s just because I’m very old, but I kind of expect the late Ron Pickering to pop up and close the show saying “Away you go!” to inspire a mass impersonation of lemmings.
FWIW there are at least four episodes of We Are The Champions on YouTube these days, from as far back as 1976 and as recently as 1985. This channel has all sorts of trials biking clips, not least some red hot muddy Junior Kickstart action. Lampkintastic!
Seven commissioned a version of Cannonball in Australia – it’s been sat on the shelf about a year.
Steven Gätjen will host German For What It’s Worth on ZDFneo. ZDFneo is a digital channel from ZDF where they show a lot of crime in the evening and in access primetime they show repeats of Bares Für Rares (Cash for Rare (Stuff)), an antiques show that is doing incredibly well on ZDF. So they try to build on that success by airing 20 episodes weekdays in the slot right before that. I like the format in English and Danish and would really like to let Steven Gätjen have some success now. I think he is a great host!