The Cellar

Poor ITV1, and indeed poor Millionaire – as much as I like the revamp, clearly quite a few people (such as myself) don’t like it enough to actually watch it week on week, last night’s was down half a million on the series opener a fortnight ago. But the big question is this: if you were to axe Millionaire, what do you put in its place? Odd One In and Magic Numbers aren’t doing the business on Saturday nights (although I think at least one of those is because Saturday nights is completely the wrong place for them). Even Bother’s Bar non-favourite The Colour of Money could pull in bigger figures than Millionaire currently is. And that was rubbish.

So what I’m basically leading up to is this: why doesn’t ITV try Survivor again? Back when it was shown on British TV ten years ago, it would happily pull in 5-6m viewers – at the time, the low side of solid, despite actually being a great show (albeit much slower paced than necessary). In 2010, those are big hit numbers.

Of course, there are no guarantees that it would pull the same numbers in 2010. But it remains a solid performer around the world years after it was first unleashed. It’s clearly got something going for it.

There are of course things to object about. What if people associate Survivor 2010 with the abject failure of Survivor 2001? Then just call it Expedition Robinson. Survivor UK reportedly cost £10m to make which is a huge amount in this day and age. But to that I say “don’t emulate the Americans, have a word with Strix (Swedish), Adventure Line (French) or Talpa (did the Netherlands/Belgian one for a bit) to see how they make a successful long-running show on evidently a much smaller budget. Fewer massive set pieces, more grit.”

Could it work?

Gameshow General Election results absolutely definitely hand on heart this weekend, sorry. I will remember not to do it in May, my busiest time of year, in future (shows basically written up, hosts yet to do!).

Enjoyed the Survivor finale (and by extension, the season) a lot, I’ll update this later this evening with some thoughts so you can have the rest of the day spoiler free.

Hang on, let me try something – discussion after the cut.

(more…)

• The Bother Series of Poker Game 8 (8pm UK/1500ET, Sunday, Full Tilt) BIG MONEY! Discussion page is here.
• Survivor (Sunday, CBS) – it’s the grand final! It feels as though it’s come around quite quickly this year. Russell’s a brilliant player, but I would laugh if somebody else wins – Pavarti or Sandra would be my choice.
• Frank Skinner on Absolute Radio Podcast (The Internet, Sunday-Wednesday I think) – This is normally worth a listen anyway, but this week’s is especially interesting because Tim Vine is the special guest, and if that wasn’t enough on its own, he has a chat about his appearance on Celebrity Mastermind.
• Run For Money (Tuesday, Fuji TV) – I’m hoping for a task, failure of which releases AT LEAST 200 HUNT-AHS this time around. Fingers crossed someone uploads it to Youtube, albeit for a short time.
• The Gameshow General Election Results – sometime this week. Hopefully.

Thanks to Brekkie for linking to a sneak peek of the new season of Wipeout (you’ll need to sit through an advert and a basketball-based Wipeout ad to get to the good stuff). It all looks very involved.

Also exciting, by my reckoning, is that there’s a new episode of Run For Money on Fuji TV on Sunday Tuesday night. Fingers crossed for a short-lived Youtube upload.

AND! It’s the Survivor Finale on Sunday night, which I can’t watch until Tuesday.

Well it basically boils down to:

• The Amazing Race (Sunday, CBS) – it’s the final! We’re backing Team Cowboy.
• Survivor (Thursday, CBS) – you couldn’t script this season better really, but I will be honest and suggest I’m looking forward to a Russell comeuppance moment. Might it happen this week? Go Team Pavarti!

Wow.

Sorry, I’m a bit drunk writing this this evening but that just adds to the exciting fun, right?

• The Bother Series of Poker Game 7 (8pm/1500 ET, Sunday, Full Tilt) – I’ll stick the results and discussion page up tomorrow morning. Edit: Here you go.
• Scream! If You Know the Answer (7pm, Sunday, Watch) It’s celebrities answering questions and things on rollercoasters at Thorpe Park! I can’t take Thorpe Park seriously since the rapids became so gentle, but even so theme parks are cool so i’ll probably give it a bash. Tonight is a double-bill! It’s Hold Tight for the etc!
• Mission 2110 (5:45pm, CBBC, Monday-Wednesday) I actually didn’t think this started until next month, so good news there. Will Caleb destroy the Roboidz, or will fate conspire to turn him into his evil father, Sheriff Buck?
• The Amazing Race (Monday, CBS) A lot of people claiming that this has been a bit of a rubbish season, but to be honest whilst the Cowboys and the Super Mario Detectives are still in it, I’m not sure that’s an opinion I have much truck with really. To each their own, I suppose.
• The Gameshow General Election (10pm, Thursday) If you haven’t voted yet, make sure you do. I’m also planning on staying up and watching the actual election results, although I will probably fall asleep by about one.
• Survivor (Thursday, CBS) – not watched last week’s episode yet. Although I’m sure it was brilliant.
• Schlag den Raab (7:15pm UK/8:15 Germany, Saturday, Pro Sieben/Naughty live streaming) – it only seems like a couple of weeks since the last one. That’s because it’s oinly been a couple of weeks since the last one. Expect no mountain biking for €500,000.

Right, I’d quite like my bed now.

Hmm.

• The Amazing Race (Sunday, CBS)
• Iron Chef UK (5pm, Monday, C4): Reinterpretation of legendary Japanese cookery show. Can it retain its charm?
• Survivor (Thursday CBS)
• The Bother Series of Poker Game 7 (8pm, next Sunday, Full Tilt, if they set it up in time)

…that this is the best season of Survivor ever ever EVER.

The first Survivor All-Stars was also brilliant, so it seems clear to me – just let the same twenty people play it over and over in future, like they’d do on Japanese television.

Well this will be quick this week:

• The BotherSOP Game 6 (8pm BST/1500ET, Sunday, Full Tilt) – discussion page is here.
• Survivor (Thursday, CBS)
• Fort Boyard (about half five, Friday, TV5 Europe)
• The Whole 19 Yards (7pm, Saturday, ITV1)

Well done, television!

Woah.

• The BotherSOP Game 5 (8pm UK/1500 ET, Sunday, Full Tilt): You know the drill. The page for discussion and results is here.
• The Amazing Race (Sunday, CBS)
• Only Connect (8:30pm, BBC4, Monday): It’s the grand final! Who out of The Gamblers and the Strategists will win the coveted trophy? It is interesting that the finalists are all associated with gaming. Well, it’s not that interesting.
• The Gameshow General Election (Monday, Bother’s Bar/UKGameshows.com): the actual general election is brilliant timing for us because it coincides with the necessary four years in between All Time polls. I like to think Gordon Brown had us in mind when calling the date. Let’s hope it’s not a hung parliament in real life, or we’ll probably have to do this all again in a few months time. Details and voting form up on Monday.
• Double Cross (Monday, Buzzerblog): the world’s first podcast gameshow, hosted by Buzzerblog’s Alex Davis. I’m intrigued, if nothing else!
• Survivor (Thursday, CBS): I’ve been really busy this week so I’ve not had a chance to watch the last episodes of The Amazing Race or Survivor, but I confidently predict they’ll be a bit like the previous episode but with one less person or team in it.
• Fort Boyard (5:31pm UK assuming they take that into account on the website programming grid, Friday, TV5Monde): Thanks to Iain for alerting us to this, FB’s twentieth season gets a showing on TV5. Expect a spanky new titles sequence, remixes of old adventure tunes that are a bit hit and miss, no actual new adventures, a pointless state of play board, and something that looks like an element of gambling in the council but no-one stops to wonder how they’re going to scoop out 15 seconds of tiny balls when they lose that game. First episode with Eva Longoria I really enjoyed, the shortcomings of this series reveal themselves gradually over the course of the series. Still though, it’s going to be completely different for season 21 – I’m keeping my fingers crossed (if anyone’s going to make it work it’ll be the host company for the host nation), but on the basis of other two team versions I’m not especially hopeful. Still, 20 years is good innings it has to be said. And they said The Crystal Maze was outdated, tch.
• Postcode Challenge (8pm, Friday, STV): Yes!!!! With a new look, new format and a new host in Angus Purden. For 40 weeks.
• The Whole 19 Yards and Britain’s Got Talent (7pm, Saturday, ITV): Forgot all about these in the original post, sorry.
• The BotherSop Game 6 (8pm UK/1500 ET, Next Sunday, Full Tilt): You know the drill.