TV Zone reporting Bullseye returning with Freddie Flintoff at the helm with a one-off Christmas special, but they’re never really one-off specials are they? I kind of wish they’d just leave it alone, it’s cult status derived almost entirely from its original point in history and people involved.
But let’s go wild, darts is extremely popular, why shouldn’t it work as a show on its own merits in 2024? Whenever they’ve bought it back for Gameshow Marathon or Epic Gameshow (and, indeed Challenge TV with Dave Spikey) they’ve stuck pretty rigidly to the points and prize structures of the 1980s (although see Daniel Hurst in the comments). As a game played for points, Bullseye ‘works’ fine. Are people really going to be excited by people answering a question for about £34 in 2024 for a show standing on its own merits? It feels unlikely.
Everyone is going “but look… Luke Littler!” and yes, Luke Littler. But unless they’ve changed the format so it’s a quizzing celebrity paired up with a famous darts player Big Break style, he’ll only be on for two minutes throwing for charity (possibly winning a whopping £600+), and then so what really? But what if they do change the format up so it’s a quizzer and a professional? Well that’s already been done when it was used for Gameshow Marathon, and the professionals just hit the Bullseye all the time anyway so it wasn’t actually that much fun. Anyway, Sky’s One Hundred and Eighty was a perfectly serviceable quiz darts format that did exactly this, and was also hosted by Flintoff anyway.
How are you going to get an hour out of it? Epic Gameshow played round one twice and had an endgame that lasted 15-20 minutes. Fine, but it never hit the same as 101 or more in six darts, let’s have a look at what you could have won, did it?
Basically you’d need to change everything to make it worthwhile in 2024, and if you’ve changed everything then you’ve just got a new show but with a cartoon bull that can wander across the screen occasionally. Is that what people want? I guess we’ll be finding out soon enough. Besides, it should be Peter Kay for Bullseye, Freddie Flintoff ought to be rebooting The Indoor League.
“They” should just do a Bullseye FAST Channel, but that’d probably sink Challenge, so.
Edit: Apply if you want.