Show Discussion: The Code

By | April 17, 2016
56 Comments

The_CodeWeekdays, 2:15pm,
BBC1

New month, new attempt to find a daytime quiz hit which makes my job interesting at least. This one sees Matt Allwright and Lesley-Anne Brewis challenge teams of between one and three people to answer questions to find a combination to a safe. Inside is £3,000, but one wrong answer eliminates the team and £500 will be added. Quite big money by BBC Daytime standards, I would presume a fair few losers before finding a winner.

The show seems to have significant quizzing credentials both in front of camera (Lesley-Anne) and behind the scenes (my understanding is that most of the questions have been written by people who contribute to Only Connect). Do they have a winning combination? Will it prove to be any good? 25 episodes in the order, let us know what you think in the comments.

Show Discussion: Bang On The Money

By | April 16, 2016
28 Comments

BangOnSaturdays, 7pm,
ITV

Two groups of three friends take part in physical and mental challenges trying to hit target numbers ‘bang on’ in order to win up to £40,000 in what is being described as a party atmosphere whilst being cajoled by Kiss DJs Rickie Haywood Williams and Melvin Odoom (they both did Sweat the Small Stuff on BBC3 but we’ll always remember Melvin from Dick ‘n’ Dom In Da Bungalow and more recently The Xtra Factor).

It sounds like a more modern take on Friends Like These which we quite liked back in the day, and doing that evidently never did Ant and Dec any harm. Whether Rickie and Melvin will become the new Ant and Dec remains to be seen, but it’s nice to see some different faces in primetime. They surely can’t be the first black hosts of a primetime shiny floor gameshow in the UK but I’m struggling to think of others off the top of my head.

Anyway do share your thoughts in the comments.

Edit: Within ten minutes on Twitter Dave Benson-Philips, Reggie Yates, Ian Wright, Andi Peters, Ainsley Harriot, Jenny Powell, Sean Fletcher – all great responses, although of those Ian Wright is probably closest to primetime shiny floor (Friends Like These, Wright Around The World), with possible exception of Jenny Powell as assistant on Wheel of Fortune (although she did front Wordplay in the afternoons on Five)).

Edit Edit: Of course Craig Charles (Cyberzone, Robot Wars). And Charlie Williams on The Golden Shot!

Taskmaster Series three line-up

By | April 15, 2016
10 Comments

This has taken me by surprise a bit – the line-up for series two is already well known but we were aware they were filming two series at once, although we didn’t think they’d shoot the studio stuff at the same time as series two (I thought there were a lot of recording sessions).

Good line-up, probably the most Dave-friendly of the three. Series two is set to go out in the Summer, I would presume series three won’t go out immediately afterwards but you probably won’t have to wait until next Summer either.

Rebound on the rebound?

By | April 13, 2016
8 Comments

We’re hearing from a couple of sources that contestants are being sought for a second series of Rebound.

Rebound was the first show in the The Chase Summer Replacement Slot for ages to not do completely awfully (beating out Freeze Out, Gift Wrapped, The 21st Question and C21 Format Of The Year Take On The Twisters), holding and even slightly growing its audience in the slot that only Tipping Point had managed in the past.

We don’t have any real details as yet, we don’t know if it’s going to have a second go in the slot this Summer or whether its future lies elsewhere. The first series was a good fun quickfire quiz and hopefully the last year will have given it a chance to iron out some bumps.

We know we have Alphabetical to look forward to in the afternoons at some point which we’re presuming is a Summer replacement, we don’t know what’s going on with Scrabble.

Coming Up…

By | April 12, 2016
9 Comments

Not much in the way of anything I can bring myself to be bothered to write about, but there are some shows coming up in the next week you might find interesting:

  • American Grit – This is going out on Fox in the US on Thursday, so you’ll have to find dark means to watch it, but it sounds very much like our sort of thing, effectively it’s Million Dollar Ultimate Hell Week With John Cena whom you may remember from non-hit Die Hard 3 rip-off inspired 12 Rounds (not that bad but the sequel with Randy Orton is better).
  • Bang On The Money – teams attempt to hit numerical targets bang on in a party atmosphere with DJs Rickie and Melvin. Has there ever been a TV show that proclaimed to have a party atmosphere that you’d actually like to go to? Me neither. Still, I hope the challenges are good. There’s £40k on the line. That’s on ITV on Saturday at 7pm, there will be a Show Discussion post.
  • The Code – Players answer questions to try and crack a safe with Matt Allwright with Lesley-Anne Brewis in Richard Osman capacity. One of the interesting things is that the teams are of variable sizes. Good quiz credentials promised. That’s weekdaily from Monday, 2:15pm on BBC1, there will be a show discussion post.

Show Discussion: Wild Things Series 2

By | April 10, 2016
26 Comments

wildthingss2Sundays, 7pm,
Sky One AND SKY ONE HD

Well since the first series it won Best Entertainment Show at the Rose D’ors and has since sold to Denmark, Belgium, Argentina, Sweden, Russia and China (Gary Monaghan suggests those last two feature a bear and a panda). Bother’s Bar once again backing the unlikely winners.

And so we’re back at the danger-filled Wild Wood once again with Kate Humble and Jason Byrne as new teams, one who can see but aren’t protected to the dangers and one in a giant animal costume who is well padded but can’t see anything, vie to enter and escape with the treasure which if it’s the same as last year is £10,000 although we don’t know yet.

It’s blindfold It’s a Knockout meets the box task from Big Brother 6 but with more mystery and arguing and prog rock. And if it’s as good as last year it’ll be hugely entertaining.

If you want a sneak preview they’ve recorded two celebrity games to feature in an end of series compilation and one of them is up on Digital Spy right now.