Avanti soundtrack

By | June 21, 2014
7 Comments

And so to tonight’s excitement in this: the 2014 Summer of Excitement, we thank Tom B for discovering this and sending it in our direction – Luca Orioli’s Avanti un Altro soundtrack EP is on iTunes for £2.49, five tracks INCLUDING the title sequence, the bit where they fish for a scroll (three minutes long and wouldn’t have sounded out of place on Fort Boyard in the 90s. Also: Mike Oldfield.), the quiz bed that plays throughout the entire show AND ALSO THE GIOCHI FINAL 21 QUESTIONS WRONG MUSIC (without a ticking clock, although I’m sure the more clever amongst you might be able to solve that issue).

You can buy it here.

It’s all gone a bit quiet on UK adaptation The Next One, a large part of me sort of hopes it’s dead in the water so it can’t be stuffed up. But you never know. And don’t worry Bonolis fans! He’s back in charge when it comes back in September.

Fort Boyard 2014 pre-generique

By | June 19, 2014
16 Comments

Ooh.

 

It’s been noticed that Cage aux Tigres IS BACK! Incredible scenes. The new series, followed by a 25 series retrospective, begins on France 2 on June 28th. This year I will give it its own page for discussion.

Watching Telly: Million Pound Drop

By | June 18, 2014
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Well look, we wait weeks and weeks to have worthwhile things to post and then the last week there’s been an exciting deluge. It looks as though the Summer of Boring is over. Anyway our good chum Matt (@iMattG5) went on saw one of the recording sessions for the recorded Million Pound Drop series coming up, and here is the wisdom he has to impart (edited and pieced together):

  • Alan Carr returns to play with Nick Grimshaw, mainly to advertise The Singer Takes It All. It sounds like TSTIA will be slotted at the same time or around MPD as Davina recorded a “next Friday at 9pm” link. The prize for TSTIA hasn’t been decided yet – much hilarity when Alan said it should be renamed “£10,000 Or Flaps” but he had to retake that.
  • The epic lights on the floor don’t count down the clock anymore. [In fairness, whilst it’s a cool feature you would rarely see it on screen – Brig]
  • Only seven questions and no Final Drop.
  • It sounds like they might be allowing five-person teams, not 100% on this but I seem to remember when Davina did her voiceovers she did one for two parents and three kids.
  • For survey-based and other subjective questions they now have a ‘source’ section on the big screen. Good idea IMO.
  • The taping I saw turned out to be a contained episode (no players carried over to next show) so it could be slotted in whenever. [Edit: For clarification, this episode in particular, built to promote another show. It’s unknown as to whether other eps will rollover.]

Thanks Matt!

It sounds like The Singer Takes It All is on quite a fast turnaround, I hope the technology works.

Decimate

By | June 18, 2014
9 Comments

According to Broadcast the BBC have commissioned a new daytime quiz from the brain behind Tipping Point called Decimate, where Shane Richie challenges people to hold onto a £20,000 pot, wrong answers decimating the prize money, and will educate the populace of the correct definition of decimate.

And it’s a CPL production.

I like Shane Richie as host, slightly baffled that he was played down on Reflex.

MORE NEW THINGS! There’s a pilot of Name That Tune filming at ITV Studios on July 16th, and a new Davina Hat Trick quiz called Honey I Blew A Fortune where members of your family decide how much a question is worth filming same place July 2nd. Both are SRO – not sure I can make Davina because of prior commitments but will endeavour to have a spy at Name That Tune I think.

Audience news

By | June 17, 2014
5 Comments

Recording soon:

  • You Against the Nation – TAKE ON THE NATION IN A QUIZ up in Salford on July 15th. Tickets Applause Store.
  • The Edge – Quiz meets bowling filming end of July at Elstree. Tickets BBC Ticket Unit.

The Money Pit (SRO) films on Thursday, the show that more people have asked me about than any other but which I know very little about. It looks like I’ve failed to get a ticket – I wasn’t going to go because of plans, the plans changed, I applied and failed, so if you do go and want to tell us what it’s like then please do, I’m happy to give you credit or keep you anonymous as you’d prefer.

Pointless is up for a Rose d’Or

By | June 16, 2014
4 Comments

Well Richard Osman is always complaining that he’s never won an award, I think the Pointless team have got a decent shout here though, Pointless is shortlisted for a Rose d’Or. The contenders in the game show category:

  • Extraordinary Masters (original title ‘Die Deutschen Meister’) – Brainpool TV GmbH (Germany)
  • Pointless (UK),  Episode 1 (Series 9) – Endemol International BV (The Netherlands)
  • The Common Denominator – Armoza Formats (Israel)

By the looks of things, Die Deutschen Meister looks like a spin off of Der Klügste Deutsche by way of Wetten Dass, by the sounds of things champions in unusual disciplines are pitted against each other and judges decide which of the them seemed most impressive, and all the winners are put to a public vote at the end for a €100,000 prize. Can any of our German friends let us know if it’s worth a watch?

We can’t see The Common Denominator winning it – not all that successful, a bit average as a show, and Rose D’or does tend to pick fairly interesting and left field winners (previous winners in the game show category working backwards: Oh Sit! Million Pound Drop, Bingo Banko, Relentless, Power of 10, Deal or No Deal, Test the Nation, most of which have pushed the boundaries of the genre in one way or another), working for Pointless then: not very internationally successful. Working against it: Die Deutschen Meister feels like more of a left field, large scale choice… but it does feel like it’s been done before, impressive as it looks.

Also Through the Keyhole is up for the comedy award, and A League of Their Own up for Entertainment (against Graham Norton and Circus Halli Galli, constantly advertised during Schlag den Raab).