Board of Excitement 23rd-29th October 2011

By | October 23, 2011
69 Comments

Right housekeeping: don’t forget to get your Fantasy X Factor post-performance predictions in FXF Mangers if you fancy changing who you went for, or even just want to have a guess if you forgot to put a prediction in earlier.

Some interesting things this week:

  • Million Dollar Mind Game – Vernon Kay’s last attempt to crack the US which was shelved but is now seeing the light of day on Sunday afternoons, so if you practice the dark arts you might be able to see this sometime this evening. Six people answer questions of a mindbending nature to win cash, based on a famous and long-running Russian format (What? Where? When?) (Sunday, ABC)
  • Fort Boyard: Ultimate Challenge: Some kind soul has been dodgily uploading this to Youtube so we’ve been watching it (no waiting until January for ME). And for the most part I like it, or at least I think it’s probably the best you’re going to get with a 22 minute run time (the fact it’s on three times a week with a structured tournament helps it maintain a momentum, I think). Can’t believe they’ve changed the theme though – and it’s a Paul Farrer special! Appropos of not very much, the Swedish version finished this week and their Duel version is very very good, to the point where it might have turned me. (Monday-Wednesday, Disney XD in the US)
  • Only Connect – Edwards Family (featuring a member of our favourite games mag NGamer) vs Trade Unionists. Don’t forget there’s an app out! (8:30pm, Monday, BBC4)
  • A Question of Sport – Hey, what’s this doing here, Grandad? I thought Bother’s Bar was meant to be cool! Well, you, it’s actually very easy to dismiss AQoS in the year 2011, but funnily enough it’s inclusion here this week (and it will only be this week) comes after accidentally catching a repeat yesterday afternoon. I’m not very much into sport, but I was intrigued by some of the question ideas and rounds the show has these days – one of them was basically a team version of the Jack Attack with pictures which is to be applauded. Sure it’s not the behemoth it once was but I think it’s a shame it’s quite easily overlooked. (10:35pm, Monday, BBC1 repeated Friday at 8:30)
  • Coral Late Night Poker – Game two part two (24:40, Monday night, C4)
  • Ton of Cash – The final. Enjoyed the show initially but I felt it getting lazier and lazier as the weeks progress, which is ironic when you think about it. (God knows when in the morning on Thursday night, VH1 in the US)
  • Surely there’s no stupid bloody massive Stefan Raab thing this week
  • Celebrity The Chase – Basically it was a year ago yesterday my Dad died, so family and friends went out for a meal yesterday (and thanks for all your wellwishes on Twitter and so on, by the way). What does my Mum bring up as a topic of conversation? THAT Fanny Chmaller episode. Anyway, here’s the first questionably thought out celebrity special. Look forward to Chasers basically denying lots of money for charity. (6pm, Saturday, ITV1)

And I’m just mentioning it here and now, the new series of The Cube begins next Sunday.

‘Op on ‘back!

By | October 22, 2011
7 Comments

Well this weekend I will mainly be playing Batman: Arkham City on my XBox, a game where a man in black sneaks around solving crime.

So here’s a clip from Interceptor:

The big push

By | October 21, 2011
3 Comments

The big push for the Only Connect app has started, and you can read what I thought about it here.

It’s a nice app (great feel), but with so many cheaper alternatives (on its own site for example, or Puzzgrid for something a bit lower rent) I think it’s going to be a tough sell at £1.49 for 20 walls, and probably needs to differentiate itself from existing offerings a bit more. As a quality show backed by quality people, I don’t take any great pleasure in saying things like that by the way.

Power of Ten

By | October 18, 2011
17 Comments

Well tonight at 8pm is the second episode of High Stakes with Jeremy Kyle (or if you prefer it’s the final episode of Minute To Win It on ITV2), but HS certainly isn’t the first show to offer gambles that nobody is ever going to take, but probably the biggest example of this was CBS’ worldwide non-hit (pulled after two episodes in several countries) The Power of 10 with Drew Carey. TPoT is a state-of-the-nation predicting game, and after battling an opponent over a number of questions you start earning money, multiplying by “the power of ten” (they do in fact just mean “ten”) each time you are right up to a whopping $10m.

I’ve always been of the opinion that offering gambles nobody in their right mind is going to take is poor formatting.

Speaking of things which might not work, Celebrity The Chase begins 6pm on Saturday 29th October.

Board of Excitement 16th-22nd October 2011

By | October 16, 2011
66 Comments

Right, housekeeping – FXF Managers don’t forget you can change your choice of loser but you have to do it before the live show at 8pm.

Also I have done a review of the Only Connect app. It costs £1.49, in game packs are 69p (I never mention the prices in the review because they are fluid).

Right then!

  • Deal or No Deal – LIVE! (4:20pm Sunday, 4pm Monday-Friday, C4)
  • Fort Boyard: Ultimate Challenge – This finally starts on Monday on Disney XD in the US, and will arrive over here on CITV in January. It looks like it’s going to have a similar format to the Dutch show, although with only half the runtime there are questions to be asked as to whether it will work or not. I don’t know if this will be viewable in the UK using dark arts yet. (Monday, Disney XD in the US).
  • Only Connect – Second quarter final, the Rowers vs Listeners (8:30pm, Monday, BBC4)
  • Coral Late Night Poker – last week’s second part of heat one was epic. (1am Monday night, C4)
  • Minute to Win It – Last in the series. Darren McMullen is doing bigger things, so it will be interesting to see what happens if this gets a second series. (8pm, Tuesday, ITV2)
  • There is no massive Stefan Raab fronted German thing this week. Edit: Yes there is, there’s a TV Total Poker night on Tuesday.