I’ve been watching some French things all morning. Here is a quick precis:

• Code Delta – Family adventure show sort of a bit like La Carte Aux Tresors but with geocaching. Two families of three (mum, dad and child) are given a location to find on a GPS normally betewrrn 3-5km away. First team there gets two minutes to search the area for cannisters with end game clues in them. If they aren’t all found, the other team gets two minutes to find the rest. Then there’s a challenge, the winning team gets a two minute headstart in the next race. Repeat for a third time. The end game relates to a landmark in the area given in rebus form, the first family to work out what it is wins a holiday. And that’s it, quite jolly but that’s as far as it goes. It’s all done and dusted in 30 minutes. (France 3)
• Les 12 Coups de Midi – This has been mentioned on the Bar before, it’s basically Bother’s Bar favourite Cresus but hosted by Jean-Luc Reichmann in a more purple set with one fewer contestant, one fewer round and more slowly paced. (TF1)
• Le Juste Prix – Hurrah! We do of course LOVE LaGaf’s Le Juste Prix and it’s new season began last night. This is the first full episode I’ve seen for ages, so nice touches to point out: if you hit the one bid on the nose you get a trophy and a comedy oversize cheque for €100. Their version of Cliffhanger, Tyrolienne, is played with the mountain climber going up the back of a shark. They’ve got a game called Mini-bar which is basically Hole in One except they have to slide a drink down a saloon bar into a hole. I love this show! (TF1)
• Money Drop – Just finished its nightly run and apparently has done alright. It’s got an interesting take on the US set (lots of safe doors, the money drop is essentially a giant funnel), the theme tune is alright, the clock music is mainly lots of beeping, the waiting for the answer reveals more interminable then I think I can remember them being over here. The idea that you can skip a question if you bet everything in play (couples begin with €250k in bundles of €5k) on an answer and if it’s correct means you can skip the next question is quite interesting, in theory it means the less you have the easier it gets to get to the end because you might as well just go for it anyway. Qs 1-7 are all four choice, Q8 (which can’t be skipped) is the fifty-fifty as usual. (TF1)

Do any of the Bar’s French friends have any recommendations?

After the new season launches it’s not been a very exciting week really. And tonight doesn’t feel any more exciting particularly, but here we are anyway:

• Epic Win – But I do like a bit of Epic Win. (5:30pm, BBC1)
• Celebrity Masterchef (6:10pm, BBC1)
• All Star Family Fortunes – Russell Kane vs Rita Simons. (7pm, ITV1)
• Secret Fortune (7:55pm, BBC1)
• The X Factor (8pm, ITV1)
• The Million Pound Drop – Live! This time definitely featuring Jack Whitehall and Dad. It’s an hour and forty this evening! (9:30pm, Channel 4)
• Big Brother (9:30pm, Channel 5)

I know I said I was going to report on French stuff last week, but I haven’t got round to doing it yet because of the US stuff I’ve been sent. But I will very soon!

I’m sure we all remember Impossible? that went out a little while back – the show where magician Philip Escoffey challenges people to determine whether something can be done or not (they may as well use random guessing, but there we are). It wasn’t particularly amazing, but it was entertaining enough and deserved better than to get pulled after a few episodes because nobody watched it.

So its second chance is coming round – they’ve filmed some celebrity episodes and they’re going out on Wednesday nights from 5th October at the mass audience friendly time of 11pm after Big Brother, where it will probably get even fewer viewers than it got originally (if The Beat Goes On is anything to go by). Baffling.