The Poll of the Year approaches. It will open on January 2nd.

UKGameshows.com normally has a very useful list of all new shows starting this year for reference. Here is the list.

Is there anything obvious missing from it? You will be able to vote for The Crystal Maze, under the ‘series sufficiently different from pilot’ rule, you won’t be able to vote for Netflix’s Ultimate Beastmaster as it’s not a UK show even if we have broadcast parity with the rest of the world (although we look forward to seeing how stretchy Netflix makes this in future, Stellify’s Chicken will test the POTY Constitution next year I have no doubt).

The more observant amongst you will have noticed that I’ve opened up the Wie is De Mol 2018 discussion page. That starts very soon. For the first time I will opening a Belgian De Mol page in February as well.

A Show Discussion post for Alan Carr’s Price is Right will go up tomorrow.

And that’s all the weather… FOR NOW.

Now seems as good a time as any to point out that Bother’s Bar is on low power mode over the next week and a half or so, as there’s nothing on and it’s unlikely there will be a great deal worth discussing. Also I’m knackered and want a bit of downtime.

I’m still about and will still be here and on Twitter to have opinions on things (people who don’t have yorkshires with Xmas dinner – what’s all THAT about?) and if anything does break I’ll stick a post up in due course.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all our readers, and I look forward to opening the Poll of 2017 in the New Year.

In the meantime, I propose instead of The Twelve Days of Christmas you have The Twelve Episodes Of Series One Of The Genius, which I have been getting people at work into the last few weeks. It’s actually highly amusing how relatively downbeat my original take on it four years ago feels these days, suspect the later series rose-tinted my view of series one a little – except I recently watched it all back and pretty much loved all of it.

Move over Jane Lynch, there’s a NEW mini-game lesbian in town and that person is the awesome Ellen Degeneres who has bought her talk show mini-games to the big stage and made a format out of them for NBC’s Ellen’s Game of Games.

On each episode (apparent) members of the audience take part in one of four selected games (out of a pool of don’t know). The winner of each game goes through to Know or Go (get the question right or fall thirty feet through a trapdoor), with the ultimate survivor getting a chance to win $100k playing Hot Hands.

It’s probably the closest America has got to something with an Asian variety show vibe, the games are entertaining and if not quite visually spectacular (or indeed especially original – if there’s something Ellen’s games have a habit of being it’s taking something that already exists and only putting a slight spin on it) they certainly throw up their own share of comedy pratfalls and moments, probably the best one in the “sneak-peek” episode just broadcast was the opening one where two people are spun round and race down a platform to pick up a ball so they can answer a question. I thought the least successful was Tuba Toothpaste, where contestants answer Truth or Consequences style difficult questions which when they get wrong mean they have to risk pushing valves on a giant tuba hoping not to get a face full of foam, I wasn’t sure what the questions added.

I’m not sure what to think about the endgame, Hot Hands, it feels like a very sudden way to give away a huge amount of money – thirty seconds to name celebrities in pictures, picture will change as soon as you push the big button to register an answer, picture automatically changes after three seconds, get ten and take home $100,000. I was alerted to the app for this last night and would agree that it’s fun (and for someone like me who is useless as picture quizzes, awesomely tough), but for the amounts of money on offer I think I want to see people being put through the ringer at least a little bit.

I like Ellen, she seems entirely in control (although surprisingly reserved a bit, considering).

You will need to use the Dark Arts to watch this and would suggest it’s an entertaining way to pass an hour.

Let’s have a round up:

• Release the Hounds returns to ITV2 in January.
• Laura Whitmore will be hosting ITV2’s upcoming battle-of-the-sexes reality show Survival of the Fittest.
• Good news for table tennis fans everywhere, Blind Date has been recommissioned for 12 more episodes for Channel 5.
• Wie is de Mol? is going to Georgia and Belgian De Mol is going to Mexico. This year I will set up discussion pages for both as they’re both great but slightly different takes on the same show, WidM begins January 6th (I believe), DM begins in February.
• Thinking caps on, it’s almost time for the UKGameshows.com/Bother’s Bar Poll of 2017.
• Has anyone watched [Atari] Codebreaker on Discovery Science yet? Worthwhile? Here’s the site.

Missed the commentary last night? Here are the bonus events you can watch separately.

First of all Choose Your Own 321 Adventure, an Interactive Twitter event where, guided by the puzzle experts in the studio who had no idea of the answers, the audience would play the prize auction bit of 3-2-1 voting to reject items in polls, hoping to avoid being left with Dusty Bin and hoping to find the Star Prize. Too much dead space in it to do again I think (incredibly the six riddles here edit down to just under 40 minutes) but the idea is quite fun and it will almost certainly come back in a different capacity for something else.

Meanwhile here’s also another round of Dealing With David, with slightly more up-to-date questions and a mystery time limit: