OK don’t answer that here, this is an fact a pointing post to point you towards things you might have missed.

Right now in the The Genius Series 4 comments we’re having a discussion on what the official ranking of The Genius series are. We were here right at the start of The Genius and now it’s really popular we have to stop liking it like the hipster rulebook states, not a rule I like but I don’t get to make them. This is where we start, I would ask you to direct all comments there.

As a sort of fun sidenote, here are the places where we’ve discussed each series: Series 1, Series 2, Series 3, Series 4.

Tonight a big embargo on Eternal Glory lifts, don’t click on this freely viewable link until then and view the press pack otherwise you will go to prison (h/t David).

Finally thanks to Daniel H who points out that the premiere of Season 2 of Release the Hounds is currently viewable on ITV Player. I would politely ask you all *not* to talk about it until the Show Discussion post goes up so everything in the discussion is in the same place, but I’m going to bring that forward to tomorrow evening. If you can’t be bothered to watch online it goes out on Wednesday.

This week we have TWO new shows to look forward to, the return of Release the Hounds on Wednesday and The Almost Impossible Gameshow on Thursday. Show Discussion posts have been set up for them to go up automatically on the days.

Edit: This is too funny, Buzzerblog reports on Twitter that China has bought the genre-redefining Million Second Quiz and RTL in Germany has bought the next big worldwide sensation 500 Questions. We laughed at both of them, but look who’s laughing now!

We’ve been sort of advertising it all week but TV Cream spin-off WhyDontYoutube has been doing a gameshow week on Twitter all week and today I’ve been curating it (from all the things he’s not used all week, natch). I just wanted to remark once again how much I love, LOVE Fred Dinenage hosted Gambit, and you have to wonder if the tapes existed if they’d be any merit in Challenge repeating it, advertised in a sort of Fred as real-life Alan Partridge guise. Or sod it! Remake it with Steve Coogan as Alan Partridge hosting. Also those titles with the amazing theme tune (although clearly they have misunderstood the rules to roulette) AND Peter Fenn’s keyboard playing. The package is just incredible.

Don’t be alarmed, that clip has a false start about 50 seconds in. Fred is still reading the news in the South (I lived in Worthing during the Fred and Fern Britton era of Coast to Coast, great days).

In other news just a few short things, I’ve declared the official ranking of The Genius seasons. This is objective fact and there’s no point arguing, but you can if you want here.

We’re going to go a bit arty and This American Life on you viewers, I’m Ira Glass. We all know of the story of how Michael Larson managed to break Press Your Luck in the 1980s and won over $100,000 in doing so, but what about the more minor shows where there isn’t large amounts of cash on the line? Friend of the Bar the Internet Celebrity @shoutsatcows reports:

Blockbusters.  An early student TV favourite, its early 90s Bob Holness heyday led to ill-advised resurrections hosted by Aspell, Liza “nepotism” Tarbuck and, in today’s episodes, radio’s Simon Mayo.  Once you get over the inherent weirdness of seeing a radio personality talking, it’s actually a reasonable attempt at a reboot.  While the graphics have been updated, there’s a nice sense of the familiar, from the hexagonal board, via the gold runs, to the knowing hilarity (not hilarity) of asking for a “p” please.

Today’s solo team is a ginger Yorkshire lad called Ryan.  Ryan, it turns out, is quite good at the main Blockbusters game, easily dispatching his opponents, despite some wacky answers (“Fonichiwa?”), and them having an extra team member.

What happens next to Ryan? Find out under the cut, when our programme continues.

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