It’s the tenth Anniversary race! The very first episode went out on September 5th 2001, and here we are ten years later having fallen in and out of love with it several times. We’ve been spoiled by the Australian version of the show which was a lot of fun indeed, but will we bother sticking around for the US one? I’m going to write some stuff about episode one, but I will stick it under a spoiler.
Board of Excitement 25th September – 2nd October 2011
OMG! It’s practically Christmas!
- Deal or No Deal – A quick shoutout as it gave away its fourth jackpot last week, and epic episodes have been promised for this week as well. (4:15pm Sunday, 4pm weekdays)
- The Amazing Race – I say excitement, this will probably be a disappointment. It’s the show’s tenth year! A new thing is the Hazard, a penalty given to a team already in last place through a starting line challenge, because penalizing the team that’s furthest behind ALWAYS makes for a tense and exciting finish. (Sunday, CBS)
- The Shredder – I was unsuccessful in get getting a ticket to this, so if you’re going to see this pilot made at BBC TV Centre on Monday, do tell us about it.
- Only Connect – Rowers vs Linguists. Practically everybody I’m following on Twitter has now been a contestant on this. (8:30pm, Monday, BBC4)
- Minute to Win It (8pm, Tuesday, ITV2)
- Ton of Cash – New to the Board of Excitement, although I felt the mid-season twists (splitting the money for three teams, voting out a loser) lost quite a lot of the interest and charm the first five episodes had built up. Still, it looks like it’s returning to something closer to the old format this week, so we’ll see. (Wednesday although Friday online, VH1 in the US)
- Bundesvision Song Contest 2011 – There’s no Schlag den Star this week, but that doesn’t mean there’s no Stefan Raab. (7:15pm BST, Thursday, ProSieben)
- Strictly Come Dancing – The first weekend of the proper dancing. (9pm Friday and 6pm Saturday, BBC1).
Saturday Night’s Alright for Writing – 24th September 2011
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!
Interesting scheduling decisions of our time
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.
US Factor
As I write, The X Factor has begun in the US. WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN? Will they understand Steve Jones’ accent?
A Porsche
So, there have been some comments recently suggesting that All Star Family Fortunes is fixed or something because the top answers in Big Money add up to a higher number then they typically would have done in the eighties.
But how do our transatlantic cousins deal with this sort of thing? Here’s a clip from the Ray Combs’ fronted version in 1989: