It’s Lena vs Lena on Schlag den Star on Saturday

By | May 16, 2017
9 Comments

That’s right Lena Gercke takes on Eurovision’s Lena Meyer-Landrut across 15 games for Elton’s €100,000 briefcase LIVE on Saturday night with Amy Macdonald and Mando Diao performing their latest songs and as ever we will be here with commentary and “japes” so join us on Saturday night from 7:15.

In other news, for whatever reason I’m quite looking forward to the reboot of Your Face or Mine? on Comedy Central, Wednesdays at 8pm (that’s tomorrow). Original host Jimmy Carr returns alongside Katherine Ryan stirring things up in the relationship testing game requiring you to judge your partner’s looks against mystery guests – some random, some very not so random, with hilarious consequences. They’re pushing the “love vs money” aspect in the promos. I can’t quite believe it’s been the best part of fifteen years since it was last on!

Show Discussion: Dara O’ Briain’s Go 8 Bit Series 2

By | May 15, 2017
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Mondays, 10pm,
Dave

Go 8 Bit DLC
Mondays, 11pm,
Dave

UKGameshows/Bother’s Bar Poll Winner Dara O’ Briain’s Go 8 Bit returns to our screens tonight (or any time during the last week on UKTV Play), a panel show that instead of asking questions asks our guests to take part in videogaming challenges.

We’ve watched the preview episode already and we can reveal that they’ve ingeniously changed two points of contention from last series, the stage revolving and the audience voting, by combining them. Otherwise it’s basically the same show (including the sometimes not great use of screen real estate). The guests on the first episode are TV’s hardest working man Richard Osman and Sara Pascoe. They should have chosen Micro Machines 2 and drag racing round the bath over driving round the billiards table in the original though, obv.

Following after the show (and has also apparently been on UKTV Play but rather unhelpfully under ‘G’ for Go 8 Bit when the main show is under ‘D’ for Dara O’ Briain’s Go 8 Bit I have literally just discovered this morning) is Go 8 Bit DLC which looks to be a straight videogaming magazine show starring Ellie, Steve and Sam. Ellie Gibson was one of my fave writers for Eurogamer back in the day so I look forward to watching this in due course.

When Gameshows Go Horribly Wrong

By | May 14, 2017
16 Comments

There’s a three-hour clip show on Five tonight from 9pm about when gameshows have ended in disaster. I expect it won’t be for the squeamish. I hope we’re not going to get that time a contestant ended up paralysed trying to jump over a car on Wetten Dass? in super slo-mo, at any rate.

Mel and Sue’s Gen Game?

By | May 12, 2017
7 Comments

File this under “speculation” but The Sun reporting this morning that Mel and Sue are being lined up as hosts of a Generation Game reboot.

This would be quite interesting. Bake Off is the only vehicle in recent times that’s been a success for Mel and Sue. However what is The Great British Bake Off if not The Generation Game in long form?

Musical Chairs

By | May 10, 2017
15 Comments

Don’t forget it’s the Codebreaker final this evening! Follow them on Twitter and/or check out their Youtube for details.

Anyway here’s a fun thing that popped up on Youtube in the last few days, a quite fun (if unsuccessful) US show from 1975 called Musical Chairs, where people basically had to race to lock in the correct answer to multiple choice “what line comes next” style questions from songs sung by established and upcoming acts (Irene Cara! Amazing.) I think the game format is fun (each question pays out to fewer people and the stakes grow throughout the show leading to a fairly clever elimination round), the show’s got a good vibe, and they seem to have borrowed the moving chair method of eliminating contestants from Remote Control over ten years later.

It’s Eurovision Week!

By | May 8, 2017
26 Comments

Semi 1: Tuesday, 8pm
BBC4
(The UK can vote in this one)

Semi 2: Thursday, 8pm
BBC4

Final: Saturday, 8pm
BBC1

IT’S TIME! Everyone’s travelling to Kiev in the Ukraine for the 62nd edition of the Eurovish where we will be celebrating diversity with 42 songs, most of which power ballads sung in English, a language that’s losing its importance in Europe. As we are well aware this is a song contest and as we’re always told through various thinkpieces throughout the media politics just doesn’t come into it and this year is looking more apolitical than ever. We cannot wait!

The UK entry is Lucie Jones. We’ve not actually heard the song anywhere since it was picked as a winner so I’m going to stick my neck out and suggest it probably won’t win.

Annual FAQ:

  • “Why are Australia in it? They’re not even IN Europe!” They are associate members of the European Broadcasting Union and have been invited.
  • “Why are Israel in it? They’re not even IN Europe!” They are members of the European Broadcasting Union.
  • “Why are the UK in it? They’re not even IN Europe!” They are members of the European Broadcasting Union.
  • “What happens if Australia wins?” They’ll probably hold the next one in Germany as a co-production with SBS.
  • “Why is the BBC wasting the licence fee on an event we have no chance of winning?” Even so it actually works out as a rather good value per hour proposition for effectively 7.5 hrs of primetime telly, which would otherwise have to be filled with something. It’s not like we’re staging it.

We’re basically going into the week completely blind this year. We can’t wait for everyone on Twitter to go “this is rubbish OH BLOODY HELL THIS IS SO EXCITING” with the voting like last year. And this year there are special Twitter emojis for #12points, #eurovision, #esc2017 and #celebratediversity.