Tuesdays from October 4th, 10pm,
Dave

Episode one now available on UKTV Play.

Our fave show of the last 18 months or so returns for a third series, although seeing as this was filmed back to back with series two, perhaps we should refer to it as series 2a.

Trying to prove they’re the best at Things so they can lift the Taskmaster trophy this time round are comedians Rob Beckett, Al Murray, Sara Pascoe, Dave Gorman and Paul Chowdry. An abundance of testosterone and facial hair but who has what it takes to complete the Taskmaster’s challenges?

We can’t ignore the first episode is going out a week before TV broadcast, we will bump this post back up next Tuesday and you should feel free to discuss this in this thread the meantime. Non-Taskmaster stuff should go on the post beneath. If you haven’t watched it yet, don’t come in if you don’t want to be spoiled.

This was mentioned on the #onlyconnect thread but in case you missed it this sounds Very Much Like The Sort Of Thing We Like. Here’s Chris’ comment:

Changing the subject: “Dracula; Escape The Castle” runs weekly at 10pm on Sunday nights on INsight (Sky 564), a channel of which I had not previously heard, or available online the next day. Bonus points for the apparent inclusion of a semi-colon in the show’s title. (Is this a first?)

“Dracula, Escape the Castle is an original, bloodcurdling gameshow which sees two duos trapped within an authentic Romanian castle, with only one night to escape ‘Dracula’. The contestants vary from lovers and family members, to best friends and colleagues. Locked inside the castle walls by charismatic host, Brendan Moar, duos must escape by completing various mental and physical challenges.

In each episode, the two couples face three stages of being locked in room, with the ultimate goal of escaping in the fastest time. The fastest couple to escape the first two rooms, gain a 30 second time advantage in the final stage. This final is a frantic race to ignite a giant bat silhouette on the castle courtyard.

Dracula is a game of skill, courage and trust: skill to escape the rooms; courage to find clues; and trust in your fellow teammate. To survive, contestants will have to utilise their skills and face their worst fears.”

Might be a bit Estate of Panic. Might not.

Anyway I can’t say I’ve heard of the channel either but I’ll certainly be looking forward to watching it probably online tomorrow (I’m on Virgin Media and Dracula can’t touch virgins) (I’ve actually made that up but it would be brilliant if we could retcon the story to make the joke work thanks). If you have Sky and you watch tonight do let us know what you think.

In other news if you like your games horror themed, GSN has put up the first ep of its new series of Hellevator up on Youtube for whatever reason and apparently ungeoblocked. It’s a bit more elaborate than the first season, better endgame, I’ve discussed it here.

Finally whilst we’re on the ghost train they’ve been filming the third series of Release the Hounds the last few weeks. I don’t know where they’ve been filming, I don’t know where they’ve got the contestants from (there’s been no obvious contestant call out this time round) and I don’t know when it’s going out –  a report from a little while ago suggested 2017. We look forward to it all the same. It will be interesting to see if not filming in the height of Summer makes any sort of difference.

Show attended:
Cambridge Junction 2,
2pm, 1st October

£15 + booking fee

WiFi Wars website

We quite like Go 8 Bit on Dave, not perfect but entertaining enough, a TV show based on an Edinburgh show where celebs play video games. You may remember there’s a voting mechanic where the audience vote on their phones as to who they think will win each challenge.

WiFi Wars comes out of taking the technology behind that and seeing how far they can push it, starting with super-simple (a game of Pong where the paddle moves if your team correctly votes on whether the paddle should move up or down) through slightly more complex (Whack-A-Mole, Track and Field) right through to 110 player Bomberman and virtual reality flying. And providing your phone or tablet is reasonable enough you get to play along with ALL of it.

My biggest criticism of the show comes right at the start which is when you try and connect your phone to King Rob Sedgebeer’s server using the WiFi – certainly when I tried my Android phone wasn’t sure it liked it, complaining of no internet connection, but when I went to the website on the giant screen anyway it all seemed to work anyway. There are hints that flash up before the show and Steve McNeil and Rob seemed very happy to set people’s equipment up if they weren’t sure how to do it (it seems like these shows play to around 60-100 people usually, The Junction 2 felt quite full but it’s certainly not a massive venue). I don’t know if there’s a friendlier way of doing it or telling the audience that if it says you can’t get internet to try going to the website anyway but I would suggest that on my phone at least (a Moto X Play) once the show got going the browser software worked flawlessly. You put a name in and take a selfie (you can untick a box if you’re a bit shy and don’t want to appear on screen). Meanwhile an endless disco remix of the Star Wars theme plays in the background.

The audience is split into two teams but everybody is also playing for themselves with a prize for the best player across the session. McNeil is the host explaining the technology and leading the games whilst Sedgebeer largely sits silently with computers on the other side of the stage, like a modern day videogame reworking of the Pet Shop Boys. Before each game a member of the audience puts forward a yes/no question to vote on with the higher percentage determining how many points the game is worth to the winning team. Audiences are encouraged to think up smart questions to make the game worth more.

The games in the first half are quite simple affairs only using a few buttons – Pong, Track and Field, a penalty shootout game, my favourite was Whack A Mole where provided you have the muscle memory to not need to look down at your phone to see where you’re pressing is an intensely fun sixty seconds (tellingly it’s also a game I finished second in the room at – players are ranked and earn points on a big scoreboard as the show progresses).

After the interval the games get more experimental and really push the boundaries, including a massively multiplayer version of Bomberman (we played it with 110 players – a WiFi Wars record, although Rob’s server couldn’t really keep up, they reckoned 80-ish was the highest number it worked reasonably well with) and a full on 3D First Person shooter. The top ten players before the final got to play the last game on stage with Google Cardboard, a virtual reality flying game, where the audience could only play without the VR. There was also a super fun elimination memory game earlier which I shan’t spoil.

It was all fantastic fun, the audience was full of parents and kids (this was a 2pm show, the intention was also a 7pm one but that had to be cancelled – the 2pm one was certainly child friendly) and everyone seemed to have a great time. And you can get your points and a certificate e-mailed to you afterwards.

There are also homages to the ITV Schools clock and Top of the Pops for all the telly nerds.

Bother’s Bar absolutely recommends going to see WiFi Wars if it’s coming to your area.