Show Discussion: Amazing Greys

By | April 11, 2014
7 Comments

agreysitvSaturday 8:30,
ITV

Amazing Greys is the show that pits young people against the elderly in a battle of the ages, each young person tries to beat two of the Amazing Greys out of three in order to earn themselves a £10,000 prize. But it won’t be easy, they might be past their best but these old people are experts in their field. Who will win, youth or experience?

We went and saw the pilot for this back last September where we thought it was alright, albeit nothing standout. They’ve made a couple of changes since then – most noticeably the brilliant Angela Rippon is on board as Paddy’s co-host, I suspect she’ll be cheerleading the Greys with Paddy backing the contestants. Secondly the classical architecture based set of the original has completely disappeared, now looking eerily like the set for the MIA Just 1 Thing filmed a few months previous if the advert is anything to go by (the logo’s changed as well). Finally they’ve made it a touch easier for the contestants – two out of three rather than three out of five, although if Popbitch is to be believed they’ve had to find other ways to help the contestants along because the Greys are too good.

The show hasn’t fared well abroad (in fact it’s been a bit of a failure) so it will be interesting to see if it shines with ITV’s polish. They’ve certainly given it the best possible chance with the Britain’s Got Talent lead-in.

What’s inside the ENVELOPES OF MYSTERY? #sdb

By | April 10, 2014
3 Comments

#sdb

#imbackingbrig

TWO DAYS. TWO DAYS and we can find out what’s inside the envelopes, LIVE on Youtube. Click for a larger picture. It’s like Christmas all over again.

sdb2

Remember YOU can come and help celebrate Bother’s Bar’s Tenth Birthday One Week Early by joining here LIVE for Schlag den Brig on Saturday from 8pm for hours and hours of LIVE entertainment. YOU will get the chance to influence one (and maybe more!) of the games. YOU HAVE REMOTE CONTROL OF MINE AND DAN’S FATES, BE KIND TO ME READERS, BE KIND. You might also want to keep a pen and some paper handy for games you can play along with, and you can tweet your results.

That’s not the only thing happening on Bother’s Bar’s Super Saturday, there will be show discussion posts for Amazing Greys and The Guess List although I’ll be watching them on catch-up. As should you!

All the news that’s fit to print

By | April 7, 2014
50 Comments

#imbackingBrig

It’s format sales conference thing MIP!

Schlag den Brig 2: This time we’re properly bloody serious and have a trailer to prove it

By | April 6, 2014
14 Comments

Schlag_endcapTonight at 8pm it’s Bother’s Bar Poker, do come and join us.

However more important is next Saturday at 8pm. Forget Britain’s Got Talent. Forget Amazing Greys. Forget The Guess List. They’ll all be on catch-up. The question people will be stopping and asking you in the street is “where were you during Schlag den Brig 2?” Because you should be RIGHT HERE or on Youtube watching it go out live.

That’s right, in lieu of a very small response to a contestant call out and because it would mean otherwise we would have to commission a new logo, once again Dan Peake will be taking me on in fifteen mystery mental, physical and skill-based events from the brain and wallet of Only Connect and Crystal Maze alumni David J Bodycombe LIVE. And once again we will be joined by commentator and famed adjudicator Lewis Murphy of Fifty 50 Show.

And this time it’s serious. REALLY serious. There is no way Dan is going to win for a second time.

But not only are the stakes bigger, the games are set to be more fun and exciting and bigger than before as the boundaries of what we can do are pushed TO THE MAX. At least that’s what I’ve heard, neither Dan or myself know what the games are going to be and won’t until we have to play them. All we know is that one has been suggested to be interactive with the viewing audience (so it’ll be better if you watch live!).

Also actually we’ve filmed two of them already.

 

That’s right, proper PROPER outside broadcast challenges of the sort that wouldn’t feel out of place on You Bet. Neither me or Dan know how many points they’re worth so it’ll be a surprise to us on the night. If the filmed stuff looks good then we have the brilliant Michelle Martin to thank for her video editing work, especially as it was filmed pretty unprofessionally on a single camcorder, if you’re a TV type looking for a video editor, look her up!

If you can’t wait until next week and want to revisit the first one again, you can watch all four hours of it here.

Show Discussion: Fifteen to One 2014

By | April 4, 2014
47 Comments

15to1Saturday 5:15pm then weekdays 4:30pm,
Channel 4

And so prosaic quiz week on Bother’s Bar ends with the revival of the show die-hard quizzers love but which I always found a bit dull really – Fifteen to One.

And I think they’re in a tough spot. The reason the original was so beloved is that it was quite dry, question after question after question. This version is going to be less dry, but at an hour long it’s not going to be so quickfire – player chat is promised by Toksvig (everyone gets three goes to reach the Pointless Final, the grand prize is a legitimately large £40k which is easier to have a chat about than an old piece of pot). Diehards are going to rail against it because it feels like they’ve missed the point of the original (which everyone stopped watching), casuals are probably not going to switch over from shows that are already on that look like more fun (and Deal or No Deal feels like a very strange lead-in). Damned if they do and damned if they don’t really.

Still University Challenge managed a successful comeback under similar circumstances (albeit not as a programme double the length with added chat) so you never know. Quoting myself for the record though:

I predict 900k-1m for the first civvy episode and everyone will get excited and go “ooh it’s a hit!” and it’ll be below 700k by the end of week two. I don’t know how much it needs to be seen as a success, but it’s not like Come Dine On A Trip In A Bed is expensive to make.

We’ll see if I look like a genius or an idiot in a few weeks. At the time of writing that prediction we were expecting the first civvy episode to be on the Monday and not the Saturday after the Grand National (which we initially thought was going to be a celeb special), so I expect the first episode to be a bit more of an outlier.

I quite like the soviet-esque theme they’ve gone for in the background, there.

Oklahoma!

By | April 3, 2014
0 Comment

Prosaic quiz week continues with that bastion of prosaic quizzes – local television, in this instance local television in Oklahoma. It’s KSBI 52’s very own Wild Card, and you can actually watch it ungeoblocked online if you want.

Fronted by Ed Murray, three contestants compete in a buzzer quiz in order to win a $250 voucher from Bob Mills Furniture (I thought he hasn’t been on Fighting Talk much recently). Contestants pick cards to determine a category of question (although there’s no rhyme or reason behind the cards), some turn out to be wild cards which doubles the points for the next question, some are jokers which will add or take away points, some are instant win prizes. The values of the questions increase as the show progresses (100, 200, 300 points), the final round is the 400 point everyone-answer-on-a-telestrator question, and finally everyone picks one of the letters of WILDCARD (only one D) which may add up to a whopping 2,500 to your score or bust it completely, although you don’t have to play – it is very much the golden snitch.

It’s fast moving and rather cheap and cheerful, the crew in the background are clearly being paid by the decibel. Not much more to say about it really.

DON’T FORGET that this Sunday it’s another exciting round of Bother’s Bar Poker – make sure you’re a member of the club to play. And next Saturday night it’s four plus hours of LIVE ENTERTAINMENT with Schlag den Baar. Pens and paper at the ready!