Show Discussion: Apocalypse Wow

By | July 16, 2021

Fridays, 10pm,
ITV2

Part celebrity physical gameshow, part Frankie Goes to Hollywood video, Apocalypse Wow sees a clan of celebs visit secret underground club The Torture Dome run by The Mistress (Hey Tracey‘s Donna Preston) to take on a bunch of extremely odd “superhuman bosses” to win money for charity. At the end of each episode the weakest celeb is dispatched and a new one joins next week. AJ Odudu hosts.

Clearly the boss that attracted the most attention when the show was announced was Hot Slippy Jesus, described as “the UK’s number one gravy-wrestler” which should give you some idea, if you haven’t figured it out already, of the sort of tone the show’s going for.

I’m well up for this if the challenges are good, it’s giving me quite strong Il Grande Giochi Dell’Oca vibes but with more leather, but it remains to be seen if it’s going to be too weird for for the Love Island audience it’ll hope to inherit.

Let us know what you think in the comments!

It’s Old Shows That Might Be Fun Thursday

By | July 15, 2021

First of all the mesmerizing, not always for the correct reasons, You Should Be So Lucky! where Vincent Purity invites stage school brats (let’s be honest) to show off their skills and arbitrarily make their way up a snakes and ladders-esque board. There’s one point where Vincent marches the kid the wrong way up the board. One act is racially insensitive thirty-five years on. The clap-o-meter would not pass scientific testing. But there is something about how they’ve gone all-in on the idea that lends it a certain charm.

Secondly, the final of The Krypton Faktor (the German version of The Krypton Factor) is already up on Youtube, but I’m alerted to the fact that episode 1 was recently uploaded. I’ve only scanned through it so far, I don’t remember seeing the Celebrity Braincrash response round in the final episode, still love that their physical ability round is set in basically an old metal works, and I might have missed it but there doesn’t seem to be a “strategy” round here like the final has. Still though. Fans of the turn-of-the-90s Sat1 aesthetic, such as I, have a lot to love here.

https://youtu.be/eE4o6GeOvZA

It’s Schlag den Star on Saturday

By | July 13, 2021

It’s that time again, comic Bülent Ceylan takes on journalist Jenke von Wilmsdorff over 15 mystery games for Elton’s €100,000 briefcase. Musical support comes from Stefanie Heinzmann and Eurovision winners Maneskin.

As ever they’ll be a live watchalong on the Bother’s Bar Discord on Saturday night, although for the second time running I’m not going to be able to make it, this time because of 40th birthday stuff – sorry. I’m sure it’ll be fine though.

Show Discussion: The Void

By | July 10, 2021

Saturdays, 8pm,
ITV

Can you even begin to imagine 520 tonnes of water? That’s, like, so much water. Well your dream has come true with new action-packed physical gameshow The Void.

Contestants must must use their mental and physical skills (although to be honest I’m not sure how much mental agility is going to be involved) to cross a void to avoid falling into The Void. £25,000 is on offer to the person who best evades The Void.

It looks like cheap-ass Ninja Warrior, basically, but Ashley Banjo (of Can’t Touch This fame) and Fleur East are fun choices of hosts and it’s made by Gameface, the people who came up with The Cube, so hopefully it won’t be devoid of entertainment. The shape of the swimming pool looks ovoid.

Let us know what you think in the comments.

Let the Question see the Sport

By | July 8, 2021

Christ is that really the best we could do? Anyway, Paddy McGuinness has been announced as the new host of fairly rigorous long-running sports quiz A Question of Sport, following in the footsteps of David Vine, David Coleman and Sue Barker. Fighting Talk-ers Sam Quek (hockey) and Ugo Monye (rugby) are the new team captains, who I believe are the first female and black captains in the show’s history, so fair enough.

https://twitter.com/QuestionofSport/status/1412881154135445507

I mean, it’s fair to say I don’t think anyone saw it coming, but whilst I try and get my head around it from the BBC’s point of view they’re trying to attract a younger crowd for it, and who better to do that than 47-year-old saviour of Top Gear Paddy, although you’d think they’d try and lure Freddy Flintoff away from A League of Their Own to keep that partnership going. Still, though.

I look forward to seeing what new quizzes “inspire” rounds in the future.