OK, let’s see how the ALL NEW TOUGH STOOL PIGEON with TOUGH CHRIS works out. A couple of people still went for obvious gags, and I’m not going to include them. So there.
This being said, this is still anonymous hearsay so may not be 100% true. Some interesting things though:
- Yes, this *is* E4 testing the waters for a proper return.
- Big Brother: Best Shows Ever was being used to prepare the audience for a CBB revival next year (thus the focus on fun celebrity episodes instead of things like Fight Night), but Endemol was planning on doing the format that’s currently flopping in Australia (last week one episode finished fourth in its timeslot, in a country with only three major commercial networks) and is now having second thoughts.
Quite interesting, I’ve not watched the new Aussie Americanised version yet, but I’ve always said that Aussie TV is basically British sensibilities with US advert breaks, and it’s probably not that surprising that a country very used to one type of format has difficulty in getting behind another. I’m just not sure what the point of doing it on E4 would be – is it worth building a house for what’s likely to be around 300,000 nightly viewers? And won’t Love Island be back next year anyway?
- Not particularly exciting or unexpected, but during a talk a few weeks ago Ben Frow basically said Channel 5 is not likely to green-light any more quiz or game shows while he is in charge.
What is Channel 5? A miserable little pile of secrets.
- Not sure if this is ‘game show’ news or not but 6 part best of Saturday Night Takeaway planned from September.
- Dave Berry ended up being a regular panellist on the first series of Through The Keyhole due to a mix up between the commissioners and producers. They thought ITV had wanted him to be on throughout the series but the channel had just suggested him as an example of the sort of panelists they could have. By the time the mistake was realised the contract was already signed and they had no choice but to honour it leading his rather odd appearance in every episode of the first series.
Some Deadly Knowledge there. I did wonder at the time if this was an ITV effort to make Dave Berry a “thing” in a way nobody really cares about outside of London.
- The forthcoming series of Celebrity MasterChef is truncated because the restrictions began to hit while they were filming the semi-finals. Sensing full lockdown was imminent, the crew and the contestants worked round the clock to condense what would have been two weeks of shows into one mega semi-finals-and-finals week, all shot in a couple of days.
- A Weakest Link 20th anniversary special, looking back at some behind the scenes stuff, classic memorable moments and how the format was developed, is going to be shown in August. That sounds very similar to the 1000 episodes special they made back in 2006 so it might just be a re-edited version of that.
Not really sure what the point of this is, if you’re not going to take it past the Children in Need one-off, when testing the water was surely the point (and that they stuffed up), then why bother with a documentary on a show that hasn’t been on for years? Unless this is the launchpad for Robert Rinder’s Weakest Link, then fine.
- University Challenge 2020/2021 is canceled due to the lockdown interfering with the taping (the restriction started just a few days before Round 2 taping) and BBC’s refusal to postpone the taping to autumn. They don’t want another Corpus Christi scandal since some students will graduate by that point. We’re expecting a brand new set 2021/2022 and the same old Jeremy Paxman. He is now older than Bamber Goscoine when the show was canceled by ITV.
- The Circle will be closely reflecting the international versions of the show for season 3 which are all pre-recorded in advance and will be ditching the studio audience live editions.
- I’ve heard Millionaire is starting recording again in July.
- BBC have a daytime quiz coming up titled The Money Walker hosted by, I believe, Gok Wan, that’s about all I know currently. Nothing too exciting but it’s an interesting host choice.
Gok Wan’s another “yeah, why not?” choice, although the title makes it sound like The Walk of Temptation from The Mole dragged out to sixty minutes. Should you take £690, or reject it for what’s in the next box which could be up to £3,000? Repeat until the last box has £250 in it.
And finally:
- I won’t even pretend this is Stool Pigeon material but I can’t be bothered just to mail you directly. What do you think about Glasscar where the new season at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Qr2qTiQf8A debuted directly in competition to the Marble League? It doesn’t have nearly the same degree of charm or personality, but the propulsion system to replace the elevator is a game changer and I suspect has a good chance of becoming the norm in years to come.
Not sure I like it, or at least not in its current form, it means that all tracks are going to have to have a large straight in it and lengthier track segments which means less emphasis on the technical side of marble racing. Say what you like about the elevator – that it’s an imperfect solution that forces unitary time differences if you like – but how many race changing moments have happened because of it? Drama.
*Shuffles papers*
Goodnight.
