The disappointing reboot of The Crystal Maze is attempting to get rid of its lacklustre ratings and/or critical analysis by having a new zone! The Radio Times reveals that Medieval is going to be replaced by Eastern.
Interesting choice given that Medieval is probably the most iconic of the four zones. 13 celebrity episodes to get thrown out randomly later in the year, if the previous run is anything to go by.
Chris M Dickson has a challenge for you:
Crowdsourced Tenable
We’ve had Fabricated Pointless, here’s a new thrill: Crowdsourced Tenable. I post a list and between us we work out what the top ten answers are.
What are the ten longest-running TV game shows in the UK that are still running?
Terms of engagement: we’re talking long-running in terms of time since first episode in the current run, rather than in terms of number of series, number of episodes or anything else. You know, intuitively, what the difference is between a show taking a normal break between series and a show going away then coming back later. For instance, that show which has run for lots of years but which used to alternate series with that other show can trace its history back to its first series without interruption. On the other hand, that show which ran for lots of years with one host, then took a long break and came back with a brand new host can only claim to have been still running since the new host brought it back. TV shows only, please, we can do radio shows (and radio shows that had a series or two on TV as well) later.
Special difficulties: for the first two days, we’re going to do this off the top of our heads. You can probably work this out accurately by going to ukgameshows.com, looking up the long-running category and seeing the shows’ actual dates. However, where’s the fun in that? Once we’ve worked out a consensus opinion as to what the top ten might be, then and only then can we actually look the answers up and see if we were right.
University Challenge, Mastermind, Countdown are obvious contenders. Maybe even Only Connect, Pointless and The Chase as well. Anyway, off you go.
And we’re just hearing we’re able to join Actual Real TV Developer Ben Justice later than billed for positions 20-11 of his list. Thank you for your patience.
Those of you expecting Ben Justice’s Top 100 UK Gameshows Part 9 video this Friday morning are in for a disappointment, the Copyright Man is being a twat and so the video is delayed until Ben’s able to re-edit and reupload – hopefully sometime later today! He’s said it’s his favourite so it will be worth looking forward to.
In the meantime, here is some music:
We thought we’d mark the passing of a TV institution with an episode of poorly-thought out mess High Stakes with Jeremy Kyle. We discussed this all the way back in 2011.
Semi Final 1:
Tuesday, 8pm, BBC Four
Semi Final 2:
Thursday, 8pm, BBC Four
The UK can vote in this one.
Grand Final:
Saturday, 8pm, BBC One
Welcome to Bother’s Bar’s coverage of this year’s Eurovision Song Contest in Tel Aviv. We’ve not heard any of the songs (including our own, embarrassingly) and we’re working throughout both semi-finals. Knock yourselves out!
We ARE playing @danielpeake‘s Eurovision Bingo though, so check it out.