Pointless 1000

By | January 15, 2017

Pointless broadcasts its 1,000th repeat new episode on Monday! To celebrate four remarkable teams are being bought back to participate again – David and Christo, the show’s first ever jackpot winners from 2009 (quite a different game back then even if it was also basically the same), David and Jon who won the show’s highest ever jackpot of £24,750, Patrick and Sarah who managed to give three Pointless answers in the final round and finally swing your pants as Saturday morning superstars Trevor and Simon return as one of the show’s first celebrity jackpot winners.

As you’ve doubtlessly noticed from the official press shot there, Richard and Xander have swapped places for the episode. I wonder if they’ve turned the computer on for Xander.

You can find out how Pointless fared in the UKGameshows.com/Bother’s Bar Poll of 2016 with our live poll results broadcast right here and on Youtube from 9pm on Tuesday.

The Poll is now closed.

By | January 14, 2017

Do not vote now, they will not be counted and you may still be charged.

There may well be some surprises in store, especially in the Golden Five on the basis of totting up the first week’s votes last weekend. We shall see.

Join us on Tuesday at 9pm for THE RESULTS.

The Crystal Maze returns

By | January 13, 2017

Alright, we gave the one-off a sort of free pass when we realised they were filming it at The Experience, no such luck with this though, Channel 4 have revealed that The Crystal Maze is indeed coming back, and as suggested a few weeks ago will indeed be filming in Bristol. In fact it’ll be at The Bottleyard, where Deal or No Deal lived.

Digital Spy reporting that twenty hour-long episodes have been commissioned (that’s a lot!) and that Richard Ayoade is set to host. we’ll be very interested to see what sort of tone this sets for the show, we enjoyed Stephen Merchant hosting but there’s no way the style would have sustained a full series. Also we’re hoping for more than ten games an episode. And how many different games will they have across the series?

Anyway, don’t stuff it up.

Edit: Good start, James Dillon who designed the original set is doing this one as well. And it looks like it’ll be teams of five.

Here’s the Channel 4 press release.

5 Golden Rings Starts tonight in the Netherlands

By | January 12, 2017

[Quick reminder, the UKGameshows.com/Bother’s Bar Poll of the Year 2016 closes Friday night so if you haven’t voted yet get your skates on, live results reveal on Tuesday night.]

In the UK it will be 5 Gold Rings with Philip Schofield but tonight it’s 5 Golden Rings hosted by Rik van de Westelaken on SBS6 in the Netherlands, 7:30 UK/8:30 Europe. The Possessed/Talpa format is likely to be very similar if not the same between the two markets (ITV have filmed on the Dutch set) so a good chance for a sneak preview. Here’s the SBS page, you will likely need to use the dark arts in order to watch.

5 Gold Rings challenges two couples to answer questions by marking their location on a large floor screen with golden rings that decrease in size as the prize gets larger. There is a playalong app where you can win a trip to Las Vegas (I probably wouldn’t bother trying this outside of the Netherlands).

I’m not going to be able to watch live but if you do, let us know what you think.

Time’s running out to vote

By | January 10, 2017

The UKGameshows.com/Bother’s Bar Poll of the Year 2016 closes on Friday evening which means you only have a few days left to vote if you haven’t done so already.

Don’t be late!

EDIT: The Poll of the Year 2016 Winner’s Party will be here and on Youtube at 9pm on Tuesday 17th January. Join David, Dan and myself for the live reveals and discussion and assorted interactive hijinks.

This will be followed up by the written report about twenty minutes after the end of broadcast.

3%

By | January 8, 2017

For some reason 3% has exploded over my Twitter timeline today, it’s actually been on Netflix for a little while, but when you scan through Netflix it’s quite easy to go past Brazilian sci-fi I suppose. Anyway it’s quite good and Very Much The Sort Of Thing You Might Enjoy. It’s a drama, it’s in Brazilian Portuguese (although there’s a dubbed English version, but come on), it has english subtitles, it’s what Survivor would be a bit like if it was done through the prism of Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror and The Hunger Games by way of the board game The Resistance. It has violence but not excessive amounts, it is rated 15.

In the future the world is divided into the haves (who live in the ‘Offshore’) and the have nots who live in big run down cities on the mainland. Everybody gets one shot to live in the Offshore by taking part in The Process, a series of tests and tasks with a view to eliminate people who don’t ‘deserve’ to move on, only 3% of the candidates will be allowed to make it. If you like characters and personalities you are well rewarded. If you like tests and challenges then you get those as well – there’s quite a fun murder-mystery logic problem in episode two. If you like thinly veiled political statement then knock yourselves out. The other half of the drama relates to the people administering The Process and the secrets they may hold.

The drama gets down to a core set of characters and motivations quite quickly and if there is one thing we like it’s fiction based around eliminatory processes. I’m only a couple of episodes in but so far it is quite compelling, if you have Netflix you might enjoy it as well. Episodes are about 50 minutes.