Mondays, 9pm,
U&Dave
The latest format from the mind of Richard Bacon sees Dermot O’ Leary challenge an audience of 75 try and win £250,000 collectively by staying silent as teams of comedy and unusual variety acts (led by Katherine Ryan, Seann Walsh and current Taskmaster contestant Fatiha El-Ghorri) encourage them to laugh or otherwise make noise. “Titter ye not,” as Frankie Howerd used to say. Noise makes the money go down, and if the comics can get it down to zero then money goes to charity.
It’s about this time of year Dave tries to find The Next Taskmaster, Battle In The Box was quite unsuccessful last year, it’s not coming back. This is rather brilliantly or unfortunately timed, either it will ride the success of Last One Laughing which was a proper terrestrial-sized hit for Amazon, or (fairly or unfairly) it will come across as a bit of a rip-off, the likely ceiling being about 10% of the Amazon show isn’t going to help it, Dave doesn’t feel like it has quite the cut through it used to have. Still, we will judge it on its own merits.
Watched it? Let us know what you think.
I’ve not watched it yet, will watch it tomorrow but SIlence is Deafening more like, 49k.
Proper amateurish-feeling show, particularly the weird way they’ve done the green room bit. They’ve taken the silence a bit too literally when editing this to the point it feels uncomfortable rather than entertaining – desperately needs a bit of background music or something to fill the gaps, we can see if they’re laughing from the sound-o-meter thing.
It’s weirdly difficult to tell what’s actually funny and what’s not in this show – the drag act didn’t seem very funny at all but that may well have been due to the complete lack of atmosphere. Having said that I did find LOL extremely funny at all times so maybe it is the quality of the acts.
Dermot does alright but why haven’t they got a comedian for this role? It’s really odd.
It’s unfortunately timed but it really does feel like the cast-offs from LOL.
Not a good watch at all I’m afraid.
The breakdown for this isn’t very good either, lost viewers throughout.
One number is not a trend etc.
It’s kind of a pity it didn’t launch well because actually I like it, but there’s a slightly awkward unsettling feeling throughout so I can sort of understand why it might leave people cold. As soon as I saw what the format entailed I knew it was always going to have “watch the audience turn on each other” moments, and this is where the format is really, it *might* be a little too meta for its own good, it’s probably one of the better “us vs them” shows I can think of, and it’s interesting that it doesn’t really guide you as to which side you should be choosing.
I also quite like its lo-fi feel, like you’re going to a variety night in a large backroom theatre (except this one’s got acts you’ve heard of), by and large the acts are pretty good as well, I suppose you only need a tight three minutes so it can be all killer no filler, and the rubbish ones just get a montage.
I think Dermot hosting this just adds to the weirdness, he still suits a clipboard, and I quite enjoy how game he is here although I do also think “shout for prizes” is a bit cheap. Also I’m not sure I love the all-or-nothing endgame but I’m not sure I can think of a better way of ending off the top of my head.
I did wonder if you needed to be a bit more cogniscent, a bit more knowing, a bit more understanding of TV to get the most out of this (like me THAT’S RIGHT), but my Mum I’ve watched the first two episodes with, and my sister she texted after the first episode both loved it – not a huge sample size, so I’ve just recommended it to a friend from work who I think will enjoy it so I’m intrigued to hear what she thinks.
It is Very Richard Bacon, like he’s a sub-genre now.
I wondered about one additional format point – the addition of a “f*** off” button.
If “a Will” (ep 1) is spoiling it for everyone, an audience member can stand up, walk over and push the “f*** off” button, a vote is then taken by a show of hands, and if a majority say yes, 10% is shaved off the prize fund, but the offending audience member is booted. Could be seen as an insurance policy, but also has the jeopardy of not working out for the best if they might have kept quiet if they stayed.
First ep didn’t completely have me and it felt like they’d put an unfinished edit out but decided to check out the next one on U&Netflix (less ads than the paid streamers BTW – usually 2nd and 3rd break ad free) and quite enjoyed it so worked my way through it – it’s a nice contrast to the over produced BGT and has the weirdness that show is missing.
Format works quite well too but will have bankrupted Dave. Does feel like something from 20 years ago though. Also a bit like Tempting Fortune it makes no sense to deny a personal bribe which will almost always be more than your share of the group prize.
My sister has texted to say Episode 5 is *very* funny, so there’s that.
Hmm, not quite sure what my sister saw in that. I’ve watched five of the six episodes now, I quite like it, but I think they were probably wise to lead with that first episode, I’m not sure the rest have been quite as funny.