Sat/Sun/Mon for two weeks, 9pm,
ITV1
This is going up a bit earier than usual because I would like, if I may, to have a quick chat about Saturday nights and ITV entertainment. What are the most recent new game-y hits on Saturday night across the last five years? They are Gladiators, The Wheel and The 1% Club. Each of these shows are straightforward (hit people over the head, answer questions with the help – or not! – of celebrities, answer increasingly difficult IQ style questions) and polished. You can basically pick up what’s happening very quickly, they don’t require no brainpower (well maybe with the exception of Gladiators), but they are quite simple to follow.
When we say Survivor (and more recently The Neighbourhood) are not weekend shows here, that’s because they don’t fit that mould, the last thing people want on a Saturday night is high-concept politicking and yet this is exactly what we’re expected to endure. That’s not to say they would have been more successful on a weeknight, but I would suggest that people are more open to this sort of thing on a weeknight – there’s a decent reason they don’t tend to put The Traitors on on a Saturday, and they certainly wouldn’t launch it there. I’ve got no problem with ITV trying out things (Genius Game was a brave swing and a miss for a channel it was ill-suited to, The Fortune Hotel deserved better but was seen as too derivative, we think probably unfairly), but it also feels like because of these non-hits, any new show is starting with an ITV handicap – it’s just not a destination for this sort of thing for most people.
What’s the solution? I don’t know – as we always say, if it were that easy everyone would be doing it. And it’s into this febrile atmosphere we have Nobody’s Fool, a new high-concept reality show they’re launching on a Saturday night and playing through two weekends. Even Love Island and Big Brother don’t bother airing on Saturdays! It feels like already we might as well write it off already. And that’s a shame because it might be quite good, and if there’s one thing this website still stands for, sproadically updated as it is (do try the Discord), it’s that we like it when good shows do well. Although we should also add we haven’t seen it and might yet be rubbish. In it, Danny Dyer and Emily Atack off of Rivals look after ten people all gathered in a country “smart” house. During their stay they will do quizzes, correct answers add to a prize pot, but they will not know how everyone has done so when it comes to voting people off if you’ve been thick you need to fake it until you make it – other tests of intelligence also feature.
And, you know, that sounds like it might be fun. It ought to at least be quite funny – I get the feeling that’s what they’re aiming for, whether they’ve done enough to overcome the handicap remains to be seen.
Let us know what you think in the comments!
On the Saturday night scheduling I honestly do not understand why ITV don’t put WWTBAM on at 9pm after BGT, it’s the perfect kind of show for that time and at it’s current sunday 8pm slot it gets figures around 2-2.5m and the show has a much better fit of being at saturdays 9pm rather than sundays at 8. Maybe ITV see the sunday 8pm slot as a good quiz slot.
In my opinion, Sunday at 8pm is the absolute perfect fit for Millionaire and I think ITV have realised that in the past couple of years looking at the decent ratings it does on a weekly basis it’s one of their best performing shows on a Sunday nights and easily beats the competition on other channels. The reason it suits this slot is because most quiz shows are high energy and light-hearted with loads going on. With WWTBAM it has that very relaxing and laid back feel about it, it’s the sort of thing viewers like me want at the end of a week to wind down after a long week.
No fancy lighting, no complicated rules, just decent quiz questions and good banter with Jeremy and the contestants. I’ve started watching every single week when it’s in the schedule since it’s been on Sunday nights the past couple of years before that only watched it occasionally.
Maybe so but imo sunday evenings feel more suited to dramas rather than big money quiz shows and it’s not just WWTBAM on that sunday 8pm slot, there’s also other quizzes like limitless win and beat the chasers in which I believe all of them fit the late saturday slot as light entertainment rather than a sunday 8pm slot and all of them with especially WWTBAM should be saturdays around 9pm rather than an intense reality show after a show like BGT
Agree – it’s perfect for Sunday night. Never suited Saturday night IMO as it lacks the big energy needed. Similarly putting 1% Club on Sunday feels wrong – and odd to release 1% Kids tonight. That would have been better at Christmas
As for this it either needed to be stripped across a week or released weekly. The scheduling seems a bit of a mess.
Exactly there is no big energy in Millionaire hence Sunday suits it. The reason why ITV have scheduled The 1% Club Kids tonight is because next week is May half term for many schools across the UK and also Bank Holiday which gives families some quality light entertainment to play along with over the holidays / holiday weekend. When they said it was airing in May I thought it was planned to go out Saturday night at 9pm but then in my mind I was thinking that would be too late for some children especially those who took part so they have actually scheduled it taking that into account considering BGT is 2hrs and it wouldn’t have fitted in a sensible slot for a Saturday night. Yes they could have saved it for christmas but they have an adults themed one then and the kids special is a one off, not a full series (Yet) so having this on Sunday for 1 week seems fine. Also the amount of repeats recently of The 1% Club on Saturday nights it’s about time we got a new one and tonight is a good schedule for ITV best in a while.
I enjoyed the kids’ special of the 1% Club the other night, but it’s not “half term for many schools across the UK” – it’s half term in practically all schools in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Not sure if STV scheduled anything different for that slot, mind.
Yes agreed it was great fun to watch, i’m surprised how many got through to the end they did very well even I got a few wrong that they got correct.
Hopefully they do another one or even better make a mini series of say 4 episodes with Kids.
Not all schools are off this week near me. Some have next week off instead of this week.
Launching something new off the back of BGT makes sense as it’s popular and has a more diverse audience than most other ITV shows. I wouldn’t have commissioned Nobody’s Fool though, just on the basis that reality is oversaturated.
It’s difficult to know what will do well and of course there’s budget to consider but Saturday nights on ITV are very pedestrian right now. Apart from The 1% Club, what else has been a “hit” recently?
This was the same argument for launching The Neighbourhood between two parts of the I’m a Celeb final. Didn’t work.
True, but I think the promo for The Neighbourhood had a lot do with how badly it rated from the off. People fighting was somehow OK and must see TV because it’s for £250k, crap puns, an unlikeable Norton and the catchphrase “Bring On The Ding Dong” which wasn’t even used. For that first episode to have rated well it would have needed a trailer for a totally different show. All in all, a total mess.
The big question is will they let Danny Dyer finally ask some quiz questions or is Emily Atack destined to be 3rd in an obscure “what comes 4th” question after Angela Rippon and Ellie Taylor?
Oh I doubt it. I had quite a good Only Connect question once on hosts who don’t ask their own questions – Danny Dyer, Julian Clary, Emelyn Hughes, can’t remember the fourth. It might have been Bernard Manning.
Victoria Coren Mitchen could be a very meta fourth
Jimmy Tarbuck! “Difference of opinion, Geoff!”
Great shout!
Episode 1 on YouTube already if you can’t be bothered to wait. https://youtu.be/e7FGMpMrDls?si=640xYamkyF9TSdE5
I went into this with very low expectations but came out of it having found it an enjoyable watch. I will certainly give episode 2 a go
I haven’t watched it at time of writing (will do later) but I was informed a few days ago this is from ITV’s Factual arm rather than their Entertainment one, which is quite fun. It’s like The Chase vs The Fuse all over again.
Not much need to watch episode two given the ‘coming up’ bit at the end of episode one basically tells you everything
I do think it’s Got Something, or at least The Not Roundtable was entertaining enough that I’m looking forward to watching it again, and that’s despite not much actually going on in it. I thought the Spa memory game felt very Ultra Quiz, and now I want an Atack and Dyer fronted Ultra Quiz revival. Atack a decent quizmaster, although a bit wooden with the procedural stuff, although at least she does it. Danny Dyer is Danny Dyer.
Also we don’t know what the criteria for winning is right now which makes long term strategizing challenging. Is there going to be a time when they will want to vote out the stronger quizzers?
I look forward to discovering if the entire prize pot gets halved when they fail or just the money earned that episode in episode two.
870k for ep 1 and the first three are on ITVX already so it probably won’t get better. Going to need that word of mouth!
Tbf everything was slightly down last night, I have noticed though there is a new episode of 1% club tonight at 8pm, idk why ITV are now becoming obsessed with putting traditional light entertainment saturday night quizzes at 8pm on sunday; saturday night scheduling should be simple easy formats to follow after a long week and idk why ITV are trying to make sunday 8pm the LE hour
Please do you know what overnight ratings the Bullseye Soccer Aid Special and BGT got last night ?
1.2m
Bullseye got 1.2m and BGT 2.4m
Thanks Brig and Helen, I personally thought the celebrity Bullseye was the best episode from the series 1 reboot maybe it will pick up viewers on catch up and it’s getting repeated later today which will grow the numbers a bit, there was good banter especially between Olly Murs, Freddie and Richard and some surprising shocking darts skills! (Both good and bad) It was great fun for a good cause.
I see and appreciate the Blockbusters cuddly toy reference in episode 2.
I thought Nobody’s Fool was okay, I agree with other comments on twitter and on this page if were putting it alongside The Neighbourhood and Genius Game then this show is actually quite good and better than other failed reality formats. If you compare it against other Saturday night offerings which ITV show during the year that are generally very good (The 1% Club, BGT, The Masked Singer etc) then Nobody’s fool is disappointing.
I feel from the coming up trailer at the end it will get better in terms of challenges and quiz pod rounds which makes me want to continue watching it tonight. The quiz pod during the first episode felt like nothing special just answering a set of general knowledge questions against the clock and that’s it, The other challenge was just the generation game but I actually quite liked that bit. You can also see elements of The Weakest Link, Golden Balls and The Traitors which are basically combining other programs into this so it’s not very original. It’s not a must watch but I’ll watch tonight and see how it plays out, honestly can’t see it returning for a second series but i’ll give it a chance to grow on me.
Oh no, they’ve messed with the episode cycle in episode 2. Like The Neighbourhood!!!
Episode 3: oh dear.
Dound this worse than The Neighbourhood – it was just dull and derivative. Opening with a line up task suggested no originality.
The first episode gave me no reason to tune in to episode two.
Actually up a bit last night (albeit to only 740k). Will be really interesting to see how the first runs do this weekend and how the +7s stack up, it seems to be quite positively viewed, perhaps it might sneak a Fortune Hotel style recommission on the idea of its potential. Hopefully they’ll schedule it more wisely next time.
This show is gradually growing on me unlike The Neighbourhood which I gave up with after two episodes.
Wouldn’t say i’m hooked yet but i’m enjoying it.
The first episode of Nobody’s Fool wasn’t the best opener to set the tone for the series but the second and third have better quiz pods and challenges and the atmosphere feels quite tense with more high stakes drama now the group are beginning to get to know each other especially the table scenes. It’s basically a reality version of Golden Balls.
I think one of the things that’s a shame about Nobody’s Fool is that the very people you’d look at and probably expect to be pretty rubbish at quizzes have in actual fact been pretty rubbish at quizzes and as such the bluffing aspect doesn’t quite work. It’s like the opposite of Secret Genius.
I apologise for going off topic a bit but please does anyone have any overnight rating for the Deal Or No Deal Soccer Aid Or The 1% Club Kids Special from Sunday night ?
Broadcast haven’t got anything for these shows on their free article when you make an account and ratings UK haven’t seen anything online thus far. Thanks in advance.
Last three eps up on ITVX now, I’ve binged watched them. I really enjoyed this. I know they really fucked up the scheduling and the initial numbers aren’t great, but Nobody’s Fool has been consistently entertaining. Doesn’t take itself too seriously but it’s game content is good, the material is fun. The group game set-ups have been entertainly designed.
I thought the casting has been pretty good, likable generally, although for a game about bluffing the people you’d probably guess were a bit thick have turned out to be a bit thick.
Also I did wonder how much ‘voting out the strongest’ would be a factor but that actually plays out quite interestingly, without spoiling. The money races up at the right point. There’s perhaps some early harshness in the final, but it’s easy to play it up as a game of multiple intelligences of which social is important.
I’m well up for a Dyer/Atack Ultra Quiz revival if this doesn’t get another go but I’m hopeful that it does – the Not Round Table in episode 5 is tremendous, many different forces pulling in different directions that have been built up throughout, I could have watched that for another ten minutes, and that’s before the way it actually ends.
Sure it’s a Traitors rip-off, but where you vote out thick people instead of people trying to murder you, but for me it’s probably been the most successful attempt at a similar sort of show.
Linear TV trying to schedule in a way that works best for streaming then wondering why it doesn’t work for them. Meanwhile streamers seem to be increasingly switching to a weekly release model.
I think this would have worked fine weekly – indeed probably beetter so. Still not hugely convinced by the format and the rectangular table is one of the most blatant rip offs you’ll ever see but the original elements plus Danny and Emily work well enough. Certainly something to build on.
Episode 4 over a million overnight (just), incredible growth.
Thinkbox: The first two eps of Nobody’s Fool did 1.23m and 1.01m (the second episode won’t include any pre-broadcast). It did beat Bullseye for Soccer Aid. I’m afraid its demos for those two eps aren’t anything to shout about really, both under 100k (the second one well under, although again won’t include pre-broadcast) although not catastrophic.
Thinkbox has Nobody’s Fool eps 3, 4 and 5 above a million (just), with the one following BGT doing a bit better at 1.2m.