On one side, we have Endemol Joe who insists it isn’t and we’re really stupid actually aaaaaah, on the other The Sun says that there are going to be themed specials (around Harry Potter, The X Factor and Remembrance Day being listed, although someone named @tvinfomer has suggested there will be six throughout the year which I have no reason to disbelieve or indeed believe).
I thought the live show before Christmas was fun, but I can’t say I’m particularly bothered either way.
Civilian Who Wants To Be a Millionaire isn’t dead. It will return, but currently there’s an extensive break to build up an apatite for the civilian shows when it eventually returns.
I’ll believe it when I see yet. Although you are one sixth correct since the Remembrance show will feature war heros and not celebs.
Righty-ho then. I wonder if any appetite will build, like what didn’t really happen with Who Wants to be a Super Millionaire?
No disrespect whatsoever Joe, but:
(1) I don’t quite know why, but reading that comment reminds me of when ITV got rid of Heartbeat and The Royal…
(2) I don’t mean to sound like I’m being critical of your spelling here – but apatite is the collective name for a group of calcium phosphate minerals containing high concentrations of fluoride, chloride or hydroxide ions, and is at number 5 on the Mohs scale of hardness. 😉
That comment above was me.
I can see the six specials being true but the dates are so advance ITV haven’t published the listings yet. We still don’t know whether The X Factor will return on 20th August. There is still the decision whether to delay the series this year with Simon Cowell or not.
Suppose the story is accurate then we could see the following.
Easter?
Harry Potter – July
The X Factor – August?
Remembrance Day – November
Christmas?
and one more…
I’ve been told they are trying to do a Downton Abbey special. It depends on actors’ availability and scheduling if that one goes ahead or not.
I think they’re recording Downton Abbey as we speak. If they want to do that as well then it would slot in late September or early October.
Easter?
Harry Potter – July
The X Factor – August?
Downton Abbey – September or October
Remembrance Day – November
Christmas?
They’re doing a Mother’s Day one.
Something that definitely is coming back is Survivor in the US, which has just been signed up for two seasons with Jeff Probst. Apparently.
On the other side of the Channel, some points of note recently:
– N’Oubliez Pas Les Paroles (Don’t Forget The Lyrics) is being rested on France 2 at the end of the month, even though it’s still doing the business ratingswise, and replaced by another Nagui/Air Productions show called ‘Chéri fais les valises’ (Pack your bags, love) – which sounds like a bit of a Whole 19 Yards ripoff, with a baggage carousel end game where the finalists can win a round-the-world holiday.
Nagui’s originals are a bit hit and miss (remember La Part du Lion?) so will be interesting to see how it fares.
– France 2 are also seriously thinking about commissioning a run of Pointless after seeing it being flogged at MIPCOM a while back.
– And TF1 are doing a Survivor-style show pitting families against each other in Australia for €150,000 from the start of April.
So there we go.
Hmm, from what you’ve suggested, that puts me more in mind of Don’t Forget Your Toothbrush, which Nagui hosted did he not?
I suggested the Whole 19 Yards comparison as the main game is GK questions and obstacle courses.
And Nagui did indeed host Toothbrush in France, with Jean-Luc Reichmann as his voiceover – the show that made his name.
Fair enough!
in the meantime in Italy, Gerry Scotti is choosing a replacement of Millionaire: he’s considering Million Pound Drop and Isolation.
Interesting. What’s Isolation? I can’t imagine Gerry Scotti hosting a version of MPD.
a blog posted this picture of “Isolation” or whatever it is.
http://images.davidemaggio.it/pics3/2011/03/isolation1.jpg
it’s described as a quiz in which the contestant doesn’t know how much is winning. During the game, the contestant can be offered money to quit the game.
Gerry himself said he might NOT be the host of this show, and he wished that it could be a woman.
in other news, Trasformat is doing very well on Italia1.
Now the show isn’t only about guessing celebrities from shopped pictures, but “transformed animals” are added to the mix
it’s so popular that Mediaset has released a series of trading cards on the subject.
here’s the ad
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJ4XW7_06Bw
and here’s what they look like
I’ve heard that ITV are dumping Millionaire about 15 times over the past three years but it keeps hanging on in there. Without knowing how cost effective it is it’s hard to make a prediction one way or another, but I’ll believe it when I see it. Networks often play it safe and stick with things that get guaranteed “ok” ratings, rather than pursuing “amazing” ratings.