I thought I’d begin with this post by Greg Lowe, which rather unfairly got swallowed by the Spam filter yesterday:
http://www.sbt.com.br/solitarios/videos/
The first episode of Solitary Brazil is up for viewing on the offical site (it is not region locked).
Also RTE have now launched an international player with this weeks episodes of Winning Streak to view
Hmm.
If you have the chance/desire, I’d switch to something like IntenseDebate for comments. I’m extremely happy with how it runs. Looks nice, loads instantly, syncs up Twitter and Facebook users and gets a lot more into the mix. It’s actually added some attention to my thing.
But you also can’t post anything very long, which is intensely irritating.
FWIW, this comments system runs loads faster than ID on platforms like mobiles and the Wii.
Here comes dumb Alex moment: there’s a limit to the messages on ID? I honestly never knew that which is embarrassing since I use that. Let me look that up.
I’ve been told that Disqus is really good also and worth looking at. I’ve been thinking about that. Thanks for the heads up, though. That’s really embarrassing.
Watched Popstar to Operastar last night. Must admit it was quite good, I have seen worse. Only complaint is the screaming audience. Do they need to scream and shout when somebody reaches a high note or when “Danny from McFly” is mentioned?
I don’t think having it on Friday night will do any justice. I suppose 4 million is okay since other new shows in 2009 flopped in that slot (Al Murray etc…).
I think it’s a way of putting ‘the arts’ in primetime to tick a public service broadcasting tickybox, so it doesn’t even need 4m to count there.
Agreed entirely on the audience, though. Further comment? Still thinking about it…
Speaking as a singer-in-training myself though, I did find it insightful at times, and one bit of advice from the show got reused in my singing lesson today.
I was sort of half watching a repeat this morning and was pleasantly surprised by it – especially as I think I wasn’t expecting ‘proper’ opera, so actually this is quite brave for a primetime Friday night ITV1 show really, whether it’s a hackneyed format or not.
When first announced it had flop written all over it, but the promo campaign made it looked credible and it wasn’t too bad at all. Never even thought about the issues of them singing in other languages too – but heck, it’s Opera. Even when in English you can’t understand most of it!
Good too they did actually seem to be classic opera – I thought they’d be a couple of dodgy songs in there which barely qualify as the genre, but obviously Louis Walsh has written the rule book for this one!
Popstar to Operastar was good but Titchmarsh and Meatloaf were entirely pointless. I can’t help but feel the show would work better Britain’s got Talent style (i.e. semi-finals and then a final) rather than X Factor style (1 elimination a week) as I’m not sure there are enough well known opera songs to last 6/7 weeks. Nonetheless it was good.
Brazilian Solitary is interesting, but still no word on US Solitary 4.0 yet?!
I didn’t get Meatloaf either. He must got St. Vitus’ dance since he had to jump up from his chair neary everytime to give his comments. St. Vitus’ dance coming from Meatloaf’s mouth. Heh, I should work for TV Burp, although maybe not.
I suppose they are only running it for six weeks to test the waters, same with SYTYCD? on BBC One. So if comissioned they will expand it for 2011. I can’t see them adapting the semi finals format as they would need three times the celebrities and extra mentoring is required.
It strongly looks like Feb 14th for 4.0 though this is by no means confirmed as rumblings seam to suggest Fox may just stick it on Hulu.
I am quite pleased they kept it so close to the US format. I am still looking for any info on the Australian version that has apparently been picked up.
I did not bother with Popstar to Operastar though may check it out on ITV player.
Perhaps they might – shock! – opt for less well-known songs.
Or have duets later on in the series. I guarantee you that as soon as the show is down to two females, said two females will sing the Flower Duet, aka That One From The BA Advert.
Right, a straight question for those in the know… do contestants on The Weakest Link see the clock counting down?
I believe they do, yes. Sometimes people will BANK a tiny bit too early because they know there’s time pressure. I don’t think they would play the music into the studio, though, so it’s easy to forget about – especially as time seems to go a lot faster when you’re playing a game rather than watching.
On OC we keep the silence but the clock gets faded in for the last 3-5 seconds so that the contestants get an extra clue as to when time is up.
Yes, the contestants do see the clock, along with the money chain, at the side of the set (I was a contestant a couple of years ago). You can see people looking towards it occasionally particularly towards the end of the time.
I always thought they did, you quite often see contestents looking off the stage before they bank.
I think they can see the money chain and how much they banked as some contestants are noticed to look away from Anne in one direction. This could mean they have a TV off camera showing this not sure about the time though.
Hang on, Brig should be answering this, he has been on the show itself.
Well, it was about ten years ago I was on, so there’s a very good chance it may have changed since then (because they were still dabbling back then), but yes you can see both the money chain and a digital clock. In fact when I’ve been to see the show live (again, some years ago now) there is a clock in view.
Oh that’s a point, yes everyone gets to see the clock, but certainly when they started they were playing around with the idea of turning it off for the last 30 seconds.
Agreed with Brig – although I remember it being not too big and quite hard to see.
Cheers for the Winning Streak link. That show took up my Saturday evening during that part of my childhood where you could pick up the Irish channels over the border. Of course, I believe you still can on digital, but it was more fun on the analogue.
I enjoyed In It To Win it last night. It’s my favourite Lotto format.
Last nights show was certainly one for the Dumb Britain section. A contestant (film school graduate) had a red area question on Kate Hudson’s mother. Dale joked that it could be somebody from China, since China was the correct answer on the last question but he answered incorrectly. Rather than taking it as a joke, he thought it was actually somebody from China and suggested Lucy Liu.
IItWI still remains a favourite in the household (parents love it). Ratings are still holding up well for a show that is nearly eight years old. It beat Take Me Out and was the second most watched show last night.
And in the end he went for Julia Roberts – who’s only 12 years older than KH.
IIRC, at one stage he toyed with Meryl Streep or Helen Mirren – both of which would have been slightly better guesses.
Had he even heard of Goldie Hawn??
Apologies if I might be sounding cruel here, but I’ll bet there were some viewers who were pleased that he didn’t make it to the end stage.
Oh dear- Popstar to Operastar was a typical chav-fest which I’ve come to expect of ITV.
The audience was very annoying, screaming at every opportunity. I could barely hear the contestants singing at times.
Meat Loaf and Lawrence were pointless, particularly the former who made some bizarre comments.
Some of the “celebrities” were unknown such as that Vannessa person – who is she?! And the judges’ comments weren’t fair. Darius was definitely one of the weakest, yet he was praised.
The show is too dumbed down for ITV’s audiences. If the BBC did it, it would have been far superior. I expect the ratings will plummet next week.
It was awfully difficult to judge Darius because he was singing a tenor aria in a bass-baritone range – I’m reserving judgment until next week. One opera singer who was replying to my Twitter on the show seems to think Darius has the most potential of everyone (although she was one of the purists who hated the show).
Audience were utterly idiotic and ITV-esque, yes. BBC would have done it better, yes. But I also agree with Brig that it’s an unexpectedly brave thing for ITV1 to do.
And when I was on the bus to my singing teacher I overheard one of the old ladies on that bus talking about the show and praising the singers and show, so on that evidence it’s capable of fooling the average MOTP, which for ITV matters a hundred times more than any purist snarking.
I haven’t seen Take Me Out, and I probably don’t intend to, but based on the good Mr. Weaver’s description, here’s a thought.
Here’s a thought which would make the show more progressive, but would it actually be more interesting? Have a lighted panel of thirty or forty representing a wide variety of genders and Kinsey scale positions, then mix up the genders and preferences of the single players. Sometimes you’ll get men looking for women, sometimes you’ll get women looking for men, sometimes you’ll get other combinations as well. Sometimes people will be interested in dating people you would not expect. Choose proportions to keep the show interesting, not to attempt to “reflect” “society” or to make a political point.
Would such a show still be rubbish?
I have to say i quite enjoyed Winning Streak, it is the first time i had seen it. I think it would work well as a UK Lotto gameshow format.
On the subject of Lotto gameshows, does anybody know if Who Dares Wins is due to return?
Logically, Who Dares Wins should return in the spring. IItWI ends on 20th February. Lets Dance takes over for 27th Feb-20th March. So it could return as the Britain’s Got Talent whipping boy on 27th March,
It’s now likely 1 Vs 100 has been dropped/axed as the Lotto schedule for 2010 will be In It to Win It/Who Dares Wins/Secret Fortune/In It to Win It in that order.
If 1 vs 100 has been axed then that’s a shame – especially after it peed all over The Colour of Money from a great height.
But then Winning Lines was also quietly dropped for reasons that weren’t really made clear…
Would a show that’s completely chance-based, and which makes alterations to its format every season, really work as a UK National Lottery show?
Apologies if I’m sounding big-headed here, but you should remember that the Irish National Lottery does things considerably differently, as regards its TV output, to its UK counterpart. Not only are all its game shows chance-based, but it’s also responsible for Telly Bingo on RTE1 on Tuesdays and Fridays, and it has a Monday Million draw on TV3 to go with the main twice-weekly Lotto draw and EuroMillions.
A show that’s completely chance based…
…Might actually, provided it could avoid accusations of being a rip off of not-actually-completely-chance-based-unless-you-ignore-the-offers DoND.
I wouldn’t want to bet on that, mind.
Site question for Brig: Clicking the logo at the top seems to take you to the Happy Hour page rather than the home page… Was this intentional? I keep going to the logo to try to go back home, and it always takes me a few moments to realize I’m not there yet. (Usually, it’s after I’ve scrolled down a bit and read the full entry form…)
This was intentional whilst there was a vote on, but you should hopefully note now the voting has closed if you click the header it should take you to the home page now.