Saturday Night’s Alright for Writing 25th August 2012

By | August 25, 2012

Yes, we’ve reached the time of year once again when we can get our picture of Elton John out as there’s a lot of stuff on tonight for your entertainment and delight:

  • All New Total Wipeout – Some more people take to the obstacle course on Buenos Aires. (BBC1, 5:20pm)
  • Red or Black? – This week featuring footballers, gymnasts and an Argentine Tango. (ITV1, 7pm and 9pm)
  • Fort Boyard – Equipe Rebecca Hampton. (France 2, 7:35pm)
  • The X Factor – More auditions (7:45pm, ITV1)
  • Secret Fortune – God knows? No, Nick Knowles! (BBC1, 8:30pm)

19 thoughts on “Saturday Night’s Alright for Writing 25th August 2012

  1. CeleTheRef

    I was watching some old Italian TV clips and I chanced upon… (skip to 30:40)

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fe8wDaKa4_c

    Pippo Baudo on “The Golden Arrow” aka The Golden Shot with Generation Game-style teams.

    apparently they didn’t mind giving control of a loaded crossbow to a child

    nice coincidence, the show’s assistant played on the then-recent The Black Arrow TV play.

    Reply
  2. Des Elmes

    So, does everyone agree that yesterday’s Pointless was Quite Good? 😉

    As Richard said, over 300 episodes and the number of teams who have come up with three Pointless answers in the final can be counted on the fingers of one hand…

    And I believe that’s the second-biggest jackpot win, too. 😉

    Reply
  3. Andy "Kesh" Sullivan

    Wow…drama on Red Or Black again, but of a GOOD kind this time! On the show, it was decided that the guy did not win the money as it looked like the ball dropped when the Vortex was on red, as he’d picked black. After that happened, it cut to a video of Ant and Dec visiting the guy at his home. There they explained that there are a number of cameras around the Vortex and there was a camera underneath it that they looked at after the show was filmed. The ball had dropped just MILLISECONDS before it changed to red, so therefore the producers reversed the decision and awarded him the £500k. Also, the rollover will still stand, so next week’s winner will be playing for £1m.

    Reply
    1. David B

      Define ‘good’. How can you make a machine that doesn’t give you a definitive result? Even if you have a laser beam trigger over the floor to detect the ball, there will still be a slight lag as the lights need a certain number of milliseconds to switch state.

      And prey tell, how can a TV picture, which changes only every 0.04 seconds, measure something in ‘milliseconds’?

      It’s an absolute farce.

      Reply
      1. Andy "Kesh" Sullivan

        I meant ‘good’ as it didn’t involve them finding out the winning contestant was a convicted felon, like with Nathan in series 1.

        As for the ‘milliseconds’, that’s what Dec was saying as he told the guy he was getting the money. I was typing it as I was watching it happen.

        Reply
        1. Alex S

          I agree with David here, I’m pleased for the contestant naturally, but I’m embarrassed for the production. Both that the machine didn’t work (it’s one function is to stop when the ball hits) and secondly that they had no way (or nobody had the idea) to check that extra camera after the result, before everybody went home. As you could see both from the reactions of everybody in the studio, and from watching the extra footage, even with the naked eye you could tell the result was a win, so the fact that it went that far is ridiculous.

          I initially thought before the series started that they would be stupid not to have a Cube style slow motion camera to record the end zone in just such an occasion, but evidently they didn’t go with that and instead decided to plonk a GoPro at the end and check it a week after they’d wrapped.

          Reply
      2. Ronald

        My eyes are not highly compatible with HD but would appreciate a higher frame rate.

        It seemed that the camera showed that the ball landed before the colour changed, i.e. on different frames.

        Good of them to sort it out correctly, in the end.

        Although it can argued that the setup could have been better, identifying the exact time of contact is not trivial and a problem shared with Olympic-level swimming. (They deal by saying swimmers are obliged to contact “hard enough”)

        Reply
  4. James

    I thought the ending to Red or Black tonight was great. Proves ‘The Vortex’ is much more exciting than the wheel.

    Judging by the reaction on Twitter, it seems that people are happy that the couple got the money in the end, with some people even praising ITV!!!

    Might give the show a bit of good press for a change.

    Reply
    1. Brekkie

      For a show thought with two possible answes in every round you need the answer to be definitive. The Vortex clearly fails to provide that, unlike the roulette wheel. I’d take an element of luck with a definite outcome over a game of supposed “skill” (about as skillful as answering their phone in questions!) which gives an outcome open to interpretation.

      Reply
      1. James

        Put something like a laser trap across the hole at the bottom of the Vortex. Last night provided real drama, more than the roulette wheel (which now seems a little boring).

        Reply
  5. David Howell

    Credit to Olivia van der Werff again for what is presumably at least partly her call in this snap situation, but oh dear at ITV for allowing it to happen. For want of a super slow motion camera or two they’ve almost certainly lost another £500,000 on the show.

    Reply
    1. Alex S

      The thing is, they didn’t even need the extra cameras, they showed on the programme that they had enough coverage to prove the result, what’s unacceptable is that they didn’t check it on the day of the recording, that should have been the absolute first thing they checked before everybody went home, instead of having blind faith in the machine.

      Reply
    2. Luke the lurker

      Actually Brig, if you’re planning to start doing interviews again any time soon, Olivia V.D.W. could be a really excellent one given the range of shows she’s worked on, though I don’t know how much she’d be able to talk about…

      Reply
  6. Des Elmes

    Can I momentarily change the subject from Red or Black to Secret Fortune?

    I wouldn’t be too surprised if many people laughed, or struggled not to laugh, at the outcome of last night’s episode…

    And comparing it with last week’s, well, talk about polar opposites… 😉

    Reply

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