This starts on Saturday and I’m quite interested to see how they’ve formatted it – it’s eight episodes, and with 250 contestants to get through I expect we’re going to see the same Stage 1 course for several weeks and I’m not sure how that’s going to play out (if I recall correctly the original Sasuke only started with 100, the Japanese broadcast gets it all done in three hours, the US/UK edits on Challenge get it all done in two/three half hour episodes). It looks sounds like the UK show will be geared towards finding a winner, whereas it was perfectly possible for there to be no winner in the Japanese show.
It looks a bit weird indoors, although at least they’ve kept the Mount Midoriyama name (if only for the final stage, quite cleverly alluded to in the show’s logo).
I reckoned they should have named the set Manc Midoriyama, but there we are. Here is a promo, it’s good to see that unlike Wipeout, you don’t need a little man to fix it so people fall in the water, most people do that anyway, it’s OK to be impressed occasionally:
A Show Discussion post will go up for this and Play To The Whistle on Saturday.
Video isn’t available Down Under, but I suppose that’s what I get for reading a blog predominantly about UK game shows, eh?
We have to be careful, we don’t want Aussies to get *ideas*…
You might have more luck at the ITV Press Centre, same vid, different format: http://www.itv.com/presscentre/ep1week16/ninja-warrior-uk
Why do I have a feeling this is one of those formats that starts off hot somewhere, sells to a whole bunch of other countries, and then people realize it’s not as good as we think?
http://www.nordicworld.tv/formats/catalogue/237/format/trailer
Yeah, Alex Buzzerblog sent it my way a while ago, it definitely feels like s segment of a show rather than a show in itself, but there we are.
I’m actually not quite convinced it will sell particularly.
I don’t know the full extent of the format, but it strikes me as a game that only truly gets exciting at the end. I think it would be better (and easier to film) if it were a series of shorter runs that keep resetting every so often.
I am glad that it has been confirmed that there is going to be a 2015 season of Sasuke – I actually download the RAWs when I find them (They are usually RAWs with the adverts as well.) so it will be good to have another 3 hours of people failing to watch this year.
Not sure what the time (timezone wise) the showing is on in japan – but it would be a fun to have some commentary on it even without knowledge of what is being said.
500 Questions- based on the info I read, they should rename the show 167 Questions (because the main rule is a player is eliminated if they miss three questions in a row- so if you have a pattern of 2 questions wrong, then 1 right, then 2 wrong, then 1 right, etc…do it 167 times and you get 501).
Over nine consecutive nights! Intrigued to see how it works because presumably this is one series long game, in which case you’re going to have a big audience at the start, a big one at the end and probably not much in between. I know most things Mark Burnett’s involved with turn out alright, but we’ll see.
The format is apparently 5 heats (50 contestants in each, 20 go through), 2 semi finals and a final.
And here’s the US edit of the very first Sasuke, done in a studio:
http://youtu.be/pbvtouMM4N0
It’s odd seeing the first series and seeing how much the stages have come on since the first one. Particularly Stage 3 (although in the last few years Stage 2 has shown its teeth a lot more than it used to, even if one of the obstacles involves swimming and goes completely against the whole ‘if you touch the water, you’re out’ rule that’s been with them).
So let me get this straight.
5 heats of 50, then 100 to 1 with semi final and final?
I’m sorry, but is this Wipeout?
I think Ninja Warrior is fun because everybody loses, not somebody become a winner.
Ninja Warrior will loses audience interest if there’s winner every time =/
As I understand it the 250 entrants are whittled down to forty for the semi-final course, and the best 18 go through to the final two stages.
I suspect they will contrive a way to find a winner (highest up the tower), the different audience will probably demand it, it would be quite odd to have an eight-week competition with no result.
Exciting news from VierkanteO on Twitter, Pointless has been commisioned as a daily show by the Dutch, and if there’s one country it’s got a fighting chance of working out it’s The Netherlands.
Now we ought to get De Slimste Mens on a cultural exchange, it’s only fair.
But you already have Big Brother. 😛
Broadcast reporting that ITV have increased their order of The Chase this year from 150 to 190 episodes. Presumably there won’t be as many breaks over the next year. Also 16 more celeb specials.
news from Italy:
from April 12th to 30th Bonolis and Scotti will host together the final episodes of this season of Avanti Un Altro!
after that, Gerry Scotti will host Who’s Still Standing