Dear UK Producers, it is wrong that there are more US shows of interest right now than British ones. sort it out please thanks.
- Minute to Win It (Sunday, NBC) – Two hour debut of the show that’s The Cube but without The Cube and with a time limit.
- The Amazing Race (Sunday, CBS) – Things I learnt from the race this week: a) Cowboy hats don’t come off ever, even while bungee jumping. b) If somehow England meet the USA at the World Cup in the knockout stages, we don’t have to fear penalty shoot-outs. c) German Beatles tribute bands are hilarious. So does this mean they aren’t actually going to Liverpool, then? Bother’s Bar: right again.
- Only Connect (Monday, 8:30pm, BBC4) – Unless they do it later in the series then I look a bit silly but that is the risk you take in being cutting edge but without doing any of the associated research. Anyway, it’s the third quarter-final of this this week, Neuroscientists vs strategy board gamers. Speaking of which, I was very surprised and excited to learn this week that Robert Florence (of brilliant BRILLIANT video games shows Consolevania and BBC Scotland’s Video Gaiden and currently writer and performer in BBC Scotland’s comedy Burnistoun) has his own site devoted to board games. That a minor celebrity (and a fairly talented one at that) does this pleases me immensely.
- St Patrick’s Day (Wednesday, Ireland) – do you like a drink? Well why not have one on the one day a year where it’s legally allowed!
- There’s no Survivor This Week (Not Thursday, Not CBS) – because of March Madness. Some people play basketball, it’s crazy, apparently. So you’ll have to wait another week to find out what other inventive and surprising ways the Heroes could self-destruct. What we have learnt quite specifically is that the Heroes are really rubbish at anything that involes spatial awareness. As many of the puzzles in Survivor challenges seem to involve spatial awareness, that is a problem.
- Solitary v4.0 (Saturday, Fox Reality) – by my reckoning only two more episodes left, so only two more chances to use my ‘I confidently predict this will be like the previous episode, but with one less person in it’ joke you all look forward to on a weekly basis. Last week gave us a brilliant test in a virtual maze followed by THE CHAIR AND CROWN OF NAILS (STUMPY PEGS) (my title), the first treatment this season to genuinely look like an implement of torture. How do you follow that? I don’t know, but otherwise’I confidently predict this will be like the previous episode, but with one less person in it. Edit: Actually, it’s the final next week!
Minute to Win It looks better than The Cube based on the preview clips I’ve seen.
It seems at least two US newspapers have seen the same screen copy as Alex and both are in agreement.
http://www.suntimes.com/entertainment/2099363,minute-to-win-it-game-show-031310.article
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/12/AR2010031203926.html
Does beg the question if either or both critics have seen The Cube?
Another great episode of Who Dares Wins tonight.
(SPOILERS MAY FOLLOW)
Christian and Rob’s first challengers brilliantly rattled off all but three of the official Bond films, though they came close to zigging on ‘Tomorrow Never Ends’ and thus blowing it at the very end. The defending champs, though, did even better with Asian countries – 23 is both the highest successful bid, and the highest bid of all, I’ve seen so far.
No doubt, though, that many watching will have wondered “How is the UK a country of Asia???” If Nick had anything to say about this, then clearly the producers decided not to have it in the final broadcast – possibly for political reasons.
Then the challengers plumped for David Troughton as a Doctor instead of his father – if they had said Patrick, and Christian and Rob had then said Paul McGann, surely a second tiebreak list would have followed?
After their knowledge of GB medallists in Beijing won them £50k last week, C and R went from champs to chumps on the first money list, not thinking that Ann Widdecombe was Conservative.
The two girls that followed knew their Robbie Williams, but not that “Ego A Go Go” – one of his first solo songs – didn’t make the UK Top 40. Without intending to sound sexist, I wouldn’t think many expected them to know as many Formula 1 champions as they did – indeed, they could have fulfilled a bid of 12.
It proved crucial in their dethroning Christian and Rob, who were let down by their knowledge of Poets Laureate – though am I sounding snobbish in saying I’m quite surprised that they didn’t know Ted Hughes was one?
Anyway, to the second money list, and the girls came close to going at £5k, which clearly wouldn’t have pleased the audience. They didn’t, though, and doubled their winnings. They come across as being immensely likeable, particularly after the great show they put on – but we’ll all have to wait till next week to see if they can go any further.
If both teams found all 10 who played The Doctor then they would indeed play a second tie-breaker. I suspect the original tie-break would’ve been edited out for time reasons since the first two lists were long ones.
The reason behind United Kingdom on the countries of Asia list is (as per Quizzing) is down to Diego Garcia, which the UK owns. This same list was also used on the US GSN version last year.
Danielle can be a strong force since she is one of the Quizzing clan but I fear she might have shot herself in the foot night by saying “I have revised lots of lists”. That might be fine but the question setters can find lists someone wouldn’t look up. Back in the first series there was “Regular and guest disc jockeys on BBC Radio 2”. Also the US GSN version have had “Top 10 Top-earning deceased celebrities” and “The 50 Highest-paid Celebrities in the world”.
I see Ant & Dec had another winning family tonight.
There’s been much discussion on the DS forums about “UK in Asia” and Diego Garcia has been mentioned by several posters.
As regards tiebreaks, is it possible then that some of those that have been broadcast weren’t the only ones in their particular games?
Possibly, I know Aussie Rich List has had certain games with two tie breakers. As I mentioned it’s probably edited for time reasons. Same with 1 Vs 100, when it’s 1 Vs 1 and tie breakers on Eggheads, the edit might show 1-3 questions but in reality it could last something like 6/7 questions.
And of course with Weakest Link, which only ever shows one pair of sudden death questions.
I was one of the DS posters (the one who also made the same fatal assumption about Danielle that the champions did)
F1 is not a sport for blokes. I have a female workmate who is also a F1 fan, I always remember she had a photo of Eddie Irvine on one of her folders.
Point taken and head hung low.
There is a wrong answer in there, but it’s not the one you’re thinking of. Cyprus qualifies on a geographical definition, as it’s clearly to the east of the Bosphorous, but it’s a wrong answer according to the cited source, because it’s listed in Europe.
To coin a phrase, this did not affect the result.
Last night’s ratings, grr.
Let’s Dance For Sport Relief: 7.09m (31.2%)
Who Dares Wins: 6.21m (26.3%)
Anton Du Dec’s Pass the Baton: 4.89m (20.8%)
Another excellent rating for Kernick Kernowles, an increase on last week. It looks like BBC One have redeemed themselves by delaying the series and looks like they got a good solid new year lottery schedule with In It to Win It.
Oh dear! Another drop for Pass the Baton and another defeat from Kerknowles. Ratings Bear cannot wait til Easter, yum! They MUST improve next week as the only opponent lies in the Six Nations.
The Anton Du Dec story so far:
Week 1: 7.25m (Official)
Week 2: 5.74m (24.4%) (Overnight)
Week 3: 4.89m (20.8%) (Overnight)
Hahaha, typical ITV1! They air crap = they get crap ratings!!
I can’t remember the last thing I enjoyed on ITV1. The channel is a waste of a button.
The Celebrity Apprentice also starts on Sunday night on NBC. Some quite interesting celebs also.
It’s the Solitary final next week! And this episode’s another epic, with a treatment that is tremendous (I won’t spoil as it only went out last night).
Just watched the two premiere episodes of “Minute to Win It”.
So, how does it compare to “The Cube”?
It lacks the mood and atmosphere of “The Cube”. There is no adversarial presence, which is one of the appeals of “The Cube”.
Does it imitate “The Cube”? To a degree, yes–it flatters “The Cube” most sincerely!
This most sincere flattery even exeds to the host, Guy Fieti, a refugee from the Food Network. His demeanor suggests a pitchman for kitchen gewgaws, a road-company version of the late Billy Mays. Unlike Phillip Schofield, Fieti has hair that looks like it’s in a permanent state of electrical stimulation. He does have the intensity, but it comes off as slightly more abrasive.
Some of the games re reasonably clever, and there is not as much product placement as we had feared. A couple look like they might have been copied from, or inspired by, games that appeared on “The Cube”.
The biggest difference between the games here and those on “The Cube” is that all the games here are on a time-limit. Very few of the games seen on “The Cube” have such a time limit, and those that do have a limit of ten or fifteen seconds, not sixty.
The contestants are also much more demonstrative, in the Yank manner, than those seen on “The Cube”. This makes me wonder how my fellow Americans will react when confronted with the challenges within the Cube, as posed by the Cube.
In a better time slot, this show might have an outside chance of success. But it will be going on up against “The Amazing Race” on CBS and “The Simpsons” on Fox. Between those two shows, there might not be enough audience left to watch “Minute To Win It”.
Thanks James.
I’ll try and watch it and have some thoughts this evening.