(Friday and) Saturday Night’s Alright for Writing 18/19th Feb 2011

By | February 18, 2011
52 Comments

I’ve been very busy this week so “soz”, and I’m also very busy this weekend. I will try and make it up to you all with a feature or something when I’ve got some spare time.

In the meantime, it’s time for the irregular section that proved so popular last time it came out that I’ve extended it into Friday, it’s (Friday and) Saturday Night’s Alright for Writing, a chance to talk about all of this weekend’s biggest shows in one lazy catch-all post:

  • Exciting! It’s Power Struggle aka Mal Al Tayar on JCCTV! I’ve set up a show discussion post for this.
  • There’s episode three of Accumulate!
  • It’s the grand finale weekend of The Million Pound Drop – Live! (C4, 10pm Friday, 9:10pm Saturday)
  • Total Wipeout is on on Saturday, I think! (BBC1, 6pm, Saturday)
  • And then there’s Ant and Dec’s Push the Button! (ITV1, 7:45pm, Saturday)
  • And not forgetting The National Lottery Secret Fortune! (BBC1, 8:20, Saturday)
  • And Let’s Dance for Comic Relief, if you’re that way inclined! (BBC1, 7pm, Saturday)

Amazing.

In other news, Penn and Teller: Fool Us is getting a six part series. Jonathan Ross to host. Great stuff.

Show discussion: Survivor: Redemption Island

By | February 16, 2011
8 Comments

So, the new series of Survivor begins tonight on CBS (should be “available” to watch elsewhere tomorrow). This season’s big twist is Redemption Island – when you’re voted out of the game, you aren’t out of the game, you’re sent to live on Redemption Island. When two people are there, they must battle it out in the Redemption Arena (in front of the other survivors), the winner stays on, the loser goes home and at some point someone gets to go back into the game. Oh, and Rob and Russell are back.

This is not the first time eliminated contestants have had a chance to come back, that would be the Outcasts challenge on Pearl Islands which apparently didn’t go down too well. The thinking this time is that this will work because everyone knows about it.

The thing is, I don’t think everyone needs to be aware of it as long as the viewers are aware of it. As a concept it’s worked in many different European versions of the show as The Swamp where it was kept a secret from the other contestants. The moment of shock when someone comes back into the game is going to be lessened dramatically because everyone’s aware of what’s going on at all times. This being said, it’s nice that Survivor is finally looking at some of the interesting ways the Europeans have twisted the game, even if they are implementing them in a strange manner.

Also I’m intrigued about how it’s going to be introduced – in theory one person will go there in episode one, a second person in episode two then there will be the first challenge. So you’re building the entire season around a concept that’s not actually going to get used properly for the first episode. Will they do a challenge to eliminate someone immediately, like The Cage?  And are they going to shift Tribal Council to mid-episode and end on the Redemption challenge, or will they hold it over for the next week?

Lots of questions, soon we’ll have answers.

Happy St(eve) Valentine’s Day, everyone!

By | February 14, 2011
42 Comments

Whatever you’re doing with your loved one this evening, have a great time. I intend to go to KFC and eat chocolate with the one person in my life who means most to me… me. They’d better not hike up their prices.

Anyway, I can’t remember if I’ve done it before or not but I don’t care. Endemol did a great show on the US Sci-Fi channel called Estate of Panic hosted rather brilliantly by English actor Steve Valentine. If you hadn’t heard of it, it was basically Finders Keepers for grown-ups – seven people travel to a dark and mysterious mansion with a view to taking the riches hidden inside it, in each room contestants had to get as much money as they can. The last to leave was locked in forever, but the person who collected the least amount of money was also eliminated, taken away by Rupert the Butler. It was a neat system balancing risk and reward, and of course the game was much harder in that each room had some rather unpleasant surprises in store.

Neat show, didn’t really sell anywhere (Brazil had a version apparently, and I’ve seen an advert for a Quebecoise version). Didn’t get a second series in the US, although in a show such as this I’m not sure there were many set piece ideas that wouldn’t have just retrodden old ground anyway. Like a lot of Endemol’s big budget shows, it was filmed in Argentina with a view to lots of countries making their own version (although some of the more destructive rooms were filmed in a big old film studio rather than inside the mansion).

Edit: In case you’re wondering, there’s discussion of the Watson vs Rutter vs Jennings Jeopardy! match in the comments in this post.

A boring public service announcement

By | February 14, 2011
4 Comments

Right, I’m very pro keeping TV history alive generally speaking, so I was quite excited to see the first series of 1970s detective game Whodunnit? (it was basically the Cluedo of the 1970s) turn up somewhere on the internet – there wouldn’t be much to write about on here if we didn’t bend the rules occasionally, hem hem. I got it, watched the first two, but noticed that it had a very modern endcap.

Intrigued, I looked it up and it turns out that it was actually released on DVD quite recently.

Viewers, if you want to see more of this sort of thing then really you ought to vote with your wallets when this sort of thing does come out. Needless to say I’ve bought a copy.