Board of Excitement 25th September – 2nd October 2011

By | September 25, 2011

OMG! It’s practically Christmas!

  • Deal or No Deal – A quick shoutout as it gave away its fourth jackpot last week, and epic episodes have been promised for this week as well. (4:15pm Sunday, 4pm weekdays)
  • The Amazing Race – I say excitement, this will probably be a disappointment. It’s the show’s tenth year! A new thing is the Hazard, a penalty given to a team already in last place through a starting line challenge, because penalizing the team that’s furthest behind ALWAYS makes for a tense and exciting finish. (Sunday, CBS)
  • The Shredder – I was unsuccessful in get getting a ticket to this, so if you’re going to see this pilot made at BBC TV Centre on Monday, do tell us about it.
  • Only Connect – Rowers vs Linguists. Practically everybody I’m following on Twitter has now been a contestant on this. (8:30pm, Monday, BBC4)
  • Minute to Win It (8pm, Tuesday, ITV2)
  • Ton of Cash – New to the Board of Excitement, although I felt the mid-season twists (splitting the money for three teams, voting out a loser) lost quite a lot of the interest and charm the first five episodes had built up. Still, it looks like it’s returning to something closer to the old format this week, so we’ll see. (Wednesday although Friday online, VH1 in the US)
  • Bundesvision Song Contest 2011 – There’s no Schlag den Star this week, but that doesn’t mean there’s no Stefan Raab. (7:15pm BST, Thursday, ProSieben)
  • Strictly Come Dancing – The first weekend of the proper dancing. (9pm Friday and 6pm Saturday, BBC1).

Saturday Night’s Alright for Writing – 24th September 2011

By | September 24, 2011

After the new season launches it’s not been a very exciting week really. And tonight doesn’t feel any more exciting particularly, but here we are anyway:

  • Epic Win – But I do like a bit of Epic Win. (5:30pm, BBC1)
  • Celebrity Masterchef (6:10pm, BBC1)
  • All Star Family Fortunes – Russell Kane vs Rita Simons. (7pm, ITV1)
  • Secret Fortune (7:55pm, BBC1)
  • The X Factor (8pm, ITV1)
  • The Million Pound Drop – Live! This time definitely featuring Jack Whitehall and Dad. It’s an hour and forty this evening! (9:30pm, Channel 4)
  • Big Brother (9:30pm, Channel 5)

I know I said I was going to report on French stuff last week, but I haven’t got round to doing it yet because of the US stuff I’ve been sent. But I will very soon!

Interesting scheduling decisions of our time

By | September 22, 2011

I’m sure we all remember Impossible? that went out a little while back – the show where magician Philip Escoffey challenges people to determine whether something can be done or not (they may as well use random guessing, but there we are). It wasn’t particularly amazing, but it was entertaining enough and deserved better than to get pulled after a few episodes because nobody watched it.

So its second chance is coming round – they’ve filmed some celebrity episodes and they’re going out on Wednesday nights from 5th October at the mass audience friendly time of 11pm after Big Brother, where it will probably get even fewer viewers than it got originally (if The Beat Goes On is anything to go by). Baffling.

US Factor

By | September 22, 2011

As I write, The X Factor has begun in the US. WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN? Will they understand Steve Jones’ accent?

A Porsche

By | September 21, 2011

So, there have been some comments recently suggesting that All Star Family Fortunes is fixed or something because the top answers in Big Money add up to a higher number then they typically would have done in the eighties.

But how do our transatlantic cousins deal with this sort of thing? Here’s a clip from the Ray Combs’ fronted version in 1989:

Wild West Showdown

By | September 20, 2011

Alright, another Thing I Was Sent in the previous batch of things sent, a rather curious show by the name of Wild West Showdown from 1994.

It’s from the same people as American Gladiators and to all intents and purproses it is American Gladiators except, and it’s a big except, it’s set in a town in the wild west and as such they’ve done some quite neat things. Instead of Gladiators there are ‘Outlaws’ (the people terrorizing the town of Broken Neck where the show is set, so winning events earn reward money (“up to five thousand union dollars!”) from the townsfolk), and the post game interviews are conducted by the local journalist getting her story (rather neatly each event is summed up with a simulated newspaper with headline). Commentating the whole thing is an old cowboy named West. Clearly quite a lot of imagination has gone into this.

The games involve lots of horseback riding (including one game where the contestants must attempt to stop a runaway stagecoach by leaping from their horse onto it), shooting with paint guns and a game set in a bar room brawl where they have to try and force the outlaw out through the double saloon doors.

Regrettably there is absolutely none of it on Youtube as far as I can see and that’s a real shame as it’s quite the curio – it could be a lot slicker as a production really, but they’ve taken the idea and run with it. So here’s a screengrab of a game where the contestants have to climb a water tower and stop a fuse before dynamite blows up the town’s water supply. Both genders play against each other with the one on one physical elements played against outlaws of the same gender, the reward money going to the cowboy or cowgirl winning the game in the fastest time.

The final game is a race across the rooftops, picking up a cash bag and hopefully getting on your horse and riding off into the sunset within a time limit – and all whilst not getting shot. The early games pay $100-300, successful completion of the final wins $5k.

Not quite good or interesting enough for a full on feature, but definitely interesting enough to at least warrant a mention.