It was the week before Christmas, and all through the Bar, everything was silent, even the, er, oh.
- Drop Zone – Today in Istanbul and not as TV listings guides would possibly suggest, Constantinople. (3:15, Sunday, BBC1 except for viewers in Scotland where it’s going out at 1pm on BBC2).
- The X Factor – it’s the grand final final! (7:30 pm. Sunday, ITV1)
- Pinpoint – New series of the 5Hole Podcast gameshow with Bob Hagh and Alex Davis off of Buzzerblog. Still can’t get excited about GSN Oodles especially when it’s hard to win anything meaningful (Although apprarently easier this time round), but Tim Halbert’s music is fairly wicked. (Monday, iTunes)
- Only Connect – Second semi-final: the Alesmen vs Radio Addicts. (8:30pm, Monday, BBC4)
- Premier League Poker – Game three part two. (0:40am, Monday Night/Tuesday Morning, C4)
- The Million Pound Drop – Live! A third run for the show. Don’t forget our brilliant competition! It might be facetious but the prizes are very real. (8pm Wedesday-Friday, 10:05pm Saturday, Channel 4)
- The Apprentice – It’s the interviews! (9pm, Wednesday, BBC1)
- The Challenge: Cutthroat – I believe it’s the final this week. People shown being carted off on ambulance trolleys in the trailer so it’s likely to be quite tough. The surviving players have made the cash winning $180k between them, but which team will get to divvy up the final $120k? (*) (Wednesday, MTV)
- The Cube – Joe Swash and Kelly Osbourne play for charity. Will be interesting to see how it does without the X Factor to lead into. (7pm, Saturday, ITV1)
- Schlag den Raab – After last episode’s whitewash, there’s €1m up for grabs tonight. (7:15 UK/8:15 CET, Prosieben and hopefully naughty internet streaming, Saturday)
Look out for an iDevice review of the 2011 Millionaire game probably on Monday also.
(*) I think there is a lot of scope for shows with poker tournament-esque payout structures. I think something like Cutthroat‘s format but turned into a daily stripped quiz with everyone basically fighting to make it into Friday’s episode, and hence the money, might be a go-er.