#ukgameshows

[weaversweek]

Gladiators on BBC1

Awooga!

Gladiators is back, and it's hit all the right notes.

The theme! The nostalgia! The warm and inclusive feeling!

The complete doofus who thinks he owns the world!

Gladiators never ever forgot that it was entertainment built from a core of sport. The challenges are difficult, they're filmed and presented to make us care. And they've kept entertainment and sport in a great balance, and that makes for inclusive telly.

A few notes for next series. Gauntlet needs to be narrower and/or longer. You need at least one more challenge for variety.

And can you please make sure contender's trainers fit better, because having the Gladiator strip the shoe away is now a format point.

[ewanspence]

UKGameshows revies 3x3 as a real quiz show, not as an Inside Number 9 script. And you know what, there's been worse made it to air in the UK... "But though it may have been a fictional show, the fact that we can give you a genuine synopsis of the format goes to show how well thought-out it was. We've seen a great many spoofs over the years (we even have a page listing them) but rarely anything that could plausibly exist as a game show in the real world. Yes, there are possible holes in the format, which we've pointed out in the synopsis, but overall it's a remarkably good attempt - and the actual question writing isn't bad either (many a writer of fiction comes a cropper when inventing questions for fake quizzes, so to see something good enough to pass for a real show is astonishingly rare.)"

[weaversweek]

Boosted!

A mystery I've been wanting to solve for ages

In the final episode of Dick and Dom in Da Bungalow, the big grand prize (which, spoiler alert, everyone won) had one very peculiar prize to me, saying that the winner (again, which was everyone), among other things, would have their face put into a computer game. Now of course, because this is the BBC we're talking about, they shan't mention what computer game they would be planted in. And me being the nerd I am, I would love to figure this out.

My original theory was they were put in Wii Sports, which would have likely been in development when this episode was transmitted, but I searched the CPU Mii's from the Wii series games during the Wii era, but I couldn't find none of the Bungalowheads names. So that's debunked.

If anyone wants to help solve this mystery, or better yet, if you have contacts with any of the Bungalowheads on this episode (so I can know more about the filming of the episode), feel free to contact me on Discord. My username is loublu08.

[mootasticmooface]

At this point I like to pretend I’m a Blankety Blank host. #1970s #1980s #UKGameshow #BlanketyBlank #ChupaChups #Inverness (at Inverness) https://www.instagram.com/p/CgUPvPTodza/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[megstoysandmore]

I had so much fun being part of the audience for @ninjawarrioruk It was fun seing myself on TV. 😁#youtubers #youtubekids #backtoschool #underwraps #ninjawarrior #ninja #ninjawarriortraining #ninjawarriors #ninjawarriorspain #ninjawarrioruk #ninjaworrior #ninjaworrioruk #megstoysandmore #ninjawarrior #ninjawarrioruk #ninjawarriorusa #gameshow #ukgameshow #ninjawarriors #sports #tv #itv #itvgameshow #throwback

[weaversweek]

Because Have I Got Breaking News Quizzes for You!

This week, I look at five topical news quizzes.

From Scotland, Breaking the News, a mildly Scottish quiz.

From London, The News Quiz, with a shit introduction and the show gets no better.

From Toronto, Because News, where the jokes keep on coming.

From London, Have I Got News for You, a 25 minute show crammed into a 45 minute slot.

From Atlanta, Has CNN Got News for You, a 40 minute show based on the original.

Some of them are funny. Some of them are deeply, deeply boring.

Plus plenty of snark at ITV for their sudden conversion to autocomplete bots, a brief tribute to 12 Yard, and the curious case of Big Brother producers not realising they are the anti-heroes of their own work.

[weaversweek]

The Only Connect final for 2024

In the blue corner, the Thrifters, three charity-shop fans.

In the red corner, the Also Rans, three Mastermind finalists seeking redemption a little later.

Both teams were tremendous. But which will win this nip-and-tuck match? And what is the appeal of Only Connect, a show with many viewers and next-to-no prize?

[weaversweek]

Which game shows have had the most episodes 12 (MAS-NAM)

In this latest, scintillating, episode:

All that's left of The Million Pound Drop.

Name That Tune with not enough Sophie Ellis Bextor.

Mr and Mrs, which is so complex that I cannot get a sufficiently accurate episode count.

And an obituary for Phil Swern, the Popmaster co-creator.

[weaversweek]

Which game shows have had the most episodes, part 9: HAV-ITV

The summer-long task is running out of summer: this week's installment goes from Have I Got News for You to ITV Play.

So, it's plenty of brown suits.

Lots of branded prizes.

Mornington Crescent - let me just explain the rules to you.

And It's a Knockout, it was good clean fun once upon a time.

Plus!

The million dollar question.

[weaversweek]

Josh Must Win

To the competitors, a contest of who your favourite is amongst the other contestants.

To the celebrities manipulating events, a challenge of psychology and intuition.

To the astute viewer, a lesson in some of the techniques producers use to manipulate reality telly.

How real is reality television? When you see something, how has it been manipulated? Grimmy and his gang did it in a light-hearted way; do other shows have their own agenda?

Plus, a look at the claim that The 1% Club is television's biggest game show (it's not, unless you're using a particularly arbitrary definition of "game show". But The 1% Club is very good telly - and sometimes proper drama.)

[weaversweek]

Which game shows have the most episodes? Part 3, BOC-CAN

The latest part of my project to count all of the game shows.

This time, a Robert Robinson double bill, Brain of Britain and Call My Bluff.

A deep dive into The Brains Trust, the only game show to have episodes specially made for the cinema. (Unless they showed Eurovision The Movie in the picturehouse somewhere...)

And, on a slightly less intellectual level, Bullseye.

[weaversweek]

Which game shows have made the most episodes: Part 1 of lots

Looks like it's going to be a quiet summer for game show fans. Various sorts of sportsball dominate the schedules for at least two months.

So let me build on an idea from Broken TV, and ask: which UK game shows have made the most episodes?

This week, I'm looking at some well-remembered shows. Fifteen-to-One.

Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway

David Attenborough's first TV gig.

First of about ten parts, so this little project should keep me going into September.

[weaversweek]

Eurovision Song Contest final, 2024

The inevitable Long Read on the soap opera.

"The code" won, a song of extremely high quality. I'd be surprised if it doesn't make my top ten of the year.

Other great songs made high scores. "Rim tim tagi dim" won the televote, Slimane will be the father to some baby cameras, Bambie Thug brought the artpop, and AMPTV continued their astounding run of excellence.

Olly Alexander for the BBC didn't score so well, which confuses us.

But there was also a rigged televote, thanks to blow-ins who want to spoil everyone else's fun. And there was an entry disqualified for nebulous reasons.

The whole contest was conducted in a fraught atmosphere. The EBU chose to allow KAN to compete, but never clearly explained to the public why they'd made that decision - or why KAN is not the same as the government of Israel.

There are serious questions about whether the EBU has met its duty of care to all of its staff - I see the performers and delegations as being the EBU's contracted staff.

And there needs to be change. Artistically, the senior contest risks heading up a blind alley, and a new producer would help. Administratively, it appears that Martin Österdahl has lost the confidence of broadcasters and the community.

RTVSLO has sent a well-argued memorandum, and nothing is worse to a bureaucrat than a well-argued memorandum they've got to reply to and think about.

[weaversweek]

The Traitors series 2

Well, that was fun.

Claudia and another bunch of strangers gather in Scotland. Some of them are a team-within-a-team: find them, eject them, keep the prize for yourself.

There is a mock funeral.

Catapults and crossbows.

A poison chalice.

And whatever the chuff this is.

The Traitors takes us through highs and lows. And it honestly reflects society: this series ruthlessly exposed casual sexism. Maybe we can all learn to do better.

Also: John Travolta does the Birdie Dance, and farewell to a great friend.

[weaversweek]

It's always 4 o'clock in Australia

Three of ITV's 4pm shows have turned up in Australia.

Deal or No Deal has Grant Denyer as host, and is cut to half an hour. Perhaps a little too short for its own good, but they do get the right amount of drama and silliness in there.

Tipping Point is filmed in Bristol, with Todd Woodbridge as host. Slightly more miserly than our version, all to tip the odds for a "Jackpot Temptation" finale.

From the Dock Ten Studios in sunny* Salford, Jeopardy! Australia is hosted by Stephen Fry. It's a carbon copy of the ITV version, right down to the questions, right down to the credits font.

Plus! The 1% Club tells a little family drama: The Clever Sister and The Other Sister (Who Didn't Win Any Money But Learned A Lot).

All this and more in the Week: you can throw it away as much as you want, but it'll come back like a boomerang.

[weaversweek]

Saturday Night Takeaway and University Challenge

Well, that was fun.

Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway came to an end last night. Twenty series across 22 years, all of the challenges and stunts and silliness and catchphrases.

And all the laughter. And the smiles. Saturday Night Takeaway was full of heart, a show we could sit and watch and feel better about life.

It's a blessing that Saturday Night Takeaway could come to a proper conclusion in its own time, no threat of cancellation, no intervention by fate. Just two lads, who we've grown up with, giving their all and walking off with their heads held high.

{blub}

Plus, a look back at the University Challenge final, where Imperial became the winningest team in UC history.

All this, and more, in your Week.