We couldn’t possibly end our custom Deal or No Deal world tour without going to where it all started, The Netherlands. It’s arguably the most unique version of the show still existing and one of the few primetime versions of the shows not to sell out to the American way completely. The reason why their show is so amazing is because of the gigantic spectacle it is. A 500 person audience is narrowed down to six through an extensive quiz. The six come on stage and play another buzzer oriented trivia game which narrows it to two. The two have to fight over a buy-out to leave the game or play one final question. The sole survivor of the audience plays for 5,000,000 euro. The most money won was around 1.25 million euro, which I saw and was one of the most thrilling events I’ve seen on television. It’s my personal favorite version of the show and the most amazing game show I’ve ever seen because the cases part of the show seems like what it should, a bonus game. The entire show is made into an event-like program, and it’s scheduled only six episodes every few months which gives it off well. Plus, again, they have the best music package for the show out of any country, plus one of the better hosts: Linda DeMol. Take a look. Later we will have one final Deal video: what our show should be like all the time.
Archive for the 'Countries' Category
In our on-going weekend series, the second stop on what NBC’s Deal or No Deal world tour should have been is the Australian version. The show began in 2003 as a primetime series with a top prize of $2,000,000. The next year the show was reformatted to a half hour daily edition for $200,000. It follows the same format as ours except it’s a lot more brighter, a lot more high energy, and contestants hold the cases as they do basically everywhere else on the planet. Take a look at some videos from the Australian take on the show.
With the second season of “American Gladiators” on the horizon, I figure it’s time we see how it’s done somewhere else. The Australian version has already had a gladiator ejected from a show. See the incident below:
A lack of news plus a lack of any time to update anything leads to nothing done around here. But hey, here’s a video of the Australian version of Power of 10 which was sadly canceled after just two episodes because of bad ratings. Check out their version.
One of my favorite shows of this decade is Dirty Rotten Cheater, which around fifteen people saw. I was pretty happy when I heard BBC was reviving the show, but a bit let down when I saw the final product. It seems like quite a step down from what we saw on PAX. I can stand a smaller budget, but it just didn’t seem to click this time. However, the game’s still pretty fun. Check out England’s take on our cult favorite.
We’ll be away for the next few days, so have a nice holiday weekend. I swear we’ll post news once some actually comes in. March has been a horrendously slow month.
Not to be remotely jingoistic, but hopefully we’ll get some American news soon. However, I’m sure some of you will enjoy some news and pictures about the new Australian revival of the hit show Gladiators. Seems like they are going for an even more British route than we did. However, a large amount of their Gladiators look like the casting department said, “Look at what the American Gladiators look like! Hey, I have an idea, let’s not be original. Let’s get people who look oddly similar and have many of the same themes.” Plus some of the names are downright crappy. Angel? Destiny? Sounds like a girl group reunion tour.
Their list of games puts ours to shame, though. They are basically getting a lot of the same events that we had, but they are including some great ones as well that we were missing, like Atlasphere. There are also some games which Americans might not be familiar with, like Pendulum, Sumo Ball, Suspension Bridge, and Vertigo. You can check out some pictures here.
And now the question to keep us all entertained. What events would you like to see come back for season two of NBC’s American Gladiators?
Of all shows that could come back in recent times, for some reason this one I never figured. There are talks that Channel 7, an Australian television station, is bringing back the hit quiz show Weakest Link. While it’s still going strong in England, it fizzled out practically everywhere else. A possible host is Gretel Killeen, who is the host of the Australian version of Big Brother. She is known for a sharp wit and tongue, and has not signed back onto the show for 2008. Sources are saying that the deal is basically done, so keep on the lookout.
I’d honestly really like to see a Weakest Link revival in America. I am a backstabbing show fan, yeah, but it was still a pretty good quiz show regardless. George Gray isn’t really doing that much recently it seems, I’m sure he’d come back given the opportunity. I have noticed, though, that there is a rather sizable group of game show fans who really do not like the show. Any particular reason (I’m just curious)?
This post is going to start a new regular series we’re going to call “The British Are Better Than Us.”
We’ll have a look at more game play tomorrow, but for now, enjoy the first ten minutes of ITV’s version of Duel. Another show the British just do better than us, go figure. Their host is much better, music a bit nicer, the game is much quicker, and I definitely enjoy the all-around game play more. The set is up in the air, but the space like look for questions is rather cool. Check it out and we’ll try to get another part, including the ability to stop, up tomorrow.
No US news at all today, but we will have a small preview of The Moment of Truth sometime next week. England has had a lot of fun game show news, though. One of my favorite shows that the US completely screwed up, Weakest Link, will be moving to the main BBC station next month. It’s been on BBC2 for quite a few years. The UK version is absolutely supreme to ours in nearly every way possible, and if you haven’t checked it out you really owe it to yourself.
Also, Duel starts its UK run on Saturday. The show is basically the same gameplay wise as our version, though they ditched the tournament. Probably a good move, as it just did not work here at all. I was bored until the final night (and even then still a bit bored), as hypothetical risks were being thrown around. Chips are worth £1,000 added to a jackpot which starts at £100,000. If you win two duels, you can stop with either potentially £10,000 or 10% of the jackpot. After three wins, you can stop with £20,000 or maybe 20% of the jackpot. If you win four duels, you win the entire jackpot. We’ll get a video of it for you next week hopefully.
The US version of Power of 10 isn’t doing too well right now. For some reason CBS insists on putting it against Deal or No Deal which is a steamroller at this point, but what do I know? I’m just a critic.
Despite this, Australia is going ahead with their version of Power of 10 for Channel 9. They will be offering $1,000,000 instead of $10,000,000. Note that we still have a potential syndicated version in the making (depending on how the rest of the primetime run goes), so their version will basically be how our syndicated edition will go.
Longtime quiz show host Eddie McQuire (who hosted Who Wants to be a Millionaire? and 1 VS 100) was actually not chosen. Instead, the host is Australia’s Today weatherman Steve Jacobs. He told TV writer Stephen Downie, “I don’t think it has sunk in, actually. While Jacobs described McGuire as “the master when it comes to quiz shows, he denied having taken tips from him. This show is a little bit more relaxed than other quiz shows. There is a bit more ad-libbing. It’s a really good vibe.”
Eight episodes have been ordered. Finally, another US export that we can be proud of.
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