02Nov2010
“Minute to Win It” Returns December 7th
Fans of the show will be happy to know Minute to Win It will return to NBC on December 7th. Three special holiday episodes will air each week on Tuesdays at 8:00PM ET. The show will keep the Christmas theme by having special events during each of these December episodes like audience giveaways, $10,000 giveaways to viewers, special musical guests, and carolers, Santa and his elves, and more. The December 7th episode will lead into a special “marathon” episode of The Biggest Loser. The December 14th episode will lead into the live finale of that show, and then the 21st will air before SNL Presents: A Very Gilly Christmas.
Well, you can’t blame the Peacock web for wanting to nurture one of their few hit shows.
Holiday season viewership is down from usual numbers. Folks have other things on their minds than watching regular television. So, “Minute To Win It” may find some tasty numbers.
Of course, any readers of this Blog who know fans of “Minute To Win It” might want to take their friends in hand, lead them to a computer, and show them “The Cube”. They’ll see the difference between a steroid-fueled version of “Beat The Clock” (not that that is a bad thing, mind you!), and a show that has real suspense going for it!
One game show blogger says how he thinks fans of the Cube whine and dismiss Minute to Win It. Then again, Minute to Put You to Sleep isn’t a “stunt epic”, nor is the black box with pictures called a “teevee”,
And America sure loves the Biggest Loser. I’m kinda surprised.
One game show blogger says how he thinks fans of the Cube whine and dismiss Minute to Win It.
Whine about what?
And America sure loves the Biggest Loser. I’m kinda surprised.
Because people love to see others lose a ton of weight. And the trainers. (Personally, I think it jumped the shark when they went to a pairs format (to start) permanently.)
They whine about how MTWI is a far inferior rip-off of The Cube, that made it to air while our version of The Cube didn’t.
I found the post, and I disagree with Casey’s assessment completely.
I think the pace is fine. I also like hearing the statistics, aka all the “padding”. What Casey doesn’t understand, IMO, is that the games are supposed to be simple. But there’s the added pressure of playing in front of an audience in a large plexiglass cube, the potential of playing for large sums of money, and the voice of the Cube taunting the contestants trying to psych them out. With all that going on, the games don’t need to be confined to a minute. And like CarShark pointed out, Casey also doesn’t understand WHO is saying The Cube is a better show than M2WI.
As for it being passed by (essentially) the Big Three, I’m willing to wager they didn’t get it, either and yeah, probably thought it was a bit too serious. (But so were/are Russian Roulette, Millionaire, and Jeopardy. Hell, even our version of DOND was serious once upon a time, before it was invaded by annoying contestants and supporters, and all those stupid gimmicks!)
Casey’s right in a way. The show has been passed on by the two highest rated networks. Third-place ABC doesn’t sound any more interested. At times it feels like most of the appeal is that “It’s Too Good For Americans”. The only thing that separates the two in my eyes is the aesthetic. Minute to Win It has the typical American game show look and feel while The Cube takes itself quite a bit more seriously production-wise. What Casey misses in his post is that he forgets who’s making the claims that The Cube is better. It’s people that are tired of the typical American game show look and feel. Tired of the loud contestants, loud hosts, louder audiences, loud sets and loud music. Sure, Cube has it’s moments of loudness, but it doesn’t overwhelm the way M2WI does sometimes. I like them both because I enjoy both presentations.
So if they are doing “Holiday Specials” does that mean they will have Super Star for $1 Million? You have to throw a Christmas star in the air so it lands straight on top of a 10ft tree.
Crap joke, I’ll get me coat.
I have been following this minor flame-war on Another Blog, and I get the impression that the fellow doing the most and longest whining either works for, or has an interest in Endemol.
Now, Endemol’s been through a bad patch of late. They have not had a format that set the tongues a-wagging, as “The Cube” has. Some of their recent shows have needed work. One got a lot of negative buzz, especially on this Blog, which would edit the episodes down to a third of their length, and thus make it a better show. And their most recent show has, through no fault of the Front Office of Endemol, to retape a large number of episodes when somebody noticed that contestants could see a monitor they were not supposed to see, and could, thus gain an unfair advantage.
“Minute to Win It” does have everybody hyper-caffeinated. (If you want to see a caffeinated audience, you should check out the posts of the Australian version of “MTWI”, found on YT.)
The British audiences for “The Cube” are just that much more reserved–although they can display enthusiasm when and if the need arises.
Come to think of it, I rather like the UK presentation of “Total Wipeout” better than our own. Ours comes off as sopomoric, full of frat-house humor that is not as readily apparent on the UK version. (Again, check out posts on YT,)
Like CarShark, I watch both “The Cube” and “Minute To Win It”. Each has its own appeal.
At least the US didn’t try to do a version of “101 Ways to Leave a Game Show”
Remember that ABC has an option on “101 Ways. . . “. Let’s hope that they have learned something from the BBC experience, and can produce a show with more imagination and more zip and zing than the one that appeared on the “Beeb”.
I’m so excited because Minute to Win It will be back! Three special holiday episodes in a row starting December 7th! Minute to Win It is so great, I cannot wait to watch this with my family when I go home for the holidays! Yay!