Returning British Game Shows
As the autumn/fall draws near, some popular British show are returning for new series. Here is a rundown of what is to come in the next few days.
Pointless returns tomorrow (4.30pm BBC 2) for their third series. The popular BBC2 daytime quiz is returning with an extended fifty episode run. The third series will feature some format changes to the first and second series. While the first and jackpot rounds stays intact, the changes includes a new second round where contestants have to match items, such as a musician to their instrument or a movie to their tagline. While the head to head has now been reduced from best of five to best of three. Although the head to head will reduce some questions, there will be more time for Alexander Armstrong and Richard Osman’s constant banter. A one-off celebrity episode has been recorded and will be aired throughout the series. The cash prizes will stay the same with £1,000 as the starting jackpot, with £250 being added for each pointless answer and adding £1,000 when the jackpot is not won. We will be trying to get some clips up of the new series at some point.
Also returning tomorrow is Channel 4′s Come Dine With Me (5.00pm) and Coach Trip (5.30pm). Come Dine With Me feature five people who try to cook and hold a dinner party for four strangers. Each day features a different party and live in the same town/city. After each night they score the hosting a dinner out of a score of 1o. The winning scorer at the end of the weeks wins £1,000. 12Yard (The Money List, The Colour of Money, In It to Win It) continues their popular (and only) reality show with their fifth series of Coach Trip. Coach Trip features seven couples, all represented in some way (married, civil partnership, brothers/sisters, friends etc…) who travel with camp tour guide Brendan Sheerin visiting European cities and sights. Each day they visit a different attrictions and perform various activities. The attractions and activities can be interesting (riding a zipline down the alps) or boring (visiting a cheese factory). The end of each day sees the seven couples deciding who they think should leave the coach trip for good. The most votes awards the couple with a yellow card, if the same couple are voted again on a future day, then they are awarded with a red card and they get replaced on the coach trip. Observations on previous series show that this can lead to many couples working together to vote the same couples off the coach trip. The previous series lasted a lengthy fifty shows but the new series returns to their normal thirty show run. A sixth series is already in the can and will be airing in 2011.
Monday 6th September sees the return of Only Connect (8.30pm BBC Four). The popular connection show returns for a fourth series. The format remains the same and Victoria Coren retains the hosting role. The fourth series will run for twenty shows, which will include a fifteen show tournament (sixteen teams) and a number of specials. One featuring the series champions against the champions of University Challenge.
As well as all these shows returning, we will be seeing the following shows returning later this autmun. N.B. The start dates could vary.
The Cube (October), All Star Family Fortunes (October), Million Pound Drop Live (October), Chris Moyles Quiz Night (November).
Panel shows; Celebrity Juice (September), QI Series H (November), 8 Out of 10 Cats (September), Have I Got News 20th Anniversary (October).
I’m not sure which season/series, but Come Dine With Me has been airing on BBC America for the last while. I’ve seen bits and pieces of it, and it looks fairly interesting.
Meanwhile, I look forward to new QI and HIGNFY’s twentieth.
come dine with me airs on W network in Canada as well. I not sure if these are re-runs or not though.
the funny thing with come dine with me (at least from what I’ve seen of it) is that the contestants are all horrible cooks.
Does anyone know what happened to “Argumental”? I thought that was one of the funniest shows I’ve seen in a while, but there doesn’t seem to be any new episodes coming out, and it’s been a bit. Dave TV’s website still has it as one of their shows, but I was wondering if they were going to make new ones.
If they are following the same pattern with last year then the other half of the series will be shown around October.
The new series returns on Monday 28th September.
I’ve noticed that in the first two episodes, Round 1 was straight up (for example, name a word that ends with the letters A-N-G-L-E), but then it became multiple-choice (choose the most obscure correct answer from the 7 on offer while avoiding the one or two decoys). Maybe they did this to make finding pointless answers easier, thus upping the jackpot.
[...] As we reported earlier, Pointless started its new series this week. The second round features a new twist in the gameplay, and this playing from Friday’s show also has a result we’ve never seen before. Check it out: [...]