The British are Better Than Us: “The Krypton Factor”
I’ve finally got an opportunity to continue our very fun and truthful series of The British are Better Than Us with an old favorite, that also aired in America for a bit, that has come back to ITV. The show is The Krypton Factor. In the show four contestants face off against each other in games of physical ability, mental agility, observation, and general knowledge. They get points added to their “Krypton Factor” for being successful, and the contestant with the highest Krypton Factor after four events wins the game and gets to come back later in the series. It’s a fun show, check it out.
This is the series premiere of the 2010 season. The last season had an additional Intelligence round which was basically some form of puzzle the contestants had to assemble. I’m sure someone from England can help us but was the show much speedier with it involved, because it seemed to move at a fine pace in its current slot. The show did seem very short all told, though. They’ve got a great futuristic looking set, and the host Ben Shephard does a well enough job standing about and reading what the prompter says. It would be something interesting to see here, but we’ve already tried it in the 90s and it didn’t quite work out. I mean some network could try it but given our track record I don’t trust us. It’s a tough interesting quiz which is more than can be said for a lot of what’s out today. We’ll have part two tomorrow.
IIRC ABC did it as a summer series in the 80s with Dick Clark as host. I agree, I don't see it happening here in the US.
IIRC ABC did it as a summer series in the 80s with Dick Clark as host. I agree, I don't see it happening here in the US.
The differences between 2009's and 2010's seasons:
- The Mental Agility time limit's 40 seconds in 2009, 45 in 2010.
- More chat to make up for a missing round (which oddly doesn't drag)
- Observation round isn't as good this year, also still plugging old ITV shows.
- Intelligence round dropped.
- The Assault course is different and better in 2010.
- General Knowledge is 70 seconds in 2009, 90 in 2010.
The really annoying thing is that even though they've got rid of the Intelligence round, it doesn't drag. Which means that the Intelligence round MIGHT not come back if there's a 2011 series.
The differences between 2009's and 2010's seasons:
- The Mental Agility time limit's 40 seconds in 2009, 45 in 2010.
- More chat to make up for a missing round (which oddly doesn't drag)
- Observation round isn't as good this year, also still plugging old ITV shows.
- Intelligence round dropped.
- The Assault course is different and better in 2010.
- General Knowledge is 70 seconds in 2009, 90 in 2010.
The really annoying thing is that even though they've got rid of the Intelligence round, it doesn't drag. Which means that the Intelligence round MIGHT not come back if there's a 2011 series.
The first American version was "Almost Anything Goes", except they took out the mental stuff entirely, and left only the wacky stunts. More a case of buying the rights because they only wanted one small facet of the show.
You wanna talk shows that make American shows look like they're for absolute morons? If you haven't talked about The Crystal Maze, you must.
I recall a marathon of Double Dare (the Nickelodeon show, not the one with Alex Trebek, which I rather liked) where they showed other countries' versions of the show. The level of questions on the British and Australian shows were staggering. Geography, history, really hard questions. We're just a bunch of boobs.
You wanna talk shows that make American shows look like they're for absolute morons? If you haven't talked about The Crystal Maze, you must.
I recall a marathon of Double Dare (the Nickelodeon show, not the one with Alex Trebek, which I rather liked) where they showed other countries' versions of the show. The level of questions on the British and Australian shows were staggering. Geography, history, really hard questions. We're just a bunch of boobs.
Armstrong and Miller did a great version of it, called The Crtiical Factor.
It's a bad idea to come in last in this game:
[youtube J8t-PSKX7H4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8t-PSKX7H4 youtube]
Also, it shows a slightly contrived intelligence round, but you get the idea.
Armstrong and Miller did a great version of it, called The Crtiical Factor.
It's a bad idea to come in last in this game:
[youtube J8t-PSKX7H4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8t-PSKX7H4 youtube]
Also, it shows a slightly contrived intelligence round, but you get the idea.
I saw this show, and it's very good, although I really miss the Intelligence round. I think if they just junk the Kube, and give each player a lectern with a monitor (and headphones) it would work just as well. You could even use an Intelligence round in there (with panels between the lecterns to prevent cheating) and even fit in a Response round, with or without a flight simulator. As for Observation, they never really got the format right. I propose the late 1980s double take format, where players spot differences or continuity errors. This time, they use a touch-sensitive screen so in the event of a tie, the player who found his or her errors in a faster time gets the higher position.
As for the U.S. version, there were actually two: a 1981 summer series hosted by Dick Clark, and a 1990 junior version hosted by Willie Aames. The junior version was pretty softball, since the Intelligence round consisted of just answering questions from pictures and the General Knowledge questions were mostly multiple choice. They did link every answer to the next question, but they did cheat a bit:
Q: Were Beethoven, Brahms, and Bach famous composers or painters?
A: Composers.
Q: Did the always-COMPOSED Meryl Streep star in "She-Devil" alongside Roseanne Barr or Bette Midler?
You get the idea. On the plus side, the job did get Willie Aames off drugs.
I saw this show, and it's very good, although I really miss the Intelligence round. I think if they just junk the Kube, and give each player a lectern with a monitor (and headphones) it would work just as well. You could even use an Intelligence round in there (with panels between the lecterns to prevent cheating) and even fit in a Response round, with or without a flight simulator. As for Observation, they never really got the format right. I propose the late 1980s double take format, where players spot differences or continuity errors. This time, they use a touch-sensitive screen so in the event of a tie, the player who found his or her errors in a faster time gets the higher position.
As for the U.S. version, there were actually two: a 1981 summer series hosted by Dick Clark, and a 1990 junior version hosted by Willie Aames. The junior version was pretty softball, since the Intelligence round consisted of just answering questions from pictures and the General Knowledge questions were mostly multiple choice. They did link every answer to the next question, but they did cheat a bit:
Q: Were Beethoven, Brahms, and Bach famous composers or painters?
A: Composers.
Q: Did the always-COMPOSED Meryl Streep star in "She-Devil" alongside Roseanne Barr or Bette Midler?
You get the idea. On the plus side, the job did get Willie Aames off drugs.
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It's not that they're better than us; they've adapted many of our classic game shows for alomost as long as TV has existed.
The problem is that we've become too reliant on Americanized versions of Eurpoean game and reality shows.
It's not that they're better than us; they've adapted many of our classic game shows for alomost as long as TV has existed.
The problem is that we've become too reliant on Americanized versions of Eurpoean game and reality shows.
It's not that they're better than us; they've adapted many of our classic game shows for alomost as long as TV has existed.
The problem is that we've become too reliant on Americanized versions of Eurpoean game and reality shows.