+- TV Live Forum (https://www.tvliveforum.com)
+-- Forum: TV Live Forum (https://www.tvliveforum.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=4)
+--- Forum: Programmes (https://www.tvliveforum.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=15)
+--- Thread: The Game Show Thread (/showthread.php?tid=47)
The Game Show Thread - SuperSajuuk - 20-12-2021
In all honesty, if big break did come back,its the sort of programme that the bbc should be broadcasting, in order to revive interest in snooker from a free-to-air perspective: if not the bbc, itv would be the next best thing, even with ad breaks on it. And as Dave Hendon rightly put it on one of his podcast episodes recently: broadcasters are a major part of the revenue stream for tournaments, so if the bbc wants to show it cares about snooker [instead of constantly giving the illusion that it doesn’t], what better way than to put money into a snooker game show?
As said, big break coming back is probably never going to happen. It only worked because it was Davidson and Virgo. I can’t see anyone else having the personality needed to make a revival “a success” imo.
The Game Show Thread - Brekkie - 20-12-2021
I just think it is too niche and would be an odd fit in the schedules now. Would give Paddy McGuiness something else to host though.
If Sport Relief were still a thing it would work well enough as a one off in the BBC2 slot but can't really see another reason to do it. Also the host tarnishes it's legacy somewhat - not many people look back on Jim Davidson fondly nowadays.
The Game Show Thread - Andrew - 21-12-2021
Yes if it did come back I could see Paddy McGuiness hosting it.
I’m not sure it’s work, when you strip it back to its format, it’s fairly basic, and very 1990s
The Game Show Thread - Neil Jones - 21-12-2021
Well to be honest a lot of game formats are very basic, its the presentation that makes or sells them. Even cheap flimsy formats have run for years here, which are mostly played for laughs.
The USP for Big Break was obviously the snooker element. If the intention is to revive interest in snooker, reviving Pot Black might be a better option (indeed the story goes that it was a perfect sport to promote the benefits of colour TV in the late 1960s, only for a commentator to say something like 'for those of you who are watching in black and white, the pink is next to the green').
The Game Show Thread - JAS84 - 21-12-2021
That does kind of make sense. The green ball would look the same shade of grey as the baize.
The Game Show Thread - thebigdog2020 - 21-12-2021
Neil Jones post_id=59719 time= user_id=961 Wrote:The USP for Big Break was obviously the snooker element. If the intention is to revive interest in snooker reviving Pot Black might be a better option
Pot Black was revived from 2005-2007 but ran as a one day tournament to fill up an afternoon of Grandstand with 8 participants. At the time it was before the Barry Hearn era of World Snooker and Snooker was dying with players admitting they only looked forward to the Triple Crown events which were on the BBC. Now even for the Free to Air viewers you have 3 tournaments on BBC, 4 on ITV4, 4 on Quest and 1 on Freesports as well as all the coverage on Eurosport, I think Big Break will probably revive more interest than Pot Black to be honest but don't think either will return.
Pot Black was also revived as a Sport Relief programme one year with Ronnie O'Sullivan & Bradley Walsh v Steve Davis & Vernon Kay with Dermot O'Leary presented and aired in the 10pm slot on BBC Two when BBC One had the news on.
The Game Show Thread - soupie - 21-12-2021
Why make new episodes?? There’s probably about 150 unshown editions on a Big Break stockpile somewhere….
The Game Show Thread - Neil Jones - 22-12-2021
soupie post_id=59769 time= user_id=1542 Wrote:Why make new episodes?? There’s probably about 150 unshown editions on a Big Break stockpile somewhere….
I doubt that, considering they made 222 episodes in the first place and the show ran for 14 (broadcast) series.
There was a delay on airing some episodes in the 1990s so "new" episodes had actually been done a couple of years earlier, so they actually only made 10 series.
And then there were legal issues with the format. An episode that appeared on the iPlayer under the BBC Four Collections series had a retro-added credit tacked on because of this, though I note the entire BBC Four Collections (gameshows) seems to have vanished, though the programmes are still there. That particular episode of Big Break aired in 2001 but has a 1998 copyright date.
The Game Show Thread - Gary Baldy - 22-12-2021
Surprised Challenge haven't shown Big Break in a while (8 years if Wikipedia is to go by! Feels like I've seen it there a little bit more recently than that, but definitely not for at least 4 years)- maybe with this revival in the works, they could rerun old episodes to pique viewer's interests. Bullseye rates well enough for them.
Speaking of Bullseye actually, it was definitely the stronger format compared to Big Break; I don't know why the Epic Gameshow version tampered with the endgame. I actually enjoyed the Spikey era of Bullseye, though I'm slightly biased towards that era, simply because I was in the audience for it which I never managed with the Bowen version. Yes, I was one of those viewers who wrote in letters to Jim B..... you wouldn't mind- half the letters he used to read out at the top of the show were probably made up.
Back to Big Break, it's not one I particularly enjoyed- the first series in particular (that passed me by the first time round- probably was airing round about the same time Bullseye moved to Saturdays and I stayed loyal to them :lol: only caught BB Series 1 a few years later when it reran on Challenge) seemed to be something aimed at hardcore snooker fans, and then the last couple series (which I do remember watching) just evolved in to Jim D and John taking the piss out of each other. It was too serious initially, but then too laid-back and relaxed, and 'laddish' banter. It never got the balance quite right. Absolute banger of a theme tune though.
The Game Show Thread - Inspector Sands - 22-12-2021
Gary Baldy post_id=59792 time= user_id=2113 Wrote:. Absolute banger of a theme tune though.Yep, and amazingly not written for the programme but from a musical called The Hunting of The Snark.
They tried to follow up the success of Big Break with Full Swing which was the same idea but with Golf and Jimmy Tarbuck but it didn't work
The Game Show Thread - Neil Jones - 22-12-2021
Gary Baldy post_id=59792 time= user_id=2113 Wrote:Speaking of Bullseye actually, it was definitely the stronger format compared to Big Break; I don't know why the Epic Gameshow version tampered with the endgame. I actually enjoyed the Spikey era of Bullseye, though I'm slightly biased towards that era, simply because I was in the audience for it which I never managed with the Bowen version. Yes, I was one of those viewers who wrote in letters to Jim B..... you wouldn't mind- half the letters he used to read out at the top of the show were probably made up.
Epic Gameshow had to shoe horn a common "theme" in with all the formats they used. Which was why they faffed around with the end game on pretty much every format they used.
Re: Bullseye - Bowen did mention many times in his stand-up comedy acts that nobody ever wrote in, though these anecdotes aren't particularly reliable anyway since they're elaborated for the stage. People probably did write in, they gave the address out (for Birmingham and presumably later Nottingham) enough times for one reason or another. Some letters were clearly fabricated, though I dare say some were genuine.
No different to the "letters" that Only Connect claims to receive, although I'd hope the target audience for Only Connect can tell the difference.
The Game Show Thread - Gary Baldy - 22-12-2021
Inspector Sands post_id=59804 time= user_id=1003 Wrote:Gary Baldy post_id=59792 time= user_id=2113 Wrote:. Absolute banger of a theme tune though.Yep, and amazingly not written for the programme but from a musical called The Hunting of The Snark.
They tried to follow up the success of Big Break with Full Swing which was the same idea but with Golf and Jimmy Tarbuck but it didn't work
I remember Full Swing! I actually preferred it to Big Break but then it just disappeared never to be seen again.
There seemed to be a pattern in that era where once a successful programme ended, a new rip-off would appear, such as Ice Warriors- Gladiators On Ice doesn't work. Would still rather watch that than present-day DOI to be honest though.
The Game Show Thread - Steve Williams - 22-12-2021
Gary Baldy post_id=59834 time= user_id=2113 Wrote:I remember Full Swing! I actually preferred it to Big Break but then it just disappeared never to be seen again.
There seemed to be a pattern in that era where once a successful programme ended, a new rip-off would appear, such as Ice Warriors- Gladiators On Ice doesn't work. Would still rather watch that than present-day DOI to be honest though.
The great story about Ice Warriors is that some ITV exec was shown the set and said "well, this looks like a million dollars!", and he was told it actually cost much more than that. Although it looked just like Gladiators on Ice, it was totally unrelated to Gladiators production-wise, it was made by an indie, and everyone's forgotten it now but it was a huge deal for ITV, they trailed it for absolutely ages, and there was an interview with Marcus Plantin where he said it was going to be the centrepiece of Saturday nights in 1998. But it turned out to be a huge flop, partly because you can't really do much on ice other than skate around it really fast, and all the teams were totally anonymous so you didn't care. But I think the big problem was the complete absence of humour, on Gladiators even though they emphasised it was a genuinely tough challenge, there was all the panto element to it, so there were jokes and loads of audience participation, not so on this po-faced programme.
I do remember it being said that it might come back as a kids' show because they did some audience research and it had proven to be quite popular with children even though it was a big flop for adults, but it never did. I suppose the idea was sound enough, Gladiators was declining quite a bit so presumably they thought it was a good idea to do something along the same lines, but in the end it wasn't enough like Gladiators to appeal to that audience but too much like it to attract any new viewers.
As mentioned, Full Swing was just the most blatant example of getting two shows from the price of one, in that it was just Big Break but with snooker scribbled out and golf scribbled in, because it was the exact same format, right down to the trick shot-style consolation round. One obvious difference though is that all the famous snooker players are based in Britain and so were happy to do Big Break for a couple of hundred quid, which gave it a bit of credibility, while all the famous golfers were based all over the world and were millionaires, so you had the low-rent likes of Kenny Lynch and Tarby's other mates, and it all looked a bit rubbish.
But Big Break really took off, as Television's Greatest Hits confirms the first episode in 1991 got 16.5 million viewers, which was a huge audience, and it was never out of the Top 10 that year. It was quite a risk for the Beeb as well, the famous line in the first episode was Jim saying "This is my first show for the Beeb and if it doesn't work out we're both snookered", because it was a bit downmarket for the Beeb. The novelty wore off pretty sharpish, mind, especially when on Auntie's Bloomers they'd always show all ten million takes of an unsuccessful trick shot.
The Game Show Thread - Ghost - 22-12-2021
Neil Jones post_id=59809 time= user_id=961 Wrote:Re: Bullseye - Bowen did mention many times in his stand-up comedy acts that nobody ever wrote in, though these anecdotes aren't particularly reliable anyway since they're elaborated for the stage. People probably did write in, they gave the address out (for Birmingham and presumably later Nottingham) enough times for one reason or another. Some letters were clearly fabricated, though I dare say some were genuine.
No different to the "letters" that Only Connect claims to receive, although I'd hope the target audience for Only Connect can tell the difference.
Pardon?
Were you present at every Bullseye recording between 1981 and 1995?
are you in the compliance department of Challenge having received and seen the tapes?
Why do you doubt these anecdotes?
The Game Show Thread - Neil Jones - 22-12-2021
Yeah that only works when I do it