c4countdown

Anyone else watch this?

They've been hyping it for a while, and I thought it was pretty rubbish. For those who missed it, the principle is pretty cool - you get £1m, but you have to last 8 (multiple choice) questions and can cover more than one option (a bit like Duel), although you had to keep at least one answer free (which seems a bit harsh - but I suppose it means you get some tension all the way). It's classic "you can win £££!" when in reality you can only win £, but that's fine, we're used to it by now.

As it was, it really should just be a lower jackpot and a teatime slot, rather than the prime time extravaganza they were going for. They use real money ("used bank notes" - to save the contestants laundering it?) which is clearly meant to make the players (and thus, us) really feel that this is £1,000,000, and that it is a Lot Of Money. In reality, it just ended up being a bit tacky and clumsy. The contestants had to fumble around with huge wads of money, which just made it look like they were playing with toys, not life-changing sums of cash. This also meant that they didn't always get the money onto the trap door properly, so in one round Davina had to help, and in another one of the wads didn't actually make it down the hole. I bet when they were coming up with the show they loved the idea of real money dropping through a hole, but it would be much slicker (which is surely what they're going for?) with, say, tokens, or some other way of doing it that didn't end up looking really awkward.

I also thought the first contestants were a bit poorly chosen - it's been marketed as a really serious, high-drama show, and these two (perhaps understandably) didn't seem to be treating it as such. Davina kept trying to remind us how much cash they were playing with "you just moved £25k onto that answer on a whim!", but no matter what it still just felt like fun money.

It's a shame, because when I heard about the format I thought it sounded really cool. Unfortunately, prime time game shows are a notoriously hard sell if you're going down the 'dramatic' route, and this one doesn't seem to cut it. They don't have enough time to build up the tension (maybe because they insisted on having it live?), and the whole 'interactivity' of playing along at home feels very early noughties.

All that said, I think it's enjoyable enough. Question rate is probably about average for these sorts of shows, and something you can have in the background and look up at now and again. The only really negative thing I took from it was the very weird mismatch of what they're going for in terms of atmosphere, and what they achieve. I suspect it will grow on me though.

Yea it's clumsy with the way the wads of cash don't exactly fit nicely onto the panels, if you're just calmly placing over 500k on one answer then it's not a problem, but it usually ends up being a panicky rush and it seems like they've not rehearsed it properly.

Other than that it's the usual thing of a show being too dumbed down and reality-TV orientated. So it's all about interesting 'characters', stating the obvious explanations and building drama which drags things out. 8 questions in an hour show is very slow going.

It would have been better if it had run about 20/25 minutes.
The extended pauses which are meant to create tension, only create irritation.
The second couple were awful communicators, neither clearly explaining nor listening.
The first couple were only a shade better.
Neither couple united.
I love it when giddy, show-offy people lose money they never had.
Ok as a 20 minute bit of fun, but I think it fails when they attempt to build it into an
hour-long tension-filled programme.

Michael Wallace wrote: I thought it was pretty rubbish.

They use real money ("used bank notes" - to save the contestants laundering it?) which is clearly meant to make the players (and thus, us) really feel that this is £1,000,000, and that it is a Lot Of Money. In reality, it just ended up being a bit tacky and clumsy. I bet when they were coming up with the show they loved the idea of real money dropping through a hole, but it would be much slicker (which is surely what they're going for?) with, say, tokens, or some other way of doing it that didn't end up looking really awkward.

I also thought the first contestants were a bit poorly chosen - it's been marketed as a really serious, high-drama show, and these two (perhaps understandably) didn't seem to be treating it as such.

It's a shame, because when I heard about the format I thought it sounded really cool. Unfortunately, prime time game shows are a notoriously hard sell if you're going down the 'dramatic' route, and this one doesn't seem to cut it.

I agree Michael. I thought it was pretty rubbish too. And the messing around with the money DID look tacky - I wonder if that was intentional to make the contestants look like money-grabbers.

I had an application form sent to me due to expressing an interest in other Endemol shows. However, the main route of recruiting contestants seemed to be via Facebook and Twitter. I think that alone says a lot about what they're trying to achieve. I wasn't remotely surprised that James and I didn't even get invited to an audition.

Likewise, I wasn't at all surprised that the two girls always chose showbiz/celebrity-type questions over more serious subjects.

I don't mind Davina McCall generally but I don't think she was able to generate the tension that this programme required. I think the idea of 'betting' on answers is similar to Duel (the Nick Hancock one from a few years ago) but I liked Duel a lot more!! In fact, why don't they bring that back!

Didn't watch it so still no idea what it looks like. Won't be able to see it tonight either. Will probably miss it tomorrow night depending on KO time of football match and will then miss it again on Thursday cos of tennis. So Friday will be first chance to see it. From these reviews should I go through the effort of buffering (shit laptop) to watch online or go through the even bigger effort of deleting precious unwatched quiz shows from my sky plus planner to make room? Or should I just wait til Friday to catch it?

And yeah Karen, I liked Duel too, they should bring it back.

Ryan Taylor wrote:And yeah Karen, I liked Duel too, they should bring it back.

Yeah, Duel actually was a very good show. That definitely needs returning to the screens. I applied for that too actually, but didn't even get an audition

James Robinson wrote:

Ryan Taylor wrote:And yeah Karen, I liked Duel too, they should bring it back.

Yeah, Duel actually was a very good show. That definitely needs returning to the screens. I applied for that too actually, but didn't even get an audition

What shows have you been on, James

Michael Wallace wrote:

James Robinson wrote:

Ryan Taylor wrote:And yeah Karen, I liked Duel too, they should bring it back.

Yeah, Duel actually was a very good show. That definitely needs returning to the screens. I applied for that too actually, but didn't even get an audition

What shows have you been on, James

Countdown.

Ryan Taylor wrote:Didn't watch it so still no idea what it looks like. Won't be able to see it tonight either. Will probably miss it tomorrow night depending on KO time of football match and will then miss it again on Thursday cos of tennis. So Friday will be first chance to see it. From these reviews should I go through the effort of buffering (shit laptop) to watch online or go through the even bigger effort of deleting precious unwatched quiz shows from my sky plus planner to make room? Or should I just wait til Friday to catch it?

It's hard to say whether you should just wait until Friday or not. The show will be the same, presumably, they just might have got a little slicker by then. Also, isn't buffering a case of your Internet connection, not your computer?

Ryan Taylor wrote:

Michael Wallace wrote:What shows have you been on, James

Countdown.

That still remains the only one to date.

I've auditioned for plenty others. I actually first met Ryan (although I didn't know it at the time) at an audition for Going For Gold in November '08. Also at that audition was Countdown legend Chris Wills, who had to leave early because that was the day when Carol Vorderman's last Countdown was being recorded.

I also auditioned for Eggheads with a team a couple of years ago, also auditioned for Pointless & A Question Of Genius, but no joy.

Clearly no-one wants me on their shows.

Michael Wallace wrote:

Ryan Taylor wrote:Didn't watch it so still no idea what it looks like. Won't be able to see it tonight either. Will probably miss it tomorrow night depending on KO time of football match and will then miss it again on Thursday cos of tennis. So Friday will be first chance to see it. From these reviews should I go through the effort of buffering (shit laptop) to watch online or go through the even bigger effort of deleting precious unwatched quiz shows from my sky plus planner to make room? Or should I just wait til Friday to catch it?

It's hard to say whether you should just wait until Friday or not. The show will be the same, presumably, they just might have got a little slicker by then. Also, isn't buffering a case of your Internet connection, not your computer?

I managed to see it! (I thought it was on at 9pm but it was on at 10pm so I only missed 5 minutes of it). I sort of enjoyed it the fact that so much money is at stake is the hook. Questions can be cruel but then thats what makes it fun to see them lose say 500k in one go. 500k!! Just gone like that. 500 fucking k. It sort of doesn't sink in. Also I dunno why buffering is shit. I know very little about computers, but I do know that youtube, bbc iplayer and 4od is bloody crap on my laptop.

Ryan Taylor wrote:I managed to see it! (I thought it was on at 9pm but it was on at 10pm so I only missed 5 minutes of it). I sort of enjoyed it the fact that so much money is at stake is the hook. Questions can be cruel but then thats what makes it fun to see them lose say 500k in one go. 500k!! Just gone like that. 500 fucking k. It sort of doesn't sink in.

The thing I find is that no matter how often they say it, everyone knows that that isn't really *their* 500k that's disappearing, so the whole "omg, you just lost 500,000 pounds!" is often met with a shrug from the contestants, 'cos they know that, but it's not really their money until they're out of the game.

I also found the continual mentions that it's omg live really tiresome - yes, we know, and we've had quite a long time to get used to the 'thrill' of it.

Having watched the whole show on Monday, I got about two rounds in the middle of the show yesterday. I expect the trend to continue as the week goes on.

I walked out in disgust when the contestants were asked to name the TALLER of four buildings. Incidentally, which was the tallest? I went for the Sydney Opera House, with a possible alternative of the Sphinx, as I've no idea of scale of the Sphinx.

Howard Somerset wrote:Having watched the whole show on Monday, I got about two rounds in the middle of the show yesterday. I expect the trend to continue as the week goes on.

I walked out in disgust when the contestants were asked to name the TALLER of four buildings. Incidentally, which was the tallest? I went for the Sydney Opera House, with a possible alternative of the Sphinx, as I've no idea of scale of the Sphinx.

It was indeed Sydney Opera House (63m I think) - I'd have gone for the Leaning Tower of Pisa (which was second at about 57m). I think the Sphinx is actually pretty small but don't quote me on that.

As for the show itself, it's OK but certainly not the OMG AMZNG it's LIVE! extravaganza that the constant trails would have us believe. I think it could be pretty good if they happened to get a couple of shit-hot contestants on, although the questions are so random that I reckon the producers could effectively limit the winnings of even the shit-hottest contestants.

JimBentley wrote:I think it could be pretty good if they happened to get a couple of shit-hot contestants on, although the questions are so random that I reckon the producers could effectively limit the winnings of even the shit-hottest contestants.

It really does seem that they pick and choose the question difficulty depending on how contestants are doing (I think yesterday that seemed like what they were doing when after losing a load on the Prime Minister question and the which one is tallest question they then had to decide whether the Queen had attended the Chelsea Flower Show, the football, or MPD(L!) the night before). Would they really get away with that though? It seems a bit dodgy to change the questions depending on how a team are doing.

Michael Wallace wrote:

JimBentley wrote:I think it could be pretty good if they happened to get a couple of shit-hot contestants on, although the questions are so random that I reckon the producers could effectively limit the winnings of even the shit-hottest contestants.

It really does seem that they pick and choose the question difficulty depending on how contestants are doing (I think yesterday that seemed like what they were doing when after losing a load on the Prime Minister question and the which one is tallest question they then had to decide whether the Queen had attended the Chelsea Flower Show, the football, or MPD(L!) the night before). Would they really get away with that though? It seems a bit dodgy to change the questions depending on how a team are doing.

Yeah surely in the post-Brainteaser days that must be a bit difficult to get away with!

Question - what stops people in the audience shouting out the answers?

What's to stop the biggest idiot shouting loudest?

Craig Beevers wrote:What's to stop the biggest idiot shouting loudest?

You mean like on the football thread?

Craig Beevers wrote:What's to stop the biggest idiot shouting loudest?

Nothing, but I still bet they've tried to tell them not to - I haven't noticed any answer shouting myself.

Also, dropping it to two answers for the final question seems stupid harsh - kinda undermines the whole premise of the show if you're then forced to just go all or nothing.

Michael Wallace wrote:

Craig Beevers wrote:What's to stop the biggest idiot shouting loudest?

Nothing, but I still bet they've tried to tell them not to - I haven't noticed any answer shouting myself.

Also, dropping it to two answers for the final question seems stupid harsh - kinda undermines the whole premise of the show if you're then forced to just go all or nothing.

Well there's a lot of noise certainly, hard to say what they hear in the middle though. Seemed to be some cheering when money moved, although again whether that would be much use is another matter. Maybe they just blindly cheer any old shite, similar to Benitez fans.

So far, every question tonight has been hilariously easy. Like, ridiculously. What the hell is going on? Also, anyone think the woman who is about to lose on the bread question (if that's a spoiler then you suck) is an actress brought in to fill time?

This programme is further evidence that the human face is deservedly heading towards extinction.

Matthew Green wrote:This programme is further evidence that the human face is deservedly heading towards extinction.

I have to agree. It was just woeful last night. I wonder if the producers are regretting their recruitment strategy.

And fancy thinking focaccia is a cheese!!

Michael Wallace wrote:So far, every question tonight has been hilariously easy. Like, ridiculously. What the hell is going on? Also, anyone think the woman who is about to lose on the bread question (if that's a spoiler then you suck) is an actress brought in to fill time?

I noticed that she jumped around a lot and had nice big wobbly breasts peeking out of her top

Howard Somerset wrote:Having watched the whole show on Monday, I got about two rounds in the middle of the show yesterday. I expect the trend to continue as the week goes on.

I walked out in disgust when the contestants were asked to name the TALLER of four buildings. Incidentally, which was the tallest? I went for the Sydney Opera House, with a possible alternative of the Sphinx, as I've no idea of scale of the Sphinx.

Of course, Sphinx is taller

Then you'd be wrong Dmitry. The Sydney Opera House is over 3 times taller.

News: WeiTMedia made it in Russia. It's called "Шоу "Десять миллионов"" (literally Ten Million Show). Official site. Russian Wikipedia article: http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%94%D0% ... 0%BE%D0%B2. GS-Wiki article: http://gameshows.ru/wiki/%D0%94%D0%B5%D ... 0%BE%D0%B2. There are 10 million rubles in the game, in bundles of 250,000. The game isn't live

In Soviet Russia money drops you.

Jimmy Gough wrote:In Soviet Russia money drops you.

I live in Kharkiv, Ukraine not too far from Belgorod, Russia and I (really) watch Russian channels via TV antenna (TV aerial) in Ukraine! That's unbelievable!

Dmitri! I thought you were dead.

Hugh Binnie wrote:Dmitri! I thought you were dead.

That was a really fucking stupid thing to say.

Jimmy Gough wrote:

Hugh Binnie wrote:Dmitri! I thought you were dead.

That was a really fucking stupid thing to say.

Really? I thought it was kinda funny.

Charlie Reams wrote:

Jimmy Gough wrote:

Hugh Binnie wrote:Dmitri! I thought you were dead.

That was a really fucking stupid thing to say.

Really? I thought it was kinda funny.

Hugh Binnie is a twat.

Jimmy Gough wrote: Hugh Binnie is a twat.

I like him even though he knocked me out of AWC, thus ruining my summer, the shit.

News: Шоу на два мiльйони (literally from Ukrainian: Show for Two Million) casting in Ukraine!

Dmitry Goretsky wrote: News: Шоу на два мiльйони (literally from Ukrainian: Show for Two Million) casting in Ukraine!

Phenomenal. A link to a news article in some shitty language. Cheers.

Kirk Bevins wrote:some shitty language

Awesome.

Matt Morrison wrote:

Kirk Bevins wrote:some shitty language

Awesome.

There's a guy at my work who gets annoyed that everyone doesn't speak English. He says anybody who's important already speaks English, and thinks you can get around any country with just English. He also thinks it's immoral to eat meat though, so we already know he's a crazy fucker.

Jon O'Neill wrote:There's a guy at my work who gets annoyed that everyone doesn't speak English. He says anybody who's important already speaks English, and thinks you can get around any country with just English. He also thinks it's immoral to eat meat though, so we already know he's a crazy fucker.

If English was good enough for Jesus, it's good enough for me.

Dmitry Goretsky wrote: News: Шоу на два мiльйони (literally from Ukrainian: Show for Two Million) casting in Ukraine!

Please form an orderly queue.

Or if you prefer English, it's just been recommissioned in the UK.

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/news/a27 ... irmed.html

James Robinson wrote:Or if you prefer English, it's just been recommissioned in the UK.

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/news/a27 ... irmed.html

I am genuinely shocked by this.

Michael Wallace wrote:

James Robinson wrote:Or if you prefer English, it's just been recommissioned in the UK.

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/news/a27 ... irmed.html

I am genuinely shocked by this.

I know. Where the devil did they find 9 people to recommend it from??

This must be one of the worst game shows ever, there must be almost ten minutes between each question

There's a certain satisfaction in watching people lose a lot of money (which they don't have in the first place) while answering mainly trivial and obscure questions.
Much of the time one of the contestants does not listen to their partner and thus ignores most of the partner's suggestions.
Then, when the bumptious one is proved wrong, the oppressed partner gets the blame.
This happened tonight, to a couple who are to marry soon.
But the whole thing is a drag.

Hmm some extremely difficult questions thrown in whenever anyone doesn't chuck 100-200 grand away randomly every question, even if they happen to know it. It's almost as if they don't want to give any money away.

Craig Beevers wrote: It's almost as if they don't want to give any money away.

How long did it take for you to realise that? It's not a charity.

George Lamb. That was pretty odd. Smacked of some kind of weird desperation to me.
And it's still so awkwardly produced, the couple get about five seconds to choose the category and then Davina starts with the "I'm going to have to press you for an answer, I really need an answer guys, sorry guys I'm going to have to get an answer from you". Horribly cringey viewing, and sometimes she'll go on for about 30 seconds pestering like that. Makes you wonder where the time goes when they do end a question early.

Matt Morrison wrote:George Lamb. That was pretty odd. Smacked of some kind of weird desperation to me.
And it's still so awkwardly produced, the couple get about five seconds to choose the category and then Davina starts with the "I'm going to have to press you for an answer, I really need an answer guys, sorry guys I'm going to have to get an answer from you". Horribly cringey viewing, and sometimes she'll go on for about 30 seconds pestering like that. Makes you wonder where the time goes when they do end a question early.

Yeah, I watched through all of the first week last Saturday (I was doing something else, honest), and it just seemed to be exactly the same as the first 'series', with no improvements whatsoever. Davina is, imo, not cut out to be a quiz host. I remember he being good on Big Brother, so clearly it's not an issue with live TV, but she's still just a bit awkward, like you say. Also the attempts to remind us that it's REAL MONEY are still utterly rubbish - it's not REAL MONEY because they haven't won it yet. Just because it's physical notes doesn't change the fact that you're essentially playing with 'game tokens' that represent the cash.

Edit: And I love how they make ~75% of all questions basically be about celebrities, even if it's hidden under a seemingly completely different category title.

Hmm the way the questions are scaled to the contestants reminds me of Bethesda video games.

This is still shit. Has Davina had a facelift?

So I've started watching the latest 'series' thanks to 4oD. Does anyone else feel like the questions have got way easier? I think every couple I've seen so far has got to question 8, and the ones I just saw win got the (imo) ludicrously easy "Which of Romeo & Juliet speaks first in the player?".

Michael Wallace wrote:So I've started watching the latest 'series' thanks to 4oD. Does anyone else feel like the questions have got way easier? I think every couple I've seen so far has got to question 8, and the ones I just saw win got the (imo) ludicrously easy "Which of Romeo & Juliet speaks first in the player?".

No doubt Michael. Not seen much of this series admittedly but from what I have they're way easier.

Don't watch it that often, but I have watched it about three times. It is very good, I think.

I've probably worded this badly, but this is a question two people just got eliminated on after spreading 1 million pounds on three answers:

What day of the week would the first day of the month have to fall on for there to be a Friday the 13th

Friday Saturday Sunday or Monday?

Craig Beevers wrote:I've probably worded this badly, but this is a question two people just got eliminated on after spreading 1 million pounds on three answers:

What day of the week would the first day of the month have to fall on for there to be a Friday the 13th

Friday Saturday Sunday or Monday?

How long do they have to answer? I got the impression that it's hardly the most fast-paced show.

Hugh Binnie wrote:

Craig Beevers wrote:I've probably worded this badly, but this is a question two people just got eliminated on after spreading 1 million pounds on three answers:

What day of the week would the first day of the month have to fall on for there to be a Friday the 13th

Friday Saturday Sunday or Monday?

How long do they have to answer? I got the impression that it's hardly the most fast-paced show.

Yea they have the answers read out slowly, then the full question is displayed and read out slowly. Then after a pause they get a minute to move the money.

Craig Beevers wrote:

Hugh Binnie wrote:

Craig Beevers wrote:I've probably worded this badly, but this is a question two people just got eliminated on after spreading 1 million pounds on three answers:

What day of the week would the first day of the month have to fall on for there to be a Friday the 13th

Friday Saturday Sunday or Monday?

How long do they have to answer? I got the impression that it's hardly the most fast-paced show.

Yea they have the answers read out slowly, then the full question is displayed and read out slowly. Then after a pause they get a minute to move the money.

Yeah, I saw this. They should have done what I did and counted. I love it when they realise it's wrong with only a few seconds left, prompting the word "Shit!" to come out of Kerry's mouth...

Also, when they went to the break immediately after, they forgot to turn Davina's mic off and you could hear her saying to them, "You were doing exactly the right thing...." Yes, but with about 3 seconds to go!

The logical thing to do is go well 1st day of the month will be the same as the 8th and the 15th etc. 15th is two days after Friday the 13th.

I could imagine a lot of people going wrong when working it out more laboriously and getting the day on the 0th of the month instead of the 1st. What the pair did on the show was a witless panic.