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Author Topic: Upcoming Game Show?  (Read 2214 times)

cyberjoek

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Upcoming Game Show?
« on: December 22, 2003, 01:30:24 PM »
Has anyone else heard about this show?
Quote
The Ultimate Challenge From TVS:
The Television Syndication Company (TVS), which has approximately 6,000 hours of international programming in its library, has secured U.S. production and distribution rights to the hit European game show that has been referred to as Intervilles, Intercities and It's a Knockout. TVS will recreate the new version of the series under the title The Ultimate Challenge, which features two teams of eight men and women who compete against each other in a series of seven challenges.
Anyone know the rules to this game?
-Joe Kavanagh

Jimmy Owen

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Upcoming Game Show?
« Reply #1 on: December 22, 2003, 02:08:26 PM »
It's a revival of "Almost Anything Goes" which ran in the summer of '75 and winter '76 on ABC.  It's more of an outdoor stunt show played on a football field.  Regis Philbin was one of the field reporters and Soupy Sales did a kid's version in the fall of '76.
Let's Make a Deal was the first show to air on Buzzr. 6/1/15 8PM.

Fedya

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Upcoming Game Show?
« Reply #2 on: December 22, 2003, 02:37:33 PM »
I remember "All-Star Anything Goes" (gosh that makes me feel old!), and when I was in Germany in 1989, saw the German version, "Spiel ohne Grenzen", which was set in the Roman amphiteater at Xanten and had stunts involving things gladiators would be expected to do.  The Roman ruins were an interesting location for a game show!

Thanks for bringing up some nice memories.  :-)
-- Ted Schuerzinger, now blogging at http://justacineast.blogspot.com/

No Fark slashes were harmed in the making of this post

dickoon

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Upcoming Game Show?
« Reply #3 on: December 22, 2003, 08:08:20 PM »
[quote name=\'Jimmy Owen\' date=\'Dec 22 2003, 08:08 PM\'] It's a revival of "Almost Anything Goes" which ran in the summer of '75 and winter '76 on ABC.  It's more of an outdoor stunt show played on a football field. [/quote]
 While both AAG and the forthcoming TUC were based on the same European original, I feel it is probably a stretch to refer to TUC as a revival - it seems most unlikely that AAG will be used as source material, that the venue will necessarily be a football field this time or that any other similarities will be more than incidental.

The rules are almost incidental to the games. I would negatively criticise the decision to have only two teams per show; the British version routinely featured three per show and the international Jeux Sans Frontieres edition was an eight-header. This is definitely a show where the chaos is part of the fun and it would be much more fun to swap between various parts of the action than to concentrate on a single game, unless it's a very good game indeed.

With two teams, the rules could be as simple as "whoever wins four events wins", though this would seem unlikely due to the possibility of a result half-way through. More likely seems a (probably not overtly) Gladiators-style system where the number of points available in each game will vary and/or there's a chance to catch up a big deficit in the final game of the show. (Balanced, as ever, by the necessity for the final game not to be excessively all-important.)

The British scoring system was simple: 3 for first, 2 for second, 1 for third. The ongoing game in which the three teams compete separately counts double. Each team gets one joker, played in advance of a game to double its score. JSF was otherwise similar except for starting at 8 for first and going down to 1 for last.

reason1024

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Upcoming Game Show?
« Reply #4 on: December 22, 2003, 08:43:48 PM »
Quote
More likely seems a (probably not overtly) Gladiators-style system where the number of points available in each game will vary and/or there's a chance to catch up a big deficit in the final game of the show. (Balanced, as ever, by the necessity for the final game not to be excessively all-important.)

Do you all think Nick's GUTS had it right with their point structure for the 'Crag?  I got the (perhaps wrong) impression that it was a little off because the scoring went something like 725-550-375.  Meaning you could really only expect to make up 100 points in a close race because the lower places, for some reason, got higher "tiebreaker digits".

Mike

Tom Hanks: "There's no crying in Jeux Sans Frontieres !!!"

dickoon

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Upcoming Game Show?
« Reply #5 on: December 22, 2003, 09:25:27 PM »
[quote name=\'reason1024\' date=\'Dec 23 2003, 02:43 AM\'] Do you all think Nick's GUTS had it right with their point structure for the 'Crag?  I got the (perhaps wrong) impression that it was a little off because the scoring went something like 725-550-375. [/quote]
 Afraid I've never seen it. :-) I've seen it listed as a UK show from time to time and I'm fully prepared to believe that it has been broadcast on the UK version of Nick.  Our family have never had Nick, though.

Sounds reasonable. I could make an obscure reference to We Are The Champions which had a vaguely similar scoring system, plus lots of bonus point opportunities. Oh look, I just have done.

Ahem,
C

PS Am most amused by the crossover mentions of German Games in the next thread along, because it lets me say things like "Peter Sarrett is! Chris Lambert". Wouldn't celebrities' favourite Time's Up! by R&R Games be adaptable into a potentially great Win, Lose or Draw-style show?

Brig Bother

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« Reply #6 on: December 23, 2003, 06:32:42 AM »
I'm fairly sure there was a GUTS UK. I can't find the review on the UKGSP, but I'm convinced I wrote one which made the point over how MAD Mike O Malley was.

The interesting thing about IAK and AAG is that the French show it's all based on, Intervilles, is actually over long and upsettingly dull. Even watching people getting chased round by a bull loses its appeal after a couple of minutes but the games seemed to last 10 minutes plus. JSF and IAK remain better shows I think.

brianhenke

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Upcoming Game Show?
« Reply #7 on: December 23, 2003, 07:27:51 AM »
There was The Grand Knockout Tournament, a version where celebrities and British royalty dressed in medieval costumes competed in games like Knock A Knight. It aired on USA in 1987. (Hey, I wrote something about it on IMDB.com!)


   Brian

   100 plus 100 equals 600?

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Speedy G

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Upcoming Game Show?
« Reply #8 on: December 23, 2003, 02:16:45 PM »
[quote name=\'reason1024\' date=\'Dec 22 2003, 08:43 PM\']Do you all think Nick's GUTS had it right with their point structure for the 'Crag?  I got the (perhaps wrong) impression that it was a little off because the scoring went something like 725-550-375.  Meaning you could really only expect to make up 100 points in a close race because the lower places, for some reason, got higher "tiebreaker digits".

Mike

Tom Hanks: "There's no crying in Jeux Sans Frontieres !!!"[/quote]
IMO, the initial idea was probably 700-500-300 or something like that in planning, but then they decided they didn't want to have a tiebreaker, so they made the change to 725-550-375.

Here's how I figure it.  If 300 is first and 100 is third in regular events, someone who is less than one "event" behind the leader (only 100 off or tied) can take it themselves by winning the crag.  Someone who is one event behind (200 or 300 off) needs help to win (namely, they can only win if they get first on the crag and the leader gets third).  Someone who is two events or more behind (400+) can't catch up to win, obviously.
Solar-powered flashlight, hour 4 of the Today show, the Purple Parrots.  *rips open envelope, blows into it*

uncamark

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Upcoming Game Show?
« Reply #9 on: December 23, 2003, 03:36:10 PM »
[quote name=\'brianhenke\' date=\'Dec 23 2003, 07:27 AM\']There was The Grand Knockout Tournament, a version where celebrities and British royalty dressed in medieval costumes competed in games like Knock A Knight. It aired on USA in 1987. (Hey, I wrote something about it on IMDB.com!)[/quote]
And based on the original "It's a Knockout" series, complete with British host Stuart Hall (who mostly got edited out of the USA version when possible--A&E aired the British version of the show some years later).

And up in Game Show Heaven, Randy would want me to mention that the Peter Gabriel song "Games Without Frontiers" (which is "Jeux Sans Frontieres" in English) has lyrical references to both the French and English titles.

"If looks could kill/They probably will/In Games Without Frontiers/War without fears..."