Challenge - June 2016 onwards

And to think back with Sky took over the channel all those new shows which appeared, but of course for every Blockbusters 1st series or Countdown or even Bobs full house you need lots of chase and millionaire to bring in the ad money.


Challenge

w/e 25 Dec 2016

7 day data (000s) 28 day data (000s)
1 THE CHASE (FRI 2101) 195
2 THE CHASE (TUE 2102) 167
3 THE CHASE (THU 2101) 154
4 THE CRYSTAL MAZE: CHRISTMAS SPECIALS (FRI 1802) 151
5 BULLSEYE (FRI 2300) 147 n/a
6 THE CRYSTAL MAZE: CHRISTMAS SPECIALS (TUE 1800) 144
7 BULLSEYE (SUN 2132) 141
8 WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE: SPECIAL (FRI 2201) 140
9 THE CHASE (SUN 1401) 140
10 CATCHPHRASE (SAT 1651) 139

Even though Challenge is filled to the brim with The Chase and Pointless repeats on primetime, I have to give Sky credit; it at least allows them to invest in the archive.

They've also invested more into the channel than what VMTV did, I recall not seeing a single Challenge trailer throughout 2010 - on Virgin1 at least (pretty sure that was the case on Living and Bravo as well). Which begs the question; was there a serious lack of commitment at the time, like running down the channel with a lack of new content? Probably being curious here.

In the last year or so there has been the dearth of budget for new shows (ie not the ancient shows), Wrestle Talk TV, Videogame Nation and TNA were decommissioned. Even game shows commissions have stopped.

The problem with the funding for Challenge is they have been vulnerable to the cutbacks at whoever owns it. Virgin Media cutbacks occurred at the last recession (they closed down Trouble). Sky has been hit hard by the overspending of the footie rights and for the this reason they have been cutting costs like diverting investment from Challenge. This move has led the changes to the Facebook team resulting in being selective in being responding to the Facebook replies.

With the Fox takeover of Sky looking likely they might want to totally freshened up Challenge. Until then it's stuck in the same rut which might get worst once the Challenge promos stop again.

Lets be fair here, Yes sky may have cut back but its no where near the dreadful leavels of Virgin. I do wonder what would have happened to Challenge and the others if Roger Luard had never died when he did.

The 3.30pm episode of Wheel of Fortune was the first one from 1994 with the revamped set. The star prize for 1994 series guaranteed taking both £20,000 and the car. I thought giving away two star prizes together was a good idea, why did it change it for 1995 series?

EDIT: Actually the jackpot prize for 1994 series was £10,000.

What was the prize in 1995?

I think the limit on prizes was still £20k in the early 90s but they may have been allowed to give away prizes on top of a cash prize, hence it being £20k and a car. Worth noting that prize is actually higher than many gameshow prizes around today - we seem to have gone back to a maximum of around the £25k mark with recently launched gameshows.

£20,000 and a car.

I didn't know they'd bought those series of Wheel Of Fortune- I was only aware of them having series 1-4 (1988-92), and the Bradley Walsh series (1997). In fact looking at it they're also showing Series 7 (1991-92) of Strike It Lucky as I speak- which I also didn't know about. Looks like there are still a few gems in the schedule. Seems like I need to keep my eyes peeled a bit more!

In fact one interesting thing about Series 7 of Strike It Lucky was they introduced a new set for Series 6- then went back to the original for series 7 for whatever reason.

Was Series 6 the one with the awful brown set? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUbBiTw_s8M

Yes, that's the one! Presumably they must have still had the original in storage to have gone back to it for the next series- which they stuck with until the end of Strike It Lucky in 1994 (when it became Strike It Rich they revamped everything completely).

Another thing I remember from a few years back, someone uploaded an episode of the show that they were on, and in the comments told us they never actually got the "prizes" they won, just the cash equivalent.

You can also tell how the buttons under the screens are just dummies as quite often it gets activated before the constestant een presses it.

Series 7 of Strike It Lucky as aired on Challenge has the biggest/fattest cue-dot I think I've ever seen on any programme ever. What the heck were Thames feeding it?

Its Challenge birthday this coming Friday. Its had plenty of ups and downs, I wonder if anyone will be said on screen.