In terms of drama, The Bill is an excellent example of a failed revamp
I'm not sure about that, I think people just weren't interested in it anymore. I watched 'Live by the Sword' and 'Die by the Sword' and they were excellent, very gripping.
Other examples of failed revamps could include You Bet! with Darren Day and change of theme tune
Did they change the theme tune?
Yes - for the last series in 1997, the theme tune was completely unrecognisable to the previous 9 series before it. Consequently, the programme was axed.
So, no...in response to your original question, I can't think of a show when such a high profile revamp has actually worked!
Although it was off air for a few years, what about Masterchef? And of course there is Top Gear.
A bit of a grey area but I guess good examples, though Masterchef's revamp of the revamp didn't seem to go down too well this year - though it was long overdue reformatting from a daily format to a weekly format since it moved to BBC1.
Thinking back to Saturday nights and Noel's House Party got more disastrous with each revamp towards the end, and whilst The Generation Game tweaked a few things when Jim Davidson took over, most changes I think were undone for his second season, except I think for having one behind the conveyor belt - that remained until the end I think.
Countdown survived the extension to 45 minutes too - but then again that wasn't a full scale revamp really, just an extra few rounds. Probably a few shows which revamped for their second series too and survived so long we forget the first series was different (BB USA is a good example of that), but still really can't think of any major revamp to a long running series which has turned out well.
A bit of a grey area but I guess good examples, though Masterchef's revamp of the revamp didn't seem to go down too well this year - though it was long overdue reformatting from a daily format to a weekly format since it moved to BBC1.
There was a slight negative reaction by some viewers which the press picked up on but this year's series was also the highest rated.
I'm watching Krypton on +1 now and I forgot how bad the final series was, although no discredit to Gordon Burns or Penny Smith, they shouldn't have messed with the format at all, I'm glad Krypton still gets remembered for the pre-95 series.
I was wondering what was so wrong with it as all seemed fine - and then we got to the Super Round. Not a great idea at all, and one that certainly didn't work on screen.
I'm watching Krypton on +1 now and I forgot how bad the final series was, although no discredit to Gordon Burns or Penny Smith, they shouldn't have messed with the format at all, I'm glad Krypton still gets remembered for the pre-95 series.
Was it still filmed at Quay Street? The studio looks enormous, much bigger than the Granada shows normally did.
Was it still filmed at Quay Street? The studio looks enormous, much bigger than the Granada shows normally did.
I would have thought so, although there's probably a good chance they were in the biggest studio at Quay Street for the final series of Krypton, I think that would be Studio 12, where as currently Studio 8 is used for Countdown and University Challenge, would have probably suited pre-1995 Krypton more.
I don't really like the Krypton Factor (proper). I find it all too slow and stuffy, and I don't understand all the fuss about Gordon Burns; I find him serious (which is fine) and not really charming (like Bob Holness and William G. Stewart).
A lot of the changes to the format are good. Bringing the assault course forward really sets the pace, the short contestant bios are unobtrusive, the short CGI animations make more sense than a short crap 'drama', the new mental agility round was much faster and fairer.
The set is over-elaborate though - the pod they appear from Ready Steady Cook style is needless, the seated podium is disorienting, and the buzzer area is awkwardly tight.
The general knowledge round should have been redone, perhaps they should have tried question or nominate or something.
The super round itself I found quite an interesting finale, but the scoring paying for 'advantages' made it hard to keep track of.
This is the first time I've seen the 1995 series and as a first time viewer, I really liked the super round. It seemed to me like the super round had a lot of pre-launch promotion, even in the first half Gordon and Penny used words such as "spectacular" to describe what's still to come.
With all this talk of Krypton Factor 1995, this thread seems to have overlooked the fact that Konnie 'Hook' Huq was on the second episode of Blockbusters on Saturday. She should be on at least the first Sunday episode too.
What I found most surprising was that the CA mentioned this fact before the episode aired. Most of the time the CA is very generic, "Now Blockbusters, next Dale's Supermarket Sweep and later The Krypton Factor double bill" type of thing, with no mention of Supermarket Sweep being a celebrity special and the Krypton Factor double bill being not only the 1993 final but also the start of the new (to Challenge) 1995 series. What I am saying is they very rarely mention the actual content of particular episodes of any programme. When they have tried in the past they have messed up by playing something like "The elephant sh***ing on the floor always makes me laugh" over the end of an unrelated episode of Auntie's Bloomers.
The EPG is not much better. What is the theme of 3-2-1 this week? Who are the guests? Why is the EPG entry for Bullseye the same for every episode? It doesn't even tell you if it is a Jim Bowen episode or a Dave Spikey one. See also The Crystal Maze and Richard O'Brian/Ed Tudor Pole. Episode and/or series numbers would be good too.
They can do it, Room 101 has the guest listed in the EPG and Celebrity WWTBAM tells us that former Spandau Ballet singer Tony Hadley and nature lover Bill Oddie will be appearing.
Come on Challenge. You have restored the channel to former greatness, now try improving the programme information too.
BTW, anyone else a member of Challenge's Inside the Box audience survey? Why am I being asked about Sky One's rubbish Wall of Fame each week? When do I get the opportunity to answer questions about Challenge?
