BR
Now, it's not unusual for shows to be tweaked in their second series to iron out a few problems - and it's not exactly rare for a complete revamp either - but Codex have made a complete hash of it.
For those that don't know it's a history game show based at the British Museum, filmed during the night.
In the first series a team of five or six would move through various galleries, completing challenges in each to reveal two letters of the codex. One person was eliminated in each round, and then in the final round the losers would return to decipher the "Codex" (a phrase where symbols of the Codex represent letters) and help the winner identify a specific object.
The first series was compared by many to The Crystal Maze - although completely different there were definite similarities. However, the second has turned into a run of the mill history panel show.
There are now two teams of three competing for a Codex cube. Most of the show is filmed in a studio at the museum, rather than the museum itself - with recorded VTs used to introduce contents of the gallery (to the viewer) and a couple of rounds where one person goes to a specific exhibition to answer questions on an object.
They earn points in each round - and then in the final round their points act as a countdown for them to answer 5 questions in, with the team with the highest score then winning £3000.
Now, not all that bad a format - but the "Codex" aspect on which the show is named is completely gone. And frankly, so is the play along aspect so that non-History buffs like myself can feel a bit intelligent by picking up the clues as you go along - and even cracking the Codex.
Frankly, it would be like The Crystal Maze returning - but without any crystals or the Crystal Dome.
For those that don't know it's a history game show based at the British Museum, filmed during the night.
In the first series a team of five or six would move through various galleries, completing challenges in each to reveal two letters of the codex. One person was eliminated in each round, and then in the final round the losers would return to decipher the "Codex" (a phrase where symbols of the Codex represent letters) and help the winner identify a specific object.
The first series was compared by many to The Crystal Maze - although completely different there were definite similarities. However, the second has turned into a run of the mill history panel show.
There are now two teams of three competing for a Codex cube. Most of the show is filmed in a studio at the museum, rather than the museum itself - with recorded VTs used to introduce contents of the gallery (to the viewer) and a couple of rounds where one person goes to a specific exhibition to answer questions on an object.
They earn points in each round - and then in the final round their points act as a countdown for them to answer 5 questions in, with the team with the highest score then winning £3000.
Now, not all that bad a format - but the "Codex" aspect on which the show is named is completely gone. And frankly, so is the play along aspect so that non-History buffs like myself can feel a bit intelligent by picking up the clues as you go along - and even cracking the Codex.
Frankly, it would be like The Crystal Maze returning - but without any crystals or the Crystal Dome.
They've all but given up on US imports anyway with only a handful left who's slots can be easily filled. Five will have bigger problems and Sky will be the ones who find themselves well and truly fu**ed.