Countdown : Jeff and Rachel take over

I recommend that she cancel any foreign trips she's got planned, then.

There's a review from The Independent here:

First Night: Countdown

A modest rise in interest, but I expect viewing figures will settle down to the core support again soon.

A nice new set and some different faces, but fundamentally it's become a very tired show, but they couldn't do any more really. It's just been on TV too long.

For anybody who wants a quick reference to the various Countdown-related news stories and reviews cropping up in the popular press over the last week or so, I've been collating them in a thread on the c4countdown board

This is interesting .

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/jan/12/channel4-countdown

New Opening Titles (YouTube)

I'm surprised that no-one has mentioned Andrew Sach's wry dig at Russell Brand on yesterday's edition. During an anecdote about Andrew's National Service days, he mentioned about asking a senior officer about taking up acting instead of the trades that were on offer to him, and the officer's response:

"He said 'now go away'; except that it wasn't quite these words, but a bit ruder... however this is Countdown, not The Russel Brand Show."

Ouch!

I used to work with Nick King and I hear that he has branched out into other areas of entertainment and corporate design and is now only occassionally doing TV. As he is very much a 'Designers Designer' who has initiated and influenced many new styles of television design, I for one would like to see more of his work on TV. ( I believe that to date he has received three Awards from the Royal Television Society for Best Production Design)

Desk doesn't look like fake or real marble to me. The colour surely is part of the colour scheme??!! - suppose you liked the pink candy stripes and stained carpet Blackpool B and B look?? This set looks much more professional, slick and expensive than any before. Channel 4 have obviously spent money on the relaunch.

The new blue set is a vast improvement on the pink monstrosity they used to have, it was like something from a salon.

A bit harsh at first but a few days in it's much easier on the eye than the old stripes.

Rachel was also notably alot more relaxed yesterday - and she was notably very pleased with herself when she solved a pretty damn tough numbers game - I'm not sure Carol would have got it!

The new set is fine but perhaps they could still tone down the blue a bit in Rachel's Corner.

I would have liked to see the clock revamped, considering it's pretty much stayed the same since the mid-nineties. Although, saying that, I doubt there's much they could do with it.