Family Fortunes is back

They're still finishing the main game with less than 300 points to go through to Big Money.

All Star Family Fortunes was 45 minutes with ads which I think would have worked length wise for the new FF.

Marc Sylvan composed the new arrangement and Hello Charlie created the new titles.

Do ITV/Thames not know any other music composers other than Marc Sylvan?

Hardly any entertainment is 30 mins these days. And stuff that was an hour long or 50 mins long, will about about 90 mins

45 mins is the ideal length but then you end up starting 15 mins after every other channel has started their shows, which isn’t good for ratings, hence why they’ve gone with an hour

Penny Layden was the voiceover.

Considering they haven’t really added anything much to it, I thought it worked quite well over the hour slot.

Paul Farrer is one and I believe Dobs Vye is too.

I like Gino but not sure this was the best gig for him, the pace was glacial. Didn’t seem to be much rapport there. Les and Vernon gave it such oomph back in the day and would have had some good quips. Assuming this wasn’t the first episode recorded it’ll be interesting to see how he is in later episodes. Hopefully it’ll get a decent few series run.

I noticed the odd mix of audience sound too, damn Corona. Set and titles looked nice though. Good to largely have the classic (well, classic to me) version of the theme.

It was slow but at least every contestant got to have a go unlike the 45 minute version.

This was a rush commission wasn't it? To fill holes in a pandemic stricken schedule. I don't think the original plan for 2020 would have been to bring back Family Fortunes or The Cube. It was more a case that they are entertainment formats that could be better accommodated in the current circumstances.

Obviously the atmosphere was a tad flat with no audience and also Gino had to stay well away from the families, so he barely moved from the middle of the stage, and there wasn’t the usual close hugging you get in the final round

At least with Gino hosting and it featuring normal people, it’ll stop all those quips about everything on ITV being celebs and every show being hosted by either Schofield, Ant and Dec or Stephen Mulhern

One thing that was noticeable was how most rounds seemed to have 7 or 8 Top Answers to guess, making them virtually impossible to win by playing. In the classic era (not so sure about with Vernon) it was rare to have more than 6 answers to reveal, usually reducing in number throughout the show with just 3 or 4 for the final question.

I do think also they should have gone to Double Money a round earlier (after 3 rather than 4) then for the final sixth round have Triple Money instead, and keep it simple and play with the captains.

Also considering the Vernon era show multiplied the losers money by 10 I think here they could at least give the points value in pounds to each member of the family, so effectively multiply it by five rather than double it.


P.S. As Andrew said credit for using the general public - I think that makes it so much more engaging, although we didn't really find out much about them (despite the VTs). Les especially used to be good at just having a quick chat as the game progressed, even with the pace the show moved at.