Red or Black?

Just caught the end of the first part of tonight's episode. Slight change in format I feel, contestants had to choose which boxer would get through several paper screens first. This introduced some skill and judgement in to the programme rather than just a 50/50 chance of going through to the next round.

Haven't watched it, but on the boxer bit - do they between them all have to select red and black? Or can they all say red/ all say black? If the former, then it's still a game of luck; if the latter then it can be conceded there could be some "skill" in picking red or black.

I'm just watching the first episode from Saturday and I must say it's a little disappointing. Like any programmme that's hyped so much, they never match it on screen.

For a start it's not really anything new, and I don't really care what people want the money for, I just want to be caught up in them trying to win it.... and I wasn't

The ending wasn't done that well either, for the money shot of the roulette wheel they kept cutting to odd long shots - just show the wheel and don't cut away! Oh and the new habit of ITV announcers in reading out viewers Tweets is very annoying

The best part? Turns out the first £1m winner is a convicted criminal, and now some media outlets are saying he shouldn't have been on the show and should be stripped of his winnings.

So, the Simon Cowell marketing machine springs in to action again. Is he spreading things too thinly though? Every Red or Black frontpage is a lost The X Factor front page. I just hope someone wins every night and the viewing figures go down and down. I am doing my bit to help that happen.

Replace the animatronical Ant & Dec with Jim Bowen and I'll watch.

I don't understand why ITV pay so much for Ant and Dec, only to have them present generic, forgettable dross like this.

We all know what Ant and Dec do best, and that's comedy - sketches, banter and hidden camera stunts. So why haven't they done anything like this in ages? Why are they presenting bargain basement gameshows like Red and Black, Push the Button, Pokerface etc on their golden handcuffs deal?

Surely a modern day 'Beadles About' with Ant and Dec in prosthetics and a lot of celebrity guests would be their niche?

I agree, Ant & Dec have never been suited for serious cash prize style gameshows. This sort of show should be left to the likes of Tarrant, Dermot or Davina or maybe even Richard Madeley.

The trouble is, its all down to marketing and revenue and Ant & Dec "do it" for ITV and that's all that counts these days even if the format isn't right.

Poker Face was good stuff and was there format so they didn't want anyone else taking it presumably. Of course this complimented there work on I'm a Celeb and Saturday Night Takeaway.


The trouble is, those windups started to become a bit obvious it was only a matter of time until everyone started to work them out and they started to look like Ant and Dec in prosthetics which is presumably why they stopped doing towards the end Takeaway. It might work winding up normal people and not celebs, but not sure ITV would go down that route.

Yeah it's a format that's rather limited. Saturday Night Takeaway is similar, just like Noel's House Party or Game For A Laugh before it, it's a format that eats itself as the years go on.

Back to Red or Black, I really don't think Ant & Dec are the problem. With the right format and chance to be themselves they're great, this offers them neither

The thing that struck me about some of Ant and Dec's hidden camera stunts was that many of them seemed to feature Saturday Night Takeaway's Executive Producer, the late Ed Forsdick in a leading role. Now, I am just a viewer, albeit one who is also a member of TV Forum but I spotted Ed Forsdick straight away because he was a familiar presence on The Big Breakfast. He was the only person in front of the camera that wore a suit and was referred to by Johnny Vaughan as 'our glorious leader'. If I can spot him just by seeing him on television then surely a celebrity who had appeared on The Big Breakfast or a member of the public who just watched The Big Breakfast would have spotted him too.

I believe a modern day 'Beadles About' could actually work, of course it would mean that Ant and dec would only appear at the very end, I would still like Ant and dec maybe every so still do some windup as them in the main factors. Of course some of Beadles work never worked but most of the time he was good at it.

The question has to be Why did the following never get off the ground?

* Pokerface
* Duel
* Shafted

Is Red or black getting move viewers as it being placed after X factor?