The Weakest Link - US Reboot

Some interesting news emerged earlier in the week about the US revival of The Weakest Link.

Anne Robinson is being played by Jane Lynch and has been reimagined as an American. In the preview I think it's fair to say she does a pretty good job.

According to BuzzerBlog the strongest link gains immunity in each round. Voting occurs after the discussion so tactics can be discussed. The target also increases with each round with the potential jackpot still being $1,000,000.

Questions will also be on the screen for the first time, not sure that visual element is really needed for a quick fire quiz. Picture questions are in the mix too.

As well as format changes it sees the biggest changes to the look of any version as far as I can tell, brining it up to date. In the past international versions have been more or less identical to either the UK primetime or daytime versions or a combination of the two.

Paul Farrer has apparently done the music as well. So it's likely to be a reworking of the original.



I could see any potential UK revival taking on many of these new ideas and I think it's very likely if this is successful.

It looks really good!

Shame it's not faithful to the original. I think the original graphics/music/studio combination worked well and made it even more tense than it was already.

Don’t forget the show didn’t last that long in the states originally a couple of years in prime time with Anne then a couple syndicated seasons. I saw BuzzerBlog say something about “adapting it properly for the American market this time”. Personally I’ve always felt the format has always felt like it’s missing something, and that it always gets less interesting as the game goes on. So hopefully this version fix some of the issues of the format rather than creating more.

Very interesting.

I think the rudeness of Anne has been toned down a tad with Jane. She's even cracking a smile in places. Americans didn't really take to a sharp, rude unfamiliar brit, even if Anne did get into the act perfectly from a brit's POV.

Will be interesting to see if it's successful state side and if it could be considered for a revival here. Though we can say goodbye to the $1 Million top prize, and I'm not sure Anne would be interested in reviving it given she's in her Mid 70's. But she did do it for Children in Need 3 years ago, so who knows!

From memory I don’t think many international versions of the show lasted that long, it was one of those formats that felt strikingly new for a time but burned out quickly - I keep forgetting it lasted so long in this country, but it did change a fair bit to a much more cuddly “nicer” show by the end.

The very earliest episodes were genuinely hilarious to me as a kid, Anne practically snarled instead of spoke - hissing the words “Weakest Link” like a snake, regularly calling the team “pathetic”, even shouting “TOO LATE!!” if someone tried banking the money once the question had been asked. The extremely drawn out final round with her taking an age to ask each question was also something dropped quickly. It did lose something when it all softened in later years, and by 2012 the daytime quiz market had moved on to newer shows.

I dare say Anne Robinson being mean to the contestants today would upset the so-called snowflake generation. "She said I was a useless chiropractor, that comment hurt me, can we sue the BBC?"

It also led to that brief “nasty host” craze circa 2001 when various shows tried to copy the formula, notably Alistair Stewart in the long-forgotten Carlton show ‘King of the Castle’ and Ulrika Jonsson in Dog Eat Dog.

Similar to the 2006-7 craze of Deal or No Deal copycats based on luck formats and everyone doing their best Noel Edmonds impressions, the most amusing being Channel 5’s ‘In The Grid’ - hosted by a post-Extras Les Dennis - with contestants pretending they have a good feeling about Row E, Column 5.

I have to say, that as a die-hard fan of the show in the very early days, I am REALLY looking forward to this. The choice of host is absolutely brilliant, the set and the graphics look great, and I think this'll be a hit.

I reckon there's only two people that could host a UK revival... Kay Burley or Robert Rinder.

"Fred.. Who is..."
"Bank."
"TALKING!"

It's basically Sue Sylvester hosting without the Adidas tracksuit. I hope this does take off and does well.

Actually looking forward to watching it when it premieres.

Agreed. Any of those 2 as host would work really well.

I've always thought German chancellor Angela Merkel could have been a perfect host of TWL. I know she doesn't speak a word of English and is rather busy with the day job, but had she found herself at a loose end work wise...and could speak English she could of/would of been a great host of the show!!

If TWL does come back in the UK (and why not...Millionaire has had a highly successful reboot under Clarkson) and the BBC's Pointless is starting to become same old same old now....clearly just waiting for either host to call it a day then the Beeb will wind the show down just like TWL when Anne had had enough, I think a daytime Weakest Link reboot should be considered. Elements of the new stuff from the U.S. reboot but with the well know UK style logo, music, set etc.

Maybe the BBC could wheel Anne out for the odd saturday night primetime ep here and there, while a daytime reboot with another host who can hack the intense filming for hundreds of eps runs on daytime BBC2?

Another thought....BBC 2 should roll out some daytime repeats to test the audience water to see if anyone watches. Challenge seems to be happy looping 120 eps of Series 10 for about the 4th time now since they acquired it this time last year.