The Mirror's Jim Shelley was right.
Not - well at least not ENTIRELY - about classic UK Gameshows ("Popular, but rubbish") but this.
I watched just one of the specials, The Price Is Right, and right from the beginning I knew something wasn't right.
I get the feeling that those who were born at the beginning of the '80's or thereabouts (like myself) were unaware of how horribly tacky those gameshows of the past were.
Nostalgia, the abominable standard of most TV today, the overuse of modern technology (Satellite TV, DVDs, etc) and the large audiences of the past have allowed us to look back at Sale Of The Century, The Price Is Right, Bullseye, 3-2-1 and the rest through rose-tinted glasses. We grew up with them, so whether we like it or not, they are etched into our memories. And I will be quite happy to watch a repeat of one of those shows - even though sitting through 3-2-1 on Challenge TV recently was more of a chore than I thought.
But we don't have such tacky prizes today. Not in the era of Millionaire. And audiences seem far more - how do I put it - reserved. The screaming audience on the '80's TPiR was natural. The screaming audience of the 2005 revival seemed false.
And then we have Ant and Dec. A winning formula on kids' TV, they haven't really been as successful in the adult arena for me. Dec's attempt to host the classic TPiR game "Cliffhanger" made me cringe more than ever. On this stage, he didn't have the touch of either Brucie or the late Leslie Crowther. In a sense, I pitied him - he looked like he was trying to make the show as exciting as possible.
But it wasn't. And why? It was too long. And the producers weren't doing the show with ordinary people who truly cared about what they won, but with celebrities. Carol Vorderman looked like she'd rather be anywhere else.
Yes. Those classic game shows were junk, but they were still perfectly watchable pieces of junk that will live in my memory permanently. The Gameshow Marathon revival was junk that I'd rather forget.
Not - well at least not ENTIRELY - about classic UK Gameshows ("Popular, but rubbish") but this.
I watched just one of the specials, The Price Is Right, and right from the beginning I knew something wasn't right.
I get the feeling that those who were born at the beginning of the '80's or thereabouts (like myself) were unaware of how horribly tacky those gameshows of the past were.
Nostalgia, the abominable standard of most TV today, the overuse of modern technology (Satellite TV, DVDs, etc) and the large audiences of the past have allowed us to look back at Sale Of The Century, The Price Is Right, Bullseye, 3-2-1 and the rest through rose-tinted glasses. We grew up with them, so whether we like it or not, they are etched into our memories. And I will be quite happy to watch a repeat of one of those shows - even though sitting through 3-2-1 on Challenge TV recently was more of a chore than I thought.
But we don't have such tacky prizes today. Not in the era of Millionaire. And audiences seem far more - how do I put it - reserved. The screaming audience on the '80's TPiR was natural. The screaming audience of the 2005 revival seemed false.
And then we have Ant and Dec. A winning formula on kids' TV, they haven't really been as successful in the adult arena for me. Dec's attempt to host the classic TPiR game "Cliffhanger" made me cringe more than ever. On this stage, he didn't have the touch of either Brucie or the late Leslie Crowther. In a sense, I pitied him - he looked like he was trying to make the show as exciting as possible.
But it wasn't. And why? It was too long. And the producers weren't doing the show with ordinary people who truly cared about what they won, but with celebrities. Carol Vorderman looked like she'd rather be anywhere else.
Yes. Those classic game shows were junk, but they were still perfectly watchable pieces of junk that will live in my memory permanently. The Gameshow Marathon revival was junk that I'd rather forget.