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gadzooks! my game? It be'eth changed!

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Woo, yay! Genius Game finale! Spoilers below:

So I lost the bet. All this does is prove that Clocktower players are superior.

Okay I hate best-of-three finales. Especially for a broadcast show with a fixed runtime. You always know who has won by the end of the first game because of the episode pacing, and if someone wins early it feels like an anticlimax. If you want to have a three-part tournament, have the first two games be for winning advantages for the third and have the third be winner-takes-all. Probably not objective fact but it’s a pretty strong opinion of mine.

I did like their choice of death matches for the finale though. Same or different is the easiest to play along at home, and the golden triangle game was fun. I find betting-and-bluffing games quite boring, so for me it was the best combination.

But all in all, I’ve really enjoyed Genius Game and I’m really hoping that they’ll recommission it. Given it was a ratings flop heralded by bad reviews, it probably wont be, but they wouldn’t have ended it like that if there wasn’t a small chance, right? Right?

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Silence is Golden and one-series wonders

This week, a review of Richard Bacon's latest television experiment.

Silence is Golden asks what happens if you hear a comedian, and bribe the audience not to laugh.

The result is unsettling, discombobulating, weird. It's an interesting experiment, but not one that anyone is particularly eager to repeat.

Plus, as I've a little space to fill, a look at some recent One Series Wonders. Game shows and competitions that got through their first run, but never came back. Thanks to @partywithponies, another top idea.

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🩷💜💙 Alys Hunter🩷💜💙

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With season 7 of Game Changer, season 2 of The Devil's Plan, and season 19 of Taskmaster all coming out at the same time I simply do not know how much longer I can resist the urge to throw all my friends into an elaborate Saw trap of increasingly complex games and competitions.

For their own enrichment, of course.

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Just got hit with a sudden wave of nostalgia for Beat the Brain (2015). I hold fond memories of watching it and trying to play along while my younger sister tried to steal the remote so she could watch the Danger Mouse reboot.

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Episode 6 of the Genius Game has topped episode 3 for my favourite episode. The main match was good, maybe could have been better if played earlier on in the series, and the death match was excellent. Spoilers in the tags.

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Today, they've been asked to bring in the thing that least suits its name if you shout it loudly while we're all looking at it on the screen.

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Favourite moments from Genius Game episode 5

Ben and Bex playing “don’t listen to them, listen to me” with Bodalia.

Charlotte’s one-sided nemesis-ship with Ken.

Alison’s game face

The tragic comedic timing of Ben walking in the second after Ken bad-mouths him.

Pretty golden animals :)

Not as bad as episode 4 but not quite as good as episode 3

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Mixed feelings about the episode 4 Death Match. On one hand, it isn’t a test of the players’ own ability. On the other hand, it technically is, but in a way that undermines the game’s core premise. This is not tactical rock-paper-scissors, it’s a popularity contest the players didn’t know they were in until it was too late. There is no time for tactics except the ones you already had. From an objective standpoint, this game could be a wonderful twist to pull on a cut-throat but too-brilliant-to-fail player. From a subjective standpoint, it doesn’t work for me.

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Claire Hooper's House of Games; and Genius Game

Take Richard Osman's House of Games, then remove Richard Osman. Replace him with a sharp-witted standup comedian, and invite various ABC (Australia) celebrities. What do you get?

Claire Hooper's House of Games, a familiar take on the BBC show, but with questions localised.

And a few interesting production decisions - they play "Correction Centre" every day, the pace is even slower than our version, and "Name Tag" is not the first round on an episode.

But they've kept the heart of the programme, and it's not at all bad.

ITV's Genius Game was Ben's Game Replacement Railroad Service, strategically nerfing the game so that he could survive for today. But at what cost with the rest of the group?

Plenty of sliding doors moments, the paths not quite taken, people are still giving Ben his head.

And a tribute to Father Ted. Rink! Eck!

And, yes, I did investigate whether the clues provided were sufficient to identify the word; three possibilities remain from the most common ten-letter words.

http://www.ukgameshows.com/ukgs/Weaver%27s_Week_2025-05-11

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I've been thinking about the concept of the 'forwards tests' from various Mol-Shows, and I believe that a similar concept could work really well as a main match for Genius Game.

Picture this: David Tennant asks the contestants if they've had the foresight to be paying attention, as they're about to be quizzed on the events of the game. 20 multiple choice questions, highest scorer gets the Token of Life, lowest scorer is the death match candidate, ties are sorted by completion time etc, etc. Cut to a montage of the contestants completing the quiz in the Dealer's Room, plus flashbacks to the correct answers. Which player has held the most Tokens of Life? How many vowels were in the code word from Code Breakers? Take the number of zombies at the end of Zombie Game from the number of players who took gold in round 2 of Gold Heist. Y'know, things like that.

Then they reach question 11. Question 11 did not happen. None of the rest of the questions have happened. Yet.

They answer them as best they can, then return to the main set, which meanwhile has been kitted up with a series of mini escape-room-style challenges, the reward for completing them being Garnets. They are also the subjects of questions 11-20. The contestants now have to dually play the puzzle game of earning Garnets and the social game of manipulating the other players into making events unfold in such a way that their answers are correct.

I just think it would be pretty fun to play and watch, and hard for one person to completely steamroller.

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Episode three of the Genius Game has been my favourite so far, I spent the whole main match chanting "betray him, betray him" and the death match game was so good.

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Consider

Obi-Wan 7yo, wakes up from naptime in the creche after a Very Important Vision

Immediately skips bail to go out into the temple proper, following whispers of the force (more like cackling lmao) till he gets to a training salle

Training salle is occupied by 15-18yo padawans in the middle of practice, one of which being Kelleran Beq, The Sabered Hand, who is a cheerful teen who wants to be a creche master after he’s knighted

Of course an unaccompanied initiate in the salles is always a cause for concern, so Kelleran comes over to coax the boy into telling him why he’s wandered off

Obi: I’m going with you next month when you go to the production studios for your first filming of the Jedi Temple Challenge

Is questioned on if his creche master just told him that??

Nah he saw it in a dream

Cool cool cool Kelleran LOVES the possessed ones, they’re so cute

Asks kiddo why he thinks he’s going with

Cause Obi-Wan needs an escort to audition for the next season of Sesame System, a show that teaches children and reduces the galaxy’s gap of learning between the poor and the rich, so he can teach the galaxy about what it’s like to be a Jedi!

Okay okay that’s chill lil buddy, Kelleran will be in the production studio anyways cause they’re in the same place

Turns out the REAL Jedi Temple Challenge was the 10 under 10s Kelleran got to help wrangle along the way

Not fully sure where this is going other than Jango Fett (only 3 years older here and not 6) ending up on the same season of Sesame System only for him and Jaster (who’s also got the exact same goals of endearing the public to Mandalorians and is using the show to help point out the Mandalorian kids shows the galaxy can show their kids too, while Obi is pointing at Jedi Temple Challenge) to immediately decide that’s a prime little buddy and now they wanna keep him

The temple settles on a middle ground of letting them babysit Obi sometimes by sticking him in Mando production studios

Kelleran is very worried about baby getting kidnapped by the prince of Mandalore but accepts that Obi also really likes the prince they’re vode now

I. Fucking. Love. Childrens early educational shows and stuff like that. And I want to write an entire series about the shows the Jedi and Mandos could put out to endear themselves to the galaxy and it’s basically propaganda but not bad because the Sith could never get a foothold because Jedi are just sweet little guys with god powers what’s not to love lol

And then the ideas combined in my head when this last Mando episode reminded me of Jedi Temple Challenge (I never actually watched it but I did overall hear about it when it aired) and I decided Kelleran needs to make my dumb ideas a reality.

Obi’s master is a Jedi who’s been doing acting their whole life too but it can’t be Mace because Mace is a theater kid and not a kids show kid he needs a less theatric and more educational master 😔

Ani ends up being on a couple seasons of Sesame System (I specifically chose this as a parody idea because I have BEYOND respect for Sesame Street and I truly believe in the power of kindness and friendship the show likes to give us) when Obi-Wan first finds him and Ani is really nervous at first but they let him rant about sand on the show so they’re chill now

Qui-Gon is not Obi’s master but he DID get wrangled into taking Kelleran and the kids to the studio (it’s in fairly neutral area on a station, but around a planet for outdoor scenes because it’s just easier for legal reasons) and that led to them missing the Telos mission and Xanatos got therapy instead and Qui-Gon isn’t an asshole cause he’s still got his kids

Shmi works on the production station

More kids shows in fantasy and sci-fi settings plz.

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I am really loving Genius Game. I love the set design (the main chamber is very Whittaker!TARDIS and the breakout rooms are my dad’s taste in decor) (that’s a good thing for me). I love the challenges (They appeal to the BOTC player in me and I love zombie theming)(I am getting a bit of a ted-ed riddle vibe though). And while there are a couple of contestants that don't quite compell me, I’d say it was well cast. It probably helps that I was already familiar with two of the contestants, Charlotte from the Lateral podcast and Ken from BOTC.

I do think they're misusing David Tennant though. I believe his main appeal is his energy and dynamism, and sticking him behind a desk and a screen only diffuses that. I know he's the big name to draw in the crowds, but the way they're using him doesn't exactly lure the layperson into sticking around. They've also made a massive blunder with the scheduling (I would have personally tried the Monday 8-9pm slot to scoop the Only Connect fans on the off season) and I feel like the music is somewhat lacking.

I really hope it gets a second series so I can apply but I can’t shake the growing feeling it’s more cult classic than mainstream hit, and might not make it that far.

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Oh? What's this? Every episode of the show on dailymotion?