Television Gameshow Originality Deficit Challenge! (Banzai)

Member Name: robkingston

Product:	Banzai
Date:	16/11/01 (148 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Sometimes still raises a laugh, Good fun if you get some mates round to play

Disadvantages: Same old ideas, outstaying its welcome

Back in the early days of E4, us digital viewers had every right to feel a bit smug. Here was this strangely brilliant Japanese-styled gambling gameshow - and it was ours, all ours! Those analogue folk couldn't watch it - ha! - but we could get our mates round and win stacks of pound coins off them.

Times change, though. Banzai got repeated on Channel 4, word spread... and now, inevitably, a new series has appeared. The only problem is - it's not that funny any more. True, there's still the odd good idea, but they're mostly rehashes of games from the first series. The last instalment featured a variant on the "which of these five body parts belongs to the famous person?" game - this time inviting me to guess which of five penises was Adamski's. I'm sorry, but I don't pay my ITV Digital subscription for a screenful of todgers.

Oh, and Mr Shake-Hands Man. A man who tries to shake hands with celebrity interviewees for as long as possibel, with viewers betting on how long he will manage. That was funny at first, but by the end of the series the joke was definitely wearing thin. The programme makers also ran into a problem - celebrities were starting to recognise him. So what do they do? Think up a more original idea? No, get a different bloke in to do exactly the same thing. They also have a woman that does a similar thing: asks only one question and sees how long the interviewee will keep talking before they get bored and leave. Mildly amusing once, but I bet it will soon pall.

When will people realise that you can't rely on simple formulas like this and make lots of successful series? Banzai, Ali G, Trigger Happy TV - all one-trick ponies that have outstayed their welcome. This is one gambling opportunity I won't be taking in future.

Summary: