OAP Cheersquad (Fun House)

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Product:	Fun House
Date:	02/10/00 (169 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Something for everyone (if you're still at school)

Disadvantages: Presenting Team is dated - needs some new life.

Funhouse is a Children's ITV gameshow that has been going strong for about 10 years now, possibly more. Pat Sharp has presented throughout, with and without his horrendous hair (sorry, I couldn't leave it out). Fun House has a great formula for a children's TV programme, because it is aimed at both boys and girls and appeals to a wide age range.

The contestants are usually around 13, so older kids don't think it's too babyish for them, and there's always a boy and a girl in each team. It also starts after 4pm - late enough for children coming home from school.

The set is visually appealing - bright primary colours and big bold shapes make the screen attractive for young viewers - the kind of thing that catches your eye as you're flicking through the channels.

There are messy games involving paint and gunge, which appeal to younger viewers. There's the competitive edge, so anyone watching can cheer for one of the two teams playing. There's a racing round, the "Grand Prix", where the contestants drive Go-Karts round collecting tokens. This provides the sporty element.

Of course, the best part of the whole programme is the final, where the winning pair get to run round the colourful Fun House. They take it in turns to collect green tags, each with a different prize printed on it. Once three have been collected, the first player runs out and the other one enters to find the next three tags and so on. It's also the part of the programme where a million ten year olds throughout the country are yelling at their TVs - "There!! It's THERE!! You just ran right past it you nitwit! Don't go down that slide!! Go up the rope ladder!! What are you DOING???"

And things like that.

Because we at home can all see where those green tags are lying, with the prize names printed across them. None of your rubbishy T-shirt and fountain pen prizes, mind - these are pri
zes that every viewer dreams of winning. There are helicopter rides, cameras, sports gear, art sets...you name it, they've been giving it away. This is another very attractive feature of the show - there are at least a dozen prizes, and there's something for everyone, so each viewer can mentally choose which prize they would go for.

This was one of my favourite shows as a child, so I'm not really surprised it's still going strong. Although there is no current series (October 2000), I'm pretty confident that we've not heard the last of the Fun House. Just one gripe though. The pom-pom twins, Melanie and Martine, are about 40 now - isn't it time they hired some fresh faced cheerleaders?

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