Part of the reason why I started this blog was to share my opinions and reviews of certain things, both good and bad. I also live giving these kinds of things creative names and taglines, so negative reviews will be written about under the "Absolute Rubbish" name. Here comes the first Absolute Rubbish review.
I like game shows. If done correctly, they can be fun, entertaining, and even suspenseful. The same can be said about virtually any type of TV show. The point being, if they keep us interested, we will watch these shows in droves.
Occasionally, you get a game show with a good concept and format that suffers from numerous problems. An example of that is The Million Pound Drop Live, which is on Britain's Channel 4.
Channel 4 has a history of having some great, award winning game shows on their schedule. Recent examples include the long-running Countdown, which holds the distinction of being the very first program broadcast on the channel when it launched in 1982. Another example is ratings powerhouse Deal or No Deal, fronted by veteran British TV and radio personality Noel Edmonds. What sets The Million Pound Drop Live apart from these shows is that the latter actually don't suck.
On paper, MPD sounds like a pretty simple concept. Contestants are spotted with £1 million in bundles of £25,000. The object of the game is the attempt to keep as much of that money as possible by answering a series of eight multiple-choice trivia questions. The contestants place can place the money on as many answers as desired, based upon how sure they are of the answer(s) being correct. After the money is placed, trap doors open up under the incorrect answers. Obviously, any money that's placed on a wrong answer is literally dropped out of the game, and subtracted from the original million. If there's any money left after that, play continues. The eighth and final question is all-or-nothing, as all of the remaining money must be placed. The number of possible answers decreases after every few questions, increasing both the risk and difficulty of the game.
The show is presented live, and some of the questions asked reflect this. In addition, people can play along online while the show is on. Based on what I've read, contestants were selected via Facebook and Twitter. This, in effect, is also how the show is promoted.
As interesting as this all seems, there has been only one winner out of the six shows that have been aired thus far (a total of seven episodes will air). Everyone else failed miserably. One contestant was also stupid enough to lose the entire million pounds on the very first question. This exposes three major flaws with the show. One, the contestants chosen don't appear to be very intelligent; two, the contestants aren't playing conservatively, and three, no one is going to watch a show where people keep winning nothing. Had I been playing, I'd have placed smaller bets on each answer. As for the final question, that would have been a difficult decision. I'm not used to taking such large risks. The sole winners (contestants either play alone or in pairs) managed to win only £75,000 of the original million. That's rather pathetic, considering they could have won thousands more if they had done a better job of keeping their money safe.
In short, The Million Pound Drop Live suffers because of the casting. Sure, the format is pretty good, but the casting department obviously didn't do a good job, since there has been only one winner in six nights. The producers must be happy; they've been able to save the show's budget on numerous occasions. Casting was one of many issues behind the cancellation of NBC's Deal or No Deal, as the contestants on that show were complete idiots. I wonder if The Million Pound Drop Live will get any more winners. It remains to be seen, but given the show's track record thus far, I'm not very optimistic about it.
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