Krypton back-tor!
Thursday, September 25, 2008 by Graham Kibble-White
ITV1 has just announced the return of The Krypton Factor.
Gordon Burns: "What day is 10 days before March 3rd?"
The show, which was cancelled in 1995, will have benefited from a “21st century makeover” when it airs next year.”The Krypton Factor is one of the most iconic shows on television and we’re delighted to bring it back to the channel,” says John Kaye Cooper, ITV’s Controller of Entertainment.
Claire Horton, ITV Productions’ Controller of Entertainment added: “We are taking a brilliant format and bringing it bang up to date with state of the art technology. We look forward to getting some brilliant contestants who viewers will really get behind.”
No news yet of who will step into Gordon Burns’ shoes.
Why not Gordon Burns? He’s still around, introducing Northwest Tonight nightly. I heard he fronted the pilot too.
It’ll probably be Steve Ryder. Haven’t ITV got to find something for him to do?
“21st century makeover”
I’ve got a bad feeling about this…
Perhaps the assault course will be replaced by an event where the contestants have to fit through holes in an advancing polystyrene wall, else be forced into a swimming pool.
I wonder if they’ll re-use the Art of Noise theme?
“bringing it bang up to date with state of the art technology”. Didn’t they do that in the 1990s, and it was rubbish?
And yes, it has to be Gordon “Frequently cameo’d on Mark and Lard’s show” Burns
Ooh, few stories could arouse such a mixture of happiness and trepidation. I do hope they take heed of the cautionary tale of THAT final series of Krypton, where they “Brought it bang up to date with state of the art technology”, and the result was a near-unwatchable pile of old crap.
I’d better get some training in – “On a standard clock face, what number is 3 places from the number opposite the 7 in an anti-clockwise direction?”
Well, if they’re clever enough to bring this great show back, hopefully they won’t be so stupid as to re-use the failed format that killed the show in the first place.
I’m hoping the “makeover” merely refers to a visual update of the look and feel rather than anything else.
I always thought that someone should bring it back. But I thought it would be the Beeb with Adrian Chiles on duty… What’s next? Busman’s Holiday?!
Mmm, it’s great news, but I think it says something about the state of ITV that we’re all suggesting it’s likely to be rubbish before they’ve even done anything yet…
“21st Century Makeover”. Uh oh, that sound ominous right from the start. x.x
As for the presenter, if they can’t get gordon burns how’s about gordon brown hehe :) !
ljones
Says in the paper that Ben Shepherd’s going to do it, thanks to his combination of “brains and good looks”. Hmm.
Bet loads of youngsters tune in thinking its a spin-off of ‘The X Factor’.
Krypton Factor’s not the only thing coming back – Five are bringing back Going for Gold in October, apparently going out live.
I’m not sure that Going for Gold needs to be live but it was a good quiz all in all, a version of which is still running in prime time on French TV, complete with the same buzzer sounds and broadly similar graphics that we were used to back in the late 1980s.
Mind you, they also had a cracking version of Wheel of Fortune every night at 7pm which was a much more free-wheeling version that run to 45 minutes and had a host who was happy to play around with the format and give the contestants some more air time without it being too annoying.
Can you tell where I went on holiday last week? I did get out as well but a quick blast of La Roue de la Fortune while getting ready to go out of an evening became a bit of a habit.
Oh no, French gameshows are almost uniformly great – they had a cracking version of Deal or No Deal as well, much less serious than ours, although also actually quite a bit meaner – their banker is more of a bastard than ours. It was axed but they’re bringing it back. And Fort Boyard is still going almost twenty years after it started and is massively important and influential (albeit less so these days).
Some other formats from Europe would do enough. Its just they have not been explored, how about Dhalli Dhalli or Ruck Zuck anyone?
Ruck Zuck? Bruce Forsyth’s Hot Streak!
Bloody thing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1pey5bK8q8