I love this show too and I think Anne is hysterical. She has some great
writers and her delivery is just tits. I like it more than Regis' show, but
I have only seen it about 3 times now. I am so bad about watching TV, I
don't even watch my own show more than half the time.
Michael (relishing a martini after a VERY good massage {LIFE *CAN* be good})
on 8/14/01 10:12 AM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> One consequence of being ill and not having much energy is that I'm watching
> FAR too much telly. One of my shameful secrets is that, despite my loathing
> of a lot of trashy telly, I love the Weakest Link. There's something about
> the form of this show that just works perfectly, and Anne Robinson is the
> ideal hostess.
>
> Anyway, they've been showing the US version of the show for the last couple
> of weeks, and some major differences have come up, which may or may not cast
> an interesting light on the differences of those on either side of the pond.
> I present them as I see them, no judgments should be inferred!
>
> (1) Money: the maximum possible prize in the UK is fairly piddling 10,000
> pounds, with the average actual prize being around 2 grand, roughly 3
> thousand bucks I think. In the US it's a cool million top prize, and the
> actual awards can be between 50K and 80K. Still, it's not hard to see why:
> our humble show is on the BBC, while the US is on some big commercial
> channel. Stakes is high...
>
> (2) Some of the blatant cabals that arise are astonishing to this innocent
> Brit. A couple of days ago, three of the contestants had got together and
> conspired to vote everyone else off, regardless of their performance, and
> (presumably) share the spoils. I say chaps, that's just not cricket!
> Wouldn't get our chaps over here getting up to such skulduggery, etc etc...
>
> (3) When people on the UK show are asked their reasons for voting off
> whomever they've nominated, they usually make an effort to sugar the pill, eg
> "I'm afraid he had a bad round there" or "she hasn't been very good
> throughout", sometimes adding "he's a lovely bloke but..." The US
> contestants, well, they approach things differently, being generally pretty
> brutal in dismissing their opponents.
>
> (4) The biggest difference is when the people who've been voted off give
> their comments - man are they bad losers! Even when they have been clearly
> the worst player they mostly refuse to acknowledge it, and spit venom at
> their vanquishers. Sometimes the Brits do that to, but I'd say that
> generally the Brits are more gracious losers. Finally, I can say
> unequivocally that the men are far worse losers than women!
>
> What can it possibly mean? Probably not much, except that I've got too much
> time on my hands right now...
>
> Azeem in London
>
> NP: Still the Pretenders - How Much Did You Get For Your Soul - this swipe at
> celebrity advertising and black performers "selling out" (and particularly
> Michael Jackson I would guess) still packs a punch.
