Knightmare Geek Week Extended Episode
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The intro is actually only about 20 seconds shorter by my reckoning. It's about 5% less.
As for the name, it was being used for exactly what the name suggests and still might be.
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Challenge probably aren't big enough.
The only thing I recall hearing about the whole process was that one of the networks cited fans' criticism of the geek week episode as the reason for their lack of interest.
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And that is why I still stand by what I say. That 4 people from the forum should have got the chance to be part of it. No disrespect to Dan, Phil, Emma and Stuart but looking at the comments on the gw episode, a lot of people were not interested in Knightmare itself, just them. The episode should have been about Knightmare first and foremost.
So in my opinion the focus ended up on the youtubers instead of Knightmare. Which is why there was so much negativity.
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And that is why I still stand by what I say. That 4 people from the forum should have got the chance to be part of it.
I completely disagree, but the point is moot.
A pilot was only able to be produced because Google wanted to commission an episode of Knightmare. Google insisted on using the YouTubers. Therefore, the pilot also had to make use of them as the contestants. Short of handing Tim £100k, it's that or nothing.
But that point notwithstanding, it's an entirely sensible tactic to make use of four well-known geeks in order to draw an audience in to your pilot and get the audience interested in what could be a new show. And people DID become interested as a result.
No disrespect to Dan, Phil, Emma and Stuart but looking at the comments on the gw episode, a lot of people were not interested in Knightmare itself, just them.
I see plenty of people excited in seeing Dan and Phil (in particular). But most of those people also clearly found the show exciting. I have yet to see a comment that puts forward the message "That was crap, but I loved seeing Dan and Phil". The YouTubers were clearly the reason that many people saw the episode (even though, actually, the video was posted on Ashens channel, whose demographic is almost identical to that of Knightmare).
But given that had the desired effect of pulling people in and getting a bunch of people excited about a possible show that they otherwise never would have heard of, who cares? Networks certainly don't. They want to commission shows that people will watch. Whether people watch the show because it's "Dan and Phil" or because it's "Knightmare" doesn't matter to them at all. But it DOES matter in terms of getting a big enough audience that would make networks sit up and listen. Knightmare on its own wouldn't have done that. It's been tried before.
So I ask myself - if the choice was between "no more Knightmare" or "Knightmare featuring YouTubers as contestants", which would I pick?
I confess that I always choose the latter.
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I think I'd choose the latter too, at least the YouTubers fans will at least know the show exists ^_^
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What I'm trying to say is most of the negativity came because of Dan, Phil, Emma and Stuart. Whether that's right or not is up for debate. I don't think they were bad personally. I did think they were ok.
Of course I would watch Knightmare with youtubers. However, some people were watching it purely for them and NOT Knightmare. Which I find wrong.
If you say the networks lack of interest was due to the criticism, would this have happened if the youtubers were not used and instead 4 people picked at random? It's not their fault but unfortunately some people did not like them. This gave the wrong impression of what the geek week episode was meant to be about for me and the focus was lost on some of the people.
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If you say the networks lack of interest was due to the criticism, would this have happened if the youtubers were not used and instead 4 people picked at random?
No, the criticism would be that not enough people were interested, which is a much stronger criticism.
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No, the criticism would be that not enough people were interested, which is a much stronger criticism.
That may be the case. But I'm just referring to the comment you made regarding the networks lack of interest due to the fans criticism of the episode.
I don't think you can gauge whether there is sufficient interest in the pilot just on a youtube video. Then again, there was a vast majority of likes on the video so you could argue why do networks not refer to this instead of using comments as a gauge.
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Because they receive thousands and thousands of commission requests.
They're LOOKING for a reason to say 'no'.
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Using Youtubers as a way of drawing attention to a pilot is a great idea. Lots of people have now watched KM who would otherwise never have heard of it. If the pilot worked, people will have fallen for the format and be wanting more - format being the operative word.
Surely, as a commissioner, the feedback you're really interested in is what the new audience thinks of the format, rather than what the old audience thinks of the Youtubers.
If not, KM could be picked up by a network which doesn't really understand what makes the show tick and that doesn't bode well for a longer term comeback. Shows should have high ratings because they're good, not because viewers are chasing personalities around their various projects. An idealistic view I know, but KM is so precious that it should be treated with the utmost care and respect - do it properly or not at all! Citing negative feedback of Youtubers as a reason not to commission perhaps demonstrates that the network had no faith in the underlying format and the last thing we want is the input of a network which doesn't really believe in KM but thinks people will watch it if the right celebs are involved.
And personally, a KM which doesn't accept applications from members of the public will never be on my wish list. Kids should watch the show and think 'I want to be on Knightmare' not 'I want to be a Youtuber'.
That all said, I feel a bit of a dinosaur writing this - but I refer you to my second paragraph!
Anyway, good to see the extended geek week ep again! It does make me think that this sort of 'webisode' could increase KM's marketability by getting round the rolling format which many commissioners dislike i.e. without the restriction of a TV schedule episode length can vary and therefore each episode can be an entire quest, no matter how successful. The drawback is that the length of the video would, to a certain extent, give the game away!
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I would have hoped that a programme commissioner wouldn't have considered feedback that related to the YouTubers, who presumably wouldn't be part of the show on a regular basis.
But I also would have hoped that fans of the show wouldn't have shown themselves to being so sensitive to something as trivial as who the contestants are. If you really watch the episode, critically, they don't take much away from the show. They make the odd comment that shows that they don't take their involvement all that seriously, and I think that's what jars with some of the hardcore fan base.
But as a programme commissioner, I would be worried that the hardcore fan-base would turn into an organised hate group as a result of changes that would have to be made to the show. Like it or not, the networks do not seem to want a carbon copy of Knightmare, so if it ever comes back, something is going to have to change. By showing ourselves to be so inflexible, I think we damage our chances of the show ever coming back.
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Yes, hence the past tense
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I certainly read more positives than negatives from 'fans' and mainly positives from 'newbies' to the show. I'm surprised any network would care what people thought of the contestants unless they only wanted to go down that root (celebrities/parody) version of Km. After all it wasn't the format that got criticism.
Plus, it's a pilot not the finished result and there for any criticism should be considered constructive. (all pilots I've seen are very different to the commissioned show) I suspect theses tv networks just don't believe in the format and that they might be judging it for all the wrong things. (contestants)
Maybe if there was a revival of classic games shows things might be different.
Anyway, Onwards.
Never know what's around the corner, this past year for Km has proved that.
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Again, it's not the reaction to the contestants they care about. It's the seeming inflexibility of the fans.
and I totalty get that. As I say, if I were a programme commissioner I wouldn't want to take on a show where i know the format has to change and the fans will whinge at the slightest change from the format they want.
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afaik the networks aren't interested in the old format of the show so a new Knightmare will have a new format.
Therefore we need to be flexible. Complaining about things like "the contestants" or "the use of adults rather than kids" does not help because then we come across as being unwilling to accept anything but a carbon copy of Knightmare.
The networks won't give us that and if they think that's all we will accept, they will give us nothing.
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