Here's a bit of a fun post on my business blog. A review of Colm & Jim-Jim's Home Run, RTE1, Sundays at 6.30pm. It's relevant in that the show uses 'experts' connected to the studio via SKYPE -- even more relevant in that I spent many hours over two days in front of my SKYPE screen waiting to be selected as one of these experts. You'll have to wait and see if I eventually got on the show or not!
Show Format - There are 5 studio contestants at the start of the show. One is picked randomly to come up on stage. That contestant then picks a category (from 5) and then starts to view the intros of the SKYPErs, who will need to answer a question on that category and then do a challenge. The contestant can pass during an intro if he thinks the SKYPEr wouldn't be helpful, eventually picking the one he thinks would be best able to answer the question from his topic and do a challenge. The SKYPEr can win €500 for a correct answer and €500 for a completed challenge. The studio contestant can win a lot more. The first contestant is up for €2,500 for each. What he doesn't win is rolled over to the next contestant and split between question and challenge. After a few missed questions and challenges the pot got fairly hefty, so made for exciting viewing.
See
Jim-Jim's Bebo page for more about the show and links to trailers, etc.
Colm & Jim-Jim are fun presenters. I like their morning show on 2FM, so naturally I like them. Not everyone may agree there. I thought that the contestants were fun and acted fairly natural. The questions were easy enough, but with enough of a challenge to create some suspense. The challenges look pretty hard and are designed to make the SKYPEr look crazy! One of the SKYPErs was in New Zealand (up in the middle of the night to participate) and he had to try to put a rubber band around his head, under his nose, and try to get it down to his neck without using his hands. Before the SKYPEr has to perform the challenge Colm & Jim-Jim demostrate, sometimes with the assistance of another guy. What I've always enjoyed about Colm & Jim-Jim is their honesty and willingness to make fools of themselves for the entertainment of others.
Colm & Jim-Jim's Home Run is good family viewing. My kids had a good laugh and next week want to get the shopping list so that they can do the challenges themselves. (The SKYPErs were given a list of things to have on hand for the challenges. This week: malteasers, roll of cling film, baloons, rubber bands, wine glass, toilet roll and spaghetti. Colm & Jim-Jim will be giving out next week's shopping list on Friday's morning show). The questions come from a wide range of general interest categories -- this week: soccer, Boyzone, fashion, film and James Joyce.
Of course, I think the use of SKYPE on the show is an interesting angle. You get to see into the participants life -- right into their living room, office, etc. It's a great concept to promote the use of the internet in Ireland -- though with poor broadband coverage throughout Ireland I wonder what percentage of TV viewers would actually be able to participate via SKYPE. ( I had to play from my office as my wireless Broadband from home doesn't give me a good enough web cam broadcast.)
In future episodes watch out for "Hi, I'm Ann from Clonakilty -- and I have never lost a game of Trivial Pursuit!"
