Had to double take then. BOTHER'S BAR is still online?!

After about 8 years since the last episode I saw recorded in Bristol, made the slightly shorter journey across the Pennines this morning and just waiting to go into the studio.

It's almost as long since I last posted on here.

Welcome back

How many episodes are being done today?

First of all, many thank yous for the write up, John.

This definitely lowers my expectations coming in to the revival, definitely expecting it to be mostly banter focused with loads of blue wins and only an occasional win in the 10 to 20k range, especially after one spoilery report I heard (see spoiler section if you want to hear it).

But hey, I'll still give it a watch and there may be some pleasantly surprising moments.

2 were filmed this morning and I presume 1 more this afternoon

After seeing the red side of the board being drastically slashed my expectations have been lower. I will still be watching it though but at the moment I don’t feel like I'm going to enjoy it as much as the old series. I hope i'm proven wrong at least there’s no box 23 or offer button!

Well even though the top prize (and the value of the reds) has been slashed, I’ll still be watching it! It’ll be interesting though to see how Mulhern will host it in comparison to Noel. I think I can also safely say that after a number of years being dormant, this forum is about to get busy again!

Thanks from me too, John, that was an interesting read!

Looking forward to this new era - I think the reduction of the top prize (not sure what I might've said about it in previous comments, so apologies if I'm repeating or even contradicting myself!) was something that may not have been desirable but had to happen, given the circumstances most people find themselves in at the moment. I'd say it was less that a £250,000 prize was unaffordable for the show's producers, and more that gambling on such a huge amount - or even gambling with the £250k still in play, and the eminent risk of losing it in the next few boxes - would be a step too far for most contestants...in a climate where people tend to be very risk-averse, it may have done more harm than good.

I also don't think our society is anything like it was in 2005 and 2006; we're kinder, generally speaking. Nobody really wants to see a brutal crash-and-burn from a £25,000 offer - a fortune to many of us - to the player leaving with a fiver in their pocket and tears streaming down their face. We've seen enough negativity in recent years, we don't need any more.

I agree with Matthew too, it feels like my early prediction might just become reality and we're about to see a revival here! I do hope so, that'd be fantastic. On that note, welcome back Simon!

Stephen Mulhern is just an all round nice guy and wants the contestants to walk away with enough money for whatever they've come along for, there is some good banter with The Banker too! I would compare him a bit to Colin Murray on Countdown thinking about it, he is huge fan of the original show and now gets to host it!

One random bit of trivia that I'm sure someone will know straight away on here, Mark Olver was thinking back to his favourite ever C4 contestant 'systems' during one of the recording breaks and recalled one contestant who chose the numbers based on their local Chinese takeway menu

Funnily enough it was a fairly unremarkable game and (admittedly) contestant with that system, Alison from the 'fabled' March '06. Seems the nostalgia factor runs deep.

How does this revival 'feel'? If you get me? Does it have the DOND vibe or is it basically an exhibition match ALA Vernon Kaye's Family Fortunes and the entirely forgotten Bullseye reboot with Phoenix Nights guy.

It does have the vibe of the old DOND. They stripped it back to old school DOND (apart from the added permanent 3-box offer which I think is an acceptable addition).

Was a bit disappointed Mark Olver wasn't there when I visited though.

I did say generally speaking. It wasn't actually a personal attack, although I accept I could (and should) have phrased it less bluntly...but the meaning would still have been the same, I thought it best to distance myself at that time. I wish you well in your life, but it's not a life that I want to be part of, even on social media. I hope we can move on now.

Making another rare appearance from Hindsight HQ to share a few opinions on the show based on the new information we have:

Pros
1. Stephen Mulhern hosts everything these days and will do fine here.
2. The new set is a bit of yellow away from being perfect for another Blockbusters revival.

Cons
1. The new logo is not very good.
2. The one pee is still on the board. Should have been increased to a pound at least. This is 2023, after all, and inflation is a thing.
3. The slashed jackpot reeks of cheapness. Why did they do this? The original version aired in daytime for over a decade and had a £250,000 jackpot. This isn’t Canada; no need to cheap out.
4. Given the lower stakes, the average win will probably be between £5,000 and £25,000. Some may go home with significantly less than that, and will only have themselves to blame for their stupidity.

Verdict
Mulhern and his contestant / Banker interactions will carry this show. I don’t see anything else working, though. I believe the show will fail as a result. Have fun watching it, but I won’t be along for the ride.

Were you honestly expecting me to say something positive? Come on, this is me we’re talking about here.

A long shot here, but i wonder if some of the "rejects" from the original C4 version will return for the new version, i.e. the 10 waiting contestants from the end of 2016, the wingers from the 05 pilot that didn't make it onto the show proper (though that WAS a very long time ago), people like Mike who appeared on 1 show in October 2010 and had to leave part way through due to illness (presuming he's OK) and even people like Ryan from 2013 who were allegedly thrown off for more "bizarre" reasons.....It is possible, as i have seen people go on one game show and have been allowed to come back on after it's been revived by a different network (that's how it works here in Australia at least.....)

I thought I'd never agree with Dr Hindsight but I hate the new board structure - if you're going to reduce all the red values then at least reduce the number of blues on it. I can see a lot of games where the offers don't get above a couple of thousand or so even if the banker doesn't make jokes!

Mike must surely be dead given it's 13 years ago but the 10 from the end of the studio run in 2016 which didn't play the on tour ones I'd love to think were given a chance!

Hope you'll still be watching though!

Yeah why not

The set looks absolutely hideous, should be on doctor who or something.

The logos look absolutely awful. The boxes look shockingly bad.

They've overdone it, way too over the top.

I hope its the same music, because at the moment I cannot see this series becoming successful, reboots are never as good as the original anyway.

They've lowered the amounts, can't use the recession excuse, as there was a recession in 2008 and never changed the board then.

Can Mulhern pull it off? I like the guy, but i don't think he can have the banter that Noel had with the players or the banker, he's too nice.