By JASON WRIGHT (Entertainment Expert)
LAST year, the gods of ITV, Ant and Dec, decided to dispense of their hugely popular hit, Saturday Night Takeaway. They launched a new show that strengthened more to a family appeal, Push the Button. Backed by a huge press campaign that saw advertisements on billboards and bus stops across the country and promos appearing on both TV and in the cinemas, it was bound not to fail but somehow it did. The viewing figures declined across its six-week run and received scathing reviews from the press.
Somehow, ITV kept faith in their boys and decided to give it another shot, providing certain changes were made to the format. So this Saturday, saw the intrepid show return to the screens but did it deliver what is said on the tin this time around?
The first big change was that it was broadcast live compared to being pre-recorded last time. Live TV certainly brings out the best of Ant & Dec and it hypes up tension as there is no way of knowing what happens next. Another change is that there is now just four members for each family as opposed to five and only one member of the winning family takes on the D.A.V.E. machine in the end game compared to all members taking part last year. Plus win or lose on the final game, the family is invited back next week to take on a new lot of challengers.
New features involve another inspired element from Takeaway. “The People vs. D.A.V.E.” sees viewers calling in from home and answer a question for the chance to win a prize, such as a car, a holiday, a home entertainment system and much more, in a similar way to Takeaway’s “Grab the Ads” segment. There is also a section in the studio audience called “The Happy Hundred”, who are selected at random before the show and play along with games by predicting the winners. The person in this 100 that is the most accurate with their predictions wins £5,000. The final regular game has now become “The Accumulator”, which allows both families to bet on three questions or outcomes, á lá You Bet!, with right answers winning back money they lost from the starting pot of £100,000 but wrong answers continuing to cost them money.
Things that are gone include the massive emphasis of comedy and the silly costumes that had been present in the last series with Ant and Dec. It seems to have become more of a light entertainment show which certainly fits the bill of it much more to its liking.
Overall, these are changes that the show badly needs but is it enough? Well, it is certainly a vast improvement on last year’s version but it will never live up to the standards of Saturday Night Takeaway. Perhaps, this version of the show would work better if it was on a Sunday night because then it doesn’t have the pressures to live up to Takeaway in being in the same slot.
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