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Proving that there was still life in the It's A Knockout format, between
November 2011
and January 2012 Australian viewers were treated to a revival of the series,
produced by Spring (Fremantle) in association with Mistral Production and Ice-TV and broadcast on Channel Ten. In common with
2010's Stedenspel,
it was broadcast from one location. However, that location was not even in
Australia - instead it was recorded at what was dubbed 'The Knockerdome' in
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - and this prompted complaints from Australian viewers
who wanted to have a chance to go and see the events live, like in the series
heyday in Australia in the mid-1980s.
In fact, the Malaysian location was pretty much forced upon the
producers as they discovered that it was impossible to insure the
production and the competitors on Australian soil, at least within the
available budget - a crazy situation which is
mitigating against home television production in many countries. Producers
also suggested that production costs in Malaysia were more affordable, so
off-shore it was.
The competition was played out over eight programmes by four teams -
one each from the states of New South Wales (Paramedics), Queensland
(Lifesavers) and Victoria (Firefighters) and a fourth team (The Macca's All
Stars), which was made up of employees of McDonald's (the programme's sponsors). The first six
programmes saw the teams play each other two at a time. By
winning a heat, teams would score a Round-Robin point and the two teams with
the highest Round-Robin score would progress to the Final (Programme 8). A
third place play-off - 'The Battle for Bronze' - was held in Programme 7 for the remaining two teams.
Unlike Stedenspel, games varied from programme to
programme, but even in a
short series of eight weeks, it was logical that games would appear on more
than one occasion, though the production maintained a freshness throughout.
The presenters for this new version of
It's A Knockout
were Australian sports journalist Brad McEwan, Charli Robinson (a former
member of the band Hi-5) and Greig Pickhaver. However, Greig's real name never
appeared on screen. Throughout the programme he was appearing in the guise of
his alter-ego H.G. Nelson, a satirical creation of Greig's, essentially a
manic and over-excited sports commentator who spouts often nonsensical
hyperbole. Greig is famous in Australia as one half of the comedy duo Roy and
H.G. with John Doyle as his partner 'Rampaging Roy Slaven'. Their act is an
affectionate but irreverent parody of Australia's obsession with sport. The
characters of Roy and H.G. are based on stereotypes in sports journalism:
Nelson the excitable announcer, and Slaven the retired sportsman turned expert
commentator. The duo debuted in 1986 and in the 2020s they continue to amuse
on ABC Sport, ABC Local Radio and podcast platforms.
The series was met with a warm welcome, but ratings fell off
quite quickly. Reaction was not particularly good, with most commentators
complaining that it failed to capture the magic of the programme upon which it
was based. Some questioned the strange decision not to have the male
presenters interact with the competitors and all told, the verdict was "should
have been better" - but with the benefit of hindsight it was actually
very watchable.
Meanwhile, back in Europe, French viewers endured a second
consecutive summer without Intervilles on their screens. It had been widely
tipped to return following the dismal failure of its replacement on the France
3 channel, Mission Millenium (Mission Millennium). In the end, despite
Mistral Productions pitching a retooled, travelling, live version of
Intervilles to France Télévisions, the series did not return, with France 3
opting for the Adventure Line Productions series L'Étoffe des Champions
(The Stuff of Champions) in its place.
Despite this, France still participated in Intervilles
International, a programme which was not shown by any French channel!
Finally, although the Spanish Domestic Series Grand Prix del
Verano had come to an end, FORTA TV repackaged the 2007-2009 series,
adding a new, comedic commentary track, and broadcast these repeats in 2010 and
2011 as Grand Prix Express.
by Alan Hayes |
