The Generation Game
BBC iplayer
You could almost sense the gleeful sharpening of critical knives when this revival of the “classic” game show aired the last two Sundays on BBC1. I use inverted commas deliberately, because my main memory of watching the likes of Larry Grayson, Bruce Forsyth and, horror of horrors, Jim Davidson, hosting this show down the years, was just how excruciating the viewing experience generally was. The concept is that different generations from the same family compete in challenges like plate spinning and sausage making in the hope they make mild fools of themselves for our amusement. It’s all rather quaint compared to the ruthless talent shows that dominate the TV entertainment scene now. I actually didn’t find this version quite as painful as I expected. Mel and Sue were their usual charming and tactile selves, although they did rather overdo the hugging of the contestants, perhaps because most of them seemed to be on the verge of hysteria much of the time. As did the studio audience. Talking of which, I read quite a few social media comments claiming the show used canned laughter. But what happens at all these big TV show recordings is that the very real studio audience is whipped into a frenzy by a warm-up person so that suitably loud and unrelenting laughter gushes forth, even when they’re just watching people try to spin plates. The main problem with this reboot is it felt like a five-minute segment from Saturday Night Takeaway spun out to an hour. And most of SNT’S segments have way more juice in them than this tired format. After approximately 84 attempts, maybe it’s time to put the Gen Game to rest.