Nickelodeon Producing The Crystal Maze: How Well Could It Go?

Right, we got a couple of posts out to catch the tide of TCM news, and there's plenty of that about now. So let's just have a calm consideration of what this new series could be like.

As we predicted around the time of the first rumours of the US series, they are going to be using the UK set at the Bottleyard Studios in Bristol. Why build a new elaborate and gorgeous set at great expense when you can just fly 10 families and a host over to Bristol? The set is the star of the show and there's one ready made and waiting to be used. This means that I expect them to use more or less the same games that were used for the filming of the newest UK series that were tested by us here at this very blog. As such we can't say a word about them until you have seen them on screen, but as we've said before, you'll love them, especially... Well, you'll know it when you see it.

One big difference between UK and US broadcasting is advertising on TV. American TV seems to incorporate a lot more adverts into their broadcasts which slims down the run time of TV shows. Those half-hour episodes of American sitcoms we all know and love are only about 21 minutes each, whereas a UK half-hour show on a commercial broadcaster (so every channel that isn't the BBC) can be around 25 minutes. May only be a few minutes but that's 8 fewer minutes across the hour which could be two games less. Might end up fitting nicely at two games a zone though so it could work out.

There's been a few people on our side of the pond saying this is coming a few years too late, after all the show started in 1990. However, the thing is this is now a new show being made for a new audience on a kids network. The audience it's being made for have probably neither seen nor heard of the show until now so for them it is something new and quirky. Just wait until they get a load of the idea for prizes. Scrap huge cash amounts and family vacations, they'll get their middling prize of a night at a medieval themed restaurant and they'll enjoy it, because doing the show is the prize at the end of the day.

Finally, a host. Will they go down the route the original UK version went and get someone not known for presenting to inhabit the fictional world of the maze a la Rick, Mumsey, Ralph and Dwayne? Or will they go for a more recognizable name who merely hosts a big expensive show? Or will they just get John Cena to do it as Nickelodeon seems to have done recently with a couple of projects?

What do you think of today's news? Are you an American who's looking forward to this new series? Whatever you've got to say, leave a comment below, we try to reply to every messaged received.

As more information comes out, we'll relay it here at the Crystal Maze Fan Blog