Livewire! 9/12
Amy: It's time for...........
Your news......with sass. Presented by Bruce's Audition Video House. If you want to have a part you always wanted in play, TV show or movie, head over to Bruce's Audition Video House today. Or not. Now from the newsroom, it's Pierre Kelly!
Me: Hi everyone, good afternoon from the Pacific Bay area and TGIF! Hope you are well. And if you aren't well, well........
Talk about sweating the assets. This is the second 10-week run of Taskmaster in 2025, the previous series only having ended in July. Channel 4’s biannual broadcast of their hit comedy panel game show means that it dominates their Thursday evenings for nearly half the year – a tribute to both the programme’s popularity and the acumen of whoever was responsible for poaching Taskmaster off Dave in the first place. That was certainly the broadcaster’s best bit of business since swiping The Great British Bake Off from the Beeb.
Anyway, it’s back with utter – but not yet deadening – familiarity, from Greg Davies’s ritualised introductory humiliation of “Little” Alex Horne (the real boss of the show, of course, so he can soak it up) to the mix of aspiring and established comedians.
Reece Shearsmith and Sanjeev Bhaskar are the veterans – Shearsmith perhaps spurred on to appear by his comedy partner Steve Pemberton’s participation last year and maybe a sign of an underlying competitiveness between the Inside No 9 creators. Bhaskar has meanwhile obviously decided that his role is that of the slightly grumpy, couldn’t-care-less oldie – a part also performed to perfection by Julian Clary in the 2023 series.
As for the up-and-coming comics, this 10-week exposure is an invaluable career rocket. Forget the Edinburgh Fringe Festival or Cambridge’s Footlights troupe, Taskmaster is the real golden ticket. Indeed, Ania Magliano may be a Footlights alumna, while Phil Ellis is a former Edinburgh Comedy Award nominee, but they probably won’t be familiar to general viewers. They will be soon.
The tasks prove a mixed bag, the best involving the contestants chasing Horne around the Taskmaster garden to try and scan the QR code attached to his back. Other challenges involve doing “something disgusting and nice at the same time”, and rolling round objects at a target in what looks like a shopping centre car park (Shearsmith manages to take out a camera operator with a tyre).
The final task – in which the blindfolded contestants have to move around as instructed – is a mess, with Davies and Horne repeatedly having to intervene to stop them falling off the stage.
Actually winning the tasks – or indeed the whole contest – is, of course, irrelevant and it’s often the most useless contestants who prove the most endearing. Adam, despite winning the first episode by accidently blowing a horn at the right moment, looks like she’ll follow the likes of Sophie Willan and Lucy Beaumont in the likeably clueless stakes.
ARE YOU THE GLEEKEST LINK?
CLICK HERE TO WATCH/SHARE A PROMO OF THE "GLEE" REUNION SERIES PREMIERE EPISODE OF "CELEBRITY WEAKEST LINK" AIRING MONDAY, SEPT. 15 at 9/8c ON FOX!
About Celebrity Weakest Link:
Fall brings the series premiere of cutthroat game show Celebrity Weakest Link, hosted by Emmy Award winner Jane Lynch. The hit Emmy Award-nominated Weakest Link, hosted by Jane Lynch, returns for a new season with this all-celebrity edition, but for the first time in broadcast history, on FOX! A rapid-fire quiz show in which eight celebrities compete to win up to one million dollars for the charity of their choosing, these celebs will answer general knowledge questions and bank money as a group across multiple rounds. At the end of each round, the contestants vote out who they perceive to be the weakest link, and the host sends them off with the infamous farewell, "You are the Weakest Link. Goodbye." The two who make it to the final round will battle it out to determine who wins the banked money for their charity. The classic Weakest Link format, distributed by BBC Studios, has been produced in more than 45 territories around the world over the past two decades. Since its original run in 2001, Weakest Link has been the fastest and fiercest quiz show on television, earning a place in pop culture history. Celebrity Weakest Link is executive-produced by Ryan O'Dowd and Krystal Whitney for BBC Studios Los Angeles Productions. Stuart Krasnow, Aaron Solomon and Jane Lynch are executive producers with Krasnow serving as showrunner.
It’s really all coming together for stand-up Michael Yo as he hits the big 5-0.
“I released a special [Snack Daddy], I just shot another Dry Bar special that’s gonna come out and I’m 50 – yes, I’m 50!” the Houston-born comedian says with zeal. “People can’t tell ‘cause I’m half black and Asian – Black don’t crack, and Asian don’t raisin! I tell people I’m 137 years old.”
“But yeah, the 5-0,” Yo says wistfully ahead of Friday September 13 date at House of Blues. “Not to get too deep, but it’s a weird thing, because I am 50 but if we were to hang out, you would never think I’m 50. I don’t feel it! Literally I feel like I’m in my 20s. It’s a weird thing where I don’t even feel my age. I think when we were growing up, when you say someone who is 50 – they LOOKED 50. Even go back to look at old sitcoms, where the parents are supposed to be 35 but they look like 60? Now we know how to take care of ourselves, we eat healthy and all this. But I feel the best I’ve ever felt in my life: mentally, physically, in material and family. It’s all clicking together.”
Despite his rapid fire recording pace, Yo promises new stories and jokes for his Issa Truuue! Tour. “100 percent new material,” he affirms. “and that’s the stress of it. Stand up is just part of me. I tell me I can’t live without my family, or stand up. Like literally it is my right arm. No matter how tired I am, if there is a comedy club around, I will go to it. Me and my wife will go on vacation, and if the kids go to sleep early, I will look for the closest comedy club. Just to go up – which annoys my wife a lot! It is just part of me. There is no pressure because I love it. If you love what you do.”
“Now I will admit, unlike a singer who can sing a couple of hit songs for the rest of their life – [with comedy] after they see it once live, they don’t want to see it again. That’s what makes it so hard to be a stand up comedian. But since I talk about my life so much, it has become so easy to find my voice and different angles on things. Crazy things happen every single day – between my kids, my wife, my parents are ridiculous, you know? I talk to them all the time, so I always got material coming in.”
Speaking of family, Yo’s young family is growing up – and the lingering thought remains: what happens when his kids are old enough to watch the jokes he’s told about them? “Now more than I ever, I have to be more careful because they actually understand what I am saying,” he explains, charting his thinking on the looming subject and explaining an announcement for his upcoming material. “I’m more of a family comedian now, I’m going the clean route and not cursing and all that, because I want my kids to be able to watch my comedy. But at the same time – you still gotta be able to make jokes about them.
You are the Twitchhead of the month for September of 2025. You get an imaginary plaque to hang on the wall, bragging rights and what else, Amy Irons?
Amy: Everything from the Taco Bell Decades 2k menu, to make sure it was 99 cent tacos all over again. Memories.
Me: Yep, me too. Tune in again to see who took a time machine back to where it actually was.
(song stops)
Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler will compete head-to-head and captain two teams of world-class players at the "Golf Channel Games," a new, rapid-fire golf competition live in primetime on Golf Channel and USA Network on Wednesday, December 17, in Jupiter, Fla.
McIlroy and Scheffler will lead two four-man teams at the Golf Channel Games in the following timed and strategy-focused challenges under the pressure of the clock and the primetime lights:
· Timed Drive, Chip, & Putt - Players compete solo in the three precision-based disciplines - drive a total number of yards, chip within a certain proximity to the pin, and hole a certain number of feet of putts - as quickly as possible.
· 14-Club Challenge - Two Players, One Bag - One player from each team will square off in the 14-Club Challenge, drawing a club from a single bag (including driver and putter) in a closest-to-the-pin competition from a designated distance in the fairway. All 14 clubs, seven shots per player - and once a club is used, it's out. All eight players will participate - four total matchups.
· Timed Shootout - A four-player alternate shot on three holes with teammates staged on the tee (1), in the fairway (1), and around the green (2). Finish with the best score in the shortest amount of time...the clock is running!
· Captains' Challenge - Rory vs. Scottie - Each player hits from predetermined locations. Shots will include a 100-yard wedge, 50-yard pitch, bunker shot, greenside shot, 50-ft putt, and 10-ft putt. The lowest total distance from the hole for the combined shots wins.
"Our goal at VERSANT is to drive innovation from the strengths of our businesses," said Tom Knapp, EVP Golf & General Manager, Golf Channel. "With that in mind, we wanted to create a new golf event that was highly competitive, showcasing the best players in the world hitting specific shots and plotting strategy with a running clock. To have the opportunity to create an annual, end-of-season golf event which includes Rory & Scottie at one of South Florida's premier golf clubs, has been a treat. It should be fun."
"The Golf Channel Games bring a fresh approach to golf, inspired by events like the NFL Combine and All-Star Games from top professional leagues," said McIlroy. "They give players the chance to showcase their skills across unique challenges and offer fans a new way to enjoy the game in the postseason. I am looking forward to competing in this new, fun format."
"The Golf Channel Games will be a great mix of skill, strategy, and pressure," said Scheffler. "This will be a brand new way for the players and the fans to experience the game of golf. Everyone knows how competitive we are and I think the Golf Channel Games will be an innovative competition that will engage the viewers. I'm excited to be a part of this."
After launching several successful unscripted shows like Culinary Class Wars and Physical: 100 in the last two years, Netflix Korea has unveiled a lineup of returning unscripted formats as well as new series.
In October this year, one of the streamer’s most recognisable reality show formats will premiere with its regional spinoff, Physical: Asia. Adapted from Physical: 100 (which has featured two Korean seasons so far), Physical: Asia will follow eight country teams competing against each other: Korea, Japan, Thailand, Mongolia, Türkiye, Indonesia, Australia and the Philippines. Among others, legendary boxing champion Manny Pacquiao is set to star in the show, leading Team Philippines.
Another familiar IP, Culinary Class Wars, will return for a second season in December this year. The cooking survival show made history as the first Korean unscripted series to top the streamer’s Global Top 10 Non-English TV list for three consecutive weeks upon its debut. The show stars Paik Jong-won and Ahn Sung-jae.
Role-playing mystery game show Crime Scene Zero will premiere on September 23. Running for 10 episodes, each episode will feature a special guest engaging in mind games and battles of deduction. Stars include Jang Jin, Park Ji-yoon, Jang Dong-min, Kim Ji-hun, An Yujin, Park Sung-woong and Joo Hyun Young, among others.
MGM Resorts International and Playtech look to be making great strides in live casino entertainment by unveiling their latest casino game, Family Feud. Family Feud will be a live-streamed game show which will be part of their ‘Live from Vegas’ offering.
The game will also make history as the first ever interactive game show to be streamed live from a casino floor on the Las Vegas Strip to international players.
The game will be based on the iconic game show, of the same name, that’s hosted by Steve Harvey. In the show five family members are pitted against five members of another family via questions; this is what the game emulates.
“MGM Resorts, with Playtech and Fremantle, is at the forefront of digital gaming bringing the iconic Las Vegas experience to people around the globe,” said President of MGM Resorts International Interactive, Gary Fritz, following the announcement. “The live dealer studio marks a major step in our growth strategy and pursuit of being the world’s premier gaming entertainment company. We will continue working to create unforgettable moments and new ways to enjoy what the Las Vegas Strip has to offer.”
This move from MGM and Playtech is clearly an attempt to bring in new audiences from international markets. Indeed, according to Vice President of online gaming for MGM Resorts, Vik Shrestha, the launch of Family Feud at the MGM Grand reaches international markets including the UK, Canada and even Mexico.
The game itself unfolds in a transparent studio on the casino floor, which is completely open to public view, enhancing the experience.
In June 2024, ‘Live from Vegas’ debuted when MGM Resorts and Playtech finally introduced live dealer broadcasts from both the MGM Grand and the Bellagio in what was the first step of the strategic partnership.
And i heard it's somebody's birthday..........
KJ Mcglinn has recently crossed midfield in life. She went to Amsterdam this week and we found this facebook post revealing.
Then you know it's time for Livewire! Until next time, play on playas.
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