Z for Fake
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== Synopsis == | == Synopsis == | ||
Revision as of 17:45, 11 June 2006
Contents |
Host
Captain Z, the bus driver (voice of Will Yapp)
Broadcast
Associated-Rediffusion for BBC 2, 2001
Synopsis
Hey, how often do game shows beginning with Z come along? Not very often, so how pleased were we when this arrived? Zestful.
Z For Fake is a short 15-minute filler show. On the plus side: it's a lot better than Stash. On the down side: so is a frontal lobotomy without anaesthetic. OR IS IT?
Essentially it's a "Is this tune/picture/fact real or fake" show, certainly nothing we haven't seen before. Except of course it has a somewhat outlandish sense of humour. Of this we approve, particularly as it's so rare to see a game show that's prepared to stretch the genre into new styles.
At the beginning, a random member of the public is bundled onto a red London double-decker (yummm... Double Decker) and driven around while being quizzed about bizarre things by a computer graphic bus driver in a pink bodysuit [Not again? - Ed]. A bit like Time Busters then, except completely different.
The running gag storyline involves the fate of a defenceless animal. If the contestant gets too many questions wrong, various mock penalties are inflicted on the bunny-wunny. So, after every round, cue a short piece of film of rabbit bearing two giant crocodile clips if MOTP does badly, or rabbit sniffing flowers if they do well. Aaaaaaah. There's also a random woman holding up the score from time to time.
The standard of research is very good and while some of the more obvious fakes are included "just for fun", there's quite a lot of questions that are actually very convincing, so "well done" to the writers. What seems a little unnecessary is the reliance on scatological shock tactics at times.
After a few rounds involving various books, TV programmes, art objects, music singles and a variety of other stuff, there's a speed round called "Sort Out My Crap" where it's a quick True or False to a series of outrageous-sounding statements.
All in all, funny but vaguely disturbing, although as it comes from Associated Rediffusion - the same people who bought us Victor Lewis-Smith's TV Offal and Ads Infinitum - we're not too shocked about that.
Trivia
The title is a reference to Orson Welles' second-last film, called F for Fake.