For the Rest of Your Life

Revision as of 16:34, 9 May 2007

Host

Broadcast

Endemol for ITV1, 2006 (non-broadcast pilot), 2007 (series)

Synopsis

In this wholly original Endemol production, contestants pick numbers at random, hoping to avoid the reds and thus win a life-changing amount of money.

But what makes this show different is that the couples playing the game aren't going for a big lump sum, rather for a tidy little amount that they will get every month, potentially for the rest of their lives.

The game begins with the players choosing one of three envelopes (game show cliché number 1) to decide the base prize (typically a hundred and some quid). The first part of the main game sees them trying to multiply this up into a more robust monthly amount.

Scattered around the studio are strange handled cylinder contraptions that look like they ought to be in an episode of The X-Files containing some kind of alien goo. In fact, they have either white or red lights concealed in the plinths on which they stand. Each has an associated number written on the floor. The couple now divides into one person picking numbers, and the other revealing the lights, of which there are eight whites and three reds. Picking a white light increases their prize by the base amount, a red lowers it similarly. Once they're four steps or more up the money ladder (game show cliché number 2) they can stick with the prize they have. And it might be worthwhile doing so because if a red is picked, not only does the prize money go down, but they can't stick after a red, and have to pick again. If they pick all the reds, they win nothing.

In the seccond half, instead of money the couple plays for time. The coloured-light-revealer from before now goes into an isolation booth (game show cliché number 3) where they are kept apprised of how the game is going, but not of that their partner is saying. Eleven white lights and four reds now count for months for which the money won in the first half is paid. The twist is that as well as the player in the studio deciding whether to stick or continue after each white light is uncovered, the one in the booth makes the same decision, of which the other player, and the viewers, are not informed. After the main player has finished, either by sticking or by uncovering all the reds and losing the money, the other is brought out of the booth, and the game is run through again to see if the booth-ed player saved or lost them thousands of pounds by sticking earlier than their partner.

Unfortunately, nobody's ever going to get the money for the titular rest of their lives, because if anyone ever gets near the top of the, er, "time ladder", the payoff for gambling on the last step isn't nearly worth the odds of losing everything.

Overall, not very much happens and despite the complicated-sounding rules, the game is actually very dull. After the pilot was made, it didn't look like this would be picked up for a series. It was, so chalk up another top-notch decision for ITV.

Inventor

Dick de Rijk

Feedback

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 == Synopsis ==
-Couples play a game of chance in order to win large amounts of money every month for potentially the rest of their lives.
+In this ''wholly original'' Endemol production, contestants pick numbers at random, hoping to avoid the reds and thus win a life-changing amount of money.
-This involves standing on squares and hoping that the ball underneath the large lidded plinths was white, which increased the prize money on offer, and not red, which lowered it and forced you to play on. If you lost all your red balls, or your money fell below zero it was game over.
+But what makes this show different is that the couples playing the game aren't going for a big lump sum, rather for a tidy little amount that they will get every month, potentially for the rest of their lives.
-In round two, instead of money you played for time. One half of the couple played the game in the studio, the other half stayed out back and was relayed information via computer screen. Each white ball took you one step up the time ladder (beginning at one month and ending with "for the rest of your life" (which appears to be a straight forty years)). Red balls took you down the ladder and forces you to play on, lose all your red balls and go away with nothing. The extra jeopardy is that both contestants had to decide for themselves whether to play or stop, and the lowest place on the ladder that one of them stopped is what they'd take away. Clearly they were hoping for a moment when the player out front went all the way, whereas the player out back decided to stop on five years, say. Needless to say, the odds against anyone getting to the top of the ladder before quitting (which would involve risking as much as £500,000 on an (at best) 25% shot) were rather slim.
+The game begins with the players choosing one of three envelopes (game show cliché number 1) to decide the base prize (typically a hundred and some quid). The first part of the main game sees them trying to multiply this up into a more robust monthly amount.
-Besides, we fell asleep as it was all so ponderous, so it's probably just as well it was never picked up for a full series. Except it looks like they might be making a series out of it after all. Amazing.
+Scattered around the studio are strange handled cylinder contraptions that look like they ought to be in an episode of ''The X-Files'' containing some kind of alien goo. In fact, they have either white or red lights concealed in the plinths on which they stand. Each has an associated number written on the floor. The couple now divides into one person picking numbers, and the other revealing the lights, of which there are eight whites and three reds. Picking a white light increases their prize by the base amount, a red lowers it similarly. Once they're four steps or more up the money ladder (game show cliché number 2) they can stick with the prize they have. And it might be worthwhile doing so because if a red is picked, not only does the prize money go down, but they can't stick after a red, and have to pick again. If they pick all the reds, they win nothing.
+In the seccond half, instead of money the couple plays for time. The coloured-light-revealer from before now goes into an isolation booth (game show cliché number 3) where they are kept apprised of how the game is going, but not of that their partner is saying. Eleven white lights and four reds now count for months for which the money won in the first half is paid. The twist is that as well as the player in the studio deciding whether to stick or continue after each white light is uncovered, the one in the booth makes the same decision, of which the other player, and the viewers, are not informed. After the main player has finished, either by sticking or by uncovering all the reds and losing the money, the other is brought out of the booth, and the game is run through again to see if the booth-ed player saved or lost them thousands of pounds by sticking earlier than their partner.
+Unfortunately, nobody's ever going to get the money for the titular rest of their lives, because if anyone ever gets near the top of the, er, "time ladder", the payoff for gambling on the last step isn't nearly worth the odds of losing everything.
+Overall, not very much happens and despite the complicated-sounding rules, the game is actually very dull. After the pilot was made, it didn't look like this would be picked up for a series. It was, so chalk up another top-notch decision for ITV.
 == Inventor ==