The Circle

BarryD2

2nd Row Donkey wrote: »

What I meant was the final vote (I.e. the one in the lastnight) should be by the public... all the others should during the show should remain as they are.

No that’s not the problem. The issue this year was that one player was consistently being an influencer. That gets stale, everybody sucks up to them, so bad for the show.

yerwanthere123

So I'd managed to avoid all spoilers and watched the final two episodes last night and wow, a lot to take in! Some initial points:

My heart broke for Ella when she got blocked, you could see the disappointment, and she'd been lovely throughout, but you can't blame the COT for getting tactical. Ella/Woody/Tim were going to coast to the final and decide the winner amongst themselves, so the others can't be blame for giving themselves a fighting chance.

Some thoughts on the final 5:

Woody: Had been lovely throughout and just seems a straight up decent person. Was my joint favourite throughout most of the show, so very harsh for him to finish 5th, although not too surprising when the vote gets tactical.

Tim: Tim obviously added a great deal to the show and has been a huge character throughout. Must admit I went off him quite a bit when he voted out his friend Brooke, and got a bit tired of him being influencer for almost every blocking.

Sammie/James: I thought James played a superb game throughout, I'm not getting the hate tbh. Yeah he played a rather callous game, but so f*cking what? It's a game show with a cash prize. I'd almost have been happy to see him win it except for the last few days, he just got a little bit too into it, which made it difficult to root for him.

Georgina: Was my early favourite along side Woody, but went off her a little after Brooke left and we saw a more tactical/machiavellian side to her. She won me back round by the final though and I wanted her to win. I did like seeing her wrestling with her conscience at times, showed she wasn't totally ruthless like James!

Paddy: He seems like a nice enough fella, but Jesus is he an anti-climatic winner. I'd have had any of the other four win over him. Seems to be something of a default winner after all the rest went against each other, but I guess it gives hope for anyone entering the show at a later stage next year.

Overall I thought series 2 was excellent, almost as good as the first which is impressive given the high bar that was set. Hoping we'll get a third series, but I see no reason why we wouldn't. The final averaged 1.1 million viewers in Britain, which is up 67% on last year.

yerwanthere123

Some news about the international versions of the show, they'll all surprisingly be filmed in the same block of apartments as the UK one. And not only that, the US one has already been filmed with the Brazilian one due to begin production right away. They'll all be going out on Netflix apparently, would be very interested to watch the American one, but I can see them ruining everything that makes the British one so good.

S.M.B.

What do you see them ruining out of curiosity?

To me the show more closely resembles US reality TV as opposed to UK reality TV so I'd be very surprised if they messed with the format.

The fact that it's on Netflix will make it less reliant on audience participation I assume which to me is crucial.

Then comes down to whether they can deliver a good cast with a good mix of genuine characters and intriguing catfish.

yerwanthere123

S.M.B. wrote: »

What do you see them ruining out of curiosity?

To me the show more closely resembles US reality TV as opposed to UK reality TV so I'd be very surprised if they messed with the format.

Then comes down to whether they can deliver a good cast with a good mix of genuine characters and intriguing catfish.

Oh I'm not entirely sure, will they try changing the format perhaps, give it some kind of American slant? The American Big Brother was always very different to the UK one, iirc. Either way if it's available to watch on Netflix I'll be giving it a watch anyway.

mikeym

Its a pity Virgin Media or Rte wouldnt do an Irish version.

Money talks I presume.

Basq

The US version was launched on Netflix today but doesn't look to be available outside of the US.

Loughc

Basq wrote: »

The US version was launched on Netflix today but doesn't look to be available outside of the US.

Ah balls

yerwanthere123

Will it work with a VPN? I've previously been able to watch the US Netflix that way.

Basq

The first episode is available on YouTube..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-m4gFdrQ8M

Loughc

Basq wrote: »

The first episode is available on YouTube..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-m4gFdrQ8M

But I want them all /sulks

Basq

Loughc wrote: »

But I want them all /sulks

Think the first 4 have went online.

It's 4 this week, 4 next week and then final 4 the week after.

US remakes of British reality TV have not typically gone well, so I'm curious but not hugely bothered either.

Also Starring LeVar Burton

Hopped on a quick flight Stateside, to give this a look. Only watched first episode so far, and the biggest thing missing is the narrator - the US narrator is just boring, so it loses a lot of the fun. The Americans also spend far too much time talking about "God" and praising "the Lord", but I'm used to this from other US reality shows so aside from some initial eye-rolls from me I got over that quickly enough. Aside from those criticisms the format is exactly the same so far, and once they get around to business and the ratings results, it's just as addictive as the UK version. Obviously it's not as good, because there is a cultural difference, and we're obviously much more akin to the Brits (as much as it pains me to admit it) than the Yankees, but it's still very enjoyable, and I'm on board.

Strange that they've not released it outside of the US, but I imagine they will soon enough (maybe they'll wait until the whole series has been released) or perhaps Channel 4 has first airing rights over here or something.

S.M.B.

I'd imagine Channel 4 have the sole rights to broadcast the show in the UK & Ireland and that these international versions have been created by Netflix for viewing elsewhere. Would be curious to see if the US version is available on Netflix in other English speaking markets.

tedpan

Watched the first episode, my wife's addicted. We are trying to work out the best/value VPN. Any tips?

tedpan

yerwanthere123 wrote:

Will it work with a VPN? I've previously been able to watch the US Netflix that way.

Tried NordVPN and IPVanish. They both gave me the circle on Netflix although were incredibly slow connections and wouldn't even play an episode.

S.M.B.

Caught up with the full length first episode and enjoyed it.

The big change for me, which doesn't surprise me, is how quickly it took for the word 'alliance' to be dropped. I usually like how US reality shows are more about doing whatever it takes to win the cash but I'm worried that this mindset will lead to a more frustrating watch where a group of 3/4 people just dominate the entire game.

tedpan

Nearly finished episode 2. We're glued to it, it's very good! Couldn't get the VPN to perform well enough so had to figure out another option..

yerwanthere123

tedpan wrote: »

Tried NordVPN and IPVanish. They both gave me the circle on Netflix although were incredibly slow connections and wouldn't even play an episode.

tedpan wrote: »

Nearly finished episode 2. We're glued to it, it's very good! Couldn't get the VPN to perform well enough so had to figure out another option..

I used ExpressVPN to watch the first episode and it played fine. Anyway I thought the first one was quite good. The contestants are a bit more brash/annoying than we're used to but the format is still largely the same. Laughing that

Alana

was blocked first, talk about a complete lack of self awareness :pac:

S.M.B.

I'm up date with all episodes and am really enjoying it. I think they've done a good job with the cast, certainly puts the casting of the likes of big brother US to shame when it comes to diversity and representation.

tedpan

S.M.B. wrote:

I'm up date with all episodes and am really enjoying it. I think they've done a good job with the cast, certainly puts the casting of the likes of big brother US to shame when it comes to diversity and representation.

Yeah me too. Can't wait for episode 5, these Americans are hilarious!

yerwanthere123

I've watched the first two, it's very good. I hope it generates a bit of traction in America.

Basq

Too many loud brash 'mericans..

.. that Joey lad is a ballache!

S.M.B. wrote: »

.. certainly puts the casting of the likes of big brother US to shame when it comes to diversity and representation.

Really? I thought the opposite... I'm only 2 episodes in but there's no-one over the age of 30 in there!

yerwanthere123

Basq wrote: »

Too many loud brash 'mericans..

.. that Joey lad is a ballache!


Really? I thought the opposite... I'm only 2 episodes in but there's no-one over the age of 30 in there!

I thought the same thing, they're all quite young. The British one had a much better mix. Overall though I'm quite enjoying it, looking forward to the next batch now!

I also think it's mad how all the American contestants were flown in to Manchester to film the show :pac:

Basq

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

I also think it's mad how all the American contestants were flown in to Manchester to film the show :pac:

Yeah, I mentioned to the other half that they'd the same Dyson humidifiers from the British version and looked it up to see they filmed it before the second season of the British version in those same apartments in Salford.

Yet the exterior / cutaway shots are filmed in what looks like the US (Chicago?).. you can see the likes of Chase Bank etc.

S.M.B.

Basq wrote: »

Too many loud brash 'mericans..

.. that Joey lad is a ballache!


Really? I thought the opposite... I'm only 2 episodes in but there's no-one over the age of 30 in there!

True, I'm sure that will change over the next few weeks though and it looks like there were only 2 people over the age of 40 in the original UK series so it's not like it was full off older players to begin with either.

I guess I'm really just comparing it to big brother US where it feels like there are issues every year based on it's casting.

Also Starring LeVar Burton

Age range hasn't been fantastic, but in terms of People of Colour and LGBT representation, the diversity here is already miles ahead of many other US reality shows, particularly Big Brother US (and possibly The Bachelor/Bachelorette from what I've heard, but haven't watched much of that), which tend to have one or two tokens per seasons and then consider their job done. While the likes of Survivor and Amazing Race are a bit better than Big Brother or Bachelor they're still mostly whitewashed and the overwhelming majority would be straight as well.

So far The Circle US seems to have a much better balance.

Also Starring LeVar Burton

Second batch of episodes was great. Really the only difference is that the cast are American and a different narrator, because otherwise all the production and editing seems to be exactly the same as the UK version - I'm happy they're not messing with it.

yerwanthere123

Just watched episode 5.

Alex is hilarious, he's already terrible and he's literally just entered. Shades of Mairéad from the UK version. He's getting a lot of flak for how creepy he's being, "aroused" and all, but I think he's just gloriously out of his depth and trying to play up to some stereotypical frat boy. I highly hope and doubt this is the way he really thinks, although either way I can't seem him lasting long. Seaburn isn't great either though, pushing the shy girl stuff waaay too hard

I wonder if the US version is the same length as the UK one? If so then they're condensing a lot more content into just 12 episodes and sometimes it really shows. Or perhaps it's just clumsy editing, like everyone piling in on Mercedes and Chris in the hashtag challenge seemingly just came from nowhere? Feels like things have been left out.

S.M.B.

Episode 8 spoilers

Really enjoying it but that cliffhanger has irked me slightly. I found it really odd that when Sean was setting up her original profile there were galleries with what looked like photos of her actual self. It's not something I've seen for any other catfish so I really hope this wasn't something that was preplanned. The condensed editing didn't help matters. Not sure why they didn't stretch it out to be 16 episodes of things are going to feel a little rushed. The additional cost would be minimal.

Edit

Looks like all catfish, both in the UK and US versions, come in with photos of their real selves so it wasn't a complete setup. I think the lack of screen time for the newer cast members is the real underlying issue I guess. Seems a little forced to have this big reveal moment when we haven't seven seen her engage with her fellow contestants as a catfish.