As always, remember that I am a casual fan who really doesn't know what he's talking about.
Rather that be a fan of one team, I pick a different NFL team to root for every year. In the past, it's been Buffalo and Detroit. This year, I was torn between three teams- Chicago, Atlanta, and the team I ended up with- the Houston Texans. On the off chance I really am a sports curse, I apologize in advance to the Texans.
Looking over this season... the separation between the good teams and bad teams isn't that wide. I think most teams win between 7-10 games. I don't think anyone will win 13 games or win just 3 games.
In the NFC, there are three divisions that look absolutely brutal, with 3 or more possible playoff teams. Only the South doesn't have a lot of contenders, and none of them look bad. The Rams, on paper, look the strongest- and I have them making the Super Bowl. It won't be easy
I think the AFC is the weaker conference. The North no longer looks like a powerhouse, Kansas City is getting old, and the East is only a two team race. I have Buffalo coming out of the AFC, though I have a coin flip between them and Denver.
And in the Super Bowl? The Rams have the defense. But in one game, after overcoming their demons... I like Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills. Super Bowl LXI ends the curse for one franchise.
I've remarked how some of the Taskmaster series need more of a chaos agent. Series 16 is NOT short on chaos.
Series 16 reminds me of Series 19- the contestants get along and help each other, but are constantly snarking with Alex and Greg. Two of the contestants (Sam Campbell and Lucy Beaumont) are wonderfully weird throughout the show. There is a difference between them- Sam is weird but cunning, and is trying to win. Lucy is just a Cloud Cuckoo Lander throughout the series.
Julian Clary brings the snark (the banter between him and Alex is hysterical, and a highlight of the series), and the Sues are both funny (and work phenomenal together as a team; they could do a show together). There is not a lack of strangeness throughout the series.
It's not a great series in terms of tasks, and there are a lot of terrible performances. But the commentary is surreal and odd.
Portrait Decor:
Series 16 went with an Art Deco theme, and the portrait of the Greg Davies evoked the classic movie Metropolis.
Best task of the season:
"Live: Pass the pineapples amongst you for 15 seconds while the Taskmaster shuts his eyes and has a little think. When the Taskmaster opens his eyes, he will say if he thinks you are holding a pineapple behind your back or not. If he accuses you wrongly, you will get a point." Sometimes the simplest tasks bring about the best responses...
Worst task of the season:
"Do something shocking but family-friendly with this doughnut."
* At the start, Alex mentioned a 'secret task' for the players to find. There have been secret tasks, but this was the first time one was mentioned for the players to look for.
* Did you know that the Royal Academy of the Dramatic Arts (RADA) costs 30 grand a year?
* Lucy Beaumont's husband is Jon Richardson, who was on Series 2 of the show.
What a strange and wonderful cast. Series 15 has...
- A competent player who is really trying to win (Mae Martin)
- A semi-competent player who is really trying to win (Kiell Smith-Bynoe)
- A competent player who is far more interested in being snarky than trying to win (Frankie Boyle)
- A man who seems to have little idea what is going on, but is happy to be here (Ivo Graham)
- And a strange old bird who is having the time of their life, results be damned (Jenny Eclair)
The bantering are great- sniping at each other good-naturedly, arguing over points, sniping with Alex and Greg. I don't think the tasks are great (nowhere near as awesome as Series 14, IMHO). But the banter is brilliant...
A special shout out to Kiell Smith-Boyle. Not only is he having a great time, but he's so locked into doing well that it drives him crazy when it falters. Both the Taskmaster and Alex seems to really enjoy poking at Kiell throughout the series, enough so that...
When Mae Martin is unable to be in the country for Champion of Champions 3, Kiell takes their place.
Portrait Decor:
Series 15 went with a psychadelic theme, and the portrait of the Greg Davies looked like an ad for a concert from the 60's...
Best task of the season:
"Bash the big bell with the bowling ball. Fastest gets five points. Slowest gets four points. Nobody else gets any points. You must stay off the grass unless you are wearing gold shoes. If anything other than the bowling ball or gold shoes touches the grass, you are disqualified." Unlike the worst task, this was sneaky but not unfair. Very inventive, and the banter among the contestants was excellent.
Worst task of the season:
"Make exactly 99 holes in this piece of paper. Your holes must have a diameter of at least three millimetres and form a recognisable picture or pattern. If you make more or fewer than 99 holes, you are disqualified. Also, if you look at Alex or speak to Alex at any point, you are disqualified."
Alex Horne and the Taskmaster team are sneaky- they hide the answer in plain sight, they give you a followup task right after completing a task, they give tasks to encourage people to sabotage their team. But the show has always been fair. This is the one task I think they went too far. Saying the contestants couldn't look or talk to Alex is tough enough. But having Alex then shout random numbers (to disrupt their counting) and try to provoke them to talk to him was unfair. Three of the contestants were disqualified, and I'm amazed all five weren't.
"Can I say it's actually kind of a relief, because at the time I thought he was AN IDIOT!"- you'll have to watch episode 3 to understand this quote. It's worth it.
Taskmaster has a basic formula that works. What separates the good seasons from the great seasons are two things- the quality of the tasks, and the interaction of the five contestants with themselves and with Alex and Greg.
And season 14 has an abundance of both.
The tasks are outstanding- there's some unexpected twists and turns, some absolutely great performances and some utterlu amusing debacles.
And as good as the tasks are, the are matched with a great cast. All five are funny in different ways. Dara O'Briain and Sarah Millican are funny and competent. John Kearns, at times, is an utter trainwreck. Fern Brady is wonderfully weird. Munya Chawawa manages to be overly confident in his ability of every single task, even when he has no reason to think he'll do well. The cast snipe at each other and at Greg and Alex throughout the series. It's brilliant.
Portrait Decor:
Series 14 went with a circus theme, and the portrait of the Greg Davies had him as the ringmaster of the Circus of Tasks....
Best task of the season:
"Team: With your hands on those hips at all times, put the most sand in the shopping trolley. You may only move the shopping trolley when there is one minute left on the clock." Sounds like a simple task, but wait...
There are dozens of great tasks in this series. Three of them were copied from season 2 of Taskmaster New Zealand.
Worst task of the season:
I don't have any- this season knocks it out of the park with the tasks.
Series 13 is the first series since Series 9 that had a live studio audience and the COVID guidelines removed.
It's a good series- there's several clever tasks, and the sniping between the contestants hit the right balance between enjoyable sniping without being too bitter or angry. But it's a combination of two contestants who were competent and three who were... not. But seeing Bridget Christie (a longtime friend of Greg Davies, who enjoyed tormenting her) freak out, or Ardal O'Hanlon (charming and constantly critquing the others), or Judi Love (terrible at tasks, but a brilliant bullshitter) do as little as possible in a task, is entertaining. But Chris Ramsey and Sophie Duker are great contestants, and it comes down to the final couple of tasks to determine the winner.
One thing to note- in retrospect, episode 9 is low-key heartbreaking. Spoilers below:
The show spends the entire episode reminding us that Judi Love hasn't won an episode, and is trying so hard to set her up for the win... and then she gets disqualified on the final task.
Portrait Decor:
Series 13 went with an theme of Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), and the portrait has Greg Davies in full skull makeup...
Best task of the season:
"Display the shoe Alex is thinking of. All the other shoes must be out of sight at the end of the attempt. You may only ask yes or no questions and you must say/do your given phrase/action after every answer. Fewest questions wins." Four of the five contestants were visibly annoyed at Alex during this task, with hysterical results...
Worst task of the season:
"Stick your tongue out as far as it will go and keep it out until further notice. Every time Alex blows his whistle, you must lick the lemon, then the sherbet, then the ice lolly. Every time Alex honks his horn, you must hold your tongue in front of the fan for five seconds. The tongue that sticks out for the longest time wins." I. HATE. Disgusting. Tasks. Thank goodness these are few and far between...
Series 12 was the last under COVID guidelines, and is an excellent and underrated season
This was a fun cast- all of the contestants went full throttle at the tasks, sometimes brilliant, often weird. They had fun interacting with each other and trading quips with Greg and Alex. It's a good group- none of the vocal fighting of series 7 or 9, but great interactions and performances.
One thing I noticed- the studio tasks were difficult this series. There were some that either none of the contestants could do, or just a couple. And this cast is not incompetent- some of the studio tasks were just that impossible to complete.
Portrait Decor:
Series 12 went with an Steampunk theme, and the portrait has Greg Davies in full cogs and gears...
Best task of the season:
"Prize task: Most desirable thing for the person below you in the alphabet, or the highest alphabetically if you're the lowest alphabetically." Any task that has Greg screaming, "Stop being NICE!" is a good task. And Greg can always count on Victoria to bring things back on track, with the "Most Passive-Aggressive, calculated personal attack, I've ever experienced..."
tied with....
"Live: One at a time, make a noise without the Taskmaster identifying you. The person who makes the most unidentifiable noises wins.". Just.... WOW...
Worst task of the season:
"Team: Scale the mountain. Your attempt must last exactly five minutes and will be sped up by five times afterwards. Most thrilling ascent wins." There wasn't a bad task in this season- this one was just a little boring
Much like series 10, series 11 was under COVID guidelines. This time, the producers had time to prepare (in series 10, social distance guidelines were created halfway through the team tasks).
Series 11 is better than 10, and sometimes it's as simple as having the right comedians. Both Lee Mack and (especially) Mike Wozniak are hysterical, and fit right in with the mentality of the show. There's a reason Mike Wozniak was chosen as the Taskmaster's Assistant for the Junior Taskmaster show. Sarah Kendall also shines in her tasks. Jamali Maddox alternates- he has a lot of lateral thinking, but there are times he just doesn't seem to care. Charlotte Ritchie is charming, which is not the same thing as being good at the game.
Portrait Decor:
Series 11 went with an Russian theme, and the portrait has Greg Davies looking like Lenin...
CCCP Davies....
Best task of the season:
"Prize task: The thing that makes you look the toughest" Four of the five are excellent, ranging from fuuny and good to hysterically bad. But then Mike Wozniak steps up to the plate...
Worst task of the season:
"Fart." I normally really enjoy the tasks assigned to just one person- but I can't stand scatological humor.
