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.
