Bad Influence! (1992-96)

Bad Influence! (1992-96)

4 Series | 57 episodes total, approx 20 minutes each.

My first thought when revisiting Bad Influence! was 'Who let Andy Crane out of the broom cupboard?', but he did an okay job on his feet, showing an admirable amount of enthusiasm in the presenter role. His co-host on the weekly ITV series was Violet Berlin, which is a name that most UK folks who were into gaming back in the 90s will probably recognise.

It wasn't as good as the similarly themed GamesMaster (1992-98) series that aired on a rival channel, but Bad Influence!'s focus was broader.

It states on Wikipedia that the show was like a Tomorrow's World for kids, which is an observation that I very much agree with. Of course, it means nothing if you don't already know what kind of a show Tomorrow's World was. In both cases, new technology that was either still under development, had advanced into the testing phase, or was already on the market was showcased in an investigative and easy to understand way that didn't compromise the scientific nature or importance of the product. Features took place either in the studio or on location and showed the presenter(s) getting hands-on with the new technologies.

The techy stuff was cool, but the main focus was Video Games, Consoles, and Home Computers. By 1992 the 16 bit consoles had taken a strong hold, but CD-based options were appearing. It's fun to look back and see how things like the Panasonic branded 3DO and the Phillips CD-i were heralded as the next big thing when in fact they were the next big failures.

Interestingly, product reviews included third-party devices, such as the kind that enabled gamers to circumvent copy protection on cartridges, allowing import carts to be played on UK machines. The friendly warning that use of such gray area products voided your warranty seemed more like a necessary addition to keep the team on the safe side of the law than anything else.

The competitions were mostly amazing; in one episode they even gave away a Neo Geo console with games! In the UK at the time, a Neo Geo was like the Holy Grail - in fact, it was better, because you can't play Metal Slug or Bust-a-Move on the Holy Grail. It's just a cup.

A spin-off series called Bad Level 10 aired on The Children's Channel. I've not seen all of it.

NOTE: like GamesMaster, it had its own magazine in the stores. But unlike GM magazine, which ran for an amazing twenty-five years(!), the Bad Influence! magazine lasted for just two issues.