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    Favourite quiz shows

    I don't think I've loved any quiz show better than I love Pointless, which of course has its own thread. The concept is great: not only knowing stuff but judging what is most obscure of what you know. And I love the interplay between Armstrong, Osman and the contestants. After all this voting-people-off shenanigans of other shows, the gentle vibe of Pointless is really appealing.

    I watched the first episodes of the German version, from 2012 or so, the other day. They have the nerdy judge with thick glasses and the same music, but a different set of rules (contestants may confer; the highest scorers get off after an eternity of rounds), but the set is the ubiquitous shiny blue, and the vibe isn't as familiar as that of Pointless.

    Lately I've come across an Australian quiz show called Hard Quiz. The shiny blue set seemed unpromising, and the presenter at first came across as obnoxious. Turns out, ribbing contestants (and them ribbing back) is part of the show, and the presenter is very funny. The repartee is above standard banter. The rules are great: Contestants have a specialist field, but their rivals can "steal" answers. That is followed by a couple of general knowledge (guesswork) rounds, and a penalty shoot-out type finale on the final two candidates' specialist subject. I have enjoyed the shows I've seen.

    Historically, I liked Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?, which I saw in the British, South African and US iterations. I'd rank them in that order.

    In Germany when I was a kid there was a show called Der Große Preis which mixed up the specialist subject and general knowledge theme. I'd include that among favourite shows.

    I'm not big on US quiz shows. Culturally they seem very foreign to me.

    #2
    Pointless is effortlessly watchable; University Challenge, another favourite, would be quite wearing on such heavy rotation.

    The shortlived Channel 5 precursor to Pointless, Topranko was very good. It had the same inverse ranking appeal and was presented by Tony Wilson, who was irrepressibly himself in any context.

    UC suffers a little from the BBC's laboured attempts to hype the breakout contestants from each series.

    I remember liking Blockbusters at the time, but haven't seen it for 30 odd years, apart from laboured 'P' and 'E' clips on nostalgia list shows.

    Only Connect is a good format rendered almost unwatchable by the self-congratulatory tone and leaden 'humour' from host and contestants alike.

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      #3
      Of the US quiz shows I've seen, the best is Jeopardy, where you need to have a fairly high standard of general knowledge to win (and definitely fast reflexes).

      Millionaire is obviously ok, but they have a weird lifeline, where you have a mate in the audience, and if you are stuck, you can drag them on to tell you that they have no idea.

      I can't think of another quiz show on TV at the moment. The Wall has recently started, but I think that is more about whether one thinks that the other can answer the questions or not. The questions didn't seem too taxing.

      My favourite isn't a quiz per se, but a 'guess the word' game on Dutch TV, called Lingo, which is a very simple format, and really helped with my vocabulary. And the sheer joy of getting a word correct in another language was childishly pleasing to me. And the lady on there (Nance?) had a wonderfully sing-song voice, which made her pronunciations of words beautifully musical.

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        #4
        Originally posted by G-Man View Post
        I don't think I've loved any quiz show better than I love Pointless...
        You could have stopped there, really.

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          #5
          3-2-1 was technically a quiz show...

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            #6
            I was a contestant on 15 -to -1 three times, survived to the second round twice, crashed out early the third time though by that stage I was only doing it for the free trip to London

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              #7
              I used to periodically go to the auditions for 15 to 1, because they gave you 20 quid expenses, and I bought a 1 day travelcard, as the auditions were in Wandsworth (London).

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                #8
                I will admit that I always had a liking for Whittle. Its forthrightness in how obviously shoestring it all was proved refreshing when other 90s quiz shows just seemed obsessed with trumping and gazumping each other.

                Cardboard masks? £250 top prize? Non-anti-aliased fonts? Tim Vine's none-more-90s curtains?
                Bloody marvellous stuff.

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                  #9
                  My girlfriend and I have recently become obsessed with The Question Jury on Channel 4. The format really does make for great telly.

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