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It's easy to dismiss all game shows as moron fodder.
Family Fortunes, The Price is Right, Bullseye, Strike It Lucky - they all have real thicko appeal.
However I am not ashamed to admit there are three quiz shows I do watch with some regularity.
Deal or No Deal
I Sky+ Deal or No Deal and watch it from 35 minutes onwards. I make sure I skip all the "getting to know the contestant" bollocks at the start - I hate that shit with the family photos and the sob stories, it's not what I watch it for and nobody ever deals in the first couple of rounds anyway. On a good day it is intriguing. On a bad day I zone out. We had a good discussion about Deal or No Deal in relation to the Monty Hall Problem last month BA. I know some of the posters on here lurk on there but don't post, so some of you will have read it. On a good episode, the psychology and decision making can be riveting.
Pointless
I only discovered this recently. It's like Family Fortunes but for people with a brain. 100 people are asked to provide as many answers as they can to questions before the show, and the idea is to come up with correct answers on the show which as few people as possible were able to name. If you come up with a correct answer which none of the 100 people nominated, that is called a 'Pointless' answer. So you find contestants searching for obscure answers and taking calculated risks based on a) the certainty that the answer is right b) their perception of the obscurity of the answer c) is their answer more obscure than the other contestant's answer and d) their current score over-riding a), b) and c).
A couple of example questions
a) Name a UK born female solo artist who has had a UK number one single
So the 'worst' correct answers were people like Adele and Leona Lewis. The best answers were people like Emma Bunton.
b) Name a country recognised as a sovereign state by the United Nations which repeats no letters in its name.
The worst correct answers were France, Spain and Germany. The pointless answers were countries like Mali, Tonga and so on. But surprisngly, Belgium was also a pointless answer, even though you'd think it was an obvious one.
University Challenge
It's very hard and the questions are asked by Jeremy Paxman in a sarcastic tone. What's not to like about it?
Each series I keep track of how many questions I can answer correctly. However I do cheat by pausing it to think, something the students can't do. My highest score this series is 22, my lowest is 8. It's challenging.
Do any of you guys watch these, or would you recommend any other quiz shows?
Eggheads is too slow paced for me and I find the Eggheads annoying. I like seeing Anne Robinson destroy people on The Weakest Link but the questions are too easy. I like the Million Pound Drop but again, there's half an hour between each question.
Family Fortunes, The Price is Right, Bullseye, Strike It Lucky - they all have real thicko appeal.
However I am not ashamed to admit there are three quiz shows I do watch with some regularity.
Deal or No Deal
I Sky+ Deal or No Deal and watch it from 35 minutes onwards. I make sure I skip all the "getting to know the contestant" bollocks at the start - I hate that shit with the family photos and the sob stories, it's not what I watch it for and nobody ever deals in the first couple of rounds anyway. On a good day it is intriguing. On a bad day I zone out. We had a good discussion about Deal or No Deal in relation to the Monty Hall Problem last month BA. I know some of the posters on here lurk on there but don't post, so some of you will have read it. On a good episode, the psychology and decision making can be riveting.
Pointless
I only discovered this recently. It's like Family Fortunes but for people with a brain. 100 people are asked to provide as many answers as they can to questions before the show, and the idea is to come up with correct answers on the show which as few people as possible were able to name. If you come up with a correct answer which none of the 100 people nominated, that is called a 'Pointless' answer. So you find contestants searching for obscure answers and taking calculated risks based on a) the certainty that the answer is right b) their perception of the obscurity of the answer c) is their answer more obscure than the other contestant's answer and d) their current score over-riding a), b) and c).
A couple of example questions
a) Name a UK born female solo artist who has had a UK number one single
So the 'worst' correct answers were people like Adele and Leona Lewis. The best answers were people like Emma Bunton.
b) Name a country recognised as a sovereign state by the United Nations which repeats no letters in its name.
The worst correct answers were France, Spain and Germany. The pointless answers were countries like Mali, Tonga and so on. But surprisngly, Belgium was also a pointless answer, even though you'd think it was an obvious one.
University Challenge
It's very hard and the questions are asked by Jeremy Paxman in a sarcastic tone. What's not to like about it?
Each series I keep track of how many questions I can answer correctly. However I do cheat by pausing it to think, something the students can't do. My highest score this series is 22, my lowest is 8. It's challenging.
Do any of you guys watch these, or would you recommend any other quiz shows?
Eggheads is too slow paced for me and I find the Eggheads annoying. I like seeing Anne Robinson destroy people on The Weakest Link but the questions are too easy. I like the Million Pound Drop but again, there's half an hour between each question.
