On Thu, 24 Jul 2003 17:14:18 -0000, David wrote: > there were several articles on > day in early/middle June sometime in the Times of London about a > televised University Challenge quiz match between a team of Times > journalists and MPs, which was part of a series of matches of > professionals of one sort versus another. For those wondering, this is a special series of "University Challenge" subtitled "The Professionals". Last summer, to celebrate their 40th anniversary, they held a "Reunited" series in which previous winners, runners-up and hangers-on were brought back as best they could to play a special series[1]. This involved lengthy "what are they doing now" human-interest-y introductions, which proved depressingly popular. Therefore, this current series was developed, in which the teams represent various professions and institutions, and about a third of the possible game time is given over to having long films introducing the teams (meaning the games last about 15 starters/tossups by my estimate). The standard of most of these teams has been unspeakably dire, except for one excellent side from our Inland Revenue! The MPs were particularly awful[2], and got crushed by a team of journalists. This was reported more than any other match nearly in the entire history of the show, simply for the novelty value of MPs getting thrashed - so don't go thinking that every match gets that sort of treatment in the papers. This "quiz as sport" idea has been developing over here recently, and a new quiz show called Grand Slam has taken it to its logical conclusion. The contestants have all done reasonably well (they are allegedly champions, but the real champions mostly didn't take part) on other quiz and game shows, and have put up £1000 to play in a 16-person single-elim for a £50k prize pot. The game is based around a chess clock theory, in which your clock runs down as you answer questions in rounds of general knowledge, numbers, words, etc. What is interesting about the game is that each player is treated as a sportsperson, and commentated on by two presenters overlooking the studio. The downfall of the show is that neither of the presenters knows anything about the quiz scene, and hence they talk utter unmitigated bollocks - not to mention that the actual game lasts a possible maximum of 9 minutes of the show. Good idea, badly done. Bringing you more developments from the far side of the Atlantic, r. [1] Don't even get me started on the format. Think of every bad tournament structure you've ever heard. Then consider one in which there are something like 12 first round matches, of which the four teams who scored the most points in their one match contest the semi-finals. Then weep. [2] Despite the fact that the captain of the team that won the Reunited series the year before was an MP now, but he didn't take part in this series. -- Rob Linham: E-mail: rob_linham_at_... Phone: 07855 079433 Web: http://www.geocities.com/rob_linham ICQ: 23064118 MSN: rlinham_at_... AOL: RJLinham
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