Over on LAM David Clark has been talking about entrants for the Quizzing Hall of Shame. Which got me thinking along similar lines but in the opposite direction.
But whilst trying to decide whether I preferred Mastermind over University Challenge or vice versa, I struck upon another idea. Namely is there a quiz show no longer running which I would like to see brought back to our screens?
Now if I'd asked myself that question approximately one year ago, I would have replied in an instant, Fifteen to One, but as that has returned I had to try and come up with something else.
So then I thought of Are You An Egghead?, which ran for two series back in 2008/09, with the winners of both series gaining a place as an Egghead on the actual show.
The format of the show as I remember it was this:
- 2 contestants per show, each with a runtime of 45 minutes.
- 5 rounds of 3 multi choice questions each on a topic which featured in Eggheads, so Sport, Geography, Politics etc. The winner of each round got to choose one of the Eggheads onto their team to help them in the final round.
- The final round then consisted of 5 multi choice general knowledge questions, where the contestant could ask for help from any of the Eggheads on their team.
As I remember them the questions were of a good standard, and I really enjoyed it. I reckon the format could work without the carrot of a place on the parent show for the series winner.
Does anyone have any other views or ideas?
I enjoyed playing in the second series of Are You An Egghead, and I certainly think it was the most watchable of all the Eggheads franchise. Even so, I did find Dermot (a lovely, lovely guy) would insist on spouting - Don't Put All Your Eggheads in One Basket at every opportunity got up my nose.
ReplyDeleteI would like to nominate the original Ask the Family. As I said on the most recent LAM podcast, I think that it was a format which still has some mileage in it . If you had someone like, say , Stephen Fry , presenting it, then I think you could have yourself a hit.