University Challenge (also featuring Only Connect and other BBC quiz shows)

Also

British sitcom matt damon
Benoit assou ekotto
Peter cook's lil brother

Phil neville via boyzone
Ed byrne
Prince harry
English deschanel

can't believe he got done by a Frankenstein/Frankenstein's monster mix-up. Ugh

the girl visibly going 'F....' at that makes me think she'd agree.
Also, more knackered Will Young than Matt Damon imo

there's something in that but i think a hybrid of each comes close

Phil jupitus' hanging mouth is killing me

Made it almost unwatchable, was almost glad my mother phoned me in the middle of it. Almost.

Peter cook's lil brother

DM OTM

Ah yes, the guppy in the hoodie was a bit hard to watch. Found myself being surprised every time he got something right (not that infrequently, even) and then hated myself for assuming that he was thick just for having some maybe sinus-issue-related mouthbreathing going on. After all I do so love it when I can tell someone has looked at me and thought "fat woman = stupid"

(I got more than usual this week and had no audience. Week before, Trinity Cam vs Chch Ox, was watching with a friend and got sod all. Typical.)

yeah he was actually on the ball, but even his delivery was pure jupitus, the sideways look and everything

last week's was p impressive showing from both sides i thought

Yeah, good showing from both sides and all contestants last week but that classicist team captain from Trinity could have turned up alone and still won iirc

(not 100% sure these two observations aren't contradictory but with such fast buzzing and high scores all round they both seem to make sense)

I think Trinity captain should switch to whichever Oxford college that was for UNBEATABLE POWER TEAM

Only Connect are looking for contestants for the next series, give me a shout if you want details

I love OC (don't call it that) but I can't think of a pithy off-kilter anecdote to tell about myself

I love it but I'm shit at it.

I'm shit-hot at missing vowels, which when it comes down to it is LLT HTMT TRS

I'm pretty good at the connecting walls and the missing vowels, but there's too many esoteric things in the first two rounds for me. If I could find a scientist and a chess player to come on with me, we'd be OK. Oh, and I could kill my chronic phobia of having my photo taken which surely screws me ever going on the telly.

making up amusing anecdotes and having your face broadcast are pains but some shows are worth the pain i reckon

I'm dead good at the missing vowels, too, but I pretty much never manage more than one group on the connecting wall, and the first two rounds are nigh on impossible. I'd do much better at University Challenge, honestly.

I used to play against a friend at both University Challenge and Only Connect (I am very cool) and while with UniChal it was competitive, with OnCon she would get every missing vowels answer the instant it appeared, so I'm a loser forever. But not too bad at the first rounds. I think we could make for 2/3 of a good team if anxious terror wasn't guaranteed.

Only Connect is a little unbalanced i feel cos you can almost win it on the vowels alone as long as you keep vaguely in touch

of course the other team might have the same idea

I can only read OnCon as 'Onion Convention', for some reason.

btw is it sad that i don't enjoy UC or OC half as much if i'm watching on my own?

Not at all. I basically force my flatmate to watch UC with me

should be referred to as NLYC NNCT really

Only Connect with my housemate (/best friend since we were 11) with a join makes up a large percent of my fondest memories of recent years. Connecting Wall was always where we'd take the game by the scruff of the neck and RINSE IT

*joint LMAO

is it sad that i don't enjoy UC or OC half as much if i'm watching on my own?

I feel the exact opposite of this, but this may be because I don't know anyone who is impressed by me getting the answers on UC correct.

I suppose the main reason I like watching these shows is the sad thrill I get when I answer a question correctly, but this is killed off if there's someone else in the room who obviously doesn't give a shit.

"Woof" is my Sim child. It's freaking me out.

Zaphod Beeblebroxalike Jamie Karran was on Only Connect last night. He still has the same haircut, and wasn't very good at Only Connect (I, on the other hand, ruled at it, but you'll have to take my word for that). I think one of his team-mates might have been ex-UC as well, he looked very familiar.

Blimey but the two teams on last night were rubbish

Exeter never do well.

hence the name i spose

lol at the Italian student knowing British kings of the 15th century when none of the Britishes did (nor did I, though I might have guessed)

lol at Morrissey Haircut interrupting wrongly repeatedly, also being a smug atheist in the smug atheist round (so am I but that round was a bit reddity)

I suppose the main reason I like watching these shows is the sad thrill I get when I answer a question correctly, but this is killed off if there's someone else in the room who obviously doesn't give a shit.

I used to hate watching with people who would shout out answers, since they were 1. drowning out the full questions and actual answers; 2. showing off; 3. often wrong lol @ u, but now if I have company I bellow my stupid guesses at the screen with the rest of them and I have to admit I like it.

Yes I do expect a medal when I get something none of the students does though. Except last night, when I would just have liked them to hurry up instead.

Over the years, I'd get both kids getting very keen on whichever team they liked scoring points, which would generally drown out the question.

More recently, one of the picture rounds had a familiar blurry painting of a bloke called George. Just as Amber walked into the room, I shouted (mildly) "Bacon"

"Bacon?" she roared.. Anyway, the team ummed and arrd, said "Picasso?" to which Paxman threw the card to one side, as he does, and said "tsk, it's Bacon!"

At which point Amber was helpless laffing.

Are there more mature students than usual on this year? I have mixed feelings about this.

I don't think so

I do.

Previous week, they had one 'mature student' guy telling the team captain the answer, and the young lad would beam and repeat the answer, sometimes phonetically.

Yeah, it made me think of that episode of the simpsons where it starts out with Marge and Bart playing Homer and Lisa at tennis, and they gradually start replacing each other with professional players, so by the end it's like Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras and the Williams sisters.

Mature students didn't improve the quality of this week's teams much, it took them about two years to recognise Indira Gandhi

Yeah, I was boggling at that, the two older guys must have been able to remember when she was on the new pretty frequently at least.

Last night's lot were hopeless. I was shouting at them with Paxmanesque exasperation.

I felt so old a couple of series back when a two teams (with no mature students) totally failed to recognise a photo of Helmut Kohl, I guess they would have only been about 7 or 8 years old when he was replaced as chancellor though

Too young even to confuse him with Mike McShane

I like how Paxman's now worked out a way to patronise the contestants even when they get the question right, by correcting their pronunciation of the answer.

Alexander Armstrong does that on Pointless too.

I think my favourite response to stupid wrong answers on a quiz show is when Bradley Walsh collapses in hysterics and goes "what did you say THAT for?" on The Chase. No patronising, no sympathy, just straight-up laughing in their face. Richard Osman occasionally does it too, but usually in a nicer or more subtle way.