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

Top comedian on University Challenge who i wouldn't recognise if he was sat on the end of my settee

OH FFS IT'S AMOL RAJAN

Deeks on OC. Familiar from me saying he looked familiar last time he was on something.

The level of ignorance on display in Christmas UC continues to amaze

The G family were pretty hot on the series of music questions. Alice got Sia way ahead of them all.

Missed the OC portillo punchline in the gap between programmes.

Seemed apt to have a question about the Peter principle tonight

We might have to stop watching Christmas University Challenge, because my husband is going to have a fit shouting at the teams about how stupid they are. Who doesn't know Saul Bass, ffs?

Always with the German administrative areas.

I couldn't remember Saul Bass's name myself, when watching the programme.

Tonight Lanchester was knocked out.

Questions included METROPOLIS, NOSFERATU, THE WHO at the Isle of Wight, George Cukor films.

I was in a school Shakespeare play with the Courtauld team leader. She had the lead and I was “citizen 2”

Tuesday's, Reading vs New College Oxford, was the most fucking embarrassing all round display of zero general knowledge and inability to even listen to the question.

I liked the Courtauld team leader. She had very can-do spirit.

Courtauld are the most likeable team altho I wish Juliet and Manchester well, tonight at least

Tuesday's, Reading vs New College Oxford, was the most fucking embarrassing all round display of zero general knowledge and inability to even listen to the question.

Agreed, although Loughborough versus UCLAN wasn't exactly stellar television either. Like the comedy shows, I can only assume they're having difficulty getting people to agree to risk putting themselves through it this year.

Nah the alumni are surprisingly ignorant every year

Christmas UC questions seem a bit harder this year (or perhaps I am a bit slower). I seem to remember more questions like “What is the name of the Christmas ballet by Tchaikovsky called the Ntcracker?” in the past

God I'm embarrassed on behalf of Loughborough

Feel for Fix, at least she's trying.

Fox dang autocorrect

Gotta hand it to Monty, you wait all episode for him to buzz in, but when he does he's wrong

catching up on OC now. is she going to wear that hat all show?

ah...

> God I'm embarrassed on behalf of Loughborough

Watching this now and neither team are doing well but the monomania of the sports stars is showing, Fox seems to be the only one that has any general knowledge.

Having two cricketers on the team all well and good, but if you don't get the questions...

Paul Sinha has been the answer twice tonight.

Monty's contribution over the two shows was -5 points.

And he wants to be a broadcaster! Not only did he not answer any questions correctly, he barely opened his mouth. At least the other two were trying to join in, even if they didn't know anything.

This lad on OC is gloriously rubbish

Even if I didn't already know they were tossers

That bit of conferring that ended in "marine environments" was truly painful

Poor Big O mistaken for Tammy Wynette.

Durham captain Parkinson did very well last night.

One of my better personal performances too -- scored 13 (canard, Minister of Education, Newtons / m², Green Bay Packers, jackdaw, rook, raven*, Elgar, TT Race, Turin, Willy Brandt, Clyde Tombaugh, HP Lovecraft).

* always like it when ornithology comes up.

was she the one that fumbled Jarrow March?

I felt so bad for her, because she was afraid of every answer she took from the team after that.

i don't undertand why they don't nominate more

I'd like to know how she worked out the half life, none of the online calculators i can find have the size of decay product as a factor.

oh i guess it's that if there's 7 times more y than x after t, then there's one eighth of x remaining - so half life = t/3 (1/8 life = t, 1/4 life = t/2, 1/2 life = t/3). only took me about half an hour compared to her 2 seconds!

What is nominating for?

Have i asked this already?

2^3 is 8 is how i figured it. if it's an eighth of what it was after a day, that's 3 half lives

nominating just means the person who knows the answer speaks rather than telling the captain (with the potential information loss that can cause).

Ok, but do the answers otherwise have to come through the captain? Hadnt noticed any pattern there i must say

starter questions (no conferring) are answered by whoever buzzes, but the 3 follow-up questions are normally answered via the captain.

2^3 is 8 is how i figured it. if it's an eighth of what it was after a day, that's 3 half lives

yeah it was the 7 that threw me.

Apart from being incredibly badly designed as an audience participation show I can't watch Mastermind cos I hate watching all these saddoes looking sad when they realise they're rubbish

And yet esterhase's interrogation is a masterwork youd watch again and again

I can't watch pointless (or many other shows) because of the constant wrestling with a question i cannot answer: why people who clearly don't know anything would apply to go on a quiz show.

Some Mastermind contestants always seem to look particularly broken, lol ffs

why people who clearly don't know anything would apply to go on a quiz show.

You get to be on telly! You can meet Richard and Xander! Some people are into that.

i am reminded of half man, half biscuit.

tuned it of UC last night, was trying to make pixels jump.

got the ar- set on the OC wall though (cade kind of gave that away) and a three pointer they didn't see in the first round.

People do apply for quiz shows as a nice day out, be on telly, meet Ben or Bradley or whoever.

And why not?

The downside is you get people going up to you in the street saying "I knew that Myanmar answer" for six months afterwards, plus repeats.

I auditioned for a quiz quite a few years ago, there was a 'runthrough' in an office with a couple of researchers and four potential contestants, and I got bumped because I was doing too well.

Then again, the prog was a disaster and got cancelled after three episodes.