To think there is way too many game shows TV...

[Totallybannanas]

Honestly, apart the odd few most of them are absolutely rubbish! But they seem to be taking over prime time TV 😕

Oh no 😄😄 it's just opening boxes??

Each to their own though, I do love eastenders

Agree, the sob stories are awful

It's each to their own though isn't it? I don't really watch quiz shows other than the odd one occasionally if I've got nothing else to do/watch and I'm killing time, but I also don't watch the big BBC dramas or any of the soaps, or the stuff everyone raves about on streaming services like squid games and stranger things. I don't think they shouldn't be on, they're just not to my taste.

Over Christmas, the BBC had a lot of very popular, much-awaited programmes in their schedule - Strictly, Gavin & Stacey, Call The Midwife, Doctor Who, Wallace & Gromit, Outnumbered etc. - which hugely dominated the viewing figures.

ITV obviously have to think about their commercial income, so if they know they probably can't compete, it's easier for them to accept defeat and put cheaper, maybe more minority-interest, programmes on; and keep their big banger, bread-and-butter-type programmes that draw the biggest advertising spend (based on eyeballs) on another time, when the BBC's offering isn't as strong.

I would put all the Love Island genre of programmes on at 3am!

Have you seen any of the old Max Bygraves episodes? He was a terribly boring, doddering, unfunny game show presenter, with no sense of excitement or pace - especially as he took over FF straight after Bob Monkhouse.

Have you seen the classic Turkey Bob episode? The man's mortally embarrassed wife offered William G Stewart (then the producer of FF) £100 to never show it, but he refused and told her that it had cost them £38,000 to make that episode!

Full Episode:

Just the Big Money finale:

Tuvalu is very popular now, thanks to Pointless! I can also name a lot of the periodic table that didn't exist when I did A level Chemistry, eons ago. Watching a lot of games shows has helped my pub quiz team a lot of money.

MN's acceptable 'ism' raises its ugly head again.

Yes, I wish they'd focus on the two important aspects: the random excitement of seeing what is in the boxes and then the skill/courage in considering the impact and probability based on that randomness and deciding when to bail and when to carry on. Just scrap the woo.

There are also a weirdly high amount of people who will say they desperately want, say, £5K to fulfil a lifelong dream; they end up being offered £10K, but greedily turn it down because the £100K is still there on the board (alone amongst a sea of blues) - then they end up going home with £2.75 and say it really doesn't matter in the slightest because the money isn't important and it was their 'journey' that was their main goal!

Also, they're all such immensely great friends. Surely, going on the law of averages, there would be some of them that really don't get on at all, and some that detest each other. I'd love to see somebody whose box number is chosen early on say, as they go to open it, "Well, Janet, you're an irritating, arrogant nincompoop - so I'm desperately hoping that this is the £100K and you end up going home with a fiver!"

💯 agree but then I don't like them at all!

I think that a while ago, tv companies assumed that to an extent, those who still watch tv at transmission time are a captive audience of sorts, especially Saturday evenings. Game shows are cheap to make compared with dramas, for example. You can also get repeats easily on Challenge, Dave and other such channels.

I don't perceive there to many more though than over the last few years.

Same with Central African Republic!

I love the format, but they went on for far too long having very slight variations on pretty much the same topic and same question.

Still, it's always hilarious when somebody is utterly clueless and can't even have a remotely intelligent guess. If the subject is South American countries with 7 or more letters in their name, don't guess at Cairo

This is just what I was going to say.... Richard Osman explained it all in his podcast recently.

I LOVE quiz shows and they're pretty much the only thing I watch.

Monday night quiz night is a highlight of our week 😂 even our 10 year old looks forward to it.

Yes, I agree. They know that the trendy, young, dynamic, go-getter sort will all be out painting the town red on a Saturday night, so what's the point in chasing after them with programmes that they'll never be at home to watch anyway?

It makes infinitely more sense to target the audience that you actually have.

@JudgeJ oh honestly I was just joking. Are we really not allowed to make jokes anymore?

I remember when channel 4 was first a thing. In our house, we couldn't get it on the main TV, but I had a black and white one in my room which had an on-set aerial and for some reason, that picked it up. My sister and I used to watch Brookside on it.

We like quiz shows especially if you can play along, I am the family champion of House of Games and Catchphrase, it's annoying when they don't show the questions the whole time though like Pointless they should split screen it.

I think the taking part as well is a key factor especially for those that live alone, much like the morning and afternoon chat shows where if you were living alone and isolated can have the TV/radio on and listen to others wittering on, evening chat shows I would imagine would give those people a sense of virtual connection perhaps....or perhaps they are cheap as chips to make, all filmed over two weeks and you've got a year's worth of programmes.

My exh’s brain I am certain putrefied when he was isolating during covid and started watching game shows and the soaps all day everyday

I cannot stand the noise. The amount of dings and buzzers. It’s mind numbing

@JudgeJ yes, Tuvalu and Vanuatu used to always be pointless answers but people have come to know them.

Pointless has taught me more about the periodic table than secondary school chemistry ever did 😂.

It’s mind numbing

Quiz/Game shows are mine numbing?! Eh?

Of all the things on tv I'd say they're the least mind numbing given you have to use your brain to some extent!

We like quiz shows especially if you can play along, I am the family champion of House of Games and Catchphrase

Me too!
I really wish the general public could apply to be on house of games!

Hard to know, on MN, many people find any kind of jokey posts 'offensive' and all the other rubbishy remarks!

Yes. I'd also love to do Taskmaster.

My husband has Alzheimer’s so can’t cope with many TV programmes because his memory span is so short he can’t keep up with a plot. He can cope with quiz shows though because it’s instant question/answer and he can sometimes dredge up an answer from his long term memory. They keep him occupied and I can listen and join in while reading MN on my phone. Favourites are Tipping Point, House of Games and The Chase (although he still doesn’t understand the strategy of The Chase and I’ve given up trying to explain it). The other advantage is it doesn’t matter if they are repeats because he doesn’t remember having seen them the first time but is impressed at how many answers I get…..

I think I’m in love with Ben Shephard (Tipping Point) and wonder if he’s really as pleasant a bloke as he seems.

The point I making is that there are so many ways to consume TV now there is no reason for people to tolerate stuff they don't like anymore. If you don't like something (like the game shows that the op was complaining about) then there are 300 odd other live channels to watch and tens of thousands of hours of streaming content available.