An absolute waste of money

A Brilliant Conflict

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

This is a BBC quiz show that began in 2009 and is still running. In this show, teams of two compete to give correct answers that none of the hundred members of the public gave - those are pointless answers. For example, if the question is "Name a country beginning with B", then Benin might be a pointless answer, whereas Brazil would be a high score. In each round, a team is eliminated.The host Alexander Armstrong wastes a lot of time with irrelevant chat between him and the contestants. Even worse is the annoying, arrogant banter between him and his assistant Richard Osman. The rounds vary to a ridiculous extent in that it often quickly changes from very serious, high-brow topics (such as constellations) - to silly things (such as nursery rhymes). Osman is a serious geek one minute - then making fun of Armstrong or a contestant the next. It should either be a serious high-brow quiz or trivial messing around - not jolt from one to another in the same episode like it often does. There is also a celebrity version, as well as an American version and several European versions.

Game shows range from daft to extremely good. I'd say pointless was both, on the surface it seems a daft idea, but when you've watched it a few shows, it really works, and the concept feels like a rare piece of TV inspiration, absolutely brilliant original idea for a show, and there is tons of quiz mileage in it, it could run and run.Then you have the choice of presenters. Have to say at first this put me off watching it for ages. I briefly looked in, didn't really know what it was or understand what they were doing, looked at the question setter guy sitting down and thought 'Oh no, this is far too dry for me'. Armstrong didn't do a lot for me at the time either. Well, opinions can change because after finally getting into it, I think they are fantastic together, dry and formal yes but very witty and often really funny together. Osman is Stephen Fry like in his knowledge and wit, but drier, probably sharper and nowhere near as smug about it. I think he's a great find and would like to see him on some more panel shows. Armstrong is just a natural frontman, very clear and concise, warm and friendly. What's surprised me is how funny he can be too, as I was never really convinced by his more overt comedy routines.This show has stiff competition from some great gameshows like Millionaire, Weakest Link and Eggheads but I think this is the best of the lot, inventive, very entertaining, humorous and stupidly addictive. It's a cracker. Oh and the celebrity specials they do are a scream, with these two upright, slightly nerdy looking, well spoken chaps quietly sitting or standing there in ridiculous outfits. Absolute belter of a show, really! Do give it a go, if you've avoided it like I did, it's well worth getting into.

The thing that makes this show so brilliant is that it actually feels like an accomplishment when you know a good (obscure) answer. Who was the director of "The Terminator"? James Cameron. Was that fun? Of course not. However, when you have to name a James Cameron movie and try to go for an answer few people have heard of, that's an actual challenge. And because there's never one right answer you either know or don't know, you can actually sort of play this within family circles and such and such. The format has been tinkered with a lot already, but really the changes were all for the better. While there used to be four rounds that were somewhat slow-paced and similar to each other, now the show has actually transformed into a more compact program with less contestants, more interesting variations on the basic concept and just generally more fun. I also really like Alexander Armstrong and Richard Osman, who host this show in quite a unique, atypical way. Richard's interventions can be well, pointless, as he has to say roughly the same stuff every episode (we're aware obscure answers score less points and wrong answers score 100, why the hell does he say that before the SECOND round?), but more often they're hilarious. Behold, the only quiz show I've ever liked, may it be on forever.

I am a bit of a saddo, as I really like this show when I catch it. Alexander Armstrong is an excellent front man for it and I really like him as a performer and was surprised to see him doing this. He has a special quality which comes across to the viewer (well this viewer anyway). The premise is that people try to find a pointless answer to the question posed thereby scoring as low as possible. Gentle humour is employed throughout and I like the fact that no-one is humiliated or made fools of in any way. I feel that the programme would benefit from a little faster pace but that is a minor quibble. It is almost educational sometimes too as one finds out facts one did not know before. Long may it last. Well I am adding to my review 16 months on and I am still addicted to it. If anything more so. It has really hit it's stride and Richard and Alexander's banter is witty, original and, unusually for a daytime quiz, funny. This one should run and run.