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

The question ultimately asked for the organisation and specified it was what ZSL stood for, I thought, which is wider than just the zoo.

xpost

was that Jenny from the Chase on OC repeat this week?

Haven't seen it yet but it was Mark from The Chase last week. He sure is tall.

Also it was from series 2 with the greek letters, not hieroglyphs.

Yeah, that was Jenny on this week's repeat

i missed last week's because the epg had it as a different series id from the previous specials 8( don't think i've seen an episode with greek letters.

the personal facts at the start of oc in 2013 were dull

caught the end of the one with the beast on it and that was quite the drubbing, highest score i think I've seen.

https://www.theguardian.com/law/2024/mar/06/tory-peer-jacqueline-foster-pays-damages-university-challenge

I hope Gorgianeh got handsomely compensated for the disgusting abuse she suffered.

Was it on here we talked about the UK rebooting The Genius? Anyway, David Tennant!

https://www.itv.com/presscentre/media-releases/david-tennant-front-itvs-genius-game

So that's one way to confirm I didn't get through the sift.

Good to see people know Borges. Is that a constant? Not sure how I discovered him could it be Colin Wilson or Martin Esslin or something. But seemed the guy knew him pretty thoroughly.
May need to reread Labyrinths etc.

David Tennant? Jesus, there's no hope for the mid-tier lads if that's the kind of talent they're recruiting. Oh well.

was that the final of UC last night? I've just deleted it from the pvr by accident...

No, next week

Final of Mastermind though.

and last of the OC specials (which is what i should've deleted)

Exciting semi-final. IMO the show feels a lot pacier since Rajan joined: it's more like a contest between two teams, instead of nerds in parallel play. Rajan's interactions tend to goose that up - they are occasionally cringey, like a slightly-too-loud parent at a school sports event, but that's fine.

Questions this week varied between exceptionally easy (I got an unusual number of 4 out of 4s) and no-amount-of-reading-could-prepare-me-for-this impossible.

Was that "Beatles songs that mention places" the easiest round ever?

> and last of the OC specials

this isn't true. it said 4/4 in the epg but that was 4th of the series 18 specials and next Monday they are showing part 4 of the series 14 specials, QI Elves v Inquisitors

That was a bit of a shellacking. At least UCL rallied and made 3 figures.

My poorest score of the series too, with only 6 right.

ucl made some basic errors (answering "rome" when that was mentioned in the question) and then seemed to lose all confidence. ucl were very strong though, lee especially.

*imperial* were very strong

Lee was brilliant. Also I'm genuinely astonished at how quickly Amol Rajan has established himself as a very good host of this. He's had some huge shoes to fill and has comfortably just made it his own thing.

My only issue was with the second semi-final, where he rushed through the last set of qestions for the losing team so fast that I felt he panicked them. But otherwise, yes, he's really good. I was very amused by UCL all dressing up in their good suits for the final. Bless them.

after a certain point did Imperial realllly need any more points. I mean, like surely they had nowhere to put them.

The ending was very odd. Amol Rajan presenting Imperial with the trophy in the studio and then cutting very suddenly to the roof of Imperial for them all to meet Tom Stoppard, rather than having Stoppard come into the studio to present them with the trophy.

There was an interview w/Amol where he was asking if anyone knew anybody that would be suitable to present next year's trophy. I wondered why, and now I know. (ish)

So, was it that Stoppard was meant to present the trophy in the studio and then didn't show up then for some reason?

Maybe he got COVID?

I've never seen a grand final where the presenter was like "well, here this is yours I guess..."

venice, urea, parker, ai wei wei, spline, thailand, aspiration, fric(a)tive, psyche, proton, frank lloyd wright, keep the aspidistra flying, bildungsroman

couple of guesses included there and there were a couple more that i might've got given time (son of odysseus...) or a second attempt. i think i'd've gotten away with the mispronunciation of ɸ

but, yes, quite a drubbing for something so late in the competition

Not sure I have warmed to Amol Rajan…he always has a ‘too cool for school’ air…much preferred the detached schoolmasterly distain of Paxman…maybe I’ll be proved wrong

I think it's good that he's on the contestants' side. Social media too often treats contestants horrifically, I think a host who isn't sneering at them really helps to humanise the whole thing.

(Yours observantly, someone trolled on social media for going on telly to do a quiz)

Thinking that paxman is any good just feels like a kind of Stockholm syndrome for forelock wankers tbh

I also like the idea that Rajan doesn't think it's beneath him to ask questions about video games or knitting.

and doesn't berate people for not knowing obscure classical composers

Ailsa it was a real delight to watch you on OC (and then to read back up this thread and see you gradually saying "hey, maybe I should try and go on OC")

I for one have kinda enjoyed the UC shift from affronted schoolmasterly "good lord how could you be so dreadfully wrong" to a coolly dismissive "nah, bro, that's kinda embarrassing" response. I hope to live long enough to see lots of different modes of shaming contestants applied

There was a round about 80s rap which concluded with Amol gently berating the team for not listening to enough hip-hop. I think that sealed the deal for my fandom of him - IMAGINE Paxo saying that.

On a bit of a tangent, it was funny to see Only Connect alumnus Michael Joel Bartellein the first episode of The Regime.

Yeah, I went into this season expecting AR to be a bit crap, but he’s turned out to be adorable and I like what UC has evolved into under his stewardship. And of the contestants, I particularly liked ailsa’s mate, the Open University captain who knew her female punk singers and rocked some fierce looks.

She popped up on BBC London news recently on the panel auditioning buskers for the Tube.

Yeah, she works for TfL and is just an all-round fantastic person. I was so happy she got the questions on female punk singers!

Also, thanks Nabisco!

She looked so pleased and confident about that one! (As opposed to the relatable share of people who, getting a topic they're familiar with, immediately panic at the prospect of still being stumped, which is almost certainly what I would do)