It’s sort of the Board of Excitement but different.

• We are just waiting for a translation of this week’s Wie is De Mol? series opener. Please direct discussion to the page, linked to up the top.
• Face the Clock with Rory Bremner starts on Channel 4 tomorrow at 3:30pm. A show discussion post will go up in due course.
• Only Connect fans rejoice, there’s a series five vs series 6 champions episode tomorrow (BBC4, 8:30pm) followed by an Eggheads vs People Who Are Good At Only Connect Called David Special the following week. Still nobody has gone for the ratings behemoth that would be the Eggheads vs the Chasers. Edit: One of the questions is mine. That’s right, look impressed. Although I’m not credited.
• The Bother Series of Poker starts two weeks today. The trophies have been ordered, full details in due course. You can sign up to the Bother’s Bar Poker Club for free right now.
• We’ve had loads of ballots for the Poll of 2012. Thanks to everyone who has voted. We want more! Lines close on Friday night.
• Catchphrase films this week. We’re hoping to go on a return trip so look out for a review.
• Finally it’s Schlag den Raab next Saturday and yes! We’ll be doing another LIVE commentary! Probably.

It’s that time of year again, the time where we get asked to put up a contestant call for Only Connect:

The quiz where, as in life itself, knowledge will only take you so far: patience and lateral thinking are also vital. It’s all about making connections between things which may appear, at first glance, not to be connected at all.

We’re looking for teams of three players who share a common passion, ability or profession, to pool their combined wits to solve fiendish conundrums and vexing puzzles.

To request an application please email onlyconnect@parasolmedia.co.uk including a contact name and number. The closing date for applications is  Friday 25th January 2013, so get them in as soon as possible.

If you applied for a previous series, but were unsuccessful, you are welcome to apply again for the new series. Auditions will be held in regional centres across the UK. All applicants must be aged 18+ and U.K. Residents.

Also! Don’t forget that the Old-skool CITV weekend is this weekend, and that there will be posts for Splash! and Britain’s Brightest in due course.

[By the way, please keep voting in the exciting Poll of the Year 2012.]

Wednesday January 2nd 2013 represnts an exciting day in the world of television and the world of gameshows. Kids programmes now have their own seperate channels so the main networks are filling the afternoons with gameshows (and Flog It!). This is a good time for format developers who can make a good cheap show with a view to being the next Weakest Link, Deal or No Deal, Pointless, or The Chase.

The itinerary for tomorrow is as follows:

• Dickinson’s Real Deal (ITV, 3-4pm)
• Perfection (BBC1, 3:45-4:30pm)
• Tipping Point (ITV 4-5pm)
• Deal or No Deal (C4 4-5pm)
• Flog It! (4:30-5:15pm)
• The Chase (ITV 5-6pm)
• Come Dine With Me (C4 5-6pm)
• Pointless (5:15-6pm)

And if that wasn’t enough, Countdown returns to Channel 4 on Monday at 2:40, followed by a new show that finally seems to have settled on Face the Clock as a title (C4, 3:30pm) (Incidentally, an ironic title as facing a clock is precisely the one thing contestants won’t be doing. Anyway, it will get its own show discussion post). These next couple of months are going to be exciting and possibly brutal, it’s particularly interesting that none of BBC1s or ITVs shows share a junction – the hope is you’ll stick with the channel all afternoon. It’s actually a little bit like cycling, if you see Pointless and The Chase as the team leaders, Perfection and Tipping Point are the domestiques trying to get their riders to the finish line as quickly as possible. Something like that. We all understand cycling after London 2012.

WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN? And have they improved Tipping Point for series two? Nailbiting.