Watching Telly: Pointless

By | January 28, 2011

Right, I’m LIVEBLOGGING this from an Internet cafe thing in Westfield as I wait for the off-peak trains to start.

What is there to say? Not much really.

  • It was very fun, as Americans would say.
  • Geek Hero Richard Osman is really, REALLY tall. I had heard this previously, but unless you’ve seen him in real life you wouldn’t understand – from my position in the audience pit he was practically as tall as the contestants standing on the high level of the stage. At least eight feet.
  • Many studios look big on telly but are in reality quite small. Pointless looks small on telly, but actually feels quite large in real life.
  • It’s funny on screen, but it’s much funnier live – the jokes, the looks, the awkward silences and filling, it’s all quite Jane Austen.
  • Both were brilliant, Armstrong acknowledges the audience more though.
  • An interesting situation came up where two teams tied with 200 points i.e. both members had failed to come up with an answer. I don’t know how regularly that occurs, but in a tie they confer and give a third answer, best score wins. I idly wonder if such a situation comes up it might be easier if they just went to an emergency thrid round sort of question to break the tie. Something interesting and funny happened with this though, so look out for a question on Eurovisaion host cities.
  • Recordings take about 90-100 minutes each. Not an awful lot in the way of stopdowns really, I noticed Greg the floor manager off of Deal or No Deal (or used to do it at any rate) was doing that here as well.
  • Oh, in the two episodes I saw, there were no new rounds. Armstrong suggested there were some new graphics in the head to head on the podiums, although I couldn’t see them. Also Armstrong’s podium moves from the tier to the floor for the final for no reason I can discern.
  • I hadn’t considered this before, but the audience don’t start “ooohing” until the Point-o-meter (my name, but they can have it if they want) hits 70.
  • Yes, go and see it live.
  • I can get the train now.

7 thoughts on “Watching Telly: Pointless

  1. Mart with an Y not an I

    Alexanders podium has always moved from tier to ground floor level for the final round, Brig.

    The only reason I can think of for this, is that it adds a subliminal field of depth to the procedings. The counter board looks bigger for the final, if a big-eared actor/comedian isn’t standing next to it.

    And Richard is very tall isn’t he? He’s also a supporter of the mighty Southampton FC – which makes him an excellent judge of soccer teams as well as potential tv game and quiz show formats(*)

    *- written before Saturdays 4th Round FA Cup tie between the aforementioned and the slightly better trophied Manchester United.

    Reply
    1. Brig Bother Post author

      Yes, it’s something I hadn’t really noticed before I saw them doing it today.

      What I really like about Armstrong is that he seems genuinely quite excited and enthusistic to be there. It’s a shame some of the flights of fancy are likely to be edited out for time or whatever.

      Something you won’t see – first category today came up on the board as “No Cat”. Moments of confusion all round, and then they decided to come up with guessing which books of the bible don’t feature cats.

      Reply
  2. SamB

    I went to the evening show tonight, and indeed, very fun! I think part of the reason Richard looks so tall is that Alexander is very short.

    Which rounds did you get Brig? We got ‘choose from the list of 7’ for the first round, then the usual second round of matching a correct answer.

    Reply
    1. Brig Bother Post author

      There were two shows, first show was pick from seven then quiz round, second game was classic pointless then quiz round

      Reply
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