TV Watch - Return of Mastermind

Mastermind Friday 5th September 8pm ( BBC Wales 9pm )

And so Mastermind returns, and a new champion will be crowned, bringing to an end my reign. Lord alone knows when they will get around to showing the final, since my series began in July, and went all the way through to March. At this rate I can see the final being aired some time around May 2009.

Funnily enough, I do know that the Final was filmed ( or at least due to be filmed ) last Tuesday, 2nd September. This is because I was asked to go and present the trophy, and I would absolutely have loved to do so. Unfortunately the school couldn't spare me for the day. I do accept that their reasons were perfectly justified, but I was still very disappointed. At least looking on the bright side I have now no idea who made the final, and who won, so at least the series will be a lot more exciting for me to watch.

It was a close contest last night. The contenders were in some ways quite a traditional Mastermind spread, - a manager of barristers' chambers, a civil servant, and 2 teachers. For the record Ian Payn was answering on The Novels of Simon Raven, Harry Bell,on Newcastle United Football Club, Jenny Dunn on Edward IV and Raymond Rumkee on Laurence Olivier. Scores were decent without being outstanding - the Laurence Olivier round scored 9, the Simon Raven round scored 12, and both the Newcastle United and Edward IV rounds shared the lead with 13 points.

Raymond Rumkee scored another 9 points for 18, Ian Payne added 9 also for 21, Harry Bell managed 10 for 23, and Jenny Dunn just made it with 11 for 24. All of the contenders made quite heavy weather of their general knowledge rounds , taking time over answers. Jenny Dunn deservedly won, having just about the pick of the General Knowledge rounds, passing on 3 to get through enough questions.

Funny things can happen in the semi finals. They certainly did last year, when only one of the 8 people who had scored 29 or more in the first round won their semi final, so I am not going to make any extravagant predictions, but you'd imagine that she would have to improve on this performance to make it to the final. Anything over 10 for General Knowledge really isn't bad at all, and I think she could have even had another 1 or 2, but you need more than 13 on your specialist to give yourself a chance of winning the semi final.

It was a bit funny watching the show, since I personally took part in the last 2 series, but it waas enjoyable too, and certainly gave me a warm glow.

University Challenge

As good as ever, even though this was an Oxbridge match up, with St. John's Cambridge v. Lincoln College Oxford. Can't remember who won, but the show is worth watching for Jeremy Paxman's outbursts every time one of the teams confers during a starter question
No, this is a STARTER question - YOU CANNOT CONFER !

The Others>

Total Recall continues on Channel 4 weekday afternoons at 5pm. I cannot for the life of me see what is so bad about this show, but every review of it that I've seen on the net doesn't have one good word to say about it. I think Terry Wogan does a great job and strikes just the right tone, and OK, its hard to win the money, but then not as hard as The People's Quiz was.

EggheadsOn Monday evening I was surprised to see some of my regular Monday night opponents take on the Eggies. I was surprised because they were actually on about 3 years ago, and this was a repeat of then. To be honest you could continually use repeats of the show, and never have to make any new ones, because if you've seen one of them you've seen them all.

The Weakest LinkAnne Robinson continues to do her level best to make this show unwatchable. Still, at least it is always a decent source of terrible answers, and it was yesterday's show that provides us with the daftest answer of the week.

Daftest Answer of the Week

Friday's show gave us this little gem

Question : History :Which British queen rode on a chariot with blades attached to the wheels ?

Answer : Queen Victoria