Topic: Only Connect

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

That seems to be her thing. The sign off always seems to be a random weird thing, and deliberately unfunny.

I can only assume/hope it's deliberate. She always seems quite witty whenever she turns up on comedy panel shows (possibly with the help of editing/scripts, I don't know) but the monologues on this are just cringeworthy.

[Cuellar]

It's when ironically shit tips back over into just shit

[JesusAndYourBush]

I quite like her opening monologues, but in the last series almost all her closing monologues were about Michael Portillo which was a little weird.

[Norton Canes]

Each week we play a little game at the start of Only Connect. We let the theme music play (screeching along to the two 'eee-eeeee!' violin bits) then as soon as the music ends we hit mute. Then, whoever has the remote has to use their skill and judgement (lipreading, checking body language) to try and unmute at exactly the moment VC-M says "On my right..."

Lots of practise means we usually get it spot on.

[Norton Canes]

Oh and we mute the end monologue too.

And whenever she asks the contestants to sing.

[Ambient Sheep]

Yeah, the singing can just fuck off.

[Old Thrashbarg]

I do hate all the bits of Only Connect that aren't the questions being asked and answered. But I think that applies to almost every quiz/game show I can think of.

[jobotic]

They seem to have stopped saying horn-ed viper. I enjoyed that.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

Silly name anyway. It's the Eyebrow Worm.

[Pie Pie Eater]

They seem to have stopped saying horn-ed viper. I enjoyed that.

Seems to be quite divisive that, but we've been saying 'hornéd'

[touchingcloth]

I do hate all the bits of Only Connect that aren't the questions being asked and answered. But I think that applies to almost every quiz/game show I can think of.

I used to hate that bit, but recently all of my quiz show rage has been funnelled into the stupid fucking talking heads Mastermind has added to the end of every episode. “Well I have practiced by reading lots of facts and my strategy has been to answer quickly and accurately. What would it mean to me to win Mastermind? Well it would be quite nice I suppose.”

[Andy147]

"Some people hate those bits of the show. Others love them. Many more, I'm sure, are deaf to them, simply waiting for the quiz to start. That's sort of the point, really" - Victoria Coren-Mitchell in the "Only Connect" quiz book. (She also says she thought that a quirky quiz should have a quirky intro and ending).

[touchingcloth]

They're definitely quirky. I think they fit the tone of the show, really. The contestants skew nerdy and awkward unlike most quiz shows, especially the ITV style ones. The contestants are quite similar to the ones who go on Eggheads, I think, and Coren-Mitchell and her schtick are a much better fit for that than Murnaghan and Vine.

[JesusAndYourBush]

They seem to have stopped saying horn-ed viper. I enjoyed that.

Someone said it last week.  I've never found a satisfactory answer to why they say it.  Last time I asked someone said it's how they used to say it on Egyptian times which is hogwash.

I like the format and the silly bits, the show that pisses me off is Eggheads where it seems part of the rules that they have to explain their thinking... which occasionally can be enlightening but when they know the answer but can't say "I just know it" then they have nothing meaningful to say and it makes the process pointless.

[Menu]

Oh god yeah. I've only seen Eggheads once(Pat Nevin was on it!) and it was interminable. Just give the answer ffs!

What is it with most of these quiz shows? It's like they have the questions rationed or something. That's why Mastermind(well, the celeb version anyway. I'm not Einstein) and 15-1 are still the best. They ask more than about 7 questions an episode.

[daf]

Murnaghan and Vine.

Murnaghan's not presented it for years and they never show his old episodes - I wonder if he also pretended to murder a tramp by accident in Amsterdam!

[C_Larence]

Oh god yeah. I've only seen Eggheads once(Pat Nevin was on it!) and it was interminable. Just give the answer ffs!

What is it with most of these quiz shows? It's like they have the questions rationed or something. That's why Mastermind(well, the celeb version anyway. I'm not Einstein) and 15-1 are still the best. They ask more than about 7 questions an episode.

The best show for this is Jeopardy, especially on streaming services or any way to watch without ad breaks. Apart from a very quick intro at the beginning of each episode, and a break halfway through the first round where contestants tell a story about themselves (admittedly this part is often excruciating, but still quick and easily skipped) there’s no chaff.

[touchingcloth]

Murnaghan's not presented it for years and they never show his old episodes - I wonder if he also pretended to murder a tramp by accident in Amsterdam!

Ha! Yes, I fully expect he killed that man.

I do remember him being in the same mould as Vine - both high status compared to the Eggheads and contestants, unlike Coren-Mitchell who is unapologetically down with the nerds.

[touchingcloth]

Oh god yeah. I've only seen Eggheads once(Pat Nevin was on it!) and it was interminable. Just give the answer ffs!

What is it with most of these quiz shows? It's like they have the questions rationed or something. That's why Mastermind(well, the celeb version anyway. I'm not Einstein) and 15-1 are still the best. They ask more than about 7 questions an episode.

University Challenge is better as well. I do like Mastermind for the general knowledge rounds, but the specialist subject rounds don’t do much for me, as I don’t have any hope of getting answers to the topic of Accrington Stanley’s women’s football team, 1905-1914. Fun to see someone smash it in the specialist subject round and utterly fuck it up in general knowledge, though.

[Gurke and Hare]

Someone said it last week.  I've never found a satisfactory answer to why they say it.  Last time I asked someone said it's how they used to say it on Egyptian times which is hogwash.

It's because of that time in The Young Ones where someone called Vyvyan a horn-ed beast.

[AsparagusTrevor]

I like the format and the silly bits, the show that pisses me off is Eggheads where it seems part of the rules that they have to explain their thinking... which occasionally can be enlightening but when they know the answer but can't say "I just know it" then they have nothing meaningful to say and it makes the process pointless.

It's most infuriating when they simply feel the need (or the producers force them to) say which answers it isn't before giving their answer. It's multiple choice, we know it's not going to be the other two answers. I wonder if they do the same when ordering from a takeaway - "it's not a pizza, it's not a beef burger it's not a chicken burger, it's not a doner kebab, it's not a chicken kebab, it's not a shish kebab, it's not southern fried chicken. It's a chicken wrap, please."

[Voltan (Man of Steel)]

Murnaghan and Vine.

“Children singing Christian rhymes”

[Menu]

The best show for this is Jeopardy, especially on streaming services or any way to watch without ad breaks. Apart from a very quick intro at the beginning of each episode, and a break halfway through the first round where contestants tell a story about themselves (admittedly this part is often excruciating, but still quick and easily skipped) there’s no chaff.

Thanks for the tip!

[Menu]

University Challenge is better as well. I do like Mastermind for the general knowledge rounds, but the specialist subject rounds don’t do much for me, as I don’t have any hope of getting answers to the topic of Accrington Stanley’s women’s football team, 1905-1914. Fun to see someone smash it in the specialist subject round and utterly fuck it up in general knowledge, though.

That's why I prefer the Celeb version - the questions are piss-easy.

[Pie Pie Eater]

Yeah, the singing can just fuck off.

I can guarantee i will not sing at any point!

[Ray Travez]

I quite like her opening monologues, but in the last series almost all her closing monologues were about Michael Portillo which was a little weird.

I'm guessing the Portillo bits are inspired by Humphrey Lyttleton's stories about Lionel Blair in ISIHAC.

I'm one who likes the weird intros, awkward pauses and jokes that intentionally fall flat...

[beanheadmcginty]

I didn't under the crab bit this week. The official answer was 10 legs but Coren said she didn't think claws were legs so gave the team the answer. But the team's answer was cancer plus gemini, which would give the crab six legs, not the eight that Coren thinks they have.

[Rolf Lundgren]

I wouldn't mind the singing if Coren joined in but it's the gleeful way she tries to embarrass everyone but herself that narks me off.

[Pie Pie Eater]

I didn't under the crab bit this week. The official answer was 10 legs but Coren said she didn't think claws were legs so gave the team the answer. But the team's answer was cancer plus gemini, which would give the crab six legs, not the eight that Coren thinks they have.

Yeah, wasn't the best question anyway as you could have done Aries + Leo + Virgo = 10 without understanding it at all

[amateur]

Pie Pie Eater, is VCM really as quick with her quips and comebacks as the programme would suggest, or is it tightened up in the edit? There's a bit in the most recent episode where she does a very smart response to something the team says, but it's absolutely instant - less than half a second. Fair play if that's actually how fast her mind works.