What has happened to game shows of the modern age? Apparently nobody wants a simple Q&A format anymore, there has to be a stupid gimmick behind it from Anne Robinson insulting contestants before they vote each other off for The Weakest Link to completely removing the general knowledge aspect altogether by having Noel Edmonds and his mad mates opening some boxes for 40 minutes on Deal Or No Deal.
The latest venture into this rather peculiar world of televisual entertainment is Knowitalls, described by the host Gyles Brandreth as a quiz without questions which isn’t strictly true as there are questions they just aren’t dealt out in the standard “here it is, what is the answer?” way. Here two teams of eager normal types have to talk with authority about topics thrown at them by one of the experts (vaguely familiar semi-famous lot like science TV boffin Greg Foot) using only their collective knowledge.
Topics set by Experts in Knowitalls
In the opening episode the categories were Science, History and Entertainment (subjects such as Carry On films, the Battle of Hastings, etc) and bizarrely for a populist quiz show it was the ents round that had the lowest given scores. The second round was the best as it was to the point by giving the competitors only seven seconds to give their top fact about a certain topic.
The reward for all the guesswork is quite unsubstantial. Given that it has to pay of its panel of experts there’s only one prize for the series as the overall winners get £15,000 between them. Hardly seems worth the effort considering Millionaire awards that for about eight correct answers and 10 minutes of work.
Smirking Host Gyles Brandreth
The ever smirking Brandreth is the perfect host for anything called Knowitalls stemming from his sole appearance on peerless panel show QI where the audience reaction went from “oh that’s fascinating” to “yes, shut up and let Rich Hall get some jokes in”. The former Conservative MP does have a certain charm about him that’s not really hateable despite his chipper attitude but he is definitely better in small doses.
Thankfully he doesn’t have the “to share or to shaft” catchphrase Robert Kilroy-Silk had on his show Shafted although he has this unnerving style of addressing the contestants with instructions but actually speaking at the camera. Don’t worry Gyles, nobody’s switching over to the news. Yet.
Knowitalls follows on from Eggheads
It’s also rather fitting that Knowitalls follows on from the BBC’s Eggheads, another quiz that would be far easier to enjoy if it didn’t contain life threatening levels of smugness. Knowitalls isn’t quite as self-satisfied, it is like watching people sitting a French oral exam as they splutter for vaguely interesting things to fill up the time. There was an almost genius comic moment when one man under pressure suggested that Citizen Kane was a film about Michael Caine.
Knowitalls isn’t overly bad but it is something that would be better suited to daytime TV along with David Dickenson and vile talk shows. Knowitalls is trying desperately and failing to capitalise on the success of QI by dishing out points for interesting answers as well as correct ones however it’s a generic, yet decent, quiz that is at least trying to make people work hard for the cash.
Knowitalls is on every weekday at 6.30pm on BBC Two.
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