Pointless
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Pointless is a British quiz show produced by Remarkable Entertainment (a subsidiary of Banijay Entertainment) and hosted by British actor, comedian, radio personality, television presenter and singer Alexander Armstrong and British author, television presenter, producer, novelist, and comedian Richard Osman. Since Series 28, Osman has been replaced with a rotating list of guest co-hosts.
It debuted on BBC Two on August 24, 2009, before moving to BBC One on July 11, 2011, due to its success. It has since spawned a celebrity edition, merchandise, a now-discontinued mobile game and numerous international versions.
Gameplay
Each team of two contestants attempts to find a correct answer that scores the lowest point possible. It originally featured five teams before being reduced to four. In every episode, the contestants answer a series of questions that were put to 100 members of the general public in a previously conducted online survey, which had a time limit of 100 seconds. Once a question is asked at the start of a round, the contestants are given details on what constitutes a valid answer as part of the rules. If a team's answer is correct, they score one point for each participant who gave it during the survey; an answer given by none of the participants is termed "pointless" and adds nothing to the team's score, adding £250 to the current jackpot. Incorrect answers add a penalty of 100 points. Once a question or pass is complete, depending on the specific format of the round, any remaining pointless answers are stated along with the high-scoring answers given in the survey, usually the top three.
If a team gets eliminated before the Finals, they are allowed to return for one more game (increased to two since Series 28) before being permanently eliminated.
Elimination Rounds
The game begins with 2 Elimination Rounds wherein no conferring is allowed and each team member takes turns to answer the question and get the lowest score possible. Both rounds are scored independently from each other and the team with the highest score gets eliminated. If two or more teams are tied for the highest score, a tiebreaker round takes place where conferring is allowed while keeping to the same rules. If the score remains tied, an "emergency question" is asked to break it.
Head-to-Head Round
Prior to the Head-to-Head Round, there will be a breather question that will challenge the two remaining teams to identify two possible Pointless answers from a pool of six answers under a particular topic (e.g. identify the real tarot cards from a pool of six possible answers). During this round, there are no eliminations and both teams can confer with each other.
In the Head-to-Head Round proper, both teams compete against each other to find low-scoring answers in a series of two to four questions. The first team to score two points will move on to the Finals.
Finals
The team that reaches the final will be awarded the coveted Pointless trophy. From there, they can choose from a list of five (reduced to four from Series 28 onwards) categories to play for and then give three answers for the question(s) asked (e.g. a four or five-letter word that can be made from a specific alphabet). If any of the answers is Pointless, they win the jackpot as it stands for that game and it'll reset to £1000 in the next episode; otherwise, the money rolls over to the next episode. Starting from Series 29, winning teams can win a £500 bonus in addition to the jackpot by giving three Pointless answers in the Final.
Why It Deserves The Coveted Pointless Trophy
- The idea of having a reverse Family Feud in terms of gameplay style is a unique gimmick as it encourages you to rack your brains to find the most obscure answer possible to stay ahead of the game and hopefully win the coveted Pointless trophy.
- Alexander Armstrong is a great choice as a host as his hilarious banter lightens up the tense mood that the show produces, always allowing the contestants to introduce themselves at the start before slowly learning of their jobs and hobbies as the game goes along.
- Richard Osman is just as hilarious with his co-hosting role as he likes to make sarcastic jokes about the set, contestants, audience and Alexander himself. Too bad that he left the show after Series 27 to focus on solo projects.
- Most of the guest co-hosts are great and entertaining in their own ways with unique gimmicks that help them to stand out from Richard. For example, Anita Rani is edutaining with her wide knowledge on the various topics used during her run as co-host and enjoys munching on cookies with tea too.
- There is a very wide variety of topics for the questions asked throughout the show's 15-year run, making them fresh and fun to play along without getting stale at all.
- The sound effects used are very nice to hear, especially the descending pizzicato string effect when an answer is correct.
- The tower used to signal the points is a unique set item that is satisfying to watch as whenever you get an answer correct, you get to watch each of the 100 disks in the tower disappear with the aforementioned pizzicato string effect until it either stops or you get a Pointless answer.
- Speaking of Pointless answers, whenever a contestant gets one, the tower will play an energetic chord and turn green to visually congratulate them before the jackpot increases by £250.
- Some of the questions asked can be hilarious due to their context, the most famous one being "Name as many things that Rick Astley is never gonna do."
- Almost the entire show is viewable completely for free on its official YouTube channel, with new episodes being added daily.
- Unlike most quiz shows, Pointless actively encourages audience participation as Richard and later the rotating guest co-hosts always end their recital of the rules with the show's catchphrase "Good luck/Best of luck to all of you and you at home." before officially starting the round.
Qualities That Deserve The 200 Points Club
- Due to the questions' variety, they can sometimes be unintentionally very difficult to the point where almost no one can get a correct answer for one-half of the current round, with musicals and William Shakespeare being the most difficult topics to tackle.
- Conversely, some questions can be so laughably easy that anyone can get very low points or even a Pointless answer without trying. The most famous example of this is "Name as many chemical elements with three or more different vowels in their name.", wherein all three remaining teams in the second Elimination Round ended up producing a three-way Pointless tie with the first tiebreaker ending the same way. The chain was only broken when the second team gained one point with their answer "Einsteinium".
- The set became cheaper and duller after the COVID-19 pandemic due to the BBC reducing the budget for the show. As a result, there is no live audience reaction now although this is excusable with the change in filming locations.
- Alexander and Richard can sometimes be unintentionally mean with their comments towards the contestants regarding their jobs and hobbies at times.
- There are times when the contestants can be dumb when answering very easy questions, with one confusing US President John Fitzgerald Kennedy's 1963 assassination with J.R. Ewing from Dallas's assassination attempt without paying attention to the question's context at all. Unsurprisingly, such contestants wind up earning the full 100 penalty points for their effort.
- Some of the guest co-hosts can be boring or unfunny at times, one example being Ed Gamble's failed attempt at humour.
Watch the full series here
https://www.youtube.com/@PointlessTVUK
External Links
Pointless at the Internet Movie Database