The Controlled Test Quiz Shows Aqa Guidance Edited

THE 2009 WRITTEN PAPER TELEVISION QUIZ SHOWS

Quiz shows on television are set in a studio. Set design often includes a podium behind which the contestants stand (perhaps to help stop them shaking?). Light is often an important element of the mise-en-scene with lights dimmed or spotlights used to heighten dramatic tension. The host is sometimes a key element of the show; an aging star of television, someone whose ‘A list days’ are over, although it could perhaps be argued that Anne Robinson has become an A list celebrity since she began ‘The Weakest Link’. Quite often the host is a TV star from a different genre of television i.e. comedy or even news. Comedians often make good hosts. The host must have presence and a ready patter if and when the contestants dry up or do something unexpected, this is where comedians have an advantage as they have a ready wit and a sense of familiarity. The presenter or host often holds cards as an aidememoire but these are usually just for the opening of the show where the contestants are introduced and these cards contain relevant information about the contestant. Traditionally the host is male accompanied by a ‘glamorous assistant’, although in some shows the ‘assistant’ is the brains – Channel 4’s ‘Countdown’ with Carol Vorderman as an example. The contestants are chosen from the thousands who apply to join the show. They are often required to send in a photograph of themselves because the selection process begins straight away. They have to have a certain ‘something’ about them so they can communicate with the audience and help make the show successful. They can vary in age and background. Contestants are sometimes drawn from the studio audience as in ‘Who wants to be a Millionaire’. So these contestants have to apply to be on the show, get selected to be in the initial group who then have to go through an elimination round or two to select the final contestants for the quiz. The questions can vary depending on the target audience. They are usually set independently. Contestants usually know whether they are going to be general knowledge or specialist subjects and have time to prepare or swot up on the subject, as in ‘Mastermind’. Questions often start easy, to put the contestants at their ease and then get progressively harder. They can be multiple choice or straight question and answer. Technology has now made it possible for contestants to have computer screens

in front of them to key in their answers and for the viewing audience to see the responses and if they are clever enough, to know in advance whether the contestant has got it right. The prizes can be prestigious such as sponsored cars/caravans and even boats. Sometimes it is a glass bowl, ( Mastermind), a pen and pencil set (Crackerjack) or cash. Usually even the losers go away with something even if, as in the case of ‘The Weakest Link’, it is only the experience of being able to blow off steam about fellow contestants on camera.

Television Quiz Show gimmicks or catchphrases have become part of the institution and part of the national consciousness. Catchphrases such as ‘You are the weakest link, goodbye’, ‘Can I phone a friend?’ and ‘I’ve started so I’ll finish’ quickly pass into public vernacular. Other gimmicks include, the support of school children, ‘Are you Smarter than a Ten Year Old?’ - ask the audience, or a variety of clues. Music is often used first as a catchy theme tune and then as mood music to increase tension or to signal different parts of the show.

Institution Quiz Shows are cheap television especially if they are sponsored or if they are linked with telephone call lines. The latter have recently caused great controversy. BBC: Prestige and children’s quizzes where the prizes are not particularly glamorous. Shows like ‘Mastermind’ are all about prestige and the glass bowl. In the past ‘Ask the Family’ was again prestige rather than prizes and very middle class. BBC2 comprises of some more avant-garde shows such as

‘QI’ and ‘Have I got News for You’ which now boasts a range of

celebrity hosts who suffer a barrage of witty abuse by team captains Paul Merton and Ian Hislop. This has led to many imitations such as ‘ Mock the Week’, and ‘They Think it’s All Over’. Sporting enthusiasts have been entertained with famous sporting faces in ‘A Question of Sport’.

The BBC were quite innovative for a more ‘conservative’ channel BBC2 with the more wacky and spontaneous wit in ‘Never Mind the Buzzcocks’.

ITV: encourages sponsorship of quizzes so the prizes are donated by the

sponsor in exchange for the covert and often overt publicity they get. Telephone entries have helped finance prizes in the past where BT has donated a percentage of the cost of the call to the production company in exchange for all the extra business and this has financed the prizes. Recent controversy has made some contestants wary of this though and ITV were actually fined:

It is useful to compare BBC and ITV approaches to quiz shows. For ITV this has been a major popular and successful prime time format with ‘Who wants to be a

Millionaire’, ‘Family Fortunes’ and ‘Bullseye’ etc. Whereas the BBC often aimed for the more middle class audience where more academic knowledge is valued – ‘Mastermind’, ‘University Challenge’ and ‘Call My Bluff’’. None of these were prime time shows. Channel 4 was quick to recognise the value of daytime quiz shows to an older demographic with shows like ‘Countdown’. Sometimes quiz shows change channel and are re-launched which is what has happened to ‘University Challenge’ the long-running television quiz show, licensed and produced by Granada Television was first shown on ITV from 21 stst September 1962 to 31st December 1987, then and on BBC2 from 21 September 1994 to the present day. Recently ‘The Weakest Link’ has transferred from BBC2 to BBC1. DVD’s and Games have extended the life of the Quiz Show with the play at home versions although earlier boxed editions were often made available as spin off from popular shows.

Many quiz shows now regularly produce celebrity

versions either as one off ‘specials’ or for charity purposes. This of course helps increase the popularity of the show. Quiz formats can be syndicated around the world with variations on a theme appearing from Russia to the Caribbean as exampled by the various versions of ‘Who wants to be a Millionaire’ and ‘The

Weakest Link’.

Audience

There are several different audiences. There is the studio audience

who are encouraged to participate either by cheering, voting or merely applauding. Audiences are usually invited to apply for tickets and there is always a multitude who wants to experience the vicarious pleasure of appearing on TV. When contestants are chosen from the audience television editing makes the whole process appear seamless. There is the viewing audience at ‘home’ who are rarely passive and just watch the programme almost everyone would be tempted

to pit their wits against the contestants on ‘University Challenge’ or those on ‘Mastermind’. And who can resist seeing if they are indeed ‘Smarter than a Ten

year Old’? Sometimes viewers are encouraged to participate in the quiz either through interactive buttons on the television or via their computer. Technology has come a long way from the suit and tie and evening dresses of the panel on

‘What’s My Line?’ It is interesting to look at the demographics of ITV and BBC audiences where various issues might be raised.

Representation

Whether you are sitting with the audience in the darkened

studio of ‘Mastermind’, laughing with the bitchy comments of Anne Robinson or hoping for humiliation in ‘Beat the Teacher’ there is a lot being said about the values and ideologies present.

The production values evident in the quality and the innovativeness of the studio set, the kind of prizes offered, the degree of rigour in the questions asked and the respect or lack of it offered to the contestants again says a lot about the programme. It was a newsworthy item when a London Cabbie won the final of ‘Mastermind’ and the first £1 million winner of ‘Who Wants be a Millionaire’ was accused of cheating. Candidates may want to investigate why they became newsworthy. It isn’t always the cleverest who wins in a contest where strategy plays a part. An attractive feature of quiz shows happens when everyone thinks they too can be a winner and they get the chance to pit their wits against the experts.

The controlled test paper is TELEVISION quiz shows. Television quiz shows are almost as old as television broadcast with ‘What’s My Line?’ broadcast on 16 July 1951. By the end of the 1950’s basic television quiz shows became big money winning game shows. The following is just a selection of some of the television quiz shows broadcast on television in the past: 1951: What’s My Line? BBC 1952: Animal, Vegetable or Mineral? BBC 1955: Crackerjack (Quiz as part of show) BBC 1955: Take Your Pick ITV 1955: Double Your Money ITV 1957: Criss Cross Quiz ITV

1967: Ask the Family BBC 1970: A Question of Sport BBC 1975: Celebrity Squares ITV 1981: Bullseye ITV (combining darts skill with questions) 1996: Never Mind the Buzzcocks BBC2 2003: QI BBC2 2005: Eggheads BBC2 2008: Duel ITV