The new series of Countdown got off to a good start with Jeff Stelling looking very comfortable in the hot seat and a good presenting style even if there were quite a lot of football analogies.
As I'm deprived of Sky it was the first time I've seen him on television and he reminds me a tiny bit of Alastair Stewart who no doubt will make a return to the dictionary corner sometime this series.
In addition to that was a brand new studio set coloured in blue, and new chairs but apart from that, everything else remained the same which is good because when watching the show the main reason is to play along with the game.
Rachel Riley may take a tiny bit of getting used to but she's likeable enough and put at ease and I like how it's returned to the premise of Jeff introducing the dweller in Dictionary Corner rather than the hostess.
The guest in question was introduced by Jeff as "a man famous for a three letter word" although more recently he's become a man infamous for being subjected to four letter words. Yes it was a return appearance for Andrew Sachs who came across pretty well and during his anecdote did a bit of his own acting which reminded me of Spike Milligan.
The series started off with another Champion Of Champions contest which will go on for the next two or three weeks and two not too veteran but succesfull contestants made a return including David O'Donnell, the lovely Irish fella who was in the series before last.
As expected in the numbers round he went for "the four tops" and for once I actually managed to solve the equation as it was dreadfully easy in which the target was 503 and three of the numbers were 50, 10, and 3.
David won todays game after what was a crucial conundrum between the other contestant with just 9 points between them, although Jeff referred to it as a "critical conundrum".
I also got quite a few six letter words which doesn't happen too often and solved the first teaser into the break where the conundrum was "NURACHEL" and the clue was "It's all about starting again". The answer of course was "Relaunch" and this was a more succesfull one at that.
In addition to that I also watched a programme originally shown in 2002 called
"Not Another Game Show" with Angus Deayton taking a witty and ironic look at gameshows from both the UK and around the world.
Co-written by Danny Baker, the programme observed how programmes such as Millionaire and The Weakest Link had seen a decline in otherwise lightweight and brash looking shows and how the role of women in gameshows had evolved into Anne Robinson-esque personas as opposed to the dim but glamourous assistant along the lines of Anthea Redfern on the Generation Game, and Anne Aston on the Golden Shot, who in the words of Victor Lewis Smith appeared to be unable to read "an aston".
Other areas looked at were how the UK, especially the BBC took a long time to cotton on to big money entertainment based games, where instead the corporation had shows such as "Ask Your Dad", and "Top Of The Form".
One of the amusing moments came in the form of an exchange between a contestant and Paul Coia, now the drivetime presenter at Smooth Radio London, but then was the host of a BBC 2 daytime quiz.
Angus re-enacted the exchange in his own manner as can be seen in this transcript below:
Angus: "We kick off with our first contestant who is a civil servant aren't you?"
Contestant: "No"
Angus: "Right..., So what do you do now?"
Contestant: "Well I've just left my job as a civil servant, moved to Southport and am going to become a civil servant there".
Angus: "I see. So you're a f***ing civil servant then."
There was also a section of the show devoted to what for me was one of the worst programmes to be shown on a Saturday night and thankfully I don't really remember seeing, 3-2-1 with the late Ted Rogers which involved very complicated clues to big prizes or a dustbin as you didn't actually get to take Dusty Bin home itself.
Angus made an amusing joke about how the show got axed in 1988 as Ted was apparently asked to go to the boss of Yorkshire Televison who gave him the riddle
"The ratings are down, the format is tired, so piss off Ted,
from now on your fired".
There were plenty of amusing answers from contestants including one from Bob's Full House;
Bob: "What was the name of the dog in Peter Pan?"
(Contestant buzzes)
Contestant: "Wendy"
Bob: "It was Nana!"
And there was another amusing moment, this time from University Challenge where a contestant from UMIST in Manchester thought that "Cheesmongers", "Cherry Pickers" "Bob's Own", and "The Emperor's Chambermaids" were euphemisms for homosexuals, when they were actually regiments of the British Army.
They also showed plenty of silly answers from Family Fortunes, and that moment from the Weakest Link with radio buddy Aston McNeil thinking Ricky Tomlinson was the member of the Royal Family who appeared on A Question Of Sport.
However on a more serious note, today saw the death David Vine, the first presenter of the long running sports quiz, and a long serving BBC sports commentator who was 73 years old.
A familiar face on television at an earlier age, that man will be the one of the things that comes to my head whenever I hear "Dragster" the theme to the BBC's Snooker coverage although it's been remixed more recently making it sound a bit more edgy.
One of the finest sports broadcasters on television.
David Vine - 1936-2009
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