Pointless - TV review

It is embarrassing enough demonstrating your lack of general knowledge in front of millions of viewers.

The last thing you want is some smug know-it-all quizmaster, with the answers on a card in front of him, heaping on further humiliation.

However, on this occasion, I think Alexander Armstrong might actually have had a point.

When medical student Helen was asked to name the artist – and I use the word loosely – who sang Lady In Red, she reckoned it was a top 40 hit by The Police.

And in a few years time she's going to be a doctor.

At least she could spell her name right, though.

The other contestants included an Emma, spelt "Ema", and a Jamie, spelt "Jaime". How did that happen? Was it a slip of the pen down at the register office?

Ema's quiz partner was Charlie, a strange looking chap in a brown suede shirt and a quiff like a 50s rocker. A sort of like Bobby Vee with an earring.

"Do we know much about dramatists?" he asked Ema, looking at the choice of subjects in front of them.

"We're drama students," she replied. "I think we'll go for world leaders."

My personal favourite, though, was Zac, a rotund, bald-headed man who wore the loudest, most garish shirt ever to be seen on television.

His downfall turned out to be a lack of knowledge about San Francisco.

Now if ever there was a man I would have expected to know all about San Francisco, it was Zac.

To those unfamiliar with the format of BBC1's teatime quiz, it is a sort of Family Fortunes in reverse, where contestants are rewarded for answering questions that have stumped the general public.

Now I do understand the thinking behind Pointless.

The problem with Family Fortunes is that the more obvious the answer, the more points you get.

Any answers which demonstrate a degree of originality or general knowledge get a big fat zero, while those unable to look beyond the simplest of responses end up looking rather pleased with themselves.

The problem is, it doesn't work. Unless you really are impressed by somebody who knows that the old name for San Francisco was Yerba Buena, or that Ian Fleming's short story should correctly be called For A View To A Kill, it is about as much fun as watching an Open University sociology lecture.

It seems to be much less about the contestants, and more about resident clever clogs Richard Osman showing off his knowledge about all the things you neither need nor want to know.

The most pitiful part of the episode was watching finalists Ema and Charlie being given 60 seconds to name three Canadian prime ministers since 1900.

"Let's think, that's not American presidents," observed Ema, helpfully.

In desperation, they had to resort to plucking random names out of he air.

"Robert Jones?"

"Er, no, he's Welsh, think of something that sounds Frenchy".

Needless to say, Armstrong and Osman took great pleasure in telling the pair that none of Jacques Jones, Regine Thomas or Brian Fellowes had ever headed a Canadian government.

It was a stupid answer to a stupid question on a stupid programme.

Pointless? You said it!

Mark Andrews