I very rarely watch television shows on television anymore. Part of my reasoning for this is that there is so little that I wish to watch nowadays. Few of the shows that are generally topics of conversation interest me; I have very little interest in what Lauren is up to in The Hills, I am even less interested in the spin-off shows, I haven't the slightest idea about what is going on in Lost and I haven't ever voluntarily followed a soap opera.My distaste for these shows does not mean that there is absolutely nothing that I consider to be good on television. There are few gems that are still in production but it can take a while to sift through the sea of drivel. One such television show is the BBC's Qi.
One the greatest elements of Qi is Stephen Fry as the host. For those of you who may not know who this outstanding gentleman is, Stephen Fry is a British comedian, author, writer, blogger and podcaster. I strongly recommend reading Stephen Fry’s blog; The New Adventures of Mr Stephen Fry, his podcast titled Stephen Fry’s Podgrams and generally everything else on StephenFry.com. Much of Fry’s early success was shared with Footlights friend and common collaborator, Hugh Laurie. Their most successful project were the BBC Sketch Show A Bit of Fry and Laurie and Jeeves and Wooster. Fry later went on to star in Blackadder II.
Stephen Fry has also become quite the success in the film world appearing in such films as The Good Father, A Fish Called Wanda, V For Vendetta and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. In 2003 he made his directorial debut with Bright Young Things and in 2007 he wrote the screenplay for a remake of The Dam Busters for Peter Jackson. Most recently, Stephen fry travelled across all 50 (technically 46 and 4 commonwealths) American States for a 6 episode series for the BBC titled, Stephen Fry in America.
Now, enough about our Qi Master, Mr Fry and onto what Qi actually is. Qi is a British panel and quiz show that differs from you average quiz show in the way points are distributed. Points are not awarded for correct answers but for interesting answers. The most points are deducted for obvious but incorrect answers. In the words of Mr Fry:
"Now, the rules are simple. Scoring is my business. Points are given and points are taken away. They are taken away for answers which are both obvious and wrong, and they're given not so much for being correct, as for being interesting. Their level of interestingness is impartially determined by a demographically-selected customer service focus consultancy, broken down by age and sex - i.e. me. Because there is no-one more broken down by age and sex than me."
Each episode features four panellists, two to each side of Stephen Fry. There is one permanent panellist and that is Alan Davies who is always given the silliest buzzer and probably has the worst win:lose ratio out of all the contestants. Each season is allocated a letter (Season 1 was A and so on) and the theme of each episode begins with the letter for that season. The panel usually consists of comedians; regulars include Jo Brand, Phil Jupitus and Bill Bailey.
As I mentioned previously, the most points are deducted for obvious but incorrect answers. The majority of this occurs during the final round suitably named General Ignorance. In this round questions that appear simple are asked and obvious but incorrect answers are usually given. I have with me the Qi Book of General Ignorance and can confidently say that strawberries are not berries, Bangkok is not the capital of Thailand, Henry VIII only had 2 wives and there are only 46 states in America (which I’m sure Stephen Fry touched upon at some point during Stephen Fry in America). When an incorrect but obvious answer is given during the course of the show loud klaxons go off and the answer given is flashed on the two screens behind the panellists showing the obviousness of the answer.
Qi is one of the most interesting (haha, a play on the name of the show) television shows on at present. It is highly informative and gives great material for quizzes. In addition to this, the show is absolutely hilarious, partly because the panel is primarily made up of comedians.
Similar Shows: Never Mind the Buzzcocks, 8 out of 10 Cats, Mock the Week, Have I got News for You
