University Challenge: Difference between revisions

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British quiz show centering on teams of university students competing against one another. It's been [[Long Runner|running for so long]] and is so popular that it's become pretty much a part of the cultural landscape. In other words, it's a British institution about British institutions. It ran from 1962-87 on [[ITV]] under the stewardship of Bamber Gascoigne, and was [[Revival|revived]] on [[The BBC]] in 1994, hosted by famously acerbic news broadcaster Jeremy Paxman.

* [[Character Tics]]: Gail Trimble was noted for smiling and flicking her hair every time she got a starter right (which was a lot), another contestant would take a drink of water every time he buzzed-in correctly, and the unfortunate [http://lystellion.livejournal.com/84288.html Jacob Funnell] got told off by Paxman for adopting a pose resembling Rodin's ''The Thinker'' whenever he was conferring.

* [[Viewers Are Geniuses|Contestants Are Geniuses]]: The questions are really, ''really'' difficult. Of course, it appears that some contestants actually ''are'' geniuses, given how much they can get right.

* [[Deadpan Snarker]]: Jeremy Paxman.

* [[Downer Ending]]: Corpus Christi, Oxford won the 2008-09 contest under the leadership of the famously incredibly knowledgeable Gail Trimble, but were disqualified for fielding an ineligible player in the final. Said player apparently put down the date his course was going to end on the entry sheet, but none of the producers questioned the fact that it ended before the competition. Furthermore, the 2008 and 2004 winning teams had one ineligible player each, but no one got disqualified on either of those. This led to all sorts of controversy over the ambiguity of the rules and annoyance at the producers, with whom the responsibility to check these things lies. It wasn't a particularly happy ending for the Manchester team who were given the title instead, as one of them commented that they didn't really feel like they'd won.

* [[Insufferable Genius]]: A surprisingly popular view of Gail Trimble. Also, George Woudhuysen, captain of the 2009-10 St. John's Oxford team was considered this by a lot of people, probably primarily due to his habit of nodding to his teammates when he got something right.

* [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold]]: Jeremy Paxman may be a tad on the belligerent side, but he's usually pretty good about consoling the teams who lose and is apparently a fairly welcoming guy in person.

** You say that... it ''was'' a semi-final

* [[Long Runners]]: Just look at the dates above.

* [[Parody Names]]: There have been many, many parodies of the show, and about 90% of them use the same parody name - "Universally Challenged".

* [[Repeat What You Just Said]]: An amusing exchange from the 2007 Manchester vs. Wadham College Oxford match.

'''Paxman''': NO! }}

* [[Small Reference Pools]]: Inverted. The questions cover a ludicrous range and while most are pretty highbrow, there was one starter question about episodes of ''[[The Big Bang Theory]]'' and a picture round about identifying [[Harry Potter|Defence Against The Dark Arts teachers]] from their screen portrayals.

** It's worth considering that he also answered [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|every single question correctly.]] The first one to do so.

* [[Take That]]: Paxman occasionally delivers these towards the subjects of the questions.

(''to a team that had been messing up a bonus round on the theories of Marshall MacLuhan'') You've confirmed what I thought: nobody reads this nonsense anymore. }}

* [[Unexpectedly Obscure Answer]]: Not really unexpected, as the difficulty of these questions is basically the point. Occasionally, though, Paxman will comment that he doesn't know how the contestants are expected to know a certain answer.

[[Category:Game Show]]

[[Category:University Challenge]]