Eggheads

I love quizzes, and I presume anyone reading this does too. The premise of the show is that a pub team of 5 people goes up against the quiz show's Dream Team of 5 quiz boffins. There are 5 rounds. The first 4 are a one-on-one between a contestant and an egghead. The winner goes thru to the final round, the loser goes out. The more eggheads you can knock out in the first 4 rounds, the fewer you face in the final general knowledge round and thus have a better chance of winning.

I think the combined knowledge of the Eggheads is fascinating. I love how they not only know the answer but know every scrap of info around the answer. The pub team very rarely win but it is worth watching regardless a) for the rare occasions when they do and b) just to see how ridiculously easy the questions are to Kevin & Daphne. To those who think "just challenge Daphne on sport" - you do know that Sport is her strongest category. Judith is undoubtedly the weakest of the 5, so facing her can get you thru easily, but you wont win if you don't knock out Kevin & Daphne ! It's one of the few programmes I really enjoy watching, although I admit it could have been better if there were more questions involved.

The questions are of a decent enough difficulty not to exclude people like university challenge does, but there are two problems with this show One is the fact that it takes too long to do anything (they need to get on with it sometimes). Everything takes place so slowly.

The largest problem is the fact that I can't help but want to punch the TV screen when I see the Eggheads' smug little faces - especially CJ, who is aim assiv tw@, not only in my opinion, it seems.

That's the problem with this premise. Sure, it's interesting and challenging to take on some of the smartest people in the country, but in watching this, you know you're massaging their egos all the way, huffing under your breath that you hate them.

I am quite a fan of TV quiz shows, they allow you to test your knowledge and shout abuse at contestants for getting easy questions wrong. Nowadays it seems the shows presenters are more interested in either getting to know the contestants or verbally abusing them (see "the weakest link" hosted by the most irritating Ginger since Cilla Black) This particular show could have and SHOULD have been much better. I agree completely with the comments above and would like to add that if that baldy smartar*e Chris forces us to listen to the complete history and every bit of his knowledge about an answer again i will get in my car, drive down to the BBC studios and beat him until his eyes bleed. I cannot emphasise enough how much he irritates me with his arrogance and bookworm like sadness. We know u know the answer Chris, just give the correct response and stfu.

/end rant

Although 2003's "Eggheads" is relaxed, chatty and doesn't put half the amount of pressure "The Weakest Link" puts on its contestants, this really is quite a dull, predictable show and very incompetent when compared to "The Weakest Link" which still takes the nation by storm to this day - 6 and a half years on from its original broad-casted episode in 2000.

The presenter Dermot is nice and encouraging and everything but does he ever stop wittering on?!!! He can't keep his mouth closed for longer than 10 seconds at the most! He cannot get through a single show without dramatizing the fact that the eggheads have won again... and again... and again. Why can't he just see the simple fact that these are just ordinary people - he talks about the prim and proper Judith Keppel, the rather stuck-up, "O riff-raff, do be qwaht" smartypants CJ De Mooi who doesn't make himself look clever at all but just plain cocky, the somewhat dreary Chris Hughes (who looks as if he might fall asleep at any moment), the sweet, gentle Daphnie Fowler and Kevin Ashman as if they are all superheroes, as if they know absolutely everything, as if they are even royalty sometimes! The eggheads are seldom beaten as well! I'm sure that if this debuted in the late 1980s or something then it would look perfect upon the screen but this is 2007! Meaning it's at least 18 years out of date! Having said all of that, mind you, the youngest egghead, CJ De Mooi, would've probably been a young child back then wouldn't he? I do mildly admire this show (lifeless, predictable and exaggerative as it is), depending on what mood I'm in but it simply cannot reach the enormous standards and amazing quality of "The Weakest Link" even if they are different shows!

A reasonable quiz in that it is better than many now available for entertainment. Mastermind has become rather boring, the question subjects are so mundane,(TV programmes, pop groups.) Not quite the selection of intellectual specialities it used to have.

Anyway, Eggheads is quite entertaining with a touch of added humour (always good in my book) Some of the visiting teams do appear to have been vetted for little other than novelty value. The questions do seem to vary in their difficulty quotient rather, especially in the head-to-head extra questions.

There are always 3 stronger cast members, Chris with his trains, Keven (had to be) who looks as if he would rather not be there at all, Daphne, CJ's surrogate Mum(Tell him to sort out his hair, he looks more like Widow Twankie as the weeks go on!) Then there is The Posh Traveller, Judith, and the non-conformist CJ 'Do I look good in this' Da Mooi. They seem to hit on the right answers more by luck than judgement. Anyway 'A nice little earner' Passes the time. Thanks