Quiz Shows
Introduction
What is a quiz show?
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A quiz show has contestants.
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The contestants have to use their
knowledge to answer questions.
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There is a winner.
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They aren’t game shows.
Quiz show or game show?
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Quiz shows use contestants’
knowledge. The contestants have this
knowledge before they go on the show.
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Game shows use contestants’ skills and
abilities, to do something on the show.
Quiz show or game show?
Who wants to be a millionaire?
 QI
 Deal or No Deal?
 All Star Mr. and Mrs.
 Are you smarter than a ten year old?
 Countdown
 X Factor
 Weakest Link
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Did you get it right?
QUIZ SHOW
 Millionaire
 QI
 Smarter than a ten year
old.
 All Star Mr and Mrs.
 Weakest Link
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GAME SHOW
 Deal or No Deal.
 X Factor
 Countdown
Can you explain why each one is a quiz show
or a game show?
What does a quiz show need?
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A host
Contestants
Questions and rules to establish winners and
losers
A format (the order in which things happen)
Something entertaining, so the audience will
watch
Something unique, to make it different to other
quiz shows.
Choose a quiz show you know, or
watch an episode.
Describe the following –
1. Who is the host?
2. Who are the contestants?
3. What is the set like?
4. What sort of questions are there?
5. What is the format?
6. What makes it entertaining?
7. What makes it unique?
Highbrow or lowbrow?
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Quiz shows often have different approaches.
Some are ‘highbrow.’ They expect contestants
to have advanced knowledge, that you might
gain through a lot of study or university
education.
 Some are ‘lowbrow,’ or ‘popular,’ and
contestants need knowledge that you might
gain in everyday life, often including
knowledge about TV shows, sports, or
celebrities.
 Some shows are in between!
Put these in order…
Put these shows in order from highbrow (number
1) to lowbrow (number 6).
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They think it’s all over…
QI
Mastermind
University Challenge
Millionaire
All Star Mr and Mrs
Weakest link
Audience
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Quiz shows, like any other TV or radio show,
are aimed at a specific group of people. Not
everyone likes the same type of thing, so
programme makers try to make their
programme suit a smaller group of people –
the target audience.
 The programme could be aimed at a certain
age group: children, teenagers, young people,
middle aged people, the elderly. Or it might be
aimed at a type of person: football fans, the
family, students, young men and so on.
What sort of audience are you?
Profile yourself:
 Age;
 Gender:
 Interests:
Are there any quiz shows aimed at you, or
people like you?
Who do you think is the target
audience for these shows?
Who Wants to be a Millionaire?
 QI
 Are you smarter than a ten year old?
 All Star Mr and Mrs
 The Weakest Link
 Mastermind
 Never Mind the Buzzcocks
 University Challenge
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Why do people like quiz shows?
Blumler and Katz suggested people use the
media to satisfy their needs. This is called
The Four Needs theory. It has four main
parts –
1. Escape and diversion from everyday life
2. Surveillance and information
3. Personal relationships
4. Personal identity
The Four Needs
1.Quizzes provide an escape from
everyday life; the audience get involved
and try to guess the answers, they get
carried away with the drama and the
excitement and forget about their
worries for a while.
2. Surveillance: Quizzes provide
information about the world; the
audience can learn things, and find out
the answers to questions.
The Four Needs
3. Personal relationships: the audience can
chat about the questions and the quiz; they
can compete or work together; it provides an
opportunity for social interaction.
4. Personal identity: audience members can
compare themselves with the contestants and
see how their knowledge or memory
compares; they can imagine they are the
contestant.
Why do you watch quiz shows?
1.
2.
3.
4.
Decide which of Blumler and Katz’s
Four Needs you most want to satisfy
when you watch quizzes, or other kinds
of TV.
Escape / diversion from everyday life
Surveillance and information
Personal relationships
Personal identity
Representation
The choice of host is very important for quiz
shows. The host is often the link between
shows, and the person the audience most
closely identifies with and recognises. The
contestants change from week-to-week but the
host usually stays the same.
Hosts are often chosen because they are
already famous. Each host will convey certain
ideas to the audience and attract a certain
group of people to watch the show.
Hosts
Choose three adjectives to describe each
of these people, to sum up their appeal.
 Steven Fry – clever, witty, upper-class.
 Fern Britten –
 Fern Cotton  Chris Tarrant –
 Chris Moyles  Jimmy Carr –
Hybrid Genres
A lot of shows are hybrids – a mixture of
different types or genres.
 This can make shows more unique or
more entertaining.
 Shows can mix elements of quiz and
game shows, or quiz and comedy, or
quiz and reality TV, or quiz and…just
about anything!
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What are these shows hybrids of?
1.
Never Mind the Buzzcocks =
Quiz show (questions and answers about song lyrics etc)
+ game show (performing songs)
+ comedy (the host’s script, comedians on the panel)
+ music (knowledge of bands, musicians on the panel,
music played)
2.
8 out of 10 cats
3.
Have I Got News For You
Task
Choose a hybrid show you know well.
 Describe what different elements it has,
and explain how each one links to a
different genre.
Summary
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Quiz shows are different to game shows.
Quiz shows can be highbrow or popular.
Each host has a different appeal to the target
audience.
Each quiz show appeals to different target
audiences.
The audience ‘use’ quiz shows to satisfy
different needs.
Quiz shows can be hybrids, using aspects of
other genres and types of programme.