Poll of the Year 2018

Revision as of 22:20, 22 January 2019

2018 has been and gone and goodness, that was definitely a year. But it’s time once again for you to analyse the year in formats for us with the annual UKGameshows.com/Bother’s Bar Poll of the Year.

There seems to be a general consensus that 2018 was not a classic or especially interesting year in the genre - ballots were down and total votes were down on last year's record breaking year. This year by popular demand we added two new categories, a long-requested radio show category and a future-proofing online category for all those new media shows that don't really fit in the traditional broadcast categories. We also dropped the multiple-votes-for-one-show rule this year.

As ever, voters are a mix of fans and industry professionals. So let's begin.

Hall of FAME 2018

For all the kvetching about how this wasn't a particularly exceptional year it wasn't completely without merit and 37 different shows got at least one vote.

9= Hardball, Britain's Brightest Family

7= The £100K Drop, Take the Tower

6- The Time it Takes

5- The Circle

Studio Lambert redefines the gameshow genre with the reality show where people live in a block of flats and don't talk directly to each other but through a bespoke social media app, so everyone can pretend to be who they liked and only the audience knew what was really going on. The internet buzz would suggest this did much better numbers than it actually did but it's certainly caused a bit of a stir, already selling to other territories and, interestingly, Netflix. The Circle will return to Channel 4 in 2019.

"I'm shocked that I'm even voting for this, but from a odd rocky start, it inexplicably turned into a show that was very difficult to turn off."
"The only reality show I watched all of this year. I enjoyed the way it encouraged a good strategy both if you were lying or not."
"With the recent loss of Big Brother, there's been room for a revolution in UK reality TV. The Circle had the guts to do away with a public vote (at least for the stuff that mattered), and gave British television viewers a taste of what competitive reality can be, after being starved of the likes of Survivor for years. Whilst there was a lot of obvious growing pains (such as the jarring V/O and both Alice & Maya seemed totally redundant), the format has a lot of room for growth, and it's exciting to see someone trying something new in this space for this first time in aeons."
"There were few shows I was as hooked on as The Circle this year. A brave new venture for the reality show made in the right way with unwitting contestants made for something that was very risky, very fresh and very dramatic. It sounded like the sort of idea that shouldn't work. In reality, its better than recent series of Big Brother."
"I'll admit I only watched the first ep but it's the first show in a very long time where I've thought the concept was genuinely original. Wish they'd marketed it more as Catfish the gameshow which is what it ultimately was."

4- I'll Get This

12 Yard invite five celebs to a posh dinner only to land one of them with the bill by not winning a series of dinner party-style games. Good concept, probably needed a bit more chat and a bit less game, it certainly deserved rather more viewers than it actually got.

"Not earthshattering by any means, but a fun half-hour of celebrities playing parlour games. Somehow maintains the illusion that you're out having fun with your good mates Victoria Coren Mitchell and Josh Widdecombe."
"Gets the balance right for mildly sozzled celebrity fun with an edge."
"Eminently watchable late night fayre, high production values for 12 Yard and hopefully in with a shout of a recommission."
"Even if the audience didn't like it, I thought this was a really neat idea for a celebrity talk show. Just a shame there wasn't more time devoted to bantz."

2= All Together Now, Who Wants to be a Millionaire?

Singing shows don't tend to do all that well in the poll but this bought enough new to the table to warrant our pollsters to stand up and join in. Rob Beckett and Geri Halliwell will be returning in 2019, and international versions have already appeared.

"A nicer, less controversial, straight forward singing competition which kept moving at a good pace and was edited well."
"Another format that really shouldn't work, but does."
"Didn't expect this to be good, but has a charming feel. Simple format, and much more engaging than The Voice. Normally can't stand Rob Beckett, but he was just about bearable on this."
"Inoffensive singing show that didn't go down the heart strings VT route."
"At last, a singing show with a proper party atmosphere."

There are many people who voted for Millionaire in the Golden Five but not the Hall of Fame which is a bit baffling - not nearly enough to change the result, but still. The revival bought in three new things: the devisive columnist and motoring writer Jeremy Clarkson (no he's not Chris Tarrant, and that's the point), the Ask the Host lifeline and the new floating safety net, all of which contributed to saving a first run that otherwise felt a bit shabby. Luckily it looks like they've solved many of the issues for the second run. It will be returning for more in 2019.

"Clarkson is a great fit and Ask the Host works."
"As much as I dislike Jeremy Clarkson, I must admit he settled into the role of host really well. The introduction of the Ask The Host led to some great television."
"I hesistate to vote for reboots, but I do think the WWTBAM? reboot was especially masterful. Great format tweaks that actually made watching the same fifteen questions interesting again, interesting host infusing the format with a completely different flavour, wonderful set and we've now seen they have fixed the font! A version the US are rightly jealous of."
"This was the refresh Millionaire needed. Jeremy Clarkson turned out to actually be rather good and has brought an unpredictability to proceedings. I was also very pleased to see the original gameplay and score reinstated."
"Clarkson really surprised me! I thought he’d be terrible but he’s a really good host. 20 years on, Millionaire is still gripping television."
"Nice to see it back with reasonably pitched questions."

1- The Button

Mmm, and not close either, this won by an absolute landslide. Part Gogglebox, part Taskmaster (well, quite a lot of Taskmaster actually), The Button saw Alex Horne setting ridiculous challenges to families in a kind of fixed-rig set-up, with money going to the families that performed best. Unfortunately the general audience were immune to its charms and it ended up doing quite badly on Friday evenings. It's probably not coming back, but the cognescenti have declared it 2018's best new format.

"A fun family show that was killed by its timeslot."
"Worked best when you could tell some of the families were getting sick of being on the show. Where Taskmaster works best when everyone has a proper go, I enjoyed this most when some of the contestants just couldn't be arsed."
"Without a doubt my favourite new 2018 show. Taskmaster with members of the public instead of celebrities. Inventive games, Alex Horne's voiceover is hilarious, and though the show isn't afraid to wind up contestants by pointing out their mistakes, somehow we still feel like the show is on their side and that we're cheering them on. A masterclass in good framing."
"The Button proves that Taskmaster created a new genre by taking a similar idea but making it stand on it's own merits, replacing the ominous "Taskmaster" character with a friendly button, and retaining the ever lovely Alex Horne. The Button feels like Gogglebox with a purpose, something I had no idea I wanted."
"This aired around the time I was dealing with a serious illness for a late family member, so this 30 minute programme on a Friday was a really welcome and funny escape from the seriousness of real life. The way the button interacted with contestants outside the task period was novel."
"I just really enjoyed this. Googlebox for Gameshow, and it was just fun. Didn't feel too similar to Taskmaster and the shots of people missing the button turning green were always funny. Inventive and clever tasks as well."
"proper early-evening entertainment, something we almost never see these days. Bringing the show into the contestants' homes is a still-rare twist, and seeing them react to the Taskmaster-style games was great fun. A shame that it didn't do as well as the Beeb had been expecting, as this had the potential to become a real family favourite..."
"Credit to the usually risk-averse BBC commissioners for giving this one a go, despite the critical pasting it got. Alex Horne is the soul of the show, and without him, it wouldn't work."
"loads of variety, loads of fun ideas, really good atmosphere; brave and fascinating for it to shatter the generation gap as it did."

Hall of SHAME 2018

In a largely forgettable year it took quite a lot for people to consider something as stand-out awful. These shows managed it though. 39 different shows received votes.

10- The Button

8= Beat the Internet with John Robins, The Wave

7- The Generation Game

6- I Don't Like Mondays

5- Hardball

Not a bad concept for a show really but lacking in execution, answer questions to keep ahead of a moving ball (it's the end game of Rebound turned into an entire show, really) but whereas this could have been an exciting Indiana Jones-style thing it was all done on a rather unimpressive bank of monitors and a ball that moved slowly. We gather it managed to be a right pain to film as well.

"I wish the ball was more dynamic. If it sped up on each long bar it would make the race a little more exciting but the magnets made it move so slowly that the show moved slowly as well."
"Not a great year for new quizzes. I liked the premise to this but felt the execution (and Ore) made this incredibly dull to watch."
"Saw it once, absolutely no reason to ever return to it. So, so slow - the central mechanic has no excitement in it whatsoever."
"This show is case of one criticism being so significant, as to make the rest of the show bad, that being question difficultly. There are too many very easy questions and I would argue too many really hard questions. On the latter point this is more a case of where they are placed and general difficultly compared to the other questions than considering them standalone."
"Nice idea with the wall, but the ball didn't roll under its own weight, a massive issue, and the show was just the same game played 11 times."
"Its called Hardball because there is a ball, and it is hard to watch."

4-Change Your Tune

It's Can't Sing Singers for a new generation! People who can't sing are challenged to learn (in an instant, This Time Next Year-style, thanks to the magic of TV) and the audience votes on who is the most improved and they take home a big cash prize. Did so well ITV moved it to a 4pm slot after two episodes to give the other shows a chance.

"This Time Next Year doesn't need a singing format bolted onto the side of it."
"Sometimes the singing was good but also sometimes the singing sounded worse than when they started."
"It the same way you have a problem if your endgame simply cannot be won (Alphabetical) you have a problem if the whole sell of your show doesn't happen. Change your Tune doesn't result in people changing their tune! Its also looks dreadful, lazy ITV fare."
"No idea why a talent show with bad singers would be dropped like a stone after two episodes."
"I created this show. It wasn't good. I'm sorry."

2= Chase the Case, For Facts Sake

Chase the Case is probably our pick for most unjustly high placing, especially in a world where Ready or Not somehow escapes the top ten. We accept that there were big issues with the execution (especially in the first half of the show which drags a bit and the central puzzle is too easy), but the concept was OK and the second half was actually quite clever and had a bit of strategy to it. The rising front door to the safe room wins this year's award for most underused obvious bit of set of the year.

"Absolutely no fun at all until the end game, by which stage it had lost me."
"If you're going to pay for a garage door opener, then at least use it, you bastards!"
"A quiz version of Cluedo just didn’t work IMO."
"It's repetitive, the graphics and font are garish, the logic puzzle element is trivial and makes little difference to gameplay because the strongest player usually grabs the best case anyway, the continual "huh Deborah is stern" "yes I agree she is stern" references range from unfunny to tedious (improv comedy rule of thumb: it's *strong* emotions that are funny), the outcome is usually a foregone conclusion. Just plain dull."
"Clunky quiz that was sorely misjudged in a number of elements, not least asking a comedienne to not say anything."
"Sound gameplay let down by how bloody boring it was. Do a perfection and make it 2 games per episode please."

For Facts Sake had Brendan O' Carroll of Mrs Brown's Boys fame and his various family members and friends who make up the rest of the cast invite people on who have facts and then make fun of them.

"I can't remember when I was so angry at a light entertainment programme. The casting of interesting members of the public by production only to be laughed at and ridiculed by the "talent" made me furious. "Why did we have him on the show?" asks Brendan O' Carrol of a departing contestant. Because you cast them Brendan, and they came along in good faith."
"it's not that Brendan O'Carroll isn't right for a gameshow - I actually liked the game elements of All Round To Mrs. Browns - but a low-brow QI facsimile with the "gimmick" that ordinary people are occasionally given the opportunity to speak if they can raise their voice over the cacophony, just doesn't work. Which is disappointing, because O'Carroll is actually pretty decent on the rare occasions he does appear on QI."
"FFS felt like the crew from Mrs. Brown Boys saw 5 minutes of QI and attempted to make a derivative with no budget. The whole thing feels vaguely nasty, spiting those providing the trivia rather than celebrating it."
"Another one where the concept at least was sound: the Beeb's long been plotting a trivia game with the public sharing their knowledge (whither The QI Test?) but shoehorning the Mrs Brown's Boys cast into it, even if not in character, smacks of an unappealing compromise someone had to strike..."
"No idea why a panel show with both the cast of Mrs Browns Boys out of character, and members of the public instead of guest comedians wouldn't work..."
"File under 'F' under 'F***ing Failures', next to Fact Hunt."

1- Wedding Day Winners

Sometimes you just need to read the blurb to have an idea as to whether a show is going to be OK or not, this had flop written all over it. Not that we don't think there's no mileage in weddings, but we reckon the partying and the drunken antics and arguments lends itself to better television than a slightly naff looking made-for-television wedding ceremony, as discovered by The Shane Ritchie Experience twenty years ago. Anyway two sets of couples and their families play It's a Knockout-style games to win prizes, whoever wins the final game of the night gets to have their wedding in a large echo-y warehouse in front of the cameras and a nice honeymoon, the losers have to suffer the indignity of having their ceremony done elsewhere and filmed to play over the credits. Large studio sucked all the noise and life out of the situation.

"This is exactly the sort of show they would invent on W1A."
" A mish-mash of poorly put together games without much enjoyment or play-along for the viewers."
"By far the worst thing I saw last year. When it takes 20 minutes before you get to the first game, you know something is wrong."
"In a year with few major missteps, it was awfully kind of Wedding Day Winners to be so completely shit."
"When a key game is a stolen version of Pump Up Your Postie from Red Alert, you know a format's in trouble. And why did the sound mix make the audience sound like it was in Wembley Stadium?"
"The novelty wore off after about 20 minutes then it just became irritating. Then Tom Allen appeared, and I switched it off."
"Thought it sounded awful, was proven correct. Made me long for Partners in Rhyme!"
"They tried to do about thirty things at once and the entire thing turned out to be somehow both information overload and dull at the same time."
"Had "we'll put the rest of these out during the summer" all over it before the opening titles finished rolling."
"It's good that the BBC tried something different. Shame there was no decent format behind it, and the sound editing was incredibly strange."
"Genuinely unacceptable use of the license fee. Nothing about it was good, absolutely atrocious, I believe has led to the end of Panda TV."

Radio Five

A new category for 2018 after many people asked for one. Not many people actually voted though, we also saw some suggestion that five might be too many shows for people to come up with. We will chew on this feedback and see how to improve it next year. 17 different shows got at least one vote.

5- Fighting Talk

The longest running radio sports panel show, which very clearly owes a debt to ESPN's long running Around the Horn, there's enough of a freewheeling atmosphere to be worth a listen even if you're not that into sport and frequently has some quite unusual guest panellists, with half of The Chasers now regular guests.

"After a dodgy few years where it never settled, it's still sounding fresh now Colin Murray has been back a couple of years. The changing up of the panellists has helped that - now with two Chasers too!"

3= The News Quiz, I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue

On The News Quiz you said:

"A vote for the venerable satire, with the caveat that it's been pretty tough to wring much to chuckle about from the Brexit-dominated news agenda of recent times..."

...and on ISIHAC you said:

"They've had more varied guests recently and it's been just as good as ever!"

2- The Unbelievable Truth

"It's not long in the tooth, it's The Unbelievable Truth!" Is that the show's catchphrase? It should be. You may have got the entirely correct impression we don't listen to the elder medium all that much. Thank goodness some of you do though:

"Perhaps the radio show with the highest playalong value and so gets a spot here."
"A mix between Mock The Week and a demented TED Talk, Unbelievable Truth is one of the only radio shows I make a point of listening to."

1- Just a Minute

If there's a word that describes lots of shows on this list it's "venerable" and that's a shame because somebody has already used that word in a comment on The News Quiz, so we've lost.

"A shame that Nicolas wasn't able to record all the episodes for the first time this year but still good fun."
"JAM continues to be the best continuous stream of noise you can put on at a family brunch."
"Still going strong, amazingly, though Parsons missing a show through ill-health will perhaps have had the BBC pondering on a succession plan, presumably not wanting to repeat the muddle that landed Jack Dee with ISIHAC..."
"Gyles [Brandreth] in the seat is a sad reminder that Nicholas won't be around forever, but luckily proof there is life in the old dog yet. (JAM, not just Gyles/Nicholas)."

Bubbling Under: 6- Popmaster, 7= Brain of Britain, Round Britain Quiz, 9- Counterpoint, 10- It's Not What You Know

Our gut suggests Popmaster would have made the top five but people weren't sure if it counted or not seeing as it's an element of Ken Bruce's daily show rather a than a show on it's on merit. It was one vote out of making the top five.

Online Five

Our current solution to the question "what do we do about shows on Netflix/Youtube/Podcasts/whatever". This year it hasn't quite taken off but we'll continue to run it to see what happens. The stipulation is that it must be legitimately viewable to UK audiences without the use of VPN and shows on subscription services are fine. This means we've had to discount votes for things like Wie is De Mol, whilst we adore the effort our friends make to put up and subtitle episodes, they could be taken down at any time with little comeback and so don't count as legitimate.

3= Bother's Bar Game Night (Youtube), Ultimate Beastmaster (Netflix) , HQ (mobile devices)

Aw shucks you guys. Bother's Bar Game Night invites a panel of guests to play party games from The Jackbox Party Pack and others whilst the audience playing along live try and take them down and win for themselves. It's event television at it's very best, it says here. Link to Youtube Playlist.

Ultimate Beastmaster sees Netflix partner with Sylvester Stallone for an obstacle course show with an international flavour. The course certainly looks like it's had some money spent on it, but as it turns ouot the real stars are the international commentary teams both pulling for their own contestants and being sniffy about others, frequently involving antics invading each other's commentary boxes. 2018 saw UK contestants and commentary (provided by wrestler Stu Bennett and journalist Kate Abdo) for the first time.

"The Ninja Warrior mould has proved a rich vein for Netflix, and Beastmaster makes for some wonderful background athleticism whilst pottering around the house."
"Stu and Kate proved great company. UB isn't essential viewing by any means, and on paper series 3 was the most boring (fewer players and shorter courses) - but I was still happy and watching to the end."

International mobile quiz sensation HQ launched episodes aimed at UK audiences and timezones in 2018. UK copycats such as Q Live are new competition. We fear the buzz for this sort of thing has died down, so it'll be interesting to see if this still features next year.

2- Fingers on Buzzers

Jenny Ryan off of The Chase and comic Lucy Porter's podcast where they discuss all things quiz and do some quizzes of their own whilst some professional quizzy guests call in with their quiz experiences. Series one seems to have gone down alright, we're interested to see if there are any quiz discussion topics left for another! Here's the website.

"Jenny and Lucy are both lovely."
"I think this is the right place to nominate this. It's consistently light, fluffy fun; everyone on the show comes across as very likeable, the production is excellent, the quizzes on it are fun and the interviews are the best part about the show. Yet it habitually doesn't go quite as far as I'd like and the presenters crucially seem to know about 15% less about the genre than I want them to. What they need is a David, a Dan or a Nick as a third host to fill in the gaps."

1- Lateral

Tom Scott and David Bodycombe's Youtube lateral thinking quiz was your favourite online thing, and if you missed it first time round you can watch all six episodes on Youtube now.

"In the Only Connect vein I enjoyed it a lot and hope to see it return wherever that may be. Hope to see more questions that weren't used on BBdW?W?W? If it does come back though."
"Really enjoyed watching this one. It's got the same appeal as Only Connect/Hive Minds, with a scoring system that means that realistically anyone can get a chance of getting even one point. Would definitely put myself forward as a contestant for season 2 if Tom Scott decides to make another series - one of the weaknesses I found was that there were not too many teams taking part, although I definitely understand why."
"I'd buy the home game in a flash. The only series I watched start to finish this year."
"Tom Scott and David Bodycombe continue to produce short run quiz shows that put a lot of TV quizzes to shame. BBC Four are missing a trick by giving Lateral a shot filling the hole Only Connect has left."
"Obligatory I'm Not Sure the Endgame Worked Very Well, but you know what? The Beeb (etc) have had literally decades to do a UK take on WhatWhereWhen, and never bothered - and this was a brilliant show, complete with high quality guests, questions, and production. Well Done Tom Scott."
"An excellent addition to the 'linkage' genre, this entertaining, well-made show was a fine parry to the Beeb-budget Only Connect, and is a show I'd tip in the direction of anyone seeking a blast of quizzy fun."

Other shows that got more than a vote: The Fix (Netflix), Citation Needed (Youtube), Busted! (Netflix)

The Golden Five 2018

The Hall of Fame may well consist of shows that can be described as flash-in-the-pan, but the Golden Five is open to any UK show with a first-run in 2018. Quite interestingly, a couple of comments suggesting they're deliberately not voting for shows because they want a shake up of the Top Five. Let's see how successful they've been shall we?

5- Who Wants to be a Millionaire?

There were quite a few people who voted for this here but didn't vote for it in the Hall of Fame, despite making it clear that revivals count as new shows effectively. Still, it's this year's highest new entry (The Button actually finishes 11th in this list) so it will be interesting to track its longevity.

4- Taskmaster

Just when you thought you were getting a bit tired of Taskmaster, which for a lot of people was this Summer's series six, up pops this Autumn's series seven, one of if not the strongest series to date, and everything seems alright again.

"Series 6 was a little naff but Series 7 bought it closer to the original and the arguments were very enjoyable!"
"No show has brought me such unbridled joy as Taskmaster. It remains nothing but a pleasure to watch, and continues to build a beloved community."
The last series proved that casting, casting, casting seems to be the key to this show."
"A cracking lineup for S7 this year, from Rhod Gilbert waging pictorial war on his longtime buddy Greg to Drifter Jessica Knappett giving us the air horn. I do worry that the ten-ep runs stretch the show a little thin, though, perhaps a return to tighter eight-parters would be better..."
"Can we say 2018 was the year Taskmaster fever hit the UK? Probably not. But it's got a momentum, and once again Taskmaster went far beyond my expectations of what it could do. It will surely reach 10, but this year I was sold on the idea that TM could run for 15 or 20 series and still be good."
"From the ridiculous to the sublime. Had it only been one series this year then Series 6 with Tarbuk, Howard Et Al, I think we'd be bemoning that it had run it's course, but Series 7 was one of the most consistent, funniest panel/quiz/comedy type shows that we've ever seen. It's all about the casting, and I think Series 6 suffered from a lack of "panel show regulars" for want of a better phrase. Problem with the amazing Series 7 is, how can that ever be topped?"
"A joy that has developed more character with each passing series. I worry that it's going to go too much into its self references, but I'm hopeful it won't. Great sets of contestants that aren't afraid to go at each other a little bit makes for wonderful television."

3= !mpossible

!mpossible is up three places, in 2018 it took the coveted Pointless slot for six weeks and even got a Saturday evening celebrity spin-off. It feels like a show everyone is desperate to take off - it's a fun quiz to be sure - but doesn't seem to quite catch fire. 2019 will be decisive year for it, we feel.

"It hasn't stagnated just yet for me and so I'll watch it regularly enough that it gains a spot here."
"I would genuinely watch Rick Edwards doing a running commentary on the shipping forecast. So the fact that he is instead hosting an inventive and entertaining quiz is a huge bonus."
"Last year's Hall of Fame winner became stronger this year with Impossible Celebrities and still love the moment when the coins come out in 1 pound coins."
"Rick and the coin machine stepping up to the top table this year in a big way, and very pleasant to see the Beeb subbing this in for Pointless reruns in the summer, though a shame that hasn't happened again for the next series. Some excellent question-writing, just enough to trip the unwary without coming off as a nasty trick..."

2- The Chase

It's down a place, but it's position as tea time quiz king is now undisputed and if anything, eight years on now, is more popular than ever. Plenty of extra-curricular activites for its talent this year, amongst other things, Bradley Walsh is now Dr Who's assistant, Anne Hegerty won the nation's heart on I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here and Jenny Ryan now has a quiz podcast.

"Still interesting unlike Pointless which has stagnated. I do wish The Beast would give a super offer out every now and then as in the American version just to throw an extra spanner in the works."
"Honestly, if there was ever a reason to give Mr. Farrer a knighthood, it's the music he did for The Chase. Still a delight ever day eight years on."
Somehow, even after spending so long on the air, it's still amazing. The chemistry between Graham O'Brien (subs please check) and the Chasers really makes the show, and I love how Anne Hegerty has been propelled to stardom this year.)"
"This continues to go from strength to strength. A serious quiz which doesn't take itself too seriously."
"The Chase just becomes more enjoyable as time passes. The blooper special was one of the funniest programmes I've seen in ages."
"Now, without a doubt, the UK's number one. Strangely I don't think we've reached "Peak Chase" yet - where as we have with Pointless - although we are close. Interesting that this was the first year ITV didn't risk the wrath of the public by replacing The Chase with a different quiz in the summer, and the first time the BBC did risk this by replacing Pointless."

1- Only Connect

After rudely being moved down the list for a Nigella Lawson cookery show, probably, The OC is back on top. Congrats.

"BBC Four's golden child continues to go from strength to strength, becoming a staple part of the British zeitgeist, with even Rylan Clarke-Neal being a fan! OC making the BBC's schedule on Christmas Day shows just how much of an institution it has become, may it remain so for many years to come."
"It's solid, it's sublime. It's not going anywhere (except randomly to Friday, maybe)."
"Loved the Christmas specials, that weren't Christmassy. More please."
"It is its own little world, and the only quiz I make an effort to watch reguarly."
"If I have been watching a game show for some years, it is on regularly, has a set episode format and has had no real change between series in a long time (since introduction of musical questions), I would usually have stopped watching regularly. The fact only connect has still got my interest almost as much as when I started watching is very surprising therefore it definitely belongs on the list."

Bubbling under: 6- Pointless, 7-, Richard Osman's House of Games (3), 8- Tenable, 9- Tipping Point, 10- The Crystal Maze

GOLDEN MOMENTS

As ever we finish on a selection of your favorite moments of the year, with clips where we can find them.

"The meetings in the question casting and people casting departments of all-new WWTBAM when none of the contestants were winning anything."

"The contestant on Millionaire who got his £125k question right because the answer was where he lost his leg."
"The bloke on Millionaire who won a bundle on a question relating to the place where he lost his leg."
"Gareth winning £125,000 on Millionaire."

"Big Brother Airlines task - classic BB, shame hardly anyone saw it but it was extremely funny."
"BB Airlines was one of my favourite Big Brother tasks of all time."

"Dan discovering 'Kate' is actually Alex in The Circle. The whole gamut of human emotion in 10 seconds."

"The team who took zero crystals to the dome on The Crystal Maze and the way this was played to its logical conclusion."
"The group entering The Crystal Dome with no crystals, safe to say they were only there for the sake of it."

"Bob Mortimer's Chris Rea / egg in bath story on 'Would I Lie To You?' - not just the story itself, but David Mitchell's response to it."
"Would I Lie To You? - the entire story about Chris Rea telling Bob Mortimer to put an egg in his bath.""

"In an incredible turn of events, one of the most controversial television moments of the last year occurred on Channel 5's "Great Model Railway Challenge", when the Missenden Modellers were caught bending the rules regarding pre-built objects, and were given an ultimatum by the judges to obey the rules or face disqualification. Amazingly, the team ignored these warnings and carried on regardless, infuriating the judges. Extreme betrayal not seen on British TV before or since."

Lots of various moments from Taskmaster, we'll list a few:

"Rachel Riley and Kirsty Gallagher winning 160 thousand on Celebrity Chase for Soccer Aid."

"Tim Shieff making it the furthest on the Flying Bars, the furthest ever on Ninja Warrior UK. This moment, was the cherry on top of a great finale two-parter partly because of improved results. The episode showed how close a Final stage clear is, However, this was achieved in a natural way, actually slightly increasing the difficulty from the previous finale. Whilst Deren Perez had earlier on been the first to make to the obstacle Shieff would fail at, the fact Shieff made it the furthest is so fulfilling. Alongside being a good representative for the show, like many others, he is probably the most experienced, most famous and best competitor."

That's not an exhaustive list of your moments but it's enough to be going on with.

Oh no! It isn't!

"Clarkson not knowing what an ibex is."
"'Deer-gate' with Jeremy Clarkson on Millionaire, Tarrant never did it."
"Millionaire - Ibex-gate. Clarkson earns his fee in one viral clip."
"Jeremy Clarkson’s ‘ibex’ moment."
"One of the best moments has to be on Who Wants to be a Millionaire? where Clarkson was so confident that a contestant had gotten the right answer he celebrated only to find out he was wrong. Hilarious moment and showed that Jeremy was going to be a good host for this revival."

You've made it!

Well that's the Poll for another year, join us at Bother's Bar for the afterparty with all the stats and everything. Thanks for voting everyone, and we'll see you next year.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 <div class="square" style="float:left">[[Image:Square Vote.jpg]]</div> 2018 has been and gone and goodness, that was definitely a year. But it’s time once again for you to analyse the year in formats for us with the annual UKGameshows.com/Bother’s Bar Poll of the Year.
-===Time's up! Thanks for all your votes, we're totting them all up, preparing the report and hope to bring you the results very soon.===
+There seems to be a general consensus that 2018 was not a classic or especially interesting year in the genre - ballots were down and total votes were down on last year's record breaking year. This year by popular demand we added two new categories, a long-requested radio show category and a future-proofing online category for all those new media shows that don't really fit in the traditional broadcast categories. We also dropped the multiple-votes-for-one-show rule this year.
-In the meantime we'll keep this non-exhaustive list of new formats up for you to speculate about.
+As ever, voters are a mix of fans and industry professionals. So let's begin.
-==2018==
+== Hall of FAME 2018 ==
-{|
-|-
+For all the kvetching about how this wasn't a particularly exceptional year it wasn't completely without merit and 37 different shows got at least one vote.
-|'''December'''
-|-
+= [[Hardball]], [[Britain's Brightest Family]]
-|[[Celebrity Game Night]]
-|Late-night variety challenges
+= [[The Million Pound Drop Live|The £100K Drop]], [[Take the Tower]]
-|-
-|[[Oh Yes It Is, Oh No It Isn't]]
+- [[The Time it Takes]]
-|Radio, variety (pantomimes)
-|-
+=== 5- [[The Circle]] ===
-|[[Re-Play]] with Richard Osman
-|Topical quiz
+Studio Lambert redefines the gameshow genre with the reality show where people live in a block of flats and don't talk directly to each other but through a bespoke social media app, so everyone can pretend to be who they liked and only the audience knew what was really going on. The internet buzz would suggest this did much better numbers than it actually did but it's certainly caused a bit of a stir, already selling to other territories and, interestingly, Netflix. The Circle will return to Channel 4 in 2019.
-|-
-|[[Whiplashed]]
+*''"I'm shocked that I'm even voting for this, but from a odd rocky start, it inexplicably turned into a show that was very difficult to turn off."''
-|Stunts and dares (Scotland)
+*''"The only reality show I watched all of this year. I enjoyed the way it encouraged a good strategy both if you were lying or not."''
-|-
+*''"With the recent loss of [[Big Brother]], there's been room for a revolution in UK reality TV. The Circle had the guts to do away with a public vote (at least for the stuff that mattered), and gave British television viewers a taste of what competitive reality can be, after being starved of the likes of Survivor for years. Whilst there was a lot of obvious growing pains (such as the jarring V/O and both Alice & Maya seemed totally redundant), the format has a lot of room for growth, and it's exciting to see someone trying something new in this space for this first time in aeons."''
-|[[WIQ]] '''(R)'''
+*''"There were few shows I was as hooked on as The Circle this year. A brave new venture for the reality show made in the right way with unwitting contestants made for something that was very risky, very fresh and very dramatic. It sounded like the sort of idea that shouldn't work. In reality, its better than recent series of Big Brother."''
-|Radio, quiz, general knowledge
+*''"I'll admit I only watched the first ep but it's the first show in a very long time where I've thought the concept was genuinely original. Wish they'd marketed it more as Catfish the gameshow which is what it ultimately was."''
-|-
-|'''November'''
+=== 4- [[I'll Get This]] ===
-|-
-|[[Beat the Internet]]
+Yard invite five celebs to a posh dinner only to land one of them with the bill by not winning a series of dinner party-style games. Good concept, probably needed a bit more chat and a bit less game, it certainly deserved rather more viewers than it actually got.
-|Quiz, pop culture
-|-
+*''"Not earthshattering by any means, but a fun half-hour of celebrities playing parlour games. Somehow maintains the illusion that you're out having fun with your good mates Victoria Coren Mitchell and Josh Widdecombe."''
-|[[Dianc]]
+*''"Gets the balance right for mildly sozzled celebrity fun with an edge."''
-|Action and adventure, Wales
+*''"Eminently watchable late night fayre, high production values for 12 Yard and hopefully in with a shout of a recommission."''
-|-
+*''"Even if the audience didn't like it, I thought this was a really neat idea for a celebrity talk show. Just a shame there wasn't more time devoted to bantz."''
-|[[The Heist]]
-|Action and Adventure
+=== 2= [[All Together Now]], [[Who Wants to be a Millionaire?]] ===
-|-
-|[[I'll Get This]]
+Singing shows don't tend to do all that well in the poll but this bought enough new to the table to warrant our pollsters to stand up and join in. Rob Beckett and Geri Halliwell will be returning in 2019, and international versions have already appeared.
-|Dinner-table stunts
-|-
+*''"A nicer, less controversial, straight forward singing competition which kept moving at a good pace and was edited well."''
-|[[Make Me a Dealer]]
+*''"Another format that really shouldn't work, but does."''
-|Antiques, lifestyle
+*''"Didn't expect this to be good, but has a charming feel. Simple format, and much more engaging than [[The Voice]]. Normally can't stand Rob Beckett, but he was just about bearable on this."''
-|-
+*''"Inoffensive singing show that didn't go down the heart strings VT route."''
-|[[Match of the Day Can You Kick It?]]
+*''"At last, a singing show with a proper party atmosphere."''
-|Sport, childrens
-|-
+There are many people who voted for '''Millionaire''' in the Golden Five but not the Hall of Fame which is a bit baffling - not nearly enough to change the result, but still. The revival bought in three new things: the devisive columnist and motoring writer Jeremy Clarkson (no he's not Chris Tarrant, and that's the point), the Ask the Host lifeline and the new floating safety net, all of which contributed to saving a first run that otherwise felt a bit shabby. Luckily it looks like they've solved many of the issues for the second run. It will be returning for more in 2019.
-|[[The Time it Takes]]
-|Family game, general knowledge quiz
+*''"Clarkson is a great fit and Ask the Host works."''
-|-
+*''"As much as I dislike Jeremy Clarkson, I must admit he settled into the role of host really well. The introduction of the Ask The Host led to some great television."''
-|'''October'''
+*''"I hesistate to vote for reboots, but I do think the WWTBAM? reboot was especially masterful. Great format tweaks that actually made watching the same fifteen questions interesting again, interesting host infusing the format with a completely different flavour, wonderful set and we've now seen they have fixed the font! A version the US are rightly jealous of."''
-|-
+*''"This was the refresh Millionaire needed. Jeremy Clarkson turned out to actually be rather good and has brought an unpredictability to proceedings. I was also very pleased to see the original gameplay and score reinstated."''
-|[[For Facts Sake]]
+*''"Clarkson really surprised me! I thought he’d be terrible but he’s a really good host. 20 years on, Millionaire is still gripping television."''
-|Panel show
+*''"Nice to see it back with reasonably pitched questions."''
-|-
-|[[The Great Model Railway Challenge]]
+=== 1- [[The Button]] ===
-|Technological
-|-
+Mmm, and not close either, this won by an absolute landslide. Part ''Gogglebox'', part [[Taskmaster]] (well, quite a lot of ''Taskmaster'' actually), The Button saw Alex Horne setting ridiculous challenges to families in a kind of fixed-rig set-up, with money going to the families that performed best. Unfortunately the general audience were immune to its charms and it ended up doing quite badly on Friday evenings. It's probably not coming back, but the cognescenti have declared it 2018's best new format.
-|'''September'''
-|-
+*''"A fun family show that was killed by its timeslot."''
-|[[Back to Mine]]
+*''"Worked best when you could tell some of the families were getting sick of being on the show. Where Taskmaster works best when everyone has a proper go, I enjoyed this most when some of the contestants just couldn't be arsed."''
-|Reality, dating
+*''"Without a doubt my favourite new 2018 show. Taskmaster with members of the public instead of celebrities. Inventive games, Alex Horne's voiceover is hilarious, and though the show isn't afraid to wind up contestants by pointing out their mistakes, somehow we still feel like the show is on their side and that we're cheering them on. A masterclass in good framing."''
-|-
+*''"The Button proves that Taskmaster created a new genre by taking a similar idea but making it stand on it's own merits, replacing the ominous "Taskmaster" character with a friendly button, and retaining the ever lovely Alex Horne. The Button feels like Gogglebox with a purpose, something I had no idea I wanted."''
-|[[Chase the Case]]
+*''"This aired around the time I was dealing with a serious illness for a late family member, so this 30 minute programme on a Friday was a really welcome and funny escape from the seriousness of real life. The way the button interacted with contestants outside the task period was novel."''
-|Quiz, general knowledge
+*''"I just really enjoyed this. Googlebox for Gameshow, and it was just fun. Didn't feel too similar to Taskmaster and the shots of people missing the button turning green were always funny. Inventive and clever tasks as well."''
-|-
+*''"proper early-evening entertainment, something we almost never see these days. Bringing the show into the contestants' homes is a still-rare twist, and seeing them react to the Taskmaster-style games was great fun. A shame that it didn't do as well as the Beeb had been expecting, as this had the potential to become a real family favourite..."''
-|[[Chwilio am Seren]]
+*''"Credit to the usually risk-averse BBC commissioners for giving this one a go, despite the critical pasting it got. Alex Horne is the soul of the show, and without him, it wouldn't work."''
-|Variety, childrens (Wales)
+*''"loads of variety, loads of fun ideas, really good atmosphere; brave and fascinating for it to shatter the generation gap as it did."''
-|-
-|[[The Circle]]
+== Hall of SHAME 2018 ==
-|Reality
-|-
+In a largely forgettable year it took quite a lot for people to consider something as stand-out awful. These shows managed it though. 39 different shows received votes.
-|[[Football Genius]]
-|Sports quiz
+- [[The Button]]
-|-
-|[[Gareth Malone's All Star Music Quiz]]
+= [[Beat the Internet|Beat the Internet with John Robins]], [[The Wave]]
-|Music, panel game
-|-
+- [[The Generation Game]]
-|[[The Imitation Game]]
-|Comedy panel game
+- [[I Don't Like Mondays]]
-|-
-|[[Y Ras]]
+=== 5- [[Hardball]] ===
-|Sports quiz, regional (Wales)
-|-
+Not a bad concept for a show really but lacking in execution, answer questions to keep ahead of a moving ball (it's the end game of [[Rebound]] turned into an entire show, really) but whereas this could have been an exciting Indiana Jones-style thing it was all done on a rather unimpressive bank of monitors and a ball that moved slowly. We gather it managed to be a right pain to film as well.
-|[[Take the Tower]]
-|Stunts and dares
+*''"I wish the ball was more dynamic. If it sped up on each long bar it would make the race a little more exciting but the magnets made it move so slowly that the show moved slowly as well."''
-|-
+*''"Not a great year for new quizzes. I liked the premise to this but felt the execution (and Ore) made this incredibly dull to watch."''
-|'''August'''
+*''"Saw it once, absolutely no reason to ever return to it. So, so slow - the central mechanic has no excitement in it whatsoever."''
-|-
+*''"This show is case of one criticism being so significant, as to make the rest of the show bad, that being question difficultly. There are too many very easy questions and I would argue too many really hard questions. On the latter point this is more a case of where they are placed and general difficultly compared to the other questions than considering them standalone."''
-|[[Call Yourself a Fan]]
+*''"Nice idea with the wall, but the ball didn't roll under its own weight, a massive issue, and the show was just the same game played 11 times."''
-|Football quiz
+*''"Its called Hardball because there is a ball, and it is hard to watch."''
-|-
-|[[Eurovision Young Musicians]] '''(R)'''
+=== 4-[[Change Your Tune]] ===
-|Classical music
-|-
+It's [[Can't Sing Singers]] for a new generation! People who can't sing are challenged to learn (in an instant, ''This Time Next Year''-style, thanks to the magic of TV) and the audience votes on who is the most improved and they take home a big cash prize. Did so well ITV moved it to a 4pm slot after two episodes to give the other shows a chance.
-|[[Evil Monkeys]]
-|Stunts and dares
+*''"This Time Next Year doesn't need a singing format bolted onto the side of it."''
-|-
+*''"Sometimes the singing was good but also sometimes the singing sounded worse than when they started."''
-|[[True Love or True Lies]]
+*''"It the same way you have a problem if your endgame simply cannot be won ([[Alphabetical]]) you have a problem if the whole sell of your show doesn't happen. Change your Tune doesn't result in people changing their tune! Its also looks dreadful, lazy ITV fare."''
-|Reality, relationships
+*''"No idea why a talent show with bad singers would be dropped like a stone after two episodes."''
-|-
+*''"I created this show. It wasn't good. I'm sorry."''
-|'''July'''
-|-
+=== 2= [[Chase the Case]], [[For Facts Sake]] ===
-|[[Oci Oci Oci!]]
-|Quiz / darts, regional (Wales)
+'''Chase the Case''' is probably our pick for most unjustly high placing, especially in a world where [[Ready or Not]] somehow escapes the top ten. We accept that there were big issues with the execution (especially in the first half of the show which drags a bit and the central puzzle is too easy), but the concept was OK and the second half was actually quite clever and had a bit of strategy to it. The rising front door to the safe room wins this year's award for most underused obvious bit of set of the year.
-|-
-|'''June'''
+*''"Absolutely no fun at all until the end game, by which stage it had lost me."''
-|-
+*''"If you're going to pay for a garage door opener, then at least use it, you bastards!"''
-|[[Britain's Best Junior Doctors]]
+*''"A quiz version of Cluedo just didn’t work IMO."
-|Themed quiz, medical
+*''"It's repetitive, the graphics and font are garish, the logic puzzle element is trivial and makes little difference to gameplay because the strongest player usually grabs the best case anyway, the continual "huh Deborah is stern" "yes I agree she is stern" references range from unfunny to tedious (improv comedy rule of thumb: it's *strong* emotions that are funny), the outcome is usually a foregone conclusion. Just plain dull."''
-|-
+*''"Clunky quiz that was sorely misjudged in a number of elements, not least asking a comedienne to not say anything."''
-|[[Pwy 'Di Bos y Gegin?!]]
+*''"Sound gameplay let down by how bloody boring it was. Do a perfection and make it 2 games per episode please."''
-|Cooking, regional (Wales)
-|-
+'''For Facts Sake''' had Brendan O' Carroll of ''Mrs Brown's Boys'' fame and his various family members and friends who make up the rest of the cast invite people on who have facts and then make fun of them.
-|'''May'''
-|-
+*''"I can't remember when I was so angry at a light entertainment programme. The casting of interesting members of the public by production only to be laughed at and ridiculed by the "talent" made me furious. "Why did we have him on the show?" asks Brendan O' Carrol of a departing contestant. Because you cast them Brendan, and they came along in good faith."''
-|[[Britain's Best Home Cook]]
+*''"it's not that Brendan O'Carroll isn't right for a gameshow - I actually liked the game elements of All Round To Mrs. Browns - but a low-brow [[QI]] facsimile with the "gimmick" that ordinary people are occasionally given the opportunity to speak if they can raise their voice over the cacophony, just doesn't work. Which is disappointing, because O'Carroll is actually pretty decent on the rare occasions he does appear on QI."''
-|Lifestyle, cookery
+*''"FFS felt like the crew from Mrs. Brown Boys saw 5 minutes of QI and attempted to make a derivative with no budget. The whole thing feels vaguely nasty, spiting those providing the trivia rather than celebrating it."''
-|-
+*''"Another one where the concept at least was sound: the Beeb's long been plotting a trivia game with the public sharing their knowledge (whither The QI Test?) but shoehorning the Mrs Brown's Boys cast into it, even if not in character, smacks of an unappealing compromise someone had to strike..."''
-|[[Carnage]]
+*''"No idea why a panel show with both the cast of Mrs Browns Boys out of character, and members of the public instead of guest comedians wouldn't work..."''
-|Technological
+*''"File under 'F' under 'F***ing Failures', next to [[Fact Hunt]]."''
-|-
-|[[Hardball]]
+=== 1- [[Wedding Day Winners]] ===
-|Quiz, general knowledge
-|-
+Sometimes you just need to read the blurb to have an idea as to whether a show is going to be OK or not, this had flop written all over it. Not that we don't think there's no mileage in weddings, but we reckon the partying and the drunken antics and arguments lends itself to better television than a slightly naff looking made-for-television wedding ceremony, as discovered by [[The Shane Ritchie Experience]] twenty years ago. Anyway two sets of couples and their families play [[It's a Knockout]]-style games to win prizes, whoever wins the final game of the night gets to have their wedding in a large echo-y warehouse in front of the cameras and a nice honeymoon, the losers have to suffer the indignity of having their ceremony done elsewhere and filmed to play over the credits. Large studio sucked all the noise and life out of the situation.
-|[[One Night Only]]
-|Comedy panel game, radio
+*''"This is exactly the sort of show they would invent on W1A."''
-|-
+*''" A mish-mash of poorly put together games without much enjoyment or play-along for the viewers."''
-|[[The Million Pound Drop Live|The £100K Drop]] '''(R)'''
+*''"By far the worst thing I saw last year. When it takes 20 minutes before you get to the first game, you know something is wrong."''
-|Quiz, general knowledge
+*''"In a year with few major missteps, it was awfully kind of Wedding Day Winners to be so completely shit."''
-|-
+*''"When a key game is a stolen version of Pump Up Your Postie from [[Red Alert]], you know a format's in trouble. And why did the sound mix make the audience sound like it was in Wembley Stadium?"''
-|[[Who Wants to be a Millionaire?]] '''(R)'''
+*''"The novelty wore off after about 20 minutes then it just became irritating. Then Tom Allen appeared, and I switched it off."''
-|Quiz, general knowledge
+*''"Thought it sounded awful, was proven correct. Made me long for [[Partners in Rhyme]]!"''
-|-
+*''"They tried to do about thirty things at once and the entire thing turned out to be somehow both information overload and dull at the same time."''
-|'''April'''
+*''"Had "we'll put the rest of these out during the summer" all over it before the opening titles finished rolling."''
-|-
+*''"It's good that the BBC tried something different. Shame there was no decent format behind it, and the sound editing was incredibly strange."''
-|[[The Button]]
+*''"Genuinely unacceptable use of the license fee. Nothing about it was good, absolutely atrocious, I believe has led to the end of Panda TV."''
-|Family game show
-|-
+== Radio Five ==
-|[[Buy It Now]]
-|Lifestyle
+A new category for 2018 after many people asked for one. Not many people actually voted though, we also saw some suggestion that five might be too many shows for people to come up with. We will chew on this feedback and see how to improve it next year. 17 different shows got at least one vote.
-|-
-|[[Censored]]
+=== 5- [[Fighting Talk]] ===
-|Comedy panel game, radio
-|-
+The longest running radio sports panel show, which very clearly owes a debt to ESPN's long running ''Around the Horn'', there's enough of a freewheeling atmosphere to be worth a listen even if you're not that into sport and frequently has some quite unusual guest panellists, with half of The Chasers now regular guests.
-|[[Change Your Tune]]
-|Variety
+*''"After a dodgy few years where it never settled, it's still sounding fresh now Colin Murray has been back a couple of years. The changing up of the panellists has helped that - now with two Chasers too!"''
-|-
-|[[The Generation Game]] '''(R)'''
+=== 3= [[The News Quiz]], [[I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue]] ===
-|Family game show
-|-
+On The News Quiz you said:
-|[[I Don't Like Mondays]]
-|Stunt/dare show
+*''"A vote for the venerable satire, with the caveat that it's been pretty tough to wring much to chuckle about from the Brexit-dominated news agenda of recent times..."''
-|-
-|[[Josh Widdicombe Will Make Your Life Better]]
+...and on ISIHAC you said:
-|Comedy panel game, radio
-|-
+*''"They've had more varied guests recently and it's been just as good as ever!"''
-|[[Revolution]]
-|Sport, stunt/dare show
+=== 2- [[The Unbelievable Truth]] ===
-|-
-|[[What Is Normal?]]
+"It's not long in the tooth, it's The Unbelievable Truth!" Is that the show's catchphrase? It should be. You may have got the entirely correct impression we don't listen to the elder medium all that much. Thank goodness some of you do though:
-|Comedy panel game, radio
-|-
+*''"Perhaps the radio show with the highest playalong value and so gets a spot here."
-|'''March'''
+*''"A mix between Mock The Week and a demented TED Talk, Unbelievable Truth is one of the only radio shows I make a point of listening to."
-|-
-|[[Five Star Hotel]]
+=== 1- [[Just a Minute]] ===
-|Reality
-|-
+If there's a word that describes lots of shows on this list it's "venerable" and that's a shame because somebody has already used that word in a comment on [[The News Quiz]], so we've lost.
-|[[The Great Northern Ireland Music Quiz]]
-|Themed quiz, regional (Northern Ireland)
+*''"A shame that Nicolas wasn't able to record all the episodes for the first time this year but still good fun."''
-|-
+*''"JAM continues to be the best continuous stream of noise you can put on at a family brunch."''
-|[[Ready or Not]]
+*''"Still going strong, amazingly, though Parsons missing a show through ill-health will perhaps have had the BBC pondering on a succession plan, presumably not wanting to repeat the muddle that landed Jack Dee with ISIHAC..."''
-|Family game show
+*''"Gyles [Brandreth] in the seat is a sad reminder that Nicholas won't be around forever, but luckily proof there is life in the old dog yet. (JAM, not just Gyles/Nicholas)."''
-|-
-|[[Star Boot Sale]]
+Bubbling Under: 6- [[Popmaster]], 7= [[Brain of Britain]], [[Round Britain Quiz]], 9- [[Counterpoint]], 10- [[It's Not What You Know]]
-|Lifestyle
-|-
+Our gut suggests [[Popmaster]] would have made the top five but people weren't sure if it counted or not seeing as it's an element of Ken Bruce's daily show rather a than a show on it's on merit. It was one vote out of making the top five.
-|'''February'''
-|-
+== Online Five ==
-|[[Survival of the Fittest (2)|Survival of the Fittest]]
-|Action, adventure, romance
+Our current solution to the question "what do we do about shows on Netflix/Youtube/Podcasts/whatever". This year it hasn't quite taken off but we'll continue to run it to see what happens. The stipulation is that it must be legitimately viewable to UK audiences without the use of VPN and shows on subscription services are fine. This means we've had to discount votes for things like ''Wie is De Mol'', whilst we adore the effort our friends make to put up and subtitle episodes, they could be taken down at any time with little comeback and so don't count as legitimate.
-|-
-|[[What Would Your Kid Do?]]
+=== 3= Bother's Bar Game Night (Youtube), Ultimate Beastmaster (Netflix) , HQ (mobile devices) ===
-|Family game
-|-
+Aw shucks you guys. '''Bother's Bar Game Night''' invites a panel of guests to play party games from The Jackbox Party Pack and others whilst the audience playing along live try and take them down and win for themselves. It's event television at it's very best, it says here. [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlwkpuSFY3qG8TNJ1SNZLJLlS5JqVaLZk Link to Youtube Playlist.]
-|'''January'''
-|-
+'''Ultimate Beastmaster''' sees Netflix partner with Sylvester Stallone for an obstacle course show with an international flavour. The course certainly looks like it's had some money spent on it, but as it turns ouot the real stars are the international commentary teams both pulling for their own contestants and being sniffy about others, frequently involving antics invading each other's commentary boxes. 2018 saw UK contestants and commentary (provided by wrestler Stu Bennett and journalist Kate Abdo) for the first time.
-|[[And They're Off For Sport Relief]]
-|Family game
+*''"The [[Ninja Warrior]] mould has proved a rich vein for Netflix, and Beastmaster makes for some wonderful background athleticism whilst pottering around the house."''
-|-
+*''"Stu and Kate proved great company. UB isn't essential viewing by any means, and on paper series 3 was the most boring (fewer players and shorter courses) - but I was still happy and watching to the end."''
-|[[All Together Now]]
-|Singing
+International mobile quiz sensation '''HQ''' launched episodes aimed at UK audiences and timezones in 2018. UK copycats such as ''Q Live'' are new competition. We fear the buzz for this sort of thing has died down, so it'll be interesting to see if this still features next year.
-|-
-|[[Britain's Brightest Family]]
+=== 2- Fingers on Buzzers ===
-|General knowledge quiz
-|-
+Jenny Ryan off of [[The Chase]] and comic Lucy Porter's podcast where they discuss all things quiz and do some quizzes of their own whilst some professional quizzy guests call in with their quiz experiences. Series one seems to have gone down alright, we're interested to see if there are any quiz discussion topics left for another! [http://www.fingersbuzzers.com/?fbclid=IwAR0fOwvNCmUfHQYNOozBm9yZiQtTeLjoHFQznj9RftBxbuc9bVgpscm5IKA Here's the website.]
-|[[Extreme Hair Wars]]
-|Lifestyle
+*''"Jenny and Lucy are both lovely."''
-|-
+*''"I think this is the right place to nominate this. It's consistently light, fluffy fun; everyone on the show comes across as very likeable, the production is excellent, the quizzes on it are fun and the interviews are the best part about the show. Yet it habitually doesn't go quite as far as I'd like and the presenters crucially seem to know about 15% less about the genre than I want them to. What they need is a David, a Dan or a Nick as a third host to fill in the gaps."''
-|[[Last Commanders]]
-|Children's
+=== 1- Lateral ===
-|-
-|[[Prosiect Z]]
+Tom Scott and David Bodycombe's Youtube lateral thinking quiz was your favourite online thing, and if you missed it first time round [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL96C35uN7xGLZj-FTNfZYmo3uv6-MJ0D- you can watch all six episodes on Youtube now.]
-|Adventure (children, Wales)
-|-
+*''"In the Only Connect vein I enjoyed it a lot and hope to see it return wherever that may be. Hope to see more questions that weren't used on [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlwkpuSFY3qHeaGnW36Bht8JzYlFGLPDb BBdW?W?W?] If it does come back though."''
-|[[Roast Battle]]
+*''"Really enjoyed watching this one. It's got the same appeal as [[Only Connect]]/[[Hive Minds]], with a scoring system that means that realistically anyone can get a chance of getting even one point. Would definitely put myself forward as a contestant for season 2 if Tom Scott decides to make another series - one of the weaknesses I found was that there were not too many teams taking part, although I definitely understand why."''
-|Comedy panel game
+*''"I'd buy the home game in a flash. The only series I watched start to finish this year."''
-|-
+*''"Tom Scott and David Bodycombe continue to produce short run quiz shows that put a lot of TV quizzes to shame. BBC Four are missing a trick by giving Lateral a shot filling the hole Only Connect has left."''
-|[[Spy School]]
+*''"Obligatory I'm Not Sure the Endgame Worked Very Well, but you know what? The Beeb (etc) have had literally decades to do a UK take on WhatWhereWhen, and never bothered - and this was a brilliant show, complete with high quality guests, questions, and production. Well Done Tom Scott."''
-|Espionage (children)
+*''"An excellent addition to the 'linkage' genre, this entertaining, well-made show was a fine parry to the Beeb-budget Only Connect, and is a show I'd tip in the direction of anyone seeking a blast of quizzy fun."''
-|-
-|[[Village of the Year]]
+Other shows that got more than a vote: '''The Fix''' (Netflix), '''Citation Needed''' ([https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0CFk33kNHvSdeJm6HQtiJygOCV0o9JdK Youtube]), '''Busted!''' (Netflix)
-|Lifestyle
-|-
+== The Golden Five 2018 ==
-|[[The Wave]]
-|Action and adventure
+The Hall of Fame may well consist of shows that can be described as flash-in-the-pan, but the Golden Five is open to any UK show with a first-run in 2018. Quite interestingly, a couple of comments suggesting they're deliberately not voting for shows because they want a shake up of the Top Five. Let's see how successful they've been shall we?
-|-
-|[[Wedding Day Winners]]
+=== 5- [[Who Wants to be a Millionaire?]] ===
-|Stunts and dares
-|}
+There were quite a few people who voted for this here but didn't vote for it in the Hall of Fame, despite making it clear that revivals count as new shows effectively. Still, it's this year's highest new entry ([[The Button]] actually finishes 11th in this list) so it will be interesting to track its longevity.
+=== 4- [[Taskmaster]] ===
+Just when you thought you were getting a bit tired of '''Taskmaster''', which for a lot of people was this Summer's series six, up pops this Autumn's series seven, one of if not the strongest series to date, and everything seems alright again.
+*''"Series 6 was a little naff but Series 7 bought it closer to the original and the arguments were very enjoyable!"''
+*''"No show has brought me such unbridled joy as Taskmaster. It remains nothing but a pleasure to watch, and continues to build a beloved community."''
+*''The last series proved that casting, casting, casting seems to be the key to this show."''
+*''"A cracking lineup for S7 this year, from Rhod Gilbert waging pictorial war on his longtime buddy Greg to Drifter Jessica Knappett giving us the air horn. I do worry that the ten-ep runs stretch the show a little thin, though, perhaps a return to tighter eight-parters would be better..."
+*''"Can we say 2018 was the year Taskmaster fever hit the UK? Probably not. But it's got a momentum, and once again Taskmaster went far beyond my expectations of what it could do. It will surely reach 10, but this year I was sold on the idea that TM could run for 15 or 20 series and still be good."''
+*''"From the ridiculous to the sublime. Had it only been one series this year then Series 6 with Tarbuk, Howard Et Al, I think we'd be bemoning that it had run it's course, but Series 7 was one of the most consistent, funniest panel/quiz/comedy type shows that we've ever seen. It's all about the casting, and I think Series 6 suffered from a lack of "panel show regulars" for want of a better phrase. Problem with the amazing Series 7 is, how can that ever be topped?"''
+*''"A joy that has developed more character with each passing series. I worry that it's going to go too much into its self references, but I'm hopeful it won't. Great sets of contestants that aren't afraid to go at each other a little bit makes for wonderful television."''
+=== 3= [[!mpossible]] ===
+'''!mpossible''' is up three places, in 2018 it took the coveted [[Pointless]] slot for six weeks and even got a Saturday evening celebrity spin-off. It feels like a show everyone is desperate to take off - it's a fun quiz to be sure - but doesn't seem to ''quite'' catch fire. 2019 will be decisive year for it, we feel.
+*''"It hasn't stagnated just yet for me and so I'll watch it regularly enough that it gains a spot here."''
+*''"I would genuinely watch Rick Edwards doing a running commentary on the shipping forecast. So the fact that he is instead hosting an inventive and entertaining quiz is a huge bonus."''
+*''"Last year's Hall of Fame winner became stronger this year with Impossible Celebrities and still love the moment when the coins come out in 1 pound coins."''
+*''"Rick and the coin machine stepping up to the top table this year in a big way, and very pleasant to see the Beeb subbing this in for Pointless reruns in the summer, though a shame that hasn't happened again for the next series. Some excellent question-writing, just enough to trip the unwary without coming off as a nasty trick..."''
+=== 2- [[The Chase]] ===
+It's down a place, but it's position as tea time quiz king is now undisputed and if anything, eight years on now, is more popular than ever. Plenty of extra-curricular activites for its talent this year, amongst other things, Bradley Walsh is now Dr Who's assistant, Anne Hegerty won the nation's heart on [[I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here]] and Jenny Ryan now has a quiz podcast.
+*''"Still interesting unlike Pointless which has stagnated. I do wish The Beast would give a super offer out every now and then as in the American version just to throw an extra spanner in the works."''
+*''"Honestly, if there was ever a reason to give Mr. Farrer a knighthood, it's the music he did for The Chase. Still a delight ever day eight years on."''
+*''Somehow, even after spending so long on the air, it's still amazing. The chemistry between Graham O'Brien (subs please check) and the Chasers really makes the show, and I love how Anne Hegerty has been propelled to stardom this year.)"''
+*''"This continues to go from strength to strength. A serious quiz which doesn't take itself too seriously."''
+*''"The Chase just becomes more enjoyable as time passes. The blooper special was one of the funniest programmes I've seen in ages."''
+*''"Now, without a doubt, the UK's number one. Strangely I don't think we've reached "Peak Chase" yet - where as we have with Pointless - although we are close. Interesting that this was the first year ITV didn't risk the wrath of the public by replacing The Chase with a different quiz in the summer, and the first time the BBC did risk this by replacing Pointless."''
+=== 1- [[Only Connect]] ===
+After rudely being moved down the list for a Nigella Lawson cookery show, probably, The OC is back on top. Congrats.
+*''"BBC Four's golden child continues to go from strength to strength, becoming a staple part of the British zeitgeist, with even Rylan Clarke-Neal being a fan! OC making the BBC's schedule on Christmas Day shows just how much of an institution it has become, may it remain so for many years to come."''
+*''"It's solid, it's sublime. It's not going anywhere (except randomly to Friday, maybe)."''
+*''"Loved the Christmas specials, that weren't Christmassy. More please."''
+*''"It is its own little world, and the only quiz I make an effort to watch reguarly."''
+*''"If I have been watching a game show for some years, it is on regularly, has a set episode format and has had no real change between series in a long time (since introduction of musical questions), I would usually have stopped watching regularly. The fact only connect has still got my interest almost as much as when I started watching is very surprising therefore it definitely belongs on the list."''
+Bubbling under: 6- [[Pointless]], 7-, Richard Osman's [[House of Games (3)]], 8- [[Tenable]], 9- [[Tipping Point]], 10- [[The Crystal Maze]]
+== GOLDEN MOMENTS ==
+As ever we finish on a selection of your favorite moments of the year, with clips where we can find them.
+*''"The meetings in the question casting and people casting departments of all-new WWTBAM when none of the contestants were winning anything."''
+*''"The contestant on Millionaire who got his £125k question right because the answer was where he lost his leg."''
+*''"The bloke on Millionaire who won a bundle on a question relating to the place where he lost his leg."''
+*''"[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMIQWQqRjJc Gareth winning £125,000 on Millionaire.]"''
+*''"Big Brother Airlines task - classic BB, shame hardly anyone saw it but it was extremely funny."''
+*''"[https://youtu.be/J_sYT_cRU_o BB Airlines was one of my favourite Big Brother tasks of all time.]"''
+*''"[https://youtu.be/X86Tk7dV0Ig Dan discovering 'Kate' is actually Alex in The Circle. The whole gamut of human emotion in 10 seconds.]"''
+*''"The team who took zero crystals to the dome on The Crystal Maze and the way this was played to its logical conclusion."''
+*''"[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHi7-FbZfE4 The group entering The Crystal Dome with no crystals, safe to say they were only there for the sake of it.]"''
+*''"Bob Mortimer's Chris Rea / egg in bath story on 'Would I Lie To You?' - not just the story itself, but David Mitchell's response to it.''"
+*''"[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yfawvs5PouA Would I Lie To You? - the entire story about Chris Rea telling Bob Mortimer to put an egg in his bath.]"''"
+*''"In an incredible turn of events, one of the most controversial television moments of the last year occurred on Channel 5's "Great Model Railway Challenge", when the Missenden Modellers were caught bending the rules regarding pre-built objects, and were given an ultimatum by the judges to obey the rules or face disqualification. Amazingly, the team ignored these warnings and carried on regardless, infuriating the judges. Extreme betrayal not seen on British TV before or since."''
+Lots of various moments from '''Taskmaster''', we'll list a few:
+*''"[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZUWkA3cZMg The argument between Rhod and James about the satsuma task. Genuinely fell in love with the show again.]"''
+*''"[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leIl8Mdu9xE Kerry Godliman's come from behind last gasp victory by one point, thanks to her victory in Sausage or Finger - BOSH.]"''
+*''"[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tS4h7AS33k4 Taskmaster Series 7. All of it. More specifically James Acaster - his rage at Rhod during the team tasks and him not taking them seriously enough. Also the Hula Hoop task, where James failed straight away, but proved later he could do it, to no avail.]"''
+*''[https://youtu.be/azhjGV2v-Ok James Acaster's many breakdowns on Taskmaster, culminating in Greg taking him to the back of the stage for one of his terrifying teacher one-on-ones.]"''
+*''"[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVMNlHlh6aY Rachel Riley and Kirsty Gallagher winning 160 thousand on Celebrity Chase for Soccer Aid.]"''
+*''"[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9A56ebMahI Tim Shieff making it the furthest on the Flying Bars, the furthest ever on Ninja Warrior UK.] This moment, was the cherry on top of a great finale two-parter partly because of improved results. The episode showed how close a Final stage clear is, However, this was achieved in a natural way, actually slightly increasing the difficulty from the previous finale. Whilst Deren Perez had earlier on been the first to make to the obstacle Shieff would fail at, the fact Shieff made it the furthest is so fulfilling. Alongside being a good representative for the show, like many others, he is probably the most experienced, most famous and best competitor."''
+That's not an exhaustive list of your moments but it's enough to be going on with.
+Oh no! It isn't!
+*''"Clarkson not knowing what an ibex is."''
+*''"'Deer-gate' with Jeremy Clarkson on Millionaire, Tarrant never did it."''
+*''"Millionaire - Ibex-gate. Clarkson earns his fee in one viral clip."''
+*''"Jeremy Clarkson’s ‘ibex’ moment."''
+*''"[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1PurSkkhk0 One of the best moments has to be on Who Wants to be a Millionaire? where Clarkson was so confident that a contestant had gotten the right answer he celebrated only to find out he was wrong. Hilarious moment and showed that Jeremy was going to be a good host for this revival.]"''
+== You've made it! ==
+Well that's the Poll for another year, [http://www.bothersbar.co.uk/?p=12037 join us at Bother's Bar for the afterparty] with all the stats and everything. Thanks for voting everyone, and we'll see you next year.