I listened once to a BBC Radio documentary on the history of University Challenge, and I found its origin quite interesting. Basically, the producer at Granada Television in Manchester had seen College Bowl on a trip to America and decided to do his own version of it. He was asked "Wait, that's a copyrighted format - don't we have to pay the College Bowl company for the rights?" The producer replied "This is a little television station in the north of England - they're never going to find out about this in America!" And they got away with it for years. Today they pay the College Bowl a licensing fee.
On Thursday, June 24, 2021 at 1:30:03 PM UTC-4 Adam Bowie wrote: > Of note: in the UK 'College Bowl' became 'University Challenge' and has > basically been running since 1962, with a brief hiatus between 1987 and > 1994 when it got a new presenter and moved from ITV to the BBC (although > still produced by ITV Studios). > > And yes, the questions remain very hard. > > > Adam > > On Thu, 24 Jun 2021, 10:54 'Dave Sikula' via TVorNotTV, < > [email protected]> wrote: > >> As I mentioned on Jim's FB page, I got three questions in and bailed. >> >> My memory of the original College Bowl -- and, granted, my age was in the >> single digits -- was that the questions were really hard and not >> trivia-based. This seems to be on a Celebrity Jeopardy-level of pub quiz >> questions. >> >> The biggest drawback is the Mannings. I realize that, as producers, >> they're baked in, but if a show is touting intellectual prowess, Peyton >> Manning might not be your best exemplar of that. >> >> --Dave Sikula >> >> On Wednesday, June 23, 2021 at 3:03:14 PM UTC-7 Jim Ellwanger wrote: >> >>> The opening included a montage of clips of the original version, as seen >>> on an old-timey TV. For some reason, they put the 1960s NBC peacock in the >>> lower right-hand corner of the clips, as if NBC had a logo bug back then - >>> a color peacock on the clips that were in color, and a black-and-white >>> peacock on the black-and-white clips. (Among other things, note that NBC >>> currently positions their logo bug at the lower left.) >>> >>> Looking forward to NBC’s 100th-anniversary special in 2026! >>> >>> >>> On Jun 23, 2021, at 2:49 PM, Brad Beam <[email protected]> wrote: >>> >>> Your starter for 10: >>> >>> Why didn’t Betty White join her husband on the ‘60s-era “College Bowl” >>> as an on-set sidekick? >>> [buzzer] >>> Time’s up. The answer – Cooper Manning. >>> >>> _ _ >>> |_>|_> Brad Beam- Belle WV >>> |_>|_> http://www.facebook.com/74bmw >>> >>> -- >>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >>> Groups "TVorNotTV" group. >>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send >>> an email to [email protected]. >>> To view this discussion on the web visit >>> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/007501d76879%24affe7760%240ffb6620%24%40suddenlink.net >>> >>> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/007501d76879%24affe7760%240ffb6620%24%40suddenlink.net?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >>> . >>> >>> >>> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "TVorNotTV" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to [email protected]. >> > To view this discussion on the web visit >> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/d4992113-130f-4783-8dca-09268150c70cn%40googlegroups.com >> >> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/d4992113-130f-4783-8dca-09268150c70cn%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >> . >> > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/8fb85d1a-a0c1-44b5-a32f-1e6ac5b8f28fn%40googlegroups.com.
