Dear LPG,

I think one thing that the last nine months or so has taught me is the importance of making the most of my time, although the practice is much easier than the theory.  I spent a lot of my lockdown starting every day with the best of intentions, but ending it sitting at home watching a lot more television than I have for years.

I am a lady of a certain age which means that soap operas are the programmes that I will even put off answering the telephone for at times.  It all depends on which cliff-hanger is happening when the bell starts to ring.  I have to admit to often making a mental note to find out who phoned during many an episode where a particularly dramatic scene left me completely forgetting to do so.  But I found myself turning my telly on earlier in the afternoons during lockdown and the gameshows are getting me hooked.

I think that there are two sorts of gameshow watchers.  My mum is fixated with making predictions about who she thinks will win the episode as soon as the contestants are introduced, while I am more interested in which questions I will actually be able to get right before the answer is given on screen. But have you noticed that these days the gameshow has moved on somewhat.  There has always been some theme, but most gameshows are won in spite of the general knowledge that the contestants appear to hold. I wonder how many of us are more preoccupied with how near the optimum moment the contestant presses to release the ‘Tipping Point’ disk so that it doesn’t ride, than with any question that needs to be answered so that the disk can be released in the first place.  My mum spends lots of time advising many a contestant that they have chosen the wrong amount of money to go for when they get to the face-to-face section of ‘The Chase’.

Then there are the games where brains and general knowledge have even less to do with winning.

I suppose that ‘Blind Date’ and ‘The Generation Game’ come into that category.   Do you find yourself on the edge of your seat when watching a contestant on ‘The Cube’ throwing a ball for thousands of pounds, or did you spend your time loudly advising the ‘Deal or no Deal’ contestant, who clearly chose one box too many, that it was time to just take the money? 

I admit to being thankful that there is the channel dedicated to the more classic games because they are definitely something to watch if you wake up in the middle of the night and need a little company.  They are short and manage to hold the interest for an hour or so without adding any thoughts of horror that those ghost and vampire themed programs that are usually aired in the early hours do.  However, I always veered away from the specialist ones like ‘Mastermind’, ‘University Challenge’ and ‘The Krypton Factor’, because I had little chance of getting more than two answers right all episode when it came to those.   I also enjoy watching reruns of the really old episodes of shows like ‘The Price is Right’, ‘Wheel of fortune’ and ‘Bullseye’ which remind me of two things that make me smile.  The general knowledge questions seemed so much easier then, or at least I got more right more often, and I have to smile when I look back at some of the state-of-the-art prizes that were on offer back in the day.

I would love to be a contestant on one show or another before it is too late, but I don’t want to be the contestant that is remembered because they got none right in the first round, so I think that I need to get my general knowledge up a notch or two before I get started, but while I am preparing I will continue to just watch. 

RS, Dulwich.

RS found us some classic gameshow memories….

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… and throws in some information for those wanting to know which have been the most popular and how to prepare to be a future contestant if that appeals to you ….

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