Paul Sinha's TV Showdown

Yes he did.

Yes, although You Have Been Watching had nothing to do with Telly Addicts, it was barely even a quiz, just an opportunity for Charlie and his comedy mates to swap gags about the week's telly. None the worse for that, of course, I always enjoyed it and was a bit sad when it was axed after two series. Of course the final episode was dropped for reasons of taste as it was a crime special and there'd been a high profile shooting incident that week, and it was eventually shown a few months later on E4 as part of a repeat run.



Telly Addicts wasn't even the original TV quiz, as the year before, there was Telly Quiz, also produced by BBC Pebble Mill, stripped over the Christmas fortnight in 1984.
https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/bbctwo/england/1984-12-24#at-15.45

On some forum someone mentioned they'd recently seen an episode of that for the first time, and Jerry Stevens makes references to "this week" and "last week" which suggests it was supposed to be a primetime weekly show but after it was made they lost confidence in it and flung it out in off-peak slots over Christmas. Seemingly they thought it was worthy of further development, though, so they got Noel in and revamped it quite a bit.

I used to love Telly Addicts, I always associate it with Watchdog as when that was on Mondays at 7.30, Telly Addicts would often be on after it or, from 1993, before it, and my dad and I would go into my bedroom to watch Telly Addicts and Watchdog while my mum watched Corrie, I quite enjoyed that little bonding session. The final series was dreadful, though, and a long time ago I mentioned it on Offthetelly and one of the creators emailed to say "The revamp killed it. That is not sour grapes, that is a fact!"

This reminds me, I found this on the BBC Motion Graphics Archive: https://www.ravensbourne.ac.uk/bbc-motion-graphics-archive/telly-quiz-1984 - what appears to be a non-broadcast pilot of Telly Addicts, with a slightly different version of the theme tune, and going under the title 'The Telly Quiz'!



I always associate Telly Addicts with the coming of autumn, back to school, as it was always reliably there, every autumn season for over a decade, firstly on Tuesdays and then later on Mondays. There was one series that went out on Saturdays - 1987, the year between the ending of The Late Late Breakfast Show and the start of the Saturday Roadshow, which ensured Saturday evenings were not a Noel-free zone that year.

I remember a TV quiz hosted by (I think) Gary Wilmott which was flung out one Sunday afternoon in the late 80s on BBC1. Anne Robinson was a contestant or a team captain. It was obviously a pilot of some sort and might have pre-dated the Tom o’Connor one. But even as a kid I found it hideously easy.

This is probably it, Back On The Box from 1989 - https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/bbcone/london/1989-02-05#at-16.15

From the same production team as Telly Addicts, you note, presumably like Noel's Telly Years a few years later an opportunity to use more footage they'd uncovered while making Telly Addicts.



I think those Telly Quiz titles were originally made for the Jerry Stevens-fronted series from 1984, I see UKGameshows is now using it for their entry.
http://www.ukgameshows.com/ukgs/Telly_Quiz

Yes, Telly Addicts always used to be one of the signs that autumn was here and the countdown to Christmas was on its way. The final was always a good marker of the start of the festive season as well.

Which is a bit strange for them to do because, as this short clip shows, an entirely different logo was actually in use, as well as a different theme tune.

The Telly Quiz with Noel theme is...odd. There's the first year of Telly Addicts titles here, which sounds more familiar but still has an extra bit in:

https://www.ravensbourne.ac.uk/bbc-motion-graphics-archive/telly-addicts-1985

Then from 1986, pitched slightly higher, it's as we know and love:

https://www.ravensbourne.ac.uk/bbc-motion-graphics-archive/telly-addicts-1986

Though I will always prefer the re-recorded version from the 90s:

https://www.ravensbourne.ac.uk/bbc-motion-graphics-archive/telly-addicts-1994

(curiously, I would argue the Saturday Roadshow and House Party also improved with their re-recorded theme tunes - highly unusual for a later version to be better...others will no doubt disagree!)

Well, there you go. That's a great clip, starting with a brilliant question. Great way to do the credits as well.

Of course there was also this LWT gem from circa 1984-86 . . .

That is peak LWT 1980's in terms of theme and set design!

It's also a badly worded tease with the JR question. JR didn't appear in any show before Dallas. Larry Hagman appeared in Bewitched (Edit - it was 'I dream of Jeannie' ) before Dallas, but as another character.

#pendantary_issue_35_years_on

Although the point of a tease is not to give too much away.

I think you mean I Dream Of Jeannie.