Hosts of UK Game Show “Countdown” Leave

25 Jul

Posted by Alex Davis as Countdown, Host, The British are Better Than Us, UK

Probably my favorite British game show is the exceptionally brainy Countdown. I hate to say it, but if any show could be deemed too smart for America’s Deal or No Deal level audience at this point, it’s Countdown. It’s split into two types of play. In the word rounds, you’re given nine letters and have to make the longest word possible. In the numbers game, you’re given six different numbers and have to add, subtract, multiply, or divide in order to reach a target. All of this is under the scrutiny of the infamous Countdown clock, which is 30 seconds.

Real news for this show comes today as host Des O’Connor announced he is leaving. He’s the 3rd host in the past few years, after original longtime host Richard Whiteley passed away, and another host, Des Lynam, quit after a short amount of time. However, the bigger news comes from co host Carol Vorderman announcing she will be leaving as well.

It’s honestly like imagining Vanna White is leaving. Carol is the thinking person’s Vanna White. She’s been with the show since 1982 and has been more than a pretty face. She was integral for the show’s number round, as she often computed complicated math problems. Representatives have said they will be hunting down replacements for both, though, as a long time fan of the show, it’s going to be hard to replace Carol; she was absolutely incredible. Here’s an episode of what is probably the smartest show on television for those who haven’t seen it. Part one is here and the others are under the page break. You can also read more about Countdown at the UKGameShows, which is probably the best game show website in the world, by clicking this link.

20 Responses

Sam
1
July 25th, 2008 at 4:30 pm

Ouch. I hope the show will continue, but it doesn’t look good.

If only we had a show like this in the US and Canada….

But then again, it wouldn’t do too well because it’s too complicated for the average American…. look at the Mole!
Chas
2
July 25th, 2008 at 4:44 pm

It’s a marvelous game but crikey, four full minutes of TALK before getting to the game?? I mean, it’s good to make the contestants feel at home and all, but the only game where this much talk is warranted is the old “You Bet Your Life”, and the talk in that case was for entertainment and to show off the host’s wit. If “Countdown” were ever adapted for American audiences, first it would have to have a new name (as “Countdown” is already used for a news and commentary program on one of our cable channels) and then it would have to be livened up a bit. The only show for true intellect in the States is the venerated “Jeopardy!”.

Kudos to the blog owner for the great video clip!
Wheelloon
3
July 25th, 2008 at 5:15 pm

I’m a fan of CD, and this news about Des and Carol is very sad to hear.

I’m also in agreement this show would be very tough to work and make it in the U.S., with the current American game show mindset. It’s such a shame though, the U.S. could use a show like it right now.

Anyhow, here’s wishing the best for the show in the future, and to Des and Carol *who, I agree, is very much Britain’s Vanna White, not withstanding that they did premiere on their same respective shows the same year anyway ;)*.
Damion
4
July 25th, 2008 at 8:37 pm

Yeah, I don’t think Countdown would be the same without her anyway. I like the game a lot, and I played it online on WeDigTV, and it was a lot of fun.

The average American would totally SUCK ass at this game because it requires too much thinking. That shows us how dumb some of us really are.

Damion
devares
5
July 26th, 2008 at 8:18 am

I disagree, Sam. I think this show (from what I’m seeing) would work in the U.S. All it needs is a good host and a Vanna White-esque co-host, and a distributor that can promote the show right like NBC Universal or CBS Television Distribution. It is sad that Des and Carol is leaving that show. From what I saw, they’re like the British Pat and Vanna. Plus, it’s a fun game. What network or station (if syndicated) wouldn’t jump on this show?
Sam
6
July 26th, 2008 at 8:41 am

devares, Look at the Mole - it failed miserably because it’s too complicated for the average person. The real Countdown doesn’t have a cash prize, doesn’t have to many light and sound effects. Never gonna happen in the US, so if they do ever bring it, it won’t be the same.
MikeSant318
7
July 26th, 2008 at 12:52 pm

Maybe as a weekly on PBS under the possible title “MindGames”; with Carol being a university-trained mathematician, her position will be the harder fill as opposed to Des’s. She not only started the show, but the show started Britian’s Channel 4 as well. This IS a major event…
Marc Power
8
July 26th, 2008 at 1:58 pm

hard to say what’s gonna happen, the french version: Chiffres et Lettres had a female co-host who had simialr jobs to carol’s but they let her go a year after they started using electronic tiles for the letters and numbers and that version’s been going strong since 1972 and has had several different hosts with a prize of 100 euros per game and a weekend vacation for a 5-time champ. but Carol has becoem so identified with the show it’s gonna hurt the show. I could be wrong but I magine a lot of people watch just for her, but then again, a lot of people proabbly watched because of richard too.

i think Countdown could have limited success in the US. maybe as a kid’s game on PBS. but they would still have to water it down so much, it’s hardly worth it, the froamt I ahd in mind was 45 second clocks, letters rounds award double points for 7 or more letters, numbers games have a max. target of 500, all words accepted in the letters game unless your opponent challenges, the challenge would penalize 5 points if used on an admissible word, or if your word was uancceptable. payoff would be $25 per point plus $25 for every point in the difference of the 2 scores to a minimum of $1,000.
Damion
9
July 26th, 2008 at 10:57 pm

The show has great play-along factor. I have a format for the US that could be syndicated or put on a network (not for a million dollars).

And money would be used as the scores.

The game would be divided into three rounds.

Round 1
6 letter rounds
2 numbers rounds

3 letters rounds, then the two numbers rounds, then the last 3 letters rounds.

$5 for every letter used (if you came up with a “seven” and won, you would have $35), and $100 for the first numbers game, and $250 for the second.
$100 if you get an admissible “nine”

Round 2
Same format as Round 1

$10 for every letter used, with $200 for the first numbers game, and $500 for the second numbers game.
$200 for getting a “nine”.

Round 3
8 letters rounds
4 numbers rounds

2 letters rounds, then 2 numbers rounds, then 2 letters rounds, then 2 letters rounds, then the last 4 numbers rounds.

$25 for every letter used, with $400 for the first two numbers games, $750 for the third numbers game, and $1000 for the last.
$500 for getting a “nine”.

Countdown Conundrum (where the players try to make a nine-letter word)
Worth $2500

Winner gets $10,000, and gets to come back for up to ten matches. Champion plays for $10,000 more each day they come back. Win ten matches, and the champ gets an expensive automobile ($75,000 plus). Both players get to keep what they win.
Mike
10
July 27th, 2008 at 12:18 am

There is so much wrong with the post above me. You have 29 rounds per show. A regular 15 round show of Countdown is 45 minutes long. You’re overcomplicating a simple game, plus you’re making it probably a 2 hour show for the US audience, a show which they’ll turn off after half an hour.

The general simplicity in Countdown also lies within the prizes–the series champ wins a leather-bound dictionary set, while everybody on the show gets a goody bag with a home game, a book by the word authority on the show, a polo shirt, a coffee mug, a clock, a hardcover dictionary, and a bonus Countdown teapot for people who win at least one match. Throwing wads of money (extremely confusing wads of money, at that) does not turn 29 rounds of game into something worth watching. A format used at the PYLP Studios Palace has 9 rounds (letters and numbers alternating for 8 rounds, then the Conundrum) with the same scoring method as the UK show. The payouts are simple–$5 per point for the losers, winners get $25 x # of consecutive wins per point, up to $200, all fun money. There is a bonus of $100 per point earned in the 8-game streak for any octochamps (8-time winners).
Damion
11
July 27th, 2008 at 11:29 am

Hey, Mike, it probably NEEDS to be a long show anyway, because the average American doesn’t comprehend a show like Countdown, and after 30 minutes, they might like it, so they stay and play along.

People don’t like watching “Simple”, they like overcomplicated and flashy television. Why do you think there are reality shows and soap operas?!

And besides, FremantleMedia over complicates simple shows! So are you calling me a Fremantle?
Mike
12
July 27th, 2008 at 12:27 pm

As a good friend once said, your blissful unawareness is amusing.

Countdown is good in bits and pieces. Tell me one benefit of having a 2-hour game show like Countdown. America has ADHD tendencies. Most Americans don’t want 2 hours of the same old same old. Imagine watching a 2-hour episode of Wheel of Fortune or Jeopardy! For the average person, it will get real old, real fast.

If reality shows and soap operas are overcomplicated and flashy, I’d love to know what drugs you’re under the influence of right now.

Your last line counteracts what you said in paragraph 2. If people like overcomplicated stuff and Fremantle only overcomplicates shows, then people should love them. Should we take a look at Temptation’s ratings or would you like to recant almost your entire post, Damion?

Calling you a Fremantle would be raising you up a step or 20.
Damion
13
July 27th, 2008 at 1:28 pm

Well, if you think, Mike, some mushy soap opera or trashy reality could be so overcomplicated and flashy that it would become confusing, and terrible to watch.
Mike
14
July 27th, 2008 at 3:54 pm

You don’t have a damn clue as to what you’re talking about.
Damion
15
July 27th, 2008 at 4:35 pm

Oh, I do. Look at the average reality show. A simple concept can be blown out of proportion by crazy contestants, producers who are just looking to make a dollar, and false advertising that makes that simple concept look overcomplicated and flashy when all it is, is a bunch of overzealous people looking to get famous and then bitching about it once they get kicked off, and fighting, and cursing over practically nothing.
Wheelloon
16
July 27th, 2008 at 5:57 pm

Watching a 2 hour episode of ANYTHING *even WOF* on TV these days would make me cringe, and I can tell you I’m in the great majority of the American people on that one…

No Damion, forget it, you will not win this one. You are doing exactly what modern GS producers are doing with games these days, in thinking that adding more random STUFF to the show adds to the show. It would be like adding a new space called a “DAILY TRIPLE” to the Jeopardy board or putting a DOUBLE space on TPIR’s Big Wheel. As also evident by these same ideas, the American public hates math, and hopefully I won’t need to break down where your concept fails there.

People like watching flashy TV, but overcomplicated: HELL NO. If they did, Deal or No Deal would not be the number one recurring series on a certain network…

Appropriately enough, here’s a perfect time to use this. Here’s yet another example of how some of the most popular TV shows today and in the past have come from the most simplistic ideas:

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c104/wheelloon/A.jpg
Damion
17
July 27th, 2008 at 8:45 pm

God, all that backlash for one idea. Maybe I won’t be coming up with ideas that people don’t like anymore.

Gosh, the pettiness of some people :)

I’m sorry if I blew a fuse in anybody’s artery.
Joe Capitano
18
July 28th, 2008 at 1:40 am

Damien, the problem with your proposal is you’re taking something that is already long enough and unnecessarily turning it into a marathon. 3 Letters rounds and a Numbers game, repeat, then again with one less letters round, and finish with a 9-letter brain teaser. What more do you need than that?

If anything, if this show were ever to surface in the US (and it was tried once way back when, if I recall), you’d more likely see less game - say, two letters games per segment, two numbers games and the Conundrum - so they’d fill the 22 minutes they’d only have after ads and such. You’d see little time for pre-game chat with what could be two first-name-only contestants, and no time for that three minutes the UK version gave over to the guest star of the week to do with as they would - readings, remembrances, magic tricks, random thoughts, etc. You’d probably see a computerized system used, partially to avoid one of the occasional problems that come with the randomness of Carol’s letter stacks (see YouTube), and no calling out “consonant consonant vowel…”.

In other words, the charm of the British version would probably be lost in the translation. But, in the event someone manages to make it happen, here’s the title I’d use: CONUNDRUM.

Oh, one more thing that will be missing from CD: Carol’s reaction whenever the 26th letter of the alphabet reared its ugly head. “Oh, ZED!” She wasn’t much of a fan of Q’s, either. But, as Vanna is to WOF, as Janice was to Price, as another Carol was to LMAD, so Carol Vorderman always will be to Countdown, and you can’t replace a class act like her easily, can you?

Come to think of it, she kinda resembles Janice, doesn’t she?
Mad Mark
19
July 28th, 2008 at 7:44 pm

Sad to hear about Carol and Des leaving the show. Carol has been with the show forever, and whoever replaces her will have some massive shoes to fill.

As for a US version of Countdown, I came up with one a while back that is very simplified, and is designed to fit a half-hour timeslot. I thought it might be a good replacement for Merv Griffin’s Crosswords at one point. Anyway, here’s how it would work:

3 rounds of play, each features 1 letters and 1 numbers game.

Letters Game: $25 per letter in the word. 9-letter words are worth double the maximum score of $225, or $450.

Numbers Game: $100 if your result is off by 10; $200 if it’s off by 5, and $300 if it’s it right on the nose.

Duels: Just like the French version, there is a mini-game called a Duel at the end of each round. In the Duel, the players are either given a 9-letter word and a clue to a smaller word, and are asked to find that word, which can be found using the some of the letters of that bigger word. There’s also a numbers version which invloves mental calculations. The first Duel is worth $250, and that amount doubles in Round 2 and triples in Round 3.

All dollar values double in Round 2, and triple in Round 3, and the player with the most money at the end of Round 3 moves on to the Conundrum Round. Both players keep ther winnings, regardless of the outcome. Decachamps (10-time champs) receive a new car.

Bonus Round: The Conundrum Round
The Conundrum round becomes the show’s bonus game. 5 scrambled words of increasing length (from 5 to 9 letters) are shown. The letters rearrange themselves every 3 seconds. The contestant has 45 seconds to unscramble each word. Each word is worth $5,000 for a maximum of $25,000, and the player must hit a plunger (a la Scrabble) to stop the clock and give their answer. I got the idea for this bonus round by combining the Bonus Sprint from Scrabble with one of Caesar’s Challenge bonus round variants.

Tournament of Champions:
The 8 players with the highest winnings return at the end of the season to compete for $250,000.

And there you have it.
rebelwrest
20
July 29th, 2008 at 7:31 pm

It is nice to see people come onto the show just for the game, because the prizes for even the octochamp maybe come to over 100 Pounds. However, I have to include this caveat: the show pays the travel expenses for the contestant. Unless for the U.S. version, all the contestants are within driving distance of the studio or some are on vacation, decided to try out, and made it, then the show will either have to have a bigger prize or pay travel expenses (and the pay travel expenses is normal on almost all British game shows).