Series I, Episode 1: I-Spy

iamannoying.com · 844958. Sat Sep 10, 2011 3:08 am

[quote]I remember Alan saying on Twitter that he appeared to say hardly anything.[/quote]

Apparently the panelists aren't coached during the show. Lee's (just like sometimes Johnny Vegas') voice draws a lot of attention, Stephen's explainations may be too long in the final context or compared to the number of jokes, Sandi looked nervous in the beginning of the show.

It may be an idea to keep track of the "airtime" per panelist, and coach or warn 'em if it's exceeding certain thresholds. "Silent" panelists aren't that uncommon, nor are loud men (screaming, buzzing too often). You don't want to limit creativity of comedians, but one could easily verify if Alan's impression is right and determine thresholds based on the best shows.

I don't think there was a serious problem, it's just a suggestion to coach the panelists. The "airtime" is an example which can be used during the recording. It could have avoided Alan's remark, and the balance could be optimized, based on experience (balanced doesn't mean equal, per se).

djgordy · 844968. Sat Sep 10, 2011 3:54 am

zomgmouse · 844981. Sat Sep 10, 2011 4:33 am

I was actually rather sceptical about nobody knowing what an aye-aye was. And although I knew that "ye" is actually "the" (except when it's a pronoun) and what the thorn was, it was quite interesting to find out about how exactly the migration occurred from thorn to y. But I don't want my post to be an "oh look at how much I knew already" post, so I'll stop there.

But I did enjoy the optical illusions, and would have loved to see more of them. And the Scouting for Boys stuff was amusing.

I also noticed that Lee Mack is still slightly annoying, and Sandi is still very lovely. Jimmy was a bit flat this episode, I thought.

Anyway, two cents donated, feel free to give them back if you so wish.

Ameena · 844993. Sat Sep 10, 2011 5:52 am

I was surprised that they all seemed to have heard of an ai but not an aye-aye, when I was the other way round - I am familiar with the latter but had never heard of the former so I was trying to tell the answer to the telly when they were all puzzling over it :D.
And then later that evening I was playing an online quiz game called Planeto and one of the questions was about the ai, which was cool :D.

djgordy · 844996. Sat Sep 10, 2011 7:00 am

zomgmouse · 845046. Sat Sep 10, 2011 10:21 am

Ah yes, the spinning dancer.
I remember a long thread she headed on here some time ago with spurious "data" regarding which side of your brain you use more being determined by which way the dancer spins.

Jenny · 845055. Sat Sep 10, 2011 10:51 am

Having now got access to some (legal, I think) highly useful software, I actually got to see the show as it was broadcast for once.

I really enjoyed it - well up to the standards of earlier series. Nice to see the work I did on lobsters for the Book of Animal Ignorance making an appearance well before the L series!

sammy.j · 845103. Sat Sep 10, 2011 1:08 pm

SO very good to have QI back in my life! I thought this episode actually felt a bit like the "good old days" (I've loved the series throughout, but adore the early seasons particularly).

I agree that the panellists felt a bit uneven, but Lee Mack was on fire, so I'm not complaining. And while a couple of the questions (aye-ayes particularly) seemed surprisingly easy for this programme, there were others that were - as the title says - quite interesting. Good show all around, although I'm starting to think I should just watch the XL versions, since it doesn't feel long enough otherwise.

Not being a native Brit, I don't know much about the mores of British television, but do people think the move back to "post-watershed" will have any effect on the show, positive or negative?

Posital · 845116. Sat Sep 10, 2011 2:13 pm

Lee Mack needed a gagging order at times.

Sandy was good, as ever - but the guests didn't seem to bring much to the table, to be frank. Was Alan actually there?

iamannoying.com · 845143. Sat Sep 10, 2011 3:56 pm

Up to the standards of earlier series, and it's likely today's XL version will have more input by the panelists.

Please don't reply to it, but adding (seconds*quality) may help to optimize the show. If a comedian has a loud and/or shouting and/or style, and it doesn't work, some red light may indicate to take it easy for a short while. On the other hand, a guest who's too silent can get a green light indicating it's okay to press the buzzer at least once.

The Horses-episode was a fine example of a balanced guest, I'ld say. Clare Balding herself decided to not answer all horses-related questions immediately, so the other guestst had a fair chance to score their minus 10s.

plach · 845171. Sat Sep 10, 2011 7:01 pm

So happy to have QI back. It wasn't the best show ever, but it was quite interesting. I loved the scout handbook bits and the optical illusions. Alan was disappointingly quiet--as he and others have commented. Of course, we don't know what was edited out either.

To be fair, I've spent the last few months re-watching my favorite shows and bits. After gourmet viewing those pieces and parts of shows ---must remind myself that not every moment can be memorable.

There was some good moments in this first show. And I know some of those great riffs will come in future shows. Looking forward to more!

djgordy · 845202. Sun Sep 11, 2011 1:01 am

With regard to the question about which war was fought with both sides fighting under the Union Flag, this is the grand revolutionary flag of the U.S.A. (or at least what was to become the U.S.A.), from 1775.

http://store02.prostores.com/servlet/justbizneth2u/the-8222/GRAND-UNION-FLAG-3'/Detail

Here is the flag of the British East Company from 1707 to 1800.

There was a question on University Challenge earlier this season in which one team was shewn a picture of a flag and asked which organisation it represented. They answered "the United States" but Jeremy Paxman said that they were wrong and that it was that of the British East India Company. OK, the two flags aren't quite identical as the union flag covers 6 horizontal stripes in one case but only 5 in the other but the similarity is so strong that it may seem a bit of a dodgy question. On the other hand, the grand union flag never actually had official status.

Of course, it is always said that the 13 stripes on the American flag represent the 13 original states. However, the East India Company flag, dating from much before the revolution, also has 13 stripes though these are not known to have any particular significance. So, if the later flag was based on the earlier, then the link between the 13 stripes and the 13 states may well have been coincidental to begin with.

Could be a good "general ignorance" question.

djgordy · 845219. Sun Sep 11, 2011 3:51 am

In addition, I feel that a klaxon is due to Mr. Fry for his assertion that the grand union flag was designed by George Washington. A brief trawl of the internet has discovered this long discussion of the relation between the flags of the revolutionary colonies and the East India Company.

http://flagspot.net/flags/gb-eic2.html

I draw your attention to this sentence at the conclusion.

soup · 845230. Sun Sep 11, 2011 4:34 am

Minor point dg, but it looks like 7 & 6 stripes to me. Am I counting wrong?