Quizmania (Australia)

Infobox television
show_name = Quizmania


format = Live phone-in game show
picture_format = 576i (16:9 SDTV)
runtime = 180 minutes
Mondays - Wednesdays
240 minutes
Fridays and Saturdays
"(including commercials)"
creator = Chuck Thomas
Debbie King
Simone Thorogood
starring = Katrina Conder
Nikki Osborne
Amy Parks
Suze Raymond
Brodie Young
"Two hosts per episode Mondays - Wednesdays; three hosts per episode on Fridays and Saturdays"

network = Channel Nine
country = AUS
first_aired = July 25, 2006
last_aired = June 24, 2007
num_episodes = 207 (as of June 24, 2007)
producer = FremantleMedia Australia
language = English
website = http://www.ninemsn.com.au/quizmania
imdb_id = 0945528

"Quizmania" was an Australian phone-in quiz show, based on the British program of the same name, and broadcast on the Nine Network in the late night time slot (post-midnight). The show was produced from Nine's Richmond studios in Melbourne.

"Quizmania" was first broadcast on GTV-9, TCN-9, QTQ-9, NTD-8, NBN and WIN Television on 25 July 2006. The show was unique in that it was broadcast live to South Australia and Northern Territory with the presenters welcoming both states to the show half an hour after it started, due to both states being thirty minutes behind the Australian east coast. Similarly during daylight saving months, Queensland viewers were welcomed an hour later when the broadcast began in that state.

Sometimes due to varying program schedules in each capital city or regional area, some cities and/or areas did not broadcast "Quizmania" while other cities and/or areas still received the broadcast.

Only contestants aged 18 or over were allowed to participate. Underage callers were a regular occurrence on the show especially during school holidays.

Programme history

When it first aired on Tuesday July 25 2006, "Quizmania" was to soon run in direct competition with the established "The Up-Late Game Show" on Channel Ten, returning a week later on Monday 31 July, after the 2006 "Big Brother" series had ended with its "UpLate" late-night show finished. A few days after, Seven Network introduced a similar phone-in quiz show, "Midnight Zoo". Both competing programmes soon ceased broadcasting – "Midnight Zoo" only lasted three months. "Quizmania" remained on air for the longest period.

During the 2007 "Big Brother" series, "Quizmania" faced competition with the return of the "UpLate" program (see Notable dates).

Axing

The show's contract with the Nine Network was not renewed, and the announcement to staff of the end of production was made on 31 May 2007. The 207th and final show was broadcast live on 24 June 2007. "Quizmania" was replaced by The Mint on July 31, another quiz show once again taking its title from "a UK quiz show of the same name". It was produced solely by the Nine Network, discontinuing the association with Fremantle Media.

Hosts

"Quizmania" originally started out with three hosts, Nikki Osborne, Amy Parks and Brodie Young. In early January 2007, Katrina Conder and Suze Raymond were added to the lineup to spread the load of the hosting duties. On May 12, 2007, Nikki Osborne hosted her last "Quizmania" show after she announced a few days earlier that she was leaving to work on the new Channel Nine show "The Nation" with Mick Molloy.

Despite four hosts who currently work on the show, only two appeared on any given night, except for Fridays and Saturdays where three hosts appeared due to the four hour running time.

Games

Some of the games played on "Quizmania" include:

Tower game

This game was created by "Quizmania" in Britain. It consisted of seven blank spaces increasing in value, ranging from anywhere up to $500. At the top of the tower was either be a phrase with a missing word or a topic to guess. For example, one game could be HOT _____, viewers could call in and guess hot weather, hot water, hot pants, etc. Alternatively, the game could be "Boys Names Beginning With T" and viewers could call and guess Trevor, Timothy, Thierry, etc.

Games of this type came under particular criticism because they appeared specifically designed so as not to have any solid 'right or wrong' type answersFact|date=March 2007 . For example, the viewers might simply be asked to "name a rock band", while a graphic will appear on screen with 10 spaces to represent the 10 bands that need to be named. The problem with this is that there is no way to verify in advance what bands were actually on the list - essentially, it was down to the discretion of the "Quizmania" team to declare which bands are and are not on the list.

Word Search game

Viewers were to find a certain type of word in a grid. Words were be written horizontally, vertically, diagonally or also back-to-front.

Words found in the grid normally won the player $50.

Beat the Break

Before January 2007, a game took place during the ad-breaks, where they gave the viewers a multiple choice question with two silly answers and the correct answer. Viewers then had to call in during the ad-breaks and, if they gave the correct answer, won $50.

The Quizmania Gold Mine

This game was first introduced on April 4, 2007 and had two parts to it. The first part is where a viewer calls up and correctly answers a dingbat, a graphic on the screen which features a picture of two different objects (for example, a car and a set of keys). The viewer had to say the correct answer (car keys) to receive $50. Then the viewer got to pick from a wall of 15 gold cards pinned to it numbered from 1 to 15. Some had no prizes behind them, others had Savvytel starter kits (mobile phone credit) or minor cash prizes but only one has the "Gold Mine" which jackpots after each unsuccessful caller until someone picked the numbered card with the "Gold Mine" on it.

Incentives

Periodically, an incentive to call in was displayed on the screen. One or more incentives may have been offered at any one time. These included:

*A bonus offer, when the next caller or callers would be offered a certain amount of extra cash if they say a correct answer.
*A "speed round", where many calls are taken with reduced banter.
*Caller countdown clocks, where a countdown timer was placed on the screen and the host mentioning that a call would be taken any time from now until the clock hits zero (the length of the countdown clock varied from three minutes to fifteen seconds).
*Double, triple or quadruple the normal amount of money on offer.
*A second guess, where if the first answer mentioned by a caller was wrong, they got to say another answer (this offer was very rare).
*A caller or callers will receive $50 just for getting through to the studio even if they got the answer wrong (this offer was very rare).
*The possibility of receiving a Savvytel mobile phone starter kit with $20 credit (usually given away at random if the producers like the answer given but is not an answer in the current game).

Notable dates

* July 25, 2006 - First episode
* August 3, 2006 - Severe technical problems (see below)
* September 10, 2006 - Jon English comes into the studio to help out viewers on a word scramble.
* October 9, 2006 – the Monday night episodes were moved to Thursdays after the end of the football season. The show now screens Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights.
* October 19, 2006 – 50^th episode.
* December 23, 2006 – special Christmas-themed episode.
* December 31, 2006 – special New Year's Eve episode, broadcast a few minutes early and counting-down to New Year's Day at midnight (Australian Eastern Daylight Time in New South Wales and Victoria; South Australia and Queensland joined the show in progress due to time zone and daylight saving differences, and welcomed to the show and new year with the midnight commencement in both states).
* January 4, 2007 – 100^th episode.
* January 6, 2007 – Katrina Conder's first show as host.
* January 7, 2007 – Suze Raymond's first show as host.
* January 11, 2007 - Severe technical problems (see below)
* March 3, 2007 – Special Clean Up Australia Day-themed episode.
* March 14, 2007 – 150^th episode.
* March 15, 2007 – Thursday night episodes moved to Mondays due to the start of the 2007 AFL and NRL seasons. The show now screens Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday nights.
* March 17, 2007 – Special "World's Greatest Shave 2007" episode, to highlight the Leukaemia Foundation's annual fund-raiser.
* March 23, 2007 – The Friday night show is now not seen by Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth or Hobart due to the NRL.
* April 23, 2007 – "Quizmania" is in competition most weekday nights with the return of Channel Ten's "Big Brother UpLate", although "UpLate" runs for 120 minutes and begins earlier.
* May 9, 2007 – Nikki Osborne announced that she will be leaving "Quizmania".
* May 12, 2007 – Nikki Osborne's final show.
* June 4, 2007 – All five hosts appear in the mob on "1 vs. 100". The episode was shot before Nikki left the show. Brodie is the only host still playing and had won $612 so far; he will continue playing until he is eliminated.
* June 11, 2007 – Brodie was eliminated on "1 vs. 100".
* June 12, 2007 – 200^th episode.
* June 24, 2007 – Final episode.
* July 31, 2007 – The show's replacement, "The Mint", debuts. Like "Quizmania", "The Mint" was also based on a similar British program.
* March 29, 2008 – "The Mint" follows a similar fate to Quizmania and the final episode is aired. There is now no late night game show airing in Australia.

Technical problems

On a number of occasions, "Quizmania"'s phone system – ran by Legion Interactive – broke down due to overwhelming amounts of calls, human error, power outages and numerous other causes. Most of the time, the problem was fixed within 5-10 minutes and the show resumed where it dropped off from. There have also been a couple of serious technical problems which have forced "Quizmania" to cease for the night and be replaced with other programming.

evere technical problems

On August 3 2006, the show experienced severe technical problems resulting in the current quiz being postponed several times, and presenters Nikki Osborne and Amy Parks ad-libbed for the duration of the breakdown. [cite web | url=http://boxcutters.net/blog/index.php/?p=183 | title=Quizmania 'Technical Difficulties' | work=Boxcutters | last=Cropley | first=Brett | accessdate=2007-02-10] [cite web | url=http://www.nikkiosborne.com/2006/08/phones-down-extended.php | title=Phones Down – Extended | work=Nikki Osborne (Fanclub) | accessdate=2007-02-10] The show was delayed and alternative programming (two episodes of "The Drew Carey Show") was shown instead.

On January 11 2007, the show experienced severe technical problems again, resulting in the quiz being postponed several times. Again, Nikki Osborne and the production crew ad-libbed through the breakdown, reminding viewers to not call until the problem was fixed. At one stage when the problem appeared to have been fixed and the competition resumed, one woman who called through and gave a correct answer was disconnected before she could give her details to producers. This required Osborne to tell her, on the air, to ring the Quizmania office at Channel Nine the next day to receive her $500 winnings. The show was suspended again, and alternative programming was eventually shown at approximately 1.30am with "Eve" followed by "The Avengers".

References

ee also

* "Quizmania (UK)"
* "The Up-Late Game Show"
* "Midnight Zoo"

External links

* [http://www.ninemsn.com.au/quizmania Official "Quizmania" website]
* [http://au.myspace.com/ausquizmania Official "Quizmania" MySpace page]
* [http://www.myspace.com/quizmaniasupport "Quizmania" Fansite]