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Quizmania (Australia)
Encyclopedia
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
. Its main Director was Rick Maslan.
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
, Western Australia
and Northern Territory
with the presenters welcoming all three states to the show half an hour after it started, due to all three 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.
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).
on 31 July, 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.
and Suze Raymond were added to the lineup to spread the load of the hosting duties. On 12 May 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
.
Amy now works as a news reporter on Seven News Melbourne.
Two hosts appeared on weekday episodes. On Fridays and Saturdays there were three hosts due to the four hour running time.
Games of this type came under particular criticism because they appeared specifically designed so as not to have any solid 'right or wrong' type answers. 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.
Words found in the grid normally won the player $50.
, 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.
, 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. After that, a tower game was played for the remainder of the episode.
On 3 August 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. The show was delayed and alternative programming (two episodes of The Drew Carey Show
) was shown instead.
On 11 January 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
.
Quizmania
Quizmania was a popular British interactive gameshow. The show was devised by Chuck Thomas, Debbie King, and Simone Thorogood and produced by Fremantle Media for Information TV and ITV . Currently, the online revival is produced by Screen Pop Ltd. in association with Illumina Digital...
, and broadcast on the Nine Network
Nine Network
The Nine Network , is an Australian television network with headquarters based in Willoughby, a suburb located on the North Shore of Sydney. For 50 years since television's inception in Australia, between 1956 and 2006, it was the most watched television network in Australia...
in the late night time slot (post-midnight). The show was produced from Nine's Richmond
Richmond, Victoria
Richmond is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 3 km south-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Yarra...
studios in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
. Its main Director was Rick Maslan.
Quizmania was first broadcast on GTV-9
GTV-9
GTV is a commercial television station in Melbourne, Australia owned by the Nine Network. The station is currently based at a new high-tech, purpose-built studios at 717 Bourke Street, Docklands.-History:...
, TCN-9
TCN-9
TCN is the Sydney flagship television station of the Nine Network in Australia and is located at Willoughby. The licence, issued to a company named Television Corporation Ltd headed by Frank Packer, was one of the first four licences to be issued for commercial television stations in...
, QTQ-9
QTQ-9
QTQ is an Australian television station, licensed to, and serving Brisbane, Queensland. It is owned by the Nine Entertainment Co., and is part of the Nine Network. It broadcasts on VHF channel 9 and VHF channel 8 . QTQ began broadcasting on 16 August 1959, the first of the Brisbane stations to...
, NTD-8
NTD-8
NTD is an Australian television station, licensed to and serving Darwin, Palmerston and surrounds. The station is owned by the Nine Entertainment Co., and is an owned-and-operated station of the Nine Network, under the company name Territory Television Pty...
, NBN and WIN Television
WIN Television
WIN Television is an Australian television network owned by the WIN Corporation that is based in Wollongong, New South Wales. WIN commenced transmissions on 18 March 1962 as a single Wollongong-only station, and has since expanded to 24 owned-and-operated stations with transmissions covering a...
on 25 July 2006. The show was unique in that it was broadcast live to South Australia
South Australia
South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...
, Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
and Northern Territory
Northern Territory
The Northern Territory is a federal territory of Australia, occupying much of the centre of the mainland continent, as well as the central northern regions...
with the presenters welcoming all three states to the show half an hour after it started, due to all three states being thirty minutes behind the Australian east coast. Similarly during daylight saving
Daylight saving time
Daylight saving time —also summer time in several countries including in British English and European official terminology —is the practice of temporarily advancing clocks during the summertime so that afternoons have more daylight and mornings have less...
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 25 July 2006, Quizmania was to soon run in direct competition with the established The Up-Late Game ShowThe Up-Late Game Show
The Up-Late Game Show was a late night interactive television quiz program shown in Australia on Network Ten, written and hosted by Big Brother Australia 2005 contestant Simon Deering, commonly known by the nickname Hotdogs. The show's format had the host presenting simple puzzles which viewers...
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
Seven Network
The Seven Network is an Australian television network owned by Seven West Media Limited. It dates back to 4 November 1956, when the first stations on the VHF7 frequency were established in Melbourne and Sydney.It is currently the second largest network in the country in terms of population reach...
introduced a similar phone-in quiz show, Midnight Zoo
Midnight Zoo
Midnight Zoo was an Australian late-night interactive game show broadcast in parts of Australia on the Seven Network. Midnight Zoo debuted on 31 July 2006 and was broadcast from Sydney. The same show currently has success in America, the U.K, South Africa and Poland. It was shown live throughout...
. 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
Big Brother Australia 2007
Big Brother Australia 2007 was the seventh season of the Australian reality television series Big Brother Australia. Episodes were broadcast on Network Ten in Australia, and the first episode aired on 22 April 2007...
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 MintThe Mint (Australia)
The Mint 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 ....
on 31 July, another quiz show once again taking its title from a UK quiz show of the same name
The Mint (game show)
The Mint was a live, late night, interactive quiz show with celebrity guests and live studio contestants filmed in a large extravagant set designed to look like the inside of a mansion. The programme, which was dogged by criticism that its questions were ambiguous and arbitrary, aired on ITV and...
. 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 ConderKatrina Conder
Katrina Conder is an Australian television presenter. She was a host Channel Nine's late night game show Quizmania. She made her Quizmania debut on 6 January 2007. Katrina has also appeared on 3 episodes of Blue Heelers as a nurse...
and Suze Raymond were added to the lineup to spread the load of the hosting duties. On 12 May 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
Nine Network
The Nine Network , is an Australian television network with headquarters based in Willoughby, a suburb located on the North Shore of Sydney. For 50 years since television's inception in Australia, between 1956 and 2006, it was the most watched television network in Australia...
show The Nation
The Nation (TV series)
The Nation was an Australian satirical sketch comedy and discussion series covering the week's events across political and social spectrums, premiering on Tuesday 5 June 2007 at on the Nine Network....
with Mick Molloy
Mick Molloy
Michael "Mick" Molloy is an Australian comedian, writer and producer who has been active in the fields of radio, television, stand-up and film.-Biography:...
.
Amy now works as a news reporter on Seven News Melbourne.
Two hosts appeared on weekday episodes. On Fridays and Saturdays there were three hosts due to the four hour running time.
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 answers. 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-breaksTelevision advertisement
A television advertisement or television commercial, often just commercial, advert, ad, or ad-film – is a span of television programming produced and paid for by an organization that conveys a message, typically one intended to market a product...
, 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 4 April 2007 and had two parts to it. The first part is where a viewer calls up and correctly answers a dingbatRebus
A rebus is an allusional device that uses pictures to represent words or parts of words. It was a favourite form of heraldic expression used in the Middle Ages to denote surnames, for example in its basic form 3 salmon fish to denote the name "Salmon"...
, 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
Savvytel
Savvytel is a mobile phone company based in St Leonards, New South Wales, Australia.-History:Savvytel began in 2005 with its prepaid mobile phone product launched in August of 2006...
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. After that, a tower game was played for the remainder of the episode.
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 SavvytelSavvytelSavvytel is a mobile phone company based in St Leonards, New South Wales, Australia.-History:Savvytel began in 2005 with its prepaid mobile phone product launched in August of 2006...
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
| Broadcast date | Notable event |
|---|---|
| 25 July 2006 | First episode airs. |
| 3 August 2006 | Severe technical problems cause the show to be delayed. (See below) |
| 10 September 2006 | Jon English Jon English Jonathan James "Jon" English is an Australian rock singer, musician, actor and writer. English emigrated to Australia with his parents in 1961... guests to help out viewers with a word scramble. |
| 9 October 2006 | Monday night edition moved to Thursday after end of football season. Quizmania now airs from Tuesday - Saturday nights. |
| 19 October 2006 | 50th episode airs. |
| 23 December 2006 | Christmas-themed special airs. |
| 31 December 2006 | New Year's Eve New Year's Eve New Year's Eve is observed annually on December 31, the final day of any given year in the Gregorian calendar. In modern societies, New Year's Eve is often celebrated at social gatherings, during which participants dance, eat, consume alcoholic beverages, and watch or light fireworks to mark the... special airs - beginning a few minutes early and counting down to midnight in New South Wales New South Wales New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales... and Victoria Victoria (Australia) Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively.... . GTV-9 GTV-9 GTV is a commercial television station in Melbourne, Australia owned by the Nine Network. The station is currently based at a new high-tech, purpose-built studios at 717 Bourke Street, Docklands.-History:... and some stations in Victoria join the show late due to celebration broadcast from Melbourne. QTQ-9 QTQ-9 QTQ is an Australian television station, licensed to, and serving Brisbane, Queensland. It is owned by the Nine Entertainment Co., and is part of the Nine Network. It broadcasts on VHF channel 9 and VHF channel 8 . QTQ began broadcasting on 16 August 1959, the first of the Brisbane stations to... , NWS-9 NWS-9 NWS is an Australian television station owned by the WIN Corporation which is based in Adelaide, Australia. The station's name, NWS is an acronym of The NeWs South Australia.-Origins:... and WIN WIN Television WIN Television is an Australian television network owned by the WIN Corporation that is based in Wollongong, New South Wales. WIN commenced transmissions on 18 March 1962 as a single Wollongong-only station, and has since expanded to 24 owned-and-operated stations with transmissions covering a... stations in Queensland and South Australia join the show in progress at midnight local time. |
| 4 January 2007 | 100th episode airs. |
| 6 January 2007 | Katrina Conder debuts as host. |
| 7 January 2007 | Suze Raymond debuts as host |
| 11 January 2007 | Severe technical problems force the show off-air. (See below) |
| 3 March 2007 | Clean Up Australia Day themed special airs. |
| 14 March 2007 | 150th episode airs. |
| 15 March 2007 | Thursday night edition moved back to Mondays due to the start of the AFL Australian Football League The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football... and NRL National Rugby League The National Rugby League is the top league of professional rugby league football clubs in Australasia. The NRL's main competition, called the Telstra Premiership , is contested by sixteen teams, fifteen of which are based in Australia with one based in New Zealand... seasons. Quizmania now airs on Monday-Wednesday, Friday and Saturday nights. |
| 17 March 2007 | World's Greatest Shave 2007 themed special airs - highlighting an annual fundraiser by the Leukaemia Foundation Leukaemia Foundation The Leukaemia Foundation is the only Australian not-for-profit organisation dedicated to the care and cure of patients and families living with leukaemia, lymphoma, myeloma and related blood disorders.... . |
| 23 March 2007 | Friday night edition no longer carried by GTV-9 GTV-9 GTV is a commercial television station in Melbourne, Australia owned by the Nine Network. The station is currently based at a new high-tech, purpose-built studios at 717 Bourke Street, Docklands.-History:... Melbourne, NWS-9 NWS-9 NWS is an Australian television station owned by the WIN Corporation which is based in Adelaide, Australia. The station's name, NWS is an acronym of The NeWs South Australia.-Origins:... Adelaide, STW-9 STW-9 STW is an Australian television station owned by the WIN Corporation that is based in Perth, Australia.Based in Dianella, Western Australia, STW broadcasts with a transmitter mast located in Walliston... Perth and TVT Hobart because of NRL coverage. |
| 23 April 2007 | Quizmania goes into competition most weekday nights with the return of Network Ten Network Ten Network Ten , is one of Australia's three major commercial television networks. Owned-and-operated stations can be found in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth, while affiliates extend the network to cover most of the country... 's Big Brother UpLate - which runs for two hours and begins earlier. |
| 9 May 2007 | Nikki Osborne announces her upcoming departure from the show. |
| 12 May 2007 | Nikki Osborne signs off as Quizmania presenter. |
| 4 June 2007 | All five presenters appear in the mob on 1 vs. 100 1 vs. 100 (Australian game show) 1 vs. 100 was an Australian spin-off game show based on the American version of the same name and the original Dutch version created by Endemol. The game pits one person against 100 others for a chance to win one million dollars... , in an episode recorded before Nikki Osborne's departure. Brodie is the only host still playing and had won $612 so far; he will continue playing until he is eliminated. |
| 12 June 2007 | Brodie was eliminated on 1 vs. 100 1 vs. 100 (Australian game show) 1 vs. 100 was an Australian spin-off game show based on the American version of the same name and the original Dutch version created by Endemol. The game pits one person against 100 others for a chance to win one million dollars... . |
| 12 June 2007 | 200th episode airs. |
| 24 June 2007 | Final episode airs. |
| 31 July 2007 | The show's replacement, The Mint The Mint (Australia) The Mint 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 .... , debuts. As with Quizmania, The Mint was also based on a similar British program. |
| 29 March 2008 | The Mint The Mint (Australia) The Mint 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 .... airs for the final time - no late night game shows are being broadcast on Australian television. |
Technical problems
On a number of occasions, Quizmanias 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.Severe technical problems
The Drew Carey Show
The Drew Carey Show is an American sitcom that aired on ABC from 1995 to 2004. The show was set in Cleveland, Ohio, and revolved around the retail office and home life of "everyman" Drew Carey, a fictionalized version of the actor....
) was shown instead.
On 11 January 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
Eve (TV series)
Eve is an American sitcom starring Eve, Jason Winston George, Ali Landry, Natalie Desselle-Reid, Brian Hooks and Sean Maguire. That aired on the UPN network from September 15, 2003 to May 11, 2006, with 66 episodes produced spanning 3 seasons...
followed by The Avengers
The Avengers (TV series)
The Avengers is a spy-fi British television series set in the 1960s Britain. The Avengers initially focused on Dr. David Keel and his assistant John Steed . Hendry left after the first series and Steed became the main character, partnered with a succession of assistants...
.
See also
- Quizmania (UK)QuizmaniaQuizmania was a popular British interactive gameshow. The show was devised by Chuck Thomas, Debbie King, and Simone Thorogood and produced by Fremantle Media for Information TV and ITV . Currently, the online revival is produced by Screen Pop Ltd. in association with Illumina Digital...
- The Up-Late Game ShowThe Up-Late Game ShowThe Up-Late Game Show was a late night interactive television quiz program shown in Australia on Network Ten, written and hosted by Big Brother Australia 2005 contestant Simon Deering, commonly known by the nickname Hotdogs. The show's format had the host presenting simple puzzles which viewers...
- Midnight ZooMidnight ZooMidnight Zoo was an Australian late-night interactive game show broadcast in parts of Australia on the Seven Network. Midnight Zoo debuted on 31 July 2006 and was broadcast from Sydney. The same show currently has success in America, the U.K, South Africa and Poland. It was shown live throughout...