All discussion relevant to Countdown that is not too spoilerific. New members: come here first to introduce yourself. We don't bite, or at least rarely.
Well, it can't have been that traumatic a moment if I couldn't even remember which bloody host did it. (Is 45 old enough to be able to claim a senior moment?)
Gavin Chipper wrote: ↑Fri Jul 02, 2021 6:48 pm
Maybe they both did it.
Unlikely, Jack Worsley was in the champion’s chair on Nick’s debut… (definitely no need for him to say it then…)
Hmm, I doubt they both did it... I must have misremembered. But if Nick DID do it too, it would have been on his first hosted crucial, and not necessarily his first show.
Gavin Chipper wrote: ↑Sat Jul 03, 2021 12:32 pm
Our members have all been too polite to mention what everyone's been thinking, but I am looking forward to winter.
Gavin Chipper wrote: ↑Sat Jul 03, 2021 12:32 pm
Our members have all been too polite to mention what everyone's been thinking, but I am looking forward to winter.
That's harsh, even for you.
My post was perhaps too cryptic, but the harshest interpretation wasn't the intended one. People weren't exactly up in arms about the post in any case.
Gavin Chipper wrote: ↑Sat Jul 03, 2021 12:32 pm
Our members have all been too polite to mention what everyone's been thinking, but I am looking forward to winter.
Anne's conversations all seem really awkward and everyone always comes out of them looking a bit embarrassed by the whole encounter. Her conversations with Rachel Parris are really bad, and when she said of Florence Cappleman-Lynes (who has been on this series and wins 0 to 8 games) "Her husband might be even better" - what?
Gavin Chipper wrote: ↑Tue Jul 20, 2021 4:16 pm
Anne's conversations all seem really awkward and everyone always comes out of them looking a bit embarrassed by the whole encounter. Her conversations with Rachel Parris are really bad, and when she said of Florence Cappleman-Lynes (who has been on this series and wins 0 to 8 games) "Her husband might be even better" - what?
I was surprised this got left in. Florence had mentioned me and there was a bit of talk in one of the breaks about whether she might equal or beat my performance on the show. But obviously none of that is aired, so Anne's comment seems out of the blue.
I feel Anne’s batteries are running out. She’s trying to emulate her Weakest Link days but is a shadow of her former self. As was the case in the 2017 Weakest Link one-off special, one of the complaints was that Anne was past it.
Last edited by Rhys Benjamin on Tue Jul 20, 2021 11:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Only interested in ratings if there is some context.
Is 410,000 Anne's first show?
How does that compare to normal?
How does it compare to Nick / Jeff / Des's shows?
Now that she has been in the job a few weeks, how are the ratings?
How do her average ratings over this week compare to an average week from e.g. S83 with Nick?
I'm still not a fan, and suspect wokies like Rachel and Damian don't much care for her either (with some of their reasons being different to mine, ofc. I don't care about her distaste for PC culture. It is probably one of her more admirable traits tbf.)
Last edited by L'oisleatch McGraw on Wed Jul 21, 2021 1:33 am, edited 1 time in total.
Her first show on 28 June scored 466,000 viewers, including catch-up within 7 days. Countdown has been noodling around 400,000 viewers since the 30th Birthday Championship. During lockdown some episodes peaked as high as 650k when Colin Murray did it.
Whiteley’s tenure peaked at over 5 million in the 1990s I think. Des Lynam had more than 2 million, O’Connor about 1.8 million, Stelling had over a million but fell to around 650k in 2011. Hewer had over 800k in January 2012.
In 1982, the first show was watched by 3.5 million people, but Episode 2 fell to 500k.
To also add, Celebrity Countdown on More4 in 2019 flopped from 245k to below 125k in two episodes!
Thank you. The ratings for the other presenters are just estimates from memory. But I should point out that although they look bad now, new quiz show The Answer Trap got around 150k, despite it airing at a 3 pm slot.
From 5 - 11 July, Location Location Location got 900k and came 13 in Channel 4’s Top 50, but only achieved 3.3% of the audience share. Countdown’s getting 9-12%. In other words, it’s doing well for Channel 4 at the difficult 2:10 pm slot.
I do think Anne has got something in there, but her banging around is out of order in fairness. She needs to 110% drop all her Weakest Link habits.
Her approach really falls flat if you get contestants like the last couple. I'm sure you could have a decent conversation about bee-keeping or rowing, but her questioning is more like brow-beating, trying to shame or embarrass them. Fine on Watchdog, but these people have nothing to be ashamed or embarrassed about. They humour her as you would a slightly demented old granny, and her questions just come over as inane. I appreciate she's just trying to fill time while there's no OOW, but it really doesn't work for me.
It's also a bit of a nuisance that she does it at random moments during the show. You can't just fast forward to four minutes and miss it all out the way you used to.
Having watched a clip of the 2003 April Fool's edition of Weakest Link, where Anne is EXTREMELY nice and sweet, she's obviously not trying to be nice on Countdown, so let's drop this lie that she is.
Still trying to put my finger on exactly what is off about Anne.
I think it is twofold.
1. She's fake. (still an element of trying to play the TWL character she's famous for)
2. She lacks class.
The first one is obvious to everyone... but the 2nd one -I think- is the main problem. A few examples of where it manifests itself:
a) About Florence: "Her husband might be better"
b) About Barack Obama's 60th b'day party: "I'd go to Michelle's"
Lack of class, plain and simple. And she's too old to change that.
-----------------------------------
Verdict finally in: On balance - not good.
Swallow your pride and accept that ye made the wrong choice. Get someone new for S85 if possible.
I found myself feeling glad that Phil didn't win today - not because of anything to do with him, but because I suspected Anne wouldn't let the 13 thing go if he went on a run.
L'oisleatch McGraw wrote: ↑Tue Jul 20, 2021 11:00 pm
I'm still not a fan, and suspect wokies like Rachel and Damian don't much care for her either
Care to expand on the wokies stuff? What on earth are you on about?
Apologies. I misspoke.
The assumption in the above text is that Rachel and Damian lean politically left and that that Anne leans politically right.
Probably true, but also probably not a reason (outside of the crazy world of Twitter etc.) why those people mightn't get along.
(Though I did get a vibe off Rachel that she wasn't best pleased with some of Anne's unnecessary and repetitive 'boring accountant' jibes earlier on this series. I'd say if given a choice of lunch out with Anne, Nick or Jeff... Anne would be her 3rd preference.)
Weaver's said that my favourite numbers selection was 4 large which I picked one time out of 22 - i'm not sure quite how much attention they pay to anything
L'oisleatch McGraw wrote: ↑Fri Aug 20, 2021 3:16 am
I did get a vibe off Rachel. I'd say if given a choice of lunch out with Anne, Nick or Jeff... Anne would be her 3rd preference.
This may be from the Daily Mail, but the story's everywhere.
It's not a surprise.
Looks like we're getting a new presenter sooner rather than later, but who will it be?
L'oisleatch McGraw wrote: ↑Fri Aug 20, 2021 3:16 am
I did get a vibe off Rachel. I'd say if given a choice of lunch out with Anne, Nick or Jeff... Anne would be her 3rd preference.
This may be from the Daily Mail, but the story's everywhere.
It's not a surprise.
Looks like we're getting a new presenter sooner rather than later, but who will it be?
It speaks volumes that this is "everywhere" and yet the Daily Mail is the most reputable source. This is clearly an absolute non-story. What are they supposed to do, go on play-dates between recording sessions? Run across the set and embrace heartily as the lights go down and the credits roll?
Yeah, it could be a non-story but very believable (which may play a part in why it exists).
I don't remember seeing any such non-stories circulating regarding other hosts.
The tide of public opinion continues to mitigate against her too.
It's looking grim for her CD future.
Rhys Benjamin wrote: ↑Fri Aug 06, 2021 6:56 pm
Suspect it wasn't the Countdown team's decision. Smacks of an appointment from C4 itself.
Agreed, but someone decided it.
Someone who is paid way too much money to get these things right, got it massively wrong.
That person should get their marching orders along with Anne.
Probably would have been better -and cheaper- to get Paul Anderson.
Hard to imagine him being worse.
Rhys Benjamin wrote: ↑Fri Aug 06, 2021 6:56 pm
Suspect it wasn't the Countdown team's decision.
Countdown doesn’t call all the shots; some are done by Channel 4. I believe the appointments of television presenters are made by the TV channels, not the TV programmes. Some people think the producer of the show holds all the cards, but that isn’t true either. Also, on a separate note, I don’t believe anybody necessarily decided not to reinstate audiences; the permanent audience “ban” is a forecast, not a “decision”. The decision-making process doesn’t work the way some people think it does.
L'oisleatch McGraw wrote: ↑Tue Oct 26, 2021 2:02 pm
Yeah, it could be a non-story but very believable (which may play a part in why it exists).
I don't remember seeing any such non-stories circulating regarding other hosts.
The tide of public opinion continues to mitigate against her too.
It's looking grim for her CD future.
Be careful what you wish for.
Noel Edmonds could be looking to return.
Gavin Chipper wrote: ↑Wed Oct 27, 2021 1:46 pm
I'm no particular fan of Anne but is she really that terrible as a host? I think things have been exaggerated somewhat.
From what I’ve heard from the producer, Countdown do seem to be very happy with her.
Rhys Benjamin wrote: ↑Thu Nov 04, 2021 11:11 pm
Tabloids often eschew politics for this sort of thing. The "RICHARD WHITELEY WAS A SPY" story comes into mind.
