University Challenge 2022-23: Series Highlights and Look Forward to the Next Series

OK, time to finish off my UC coverage for the year. The final series of the Paxman era was definitely a good one for him to go out on; it certainly didn't hit the heights of series gone by, but it was certainly one of the better ones of the past few years. So, let's do this.

So, let start with my usual picks for the best match of every round:

• First Round + Play-Offs: The very first match of the series between the two eventual finalists, followed by Sheffield vs U.C.L..
• Second Round: U.C.L. vs Newcastle, followed by Newnham vs Cardiff.
• Quarter-Finals: Southampton vs Durham
• The Final Three: Easily the final.

Unlike some recent series, there were actually quite a few close contests this time, and more higher scoring ones as well. There were fourteen games where the aggregate was 300+, double the number we had last series. The highest aggregate was 380, in the first game of the series.

Durham's 240 in their second round win over Bangor was the highest score of the series; Cardiff and Jesus had the second and third highest with 230 and 225 in their respective first round wins. Bangor's score of 35 in that same game was the lowest of the series, and the only new addition to the Sub-50 Club this series; Coventry's score of 50 was the second lowest.

The gradual decreasing of Oxbridge teams in the series continued with just eight this series, four each from Oxford and Cambridge, which, given that Oxbridge 'overrepresentation' has again become a matter for discussion this series, is probably the maximum TPTB should be aiming for from now on. For the second series in a row, the Oxford teams were wiped out before the QFs; Cambridge had two quarter-finalists, but, also for the second series in a row, two non-Oxbridge teams made the final. London was, for the second series in a row, represented by five teams, while the Celtic fringes got plenty of airtime this series, with three from Scotland, two from Wales and one from Northern Ireland.

But, of course, as good as it has been, the entire series has been somewhat overshadowed by the news just before it began that Paxo would be stepping down as chairman. And thus, the overwhelming sense throughout it has been a very reflective one, of the entirity of his chairmanship, and speculation about how the incoming Amol Rajan can possibly follow on from him. (It's ironic really that this series came ten years on from Sir Alex Ferguson's retirement as Manchester United manager, as it's almost exactly the same feeling!)

You may remember, a few years back, I wrote a review of the Paxman era as a whole at that point; in it, I divided it into four 'eras', which I'd now like to update slightly as my views have changed a touch since then.

There are now five 'eras' of UC under Jeremy Paxman:

• The Golden Era: The first eight series from 1994-95 to 2001-02.
• The Slight Decline Era: The 2002-03 and 03-04 series, plus the first round of the 04-05 series.
• The Recovery Era: The second round of the 04-05 series and the entirity of the next three up to and including the 07-08 series.
• The Renaissance: The 'Gail Trimble' series of 08-09 to the 'Ted Loveday' series of 14-15.
• The Post-Renaissance Era: The 15-16 series onwards.

You may recall I originally put the 'Ted Loveday' series in what is now the 'Post Renaissance Era'; I have decided to promote it to the 'Renaissance' as, for all that that was the series where longer multi-sentence starters and strict buzzer rule adherance became noticeably more common and offputting, it was still a pretty decent series on the whole, so it deserves better now IMO.

I went on to say that the show should take advice from Mastermind and have a refresh, going back to shorter questions and greater leniency (which is pretty much what Mastermind has done in the series since and it's been all the better for it); others, however, were skeptical over whether this would work.

A comment on my previous post by blog reader and UC alumnus 'Radinden' remarked that the above issues were being largely due to the show's increasingly having to compete with off-screen UC style quiz events, noting that:

"...the off-screen game had Americanised in various ways: a strong deprecation of speed of recall; various changes to the rules in the interests of 'fairness'; a settled 'canon' of topics; and study and practice of regularly-appearing clues. Therefore, the accessibility of the show to the amateur had to decrease, and the complexity of the questions and the precise application of the rules increase, but with it the accessibility of the questions to the viewing public decreased as well."

 

I subsequently discussed this with fellow UC blogger 'TheUCReview', who agreed with the above, adding:

"...having competed in some of the quiz bowl tournaments they can be so much more difficult than UC, and require huge amounts of study just to learn the “language” of how those quizzes are set. Which then makes UC a lot easier by comparison, so it has to be changed too."

 

I mean, fair enough, it's good to see that the show has now become such a mainstream format that students across the country are doing it themselves. Prior to about ten years ago, UC style tournaments off-screen were very much confined to Oxbridge (Oxford especially), and also Manchester, though 'home advantage' and the coaching of Stephen Pearson probably played some part in that too. In more recent years, though, now that off-screen UC style tournaments have become a lot more widespread, the advantage they previously had is now gone, which explains why the last few series have been increasingly a lot more open.

That said, I do think the priority of UC should be, first and foremost, to be a TV show that appeals to the masses. I'm not saying the show doesn't do that at the moment, of course it does; in fact, the show is probably the most popular right now that it's ever been. But, as Radinden went on to add in his comment:

"...it's not nearly as fun to watch *as a game* as it was when it was more 'amateur'."

 

The departure of Paxo, therefore, could/should maybe be seen as a chance for TPTB to 'reset' the show a bit. I mean, we already know they've sort of done that, as the opening titles and set that have served the show for the past ten years (the longest such ones of the Paxman era) have been replaced for the next series. I personally would also hope for a return to the more 'classic' style of questions too (no 'extra info sentences' for example), but, failing that, that AR will, at least, be able to ask the questions quickly like Paxo was able to before his illness slowed him down.

In short, I am very much intruiged as to where the show goes from here. I know AR isn't the most popular choice as the new host for a variety of reasons you probably know already and that I thus need not repeat here, and he does have a pretty tough task on his hands replacing Paxo. But, as I said before, I'm prepared to wait and see how he does before deciding whether he's a good appointment or not.

So, yes, I am going to be covering next series on here, albeit probably in the more streamlined format I've been increasingly using this series. But, as things stand, it will probably be the final series I cover on this blog, in full at least.

Anyway, that's my coverage of this series over with. This blog will now take a sabattical until the next series starts, whenever that is. So, until we next meet, sayonara...