A winning Friday Night Formula (Have I got News for You)

Member Name: DannoStanno

Product:	Have I got News for You
Date:	20/05/09 (6 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Merton and Hislop, never gets stale

Disadvantages: Guest presenter can be hit or miss

Ah Friday Nights on BBC, surely means only one thing: Have I got News For You. Originally started in the very early 90s, this show took a satirical swipe at the weeks news in the form of a gameshow. Angus Deayton presided over two teams of two, captained by Private Eye Editor Ian Hislop and Improv Comedy King, Paul Merton. Guests came from either the world of comedy, politics or news.

The question/answer format and the acquiring of points is never that obvious but fairly irrelevant as the fun comes from the banter and jokes. Generally the rounds, though liable to change, are:

a) Video footage to see what newstory happened that week
b) Headline/picture to see what's big in the news
c) Odd one out round - 4 pictures of generally newsworthy related people, one being different
d) Missing words round - where several words from headlines are blanked out (often with special headlines from guest publications that no one has heard of)
e) Caption Competition - bonus round of comic remarks from an amusing picture

The show is the BBCs most successful panel quiz, guilty of starting a trend in this sort of programming (Never Mind Buzzcocks, They Think It's All Over, QI, 8 Out Of 10 Cats, mock The Week have all come since) and has been going for 40 seasons or so. In 2004, Angus Deayton was removed as host due to a sex and drugs scandal and a guest presenter is drafted in each week. Though this can often be hilarious, I feel the show lacks some of the comaraderie the old team had and can be very hit and miss depending on who is hosting.

Summary: A BBC staple and an always entertaining look at the weekly news