Needs putting out of its misery (The Weakest Link)

Member Name: Burning_Darkness

Product:	The Weakest Link
Date:	28/10/09 (23 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: questions are mildly diverting

Disadvantages: Anne's persona is irritating, show is unimaginative and repetitive, annoying presentation

The Weakest Link has been going for almost a decade now, and the show has been hugely successful, with the BBC broadcasting local versions of the show in well over 2 dozen other countries worldwide.

The show is a simple mix of general knowledge questions and tactical voting, in which all the contestants answer general knowledge questions in sequence and must try and bank their score (in pounds) before someone gets a question wrong and the score is reset to zero. At the end of each round the 'Weakest Link' is sent off by majority vote until only two characters remain at which point they compete head-to-head at answering 5 questions each, with the show resorting to sudden death mode in the event of a draw.

The Weakest Link employs dramatic lighting and music in an attempt to create an atmosphere of tension, whilst Anne Robinson acts out the persona of a strich authoritarian schoolteacher, talking to the contestants in a rude, patronising and obnoxious manner that is endlessly irritating and completely unneccessary.

The show is boring, repetitive and, after almost ten years, incredibly tired-feeling, with the banter between Anne and the contestants and the voice-over commentary on contestant's voting tactics adding nothing of any worth to the show. The whole "host being rude to the contestants" angle is a gimmick that wore thin after the first couple of episodes, and whilst the questions themselves are mildly diverting, (although some of them are patronisingly easy), overall the show's irritatingly repetitive nature and vulgar and unimaginative presentation make for some uncomfortable viewing.

Summary: A repetitive and irritating quiz show