I'm looking for academic quiz shows

February 24, 2015 11:28 AM

Any recommendations for shows similar to University Challenge and Only Connect? I think what I love about these is how non-showbiz they are. It's just people who have exceptional breadth of knowledge and enjoy competing for its own sake. TV, radio, anything is welcome.
posted by rollingdoughnut to Media & Arts (14 answers total)

It's Academic might fit the bill.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 11:36 AM on February 24, 2015 [2 favorites]

How about Countdown or Pointless?
posted by like_neon at 11:40 AM on February 24, 2015

Round Britain Quiz is a long-running BBC radio quiz where contestants have to make "lateral thinking" links between obscure clues.
posted by Jabberwocky at 12:00 PM on February 24, 2015 [1 favorite]

American quizbowl is pretty much exactly what you're looking for. NAQT recorded quizbowl matches during national tournaments and made them available online as podcasts. Apparently they've stopped doing that, but the archive's still up. You're going to find me represented a couple times. There's also the Quizbowl Cast, which has a bunch of recorded ACF matches, which are more strictly academic. I'm probably on some of those too, and there might be some overlap with the NAQT matches. Both sources have college and high school matches.

Also a search for "quizbowl" on YouTube might turn up some videos of matches.
posted by Small Dollar at 12:20 PM on February 24, 2015 [1 favorite]

I liked watching School of Hard Sums when I visited the UK. I'm not sure if you get Dave Channel where you are but the link is for episodes on YouTube.
posted by Beti at 12:22 PM on February 24, 2015

Granite State Challenge has episodes online (high school teams on public television).
posted by disaster77 at 12:23 PM on February 24, 2015

More NAQT podcasts will be posted within the next month or so.
posted by likedoomsday at 12:45 PM on February 24, 2015 [1 favorite]

An oldie from radio: Information Please. It has showbiz people but has the atmosphere you describe.
posted by JanetLand at 1:25 PM on February 24, 2015

Says You is very clever and funny.
posted by mearls at 1:44 PM on February 24, 2015

Another vote for Round Britain Quiz - some questions are a bit too UK-centric for me, but mostly it's solid fun.

As a bonus, the BBC Radio 4 General Knowledge Quizzes podcast feed rotates through Round Britain Quiz, Counterpoint (music - I tend to skip this), and Brain of Britain (individual quiz, also excellent) "with Quiz Masters including Paul Gambaccini, Tom Sutcliffe and Russell Davies" (of Dr. Who fame).
posted by RedOrGreen at 1:47 PM on February 24, 2015 [1 favorite]

It's not like, ball-searingly hard, but I really enjoy Eggheads.
posted by smoke at 2:20 PM on February 24, 2015

If you liked them on Only Connect, you might enjoy the QI Elves' podcast, No Such Thing as a Fish. It's not a competition, but in many ways I think it's a purer, more satisfying expression of the Quite Interesting philosophy than QI itself.
posted by mumkin at 1:54 AM on February 25, 2015

You might enjoy the Indian edition of University Challenge!
posted by beijingbrown at 5:31 PM on February 25, 2015

Life After Mastermind is a UK blog that recaps a lot of programs like this, including University Challenge and Only Connect. You can get a feel for some of the ones he recommends (like Mastermind, Brain of Britain, and Fifteen to One).
posted by rollick at 6:08 AM on February 28, 2015