Pointless is up for a Rose d’Or

Well Richard Osman is always complaining that he’s never won an award, I think the Pointless team have got a decent shout here though, Pointless is shortlisted for a Rose d’Or. The contenders in the game show category:

• Extraordinary Masters (original title ‘Die Deutschen Meister’) – Brainpool TV GmbH (Germany)
• Pointless (UK),  Episode 1 (Series 9) – Endemol International BV (The Netherlands)
• The Common Denominator – Armoza Formats (Israel)

By the looks of things, Die Deutschen Meister looks like a spin off of Der Klügste Deutsche by way of Wetten Dass, by the sounds of things champions in unusual disciplines are pitted against each other and judges decide which of the them seemed most impressive, and all the winners are put to a public vote at the end for a €100,000 prize. Can any of our German friends let us know if it’s worth a watch?

We can’t see The Common Denominator winning it – not all that successful, a bit average as a show, and Rose D’or does tend to pick fairly interesting and left field winners (previous winners in the game show category working backwards: Oh Sit! Million Pound Drop, Bingo Banko, Relentless, Power of 10, Deal or No Deal, Test the Nation, most of which have pushed the boundaries of the genre in one way or another), working for Pointless then: not very internationally successful. Working against it: Die Deutschen Meister feels like more of a left field, large scale choice… but it does feel like it’s been done before, impressive as it looks.

Also Through the Keyhole is up for the comedy award, and A League of Their Own up for Entertainment (against Graham Norton and Circus Halli Galli, constantly advertised during Schlag den Raab).