Excellent Political Satire That Failed To Rule The Airwaves

'If I Ruled The World' was a brilliant political game show in which contestants were divided into two teams, or political parties, and over the space of half an hour had to think and act like politicians in an attempt to convince the electorate/audience that they should win, while being as funny as possible in the process. The programme was conceived during a time satirical news quiz 'Have I Got News For You' was very much in its golden years, though alas, failed to grab the public nearly as much and only lasted two series. I myself can't understand why, as it was highly entertaining, often side-splittingly funny, and I'd love to see more of it. In Clive Anderson, you had the perfect host, with Anderson giving the same quick witted captaincy he still entertains listeners with in his Radio 4 show 'The Chat Room', while you had the similarly-talented Graeme Garden on one side and the oddball surreality of Jeremy Hardy on the other in the form of team captains. Guest panellists were also of high quality, with Tim Brooke-Taylor, Tony Hawks and Pauline McLynn to name but a few stand-outs.

The humour ranged from spot-on real-world observations of current affairs to out-and-out silliness, with Anderson often having a job keeping everyone in line. Programme segments designed to elicit genuine politician behaviour included 'I Couldn't Disagree More', in which contestants had to disagree with any statement put to them no matter how sensible, 'Yes/No', in which contestants were asked to speak on a given subject without uttering the words 'yes' or 'no', 'State Of The Nation', wherein the studio audience were polled on a particular question and the contestants had to guess their response, and 'The Pager Round', in which contestants had to speak on a given subject, during which they would be continually messaged by their 'spin doctors' with instructions and have to adjust their answers accordingly. The programme format and its incumbents were sufficiently different from HIGNFY to merit its place in the schedules, but presumably, it didn't take off with the lightning speed the BBC was hoping for. Which presumably means that the chances of a DVD release is about as likely as a politician's promise.

The game show genre features TV series with contestants competing against each other in various challenges, tasks, or quizzes to win prizes or rewards. Game shows are designed to engage viewers by presenting exciting and often competitive scenarios that involve participants using their knowledge, skills, and strategies to outperform their opponents and win.

Bill Barretta and Pat Sajak in Wheel of Fortune (1983)

Satirical panel-based quiz show in which contestants had to pretend to be politicians and view the studio audience as their 'electorate'.

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If I Ruled the World

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