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Pointless without Chris Bath

The hosting speculation begins on TEN's upcoming quiz.

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Chris Bath was approached to host Pointless, according to reports this afternoon, but it isn’t happening due to her ABC commitments.

News Corp reports the Evenings host on ABC Radio was offered the hosting gig but the broadcaster has other plans.

“Chris Bath is a popular and highly valued member of the ABC Radio Sydney team,” an ABC spokesman said. “The ABC is looking to use Chris’ television and radio skills across all its platforms in the future.”

TEN indicated it was considering a number of hosting options (Gretel Killeen anyone?).

“Everyone we have screen-tested has been great, but it would be inappropriate for us to comment on speculation about any individual person,” they told the newspaper.

Pointless, which has screened on ABC with Brits Alexander Armstrong and Richard Osman, requires a host and quiz master.

Chris Bath most recently narrated Keeping Australia Safe for ABC in 2018.

Pointless is being produced by Endemol Shine Australia and tipped for a 6pm timeslot later this year.

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    2. Funny, but my husband mentioned Ed Kavalee too. You’ve ideally got to have someone who can say the answers they would give on the open-ended questions and give some pretty impressive results, as Alexander does, and he’s one of the people we can think of with the brains to manage that, along with a considerable amount of charm.

  3. I’m a huge fan of the UK Pointless, mainly due to the great onscreen banter and chemistry between Alexander Armstrong and Richard Osman.
    Can an Aussie version work? Maybe on the ABC, but certainly not on Channel 10, especially if they get the odious Grant Denyer to host it. And as for trying to find an Aussie Richard Osman type person – good luck, because he’s irreplacable, in my opinion.
    Speaking of Think Tank – as it’s rating well for the ABC in that timeslot, I imagine it’ll be back in 2019, although Paul McDermott’s jokes are very lame.

  4. I struggle to see this working for a commercial audience, but on the upside if it is trimmed to a half hour show it will eliminate the possibility of repeating the list of multiple choices each round as Alex so frustratingly does. In a perfect world I’d ditch Think Tank and give this to Paul McDermott. Virginia Trioli would also be a perfect fit if she didn’t already have so much on her plate.

    1. I think Paul McDermott is the perfect fit for host, as would Richard Fidler and as would Tim Ferguson (before he fell ill). Also, Craig Reucassel or Julian Morrow. The chemistry between host and scorekeeper is vital.

  5. I have thought since this was announced that Matt Parkiinson would be perfect in the Richard role, but alas he is linked to Seven.

  6. Why do we have to have known celebrities? It is a great opportunity to discover some new talent and make them famous, like the Chaser cast.

    I love Chris Bath, but she is not the right person for Pointless. Radio has been proven to be her real forte.

    2. What’s so confusing? You need to find the least common answer for the given question/topic. Your aim is to score 0 – or a pointless answer.

      I do think 1 hour is too long though, the UK version has about 10 minutes of banter with the contestants which could be scrapped. I don’t need to know about Narelle’s love of pottery, or which soup is Dennis’ favourite etc.

      1. The concept is essentially ‘the anti-Family Feud’ with the least popular answers scoring points. For me, it’s a format and idea that flows terribly. It’s a quiz show, it shouldn’t take a couple of episodes to get into. It’s not Game Of Thrones after all. I love game and quiz shows but this one fails to engage me. I’d love to see a more exciting franchise or concept be given a run. The Cube hasn’t been done in Australia yet…

        1. The Brits do have a different sensibility, much like that 1 vs 100 singers show, but I would expect an Oz version to be zippy, less chatty. If it is for 6pm (as it seems to be) I have some concerns. Is it enough seismic change?

  8. Hmm, maybe Red Symons in the Richard Osman role. He proved he is very intelligent some years back, on Millionaire. The role suits someone brainy and humorous.

    1. Interesting idea. There was also Chris Edmund as the pronouncer on Spelling Bee although strictly speaking his background is performing arts / drama. An Aussie quiz master may be the solution.

    2. Red was also very good as part of the Brains Trust on ABC’s The Einstein Factor, to which I wonder what that show’s host Peter Berner is up to these days, Red and Peter as a team could work again as they had great chemistry.

  9. This will Fail badly.
    Why not a good game show like Wheel of Fortune or Jeopardy?
    Maybe they could do a Judge Gina show from RHOM. That would be entertaining.

    2. I suspect there’s a bit of professional snobbery going on. I feel Chris Bath is too serious a journalist for this vein of work. I’ve got this weird idea for somebody like Santo Cilauro to be filling the Richard chair. No idea who should be the big banana though. I did hear a rumour John Burgess was approached.

      One question melbournearmy: is David filling the role of Xander or Richard?

      Cannot disagree with the sentiment for more Lily Serna on our screens.

  12. I’m a huge fan of the UK pointless, but I can’t see this working on commercial tv at all. In a perfect world we’d have an aussie version of Pointless on the ABC to replace the terrible and far too talky Think Tank.

    Gogglebox actually featured an episode of Pointless once and most of the cast were completely baffled by it.

  13. A few things here.
    I love pointless, but suspect it’s success in the UK is due to the banter and rapport of the hosts as much as the format, which will be hard to replicate.
    Presumably, it will need 2 hosts here too?
    It’s also hard to see how the current 45 mins format without ads can be trimmed to a commercial 30min format, including ads.
    I’ll certainly check-out a local version, but I have some concerns.

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