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‘This show makes me want to die’: Loving to hate the Big Music Quiz

LOOK at the reviews on social media and it seems most people hate The Big Music Quiz. So why on earth are people still watching it?

Debbie SchippDebbie Schipp
2 min read
September 5, 2016 - 1:59PM
Big Music Quiz

THEY hate it for the continued score updates, staged dancing, and basically the fact it’s not Spicks & Specks.

Despite a 23 per cent dip in ratings last night, The Big Music Quiz with 930,000 viewers in five cities, was still the fourth most popular show in Australia.

But it is still copping lots of criticism on social media.

Perhaps the biggest Big Music Quiz question is why are people still watching?

On debut, it downed longtime ratings hog The Block to pull in 1.12 million viewers to be the third biggest show on a Sunday night. The Block reversed the result last night with 1.07 million viewers.

The viewership of The Big Music Quiz might have dropped off, but the critics didn’t, with one Twitter user saying the show “makes me want to die”.

Others called on the ABC to bring back cult music trivia quiz show Spicks & Specks: “The Big Music Quiz is like Spicks and Specks. But without the charm. Or the wit. Or anything endearing. At all,” Nick Noel wrote.

The Big Music Quiz sees two teams of celebrity contestants test their knowledge of popular music with hints including musical cues.

The losing team has to dance at the end of the episode as punishment.

But you’ll see plenty of dancing before that though. Basically every five seconds an awkward dance breaks out.

The celebrity contestants dance if they get a question right. And the studio audience and host Darren McMullen seem to be unable to stop themselves from clapping, singing or dancing along too.

Over on the show’s Facebook page, there was slightly more support, although for every bouquet, there was another sledge.

“I love Rebel Wilson but even she can’t save this sh*te” wrote Paul Tyrell.

Jane Freeman was with him, tweeting “Give me Ada, Rebel and Adam singing and dancing but get rid of the ridiculous show. I'm off to watch Survivor.”

The Big Music Quiz, Bindi Irwin, Ada Nicodemou and Rebel Wilson
The Big Music Quiz, Bindi Irwin, Ada Nicodemou and Rebel Wilson

Others bemoaned the continual score checks by McMullen.

“For the love of God STOP CHECKING THE SCORE AFTER EVERY SECOND QUESTION,” was one frustrated offering.

But there were supporters: with no less than Australian jazz and R&B singer Renee Geyer outing herself as a fan on the show’s debut, tweeting she “really loved the show”.

There are solid reasons the show is rating: it’s a harmless, non-challenging, easy hour of family-friendly viewing in a timeslot where viewers don’t want to work too hard.

Supporters say it doesn’t require you to have tuned in the week before, you can dip in and out of it, and while it’s cheesy as hell, the nostalgia the music old hits evoke is strong.

Networks love shows like this because they are much cheaper to produce than the likes of Australian Survivor — which slumped to ratings of 560,000 on Sunday night.

The Big Music Quiz is based on a French series of the same name and format. It’s also headed to Germany, with production team Endemol Shine producing six episodes.

And Seven has no plans to take it off air — already promoting next week’s show, which will feature Kate Ceberano, Joel Creasey, Lucy Durack, Steve Hooker, Claire Hooper, Andrew O’Keefe, Jimmy Rees and Em Rusciano.

The promotion opens with the words “continues 7pm Sunday”.

Haters, you’ve been warned.

Originally published as ‘This show makes me want to die’: Loving to hate the Big Music Quiz

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Original URL: https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/entertainment/television/this-show-makes-me-want-to-die-loving-to-hate-the-big-music-quiz/news-story/852ed9f09887aec2bd4f1066beea5308