Challenge is a United Kingdom digital TV channel that mostly airs programmes dedicated to gameshows. It is owned by British Sky Broadcasting. The channel mostly transmits repeats of programmes acquired from UK terrestrial channel archives (e.g. BBC One, BBC Two, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5) and a few from around the world (e.g. NBC (USA), Nine Network (Australia), M-Net (South Africa)), with a few original productions commissioned by the channel itself.

History[link]

The Family Channel UK[link]

The station was originally called The Family Channel. From its launch on 1 September 1993 to 31 January 1997, the channel aired a mixture of genre shows mainly including sitcoms, game shows, dramas and entertainment. The station come about when TVS was sold on 1 February 1993 to the American Company International Family Entertainment Inc. which included the ownership of MTM Enterprises. IFE subsequently launched a UK version of The Family Channel based in The Maidstone Studios and using some elements of the TVS programme archive. Flextech were a partner in the venture, taking a 39% stake in the business.^[1]

The Family Channel did produce some UK original programming (see below), but heavily relied upon content from MTM Enterprises/TVS archive and imports from the USA. It was claimed that the channel produced more original series worldwide than any other cable or satellite network.

Family Challenge Weekend[link]

In 1996, IFE sold its remaining 61% share to Flextech, giving them full ownership of the venture. On 1 February 1997, Flextech re-branded the channel to Challenge TV, focusing mainly on game shows. Between this interim period, the channel introduced a new strand called "Family Challenge Weekend".

During the week, The Family Channel continued to broadcast its wide range of programmes, but during the weekend, live in-vision presenters were introduced with chances to win prizes, with all of the programmes being quiz/gameshows. Unfortunately, the deal did not include any of the programme archive which included many TVS game shows, such as Catchphrase and All Clued Up, but the channel did continually broadcast these series until 2000.

Challenge TV[link]

On 1 February 1997, The Family Channel was re-branded as Challenge TV and mainly focuses on gameshows taken from a variety of terrestrial and digital channel archives. Among the few non-gameshows, it has aired the short-lived U.S. drama Dr. Vegas in 2005, and also the 1995 crime drama film Casino.

The channel was originally a primetime block from 17:00 to 00:30 and shared its channel slot with The Children's Channel (which closed on 3 April 1998) and TV Travel Shop until 1999, which resulted in Challenge being able to broadcast 24 hours a day. From 1997 to 1998, between 00:30 and 06:00, the channel was branded as "Family Late" which continued to broadcast series from the old Family Channel schedule.

Presentation[link]

When Challenge TV started, a strand called Prize Time was introduced. It was originally hosted by Andy Crane, Andrea Boardman and Pat Sharp. Carryl Varley and Kevin Duala joined later on in the year.

• Prize Time (1997–1999): A slight revamp took place on 27 July 1998, which included the launch of Challenge Late (broadcasting from 21:00 to 00:30), which brought the introduction of general entertainment programmes with a quiz element instead of the traditional game show it had been known for prior.
• The Games Room (1999–2000) included hosts: Kevin Duala, Sonya Saul, Carryl Varley and Lisa Rogers.
• iPlay (2000–2002) hosts included: Carryl Varley and Toby Anstis.
• On 20 May 2002, the channel was renamed again, becoming Challenge?, with all in-vision presenters being dropped, in favour of out-of-vision links, but viewers could still send in e-mails to announcers who would read them out and in addition to this, the closing credits of a programme were shown in full instead of cutting them out. The logo used in this era looked similar to a street sign. One of the idents used involved classic board games, card games, and arcade games like Asteroids and Space Invaders.
• On 30 June 2003, the "?" part of the channel name was dropped and all live announcers were also dropped, in favour of pre-recorded out-of-vision continuity links. The animated idents used in 2003/4 included a man going through a long traffic jam in a big water ball by bouncing on top of the cars, and some women revolving a table to eat some cheesecake.
• On 1 November 2004, the channel's presentation was revamped for the third time. The logo was a more simplified version of the 2002-2004 logo.
• In September 2006, the presentation was changed for the fourth time. The logo and idents used in this era were more lively than its predecessor. The presentation was created by Liquid TV.
• On 3 June 2008, the presentation was revamped for the fifth time. It was also the channel's first revamp to be broadcast in the widescreen format. The logo used in this era of the channel was a simplified version of the 2006-2008 logo. Idents used involved a yellow object (e.g. a paper plane) exploding to transform into the channel's logo. The presentation used in this era were made by Mainframe Motion Shop.
• On 13 September 2011, the channel went through a revamp for the sixth time. This is Challenge's first revamp since Sky took full control of the channel on 1 February 2011. Idents include a Rubik-style cube, a fruit machine, a tilting puzzle, and jumbled up letters. There are also idents themed upon the conveyor belt used in the classic game show, The Generation Game, and also the classic arcade game Pong. The company that produced the presentation for this current era of the channel is Cagney TV. [1]

Additional information[link]

The channel also aired some poker game shows including World Poker Tour, Celebrity Blackjack and Casino Casino, this also launched a very short-lived spin-off channel in 2006, Player (which was replaced just several months later by Bravo 2), it mainly focused on the poker-related programming that Challenge had transmitted. Challenge only aired programmes in the letterbox format (4:3), but on 3 June 2008, it switched to the widescreen format (16:9) along with all other Living TV Group channels. This was coupled with a revamped logo and a new set of idents. The channel used to have interactive features for digital cable and satellite viewers watching certain shows, enabling them to play along at home, and it used to offer many games and competitions before the start of each programme, during commercial breaks and after the end of each programme.

BSkyB takeover[link]

On 15 September 2010, it was announced that it will on an unconfirmed date close its sister channels Bravo, Bravo 2 and Channel One. Bravo, Bravo 2 and Challenge Jackpot closed on 1 January 2011 and Channel One closed a exactly a month later on 1 February 2011 and Channel One's Freeview space on the Freeview multiplex was used by Challenge to launch on the platform two days later. On 25 January 2011, it was confirmed that Total Nonstop Action Wrestling programming would start broadcasting on Challenge from 3 February 2011. It was also confirmed on the same day that the channel number for Freeview would be 46.^[2][3][4][4]

Programmes[link]

Presenters[link]

• Alex Lovell (2002)
• Andy Crane (1995–1998) - First appeared in the Family Challenge Weekend strand, and went on to present Prize Time in 1997. He also presented Say the Word that same year.
• Andrea Boardman (1997–1998) - The channel's first female presenter.
• Annabel Giles (1997)
• Bradley Walsh (2002)
• Carryl Varley (1997–2002) - Launched Challenge Late in 1998, and went on to present The Games Room in 1999 and the iPlay strand in 2000. She also presented Game Central in 2002.
• Colin Murnane (1998–2001)
• Gail McKenna (1998)
• Kevin Duala (1997–2001) - Presented both Prize Time and The Games Room.
• Kieron Elliot (2001–2002)
• Ian Collins (1997-199?)
• Lisa Rogers (1999–2001) - Presented The Games Room.
• Louise Brady (2002)
• Pat Sharp (1997)
• Paul Hendy (2002)
• Paul Ross (1997-199?)
• Question Mark (1997-199?) - Presented Prize Time. He also took part in Challenge TV's first original production, Karaoke Challenge.
• Sonya Saul (1999–2000) - Also presented The Games Room.
• Toby Anstis (2000–2002) - Presented iPlay and Game Central.
• Yiolanda Koppel (1999)
• Yvette Fielding (1997) - Contributed to weekend in-vision continuity and hosted Karaoke Challenge.

Continuity announcers

• Jane Farnham (2003–present)
• Mark Ryes (2003–2011)
• Philip Sanders (2011–present)
• Trish Bertram (1999–2000)

List of themed strands on Challenge[link]

Here is a list of the strands that Challenge has used over the years:

• Action Weekdays (2009)
• Action Zone (2002)
• Best of British (2007/8)
• Brain Buzz (2004)
• Breakfast Action (2007)
• Caught on Camera (2004)
• Cult Classics vs Modern Masters (2011)
• Cult Selection (2002/3)
• Fully Loaded (2007)
• Gameshow Gods (2004/6)
• Get Physical (2011)
• Hot Nights of Poker (2004)
• Japanese Christmas Cracker (2003)
• Japanorama (2004)
• Morning Mayhem (2009)
• Old School Saturdays (2005)
• Quiz Frenzy (2006)
• Sushi Sundays (2005)
• Teatime Takedown (2007)
• Threesomes (2006/7)

References[link]

External links[link]

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Jimmy Kimmel
Kimmel in May 2007
Birth name	James Christian Kimmel
Born	(1967-11-13) November 13, 1967 (age 44) Brooklyn, New York, USA
Medium	Radio, Television, Film, Stand up
Nationality	American
Years active	1989–present
Genres	Observational comedy, Black comedy, Satire, Deadpan
Subject(s)	American politics, Celebrities, Everyday life, Sex
Influences	David Letterman
Spouse	Gina Kimmel (1988–2002; divorced; 2 children)
Domestic partner(s)	Sarah Silverman (2002–2007; 2008–2009) Molly McNearney (2009–present)
Notable works and roles	Creator and Host of Jimmy Kimmel Live! (ABC) Creator and Co-Host of The Man Show co-host of Win Ben Stein's Money (Comedy Central) co-host of Crank Yankers
Emmy Awards
Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Game Show Host: 1999 Win Ben Stein's Money

James Christian "Jimmy" Kimmel (born November 13, 1967) is an American comedian, actor, voice artist and television host. He is the host of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, a late-night talk show that airs on ABC. Prior to that, Kimmel was best known as the co-host of Comedy Central's The Man Show and Win Ben Stein's Money. Kimmel is also a television producer, having produced shows such as Crank Yankers, Sports Show with Norm Macdonald, and The Andy Milonakis Show.

Early life[link]

Kimmel was born in the Mill Basin neighborhood of the New York City borough of Brooklyn,^[1] the eldest of three children of Joann (née Iacono), a homemaker, and James Kimmel, an IBM executive.^[2][3][4] He is Roman Catholic and, as a child, served as an altar boy.^[5][6] Kimmel is of German and Irish descent on his father’s side and Italian descent on his mother’s side.^[7] His uncle, Frank Potenza, appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! as a regular from 2003 until his death in 2011.^[8]

The family moved to Las Vegas, Nevada, when he was nine years old.^[2] He graduated from Ed W. Clark High School and then attended University of Nevada, Las Vegas for one year before attending Arizona State University for two years without completing a degree.

Career[link]

Radio career[link]

Kimmel began working in the radio industry while in high school, hosting a Sunday night interview show on UNLV's college station KUNV. While attending Arizona State University, he became a popular caller to the KZZP-FM afternoon show hosted by radio personalities Mike Elliott and Kent Voss in Phoenix, Arizona. In 1989, Kimmel landed his first paying job alongside Voss as morning drive co-host of The Me and Him Show at KZOK-FM in Seattle, Washington. Ten months later, Kimmel and Voss were fired by KZOK (for reasons unknown) and were fired again a year later at WRBQ-FM in Tampa, Florida. Kimmel went from Tampa to host his own show at KCMJ in Palm Springs, California, where Kimmel convinced a young Carson Daly to drop out of college and become his intern. After a morning stint at KRQQ In Tucson, Arizona, Kimmel landed at KROQ-FM in Los Angeles. He spent five years as "Jimmy The Sports Guy" for the Kevin and Bean morning show. During this time he met and befriended a struggling comedian named Adam Carolla.^{[citation needed]}

Comedy Central[link]

Kimmel began his television career as the comedic counterpart to Ben Stein on the game show Win Ben Stein's Money, which began airing on Comedy Central in 1997. His quick wit and loutish everyman personality were counterpoints to Stein's monotone performing style and patrician demeanor. The combination earned the pair an Emmy award for Best Game Show Host.^{[citation needed]}

In 1999, during his time with Win Ben Stein's Money, Kimmel was also co-host with Adam Carolla and co-creator (with Daniel Kellison) of Comedy Central's The Man Show. Kimmel permanently left Win Ben Stein's Money in 2001, replaced by comedian Nancy Pimental, who was eventually replaced by Kimmel's cousin Sal Iacono. The Man Show's success allowed Kimmel, Carolla and Kellison to create and produce, under the banner Jackhole Industries, Crank Yankers for Comedy Central (on which Kimmel plays the characters "Elmer Higgins", "Terrence Catheter", "The Nudge", "Karl Malone" and himself), and later The Andy Milonakis Show for MTV2. Kimmel also produced and co-wrote the feature film Windy City Heat, which won the Comedia Award for Best Film at the Montreal Comedy Festival.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Jimmy Kimmel Live!

In January 2003, Kimmel permanently left The Man Show to host his own late-night talk show, Jimmy Kimmel Live! on ABC. Jimmy Kimmel Live was briefly also broadcast on Irish digital TV channel 3e.^[9] In the April 2007 issue of Stuffmagazine.com, Kimmel was named the "biggest badass on TV". Kimmel said it was an honor but clearly a mistake.

Since the show's second season, it has not actually been broadcast live. This is due to an incident during the 2004 NBA Finals in Detroit, when Kimmel appeared on ABC's halftime show to make an on-air plug for his show. He suggested that if the Detroit Pistons defeated the Los Angeles Lakers, "they're gonna burn the city of Detroit down ... and it's not worth it." Officials with Detroit's ABC affiliate, WXYZ-TV, immediately announced that night's show would not air on the station. Hours later, ABC officials pulled that night's show from the entire network. Kimmel later apologized.^[10] The incident led ABC officials to force Kimmel to tape his show an hour before it airs in most of the country to check for offending content.^[11]

Kimmel usually ends his show with, "My apologies to Matt Damon, we ran out of time." When Matt Damon did actually appear on the show to be interviewed, he walked in and sat down only to be told just a few seconds later by Kimmel, "Sorry, but once again we are completely out of time." Damon seemed to become angry.^{[citation needed]}

In February 2008 Kimmel showed a mock music video with a panoply of stars called, "I'm Fucking Ben Affleck",^[12] as "revenge" after his then-girlfriend Sarah Silverman and Matt Damon recorded a similar video, "I'm Fucking Matt Damon". Silverman's video originally aired on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, and became an "instant YouTube sensation."^[13] Kimmel's "revenge" video featured himself, Ben Affleck, and a large lineup of stars, particularly in scenes spoofing the 1985 "We Are the World" video: Brad Pitt, Don Cheadle, Cameron Diaz, Robin Williams, Harrison Ford, Dominic Monaghan, Benji Madden and Joel Madden from Good Charlotte, Lance Bass, Macy Gray, Josh Groban, Huey Lewis, Perry Farrell, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Pete Wentz, Meat Loaf, Rebecca Romijn, Christina Applegate, Dom Joly, Mike Shinoda, Lauren Conrad, and Joan Jett, among others. After this Jimmy's sidekick, Guillermo, appeared in a spoof of The Bourne Ultimatum, which starred Damon. He was then chased down by Damon as Matt cursed about Kimmel being behind all this. Guillermo also stopped Damon on the red carpet one time and before he could finish the interview he said, "Sorry we are out of time." The most recent encounter was titled "The Handsome Men's Club" which featured Kimmel, along with the "Handsome Men", who were: Matthew McConaughey, Rob Lowe, Lenny Kravitz, Patrick Dempsey, Sting, Keith Urban, John Krasinski, Ethan Hawke, Josh Hartnett, Tony Romo, Ted Danson, Taye Diggs, Gilles Marini, and Ben Affleck, speaking about being handsome and all the jobs that come with it. At the end of the skit Kimmel has a door slammed in his face by none other than Matt Damon, stating that they had run out of time and then Damon continues with a sinister laugh. Jennifer Garner also makes a surprise appearance.

As a tradition, celebrities voted off Dancing with the Stars appear on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, causing Kimmel to describe himself as "the three-headed dog the stars must pass on their way to No-Dancing Hell".^[14] In the 2008 season of his show, Kimmel started another tradition of ceremonially burning the dancers' shoes after they were voted off DWTS.^{[citation needed]}

Other television work[link]

In Spring 1996, Kimmel appeared as "Jimmy the Fox Guy" in promos on the Fox network.

Kimmel's other television work included being the on-air football prognosticator for Fox NFL Sunday for four years. He has had numerous appearances on other talk shows including, but not limited to, Live with Regis and Kelly, The Howard Stern Show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and The Late Show with David Letterman. Kimmel has appeared on The Late Show five times, most recently in 2010. Kimmel served as roastmaster for the New York Friars' Club Roast of Hugh Hefner and Comedy Central Roasts of Pamela Anderson. He has appeared on ABC's Dancing with the Stars, along with his parking lot security guard Guillermo.

In August 2006, ABC announced that Jimmy Kimmel would be the host of their new game show Set for Life.^[15] The show debuted on July 20, 2007. On April 6, 2007, Kimmel filled in for Larry King on Larry King Live. That particular show was about the paparazzi and Kimmel reproached Emily Gould, an editor from Gawker.com, about the web site's alleged stalking of celebrities. On July 8, 2007, Kimmel managed the National League in the 2007 Taco Bell All-Star Legends and Celebrity Softball Game in San Francisco. He played in the game in 2004 and 2006 (Houston and Pittsburgh). On July 11, 2007, Kimmel along with basketball player LeBron James, hosted the 2007 ESPY Awards. The show aired on ESPN on July 15, 2007. Kimmel hosted the American Music Awards on ABC four times, in 2004, 2006, 2007, and 2008.

Kimmel guest hosted Live with Regis and Kelly during the week of October 22, 2007 – October 26, 2007, commuting every day between New York and Los Angeles. In the process, he broke the Guinness Book of World Records for the longest distance (22,406 miles (36,059 km)) travelled in one work week.^[16]

Kimmel has performed in several animated films, often voicing dogs. His voice appeared in Garfield and Road Trip, and he portrayed Death's Dog in the Family Guy episode "Mr. Saturday Knight"; Family Guy creator Seth McFarlane later presented Kimmel with a figurine of his character on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. Kimmel also did voice work for Robot Chicken. Kimmel's cousin "Sal" (Sal Iacono) has accepted and won a wrestling match with WWE superstar Santino Marella. On January 14, 2010, in the midst of the 2010 Tonight Show host and time slot conflict, Kimmel was the special guest of Jay Leno on The Jay Leno Show's "10 at 10" segment. Kimmel derided Leno in front of a live studio audience for taking back the 11:35 pm time slot from Conan O'Brien, and repeatedly insulted Leno. He ended the segment with a plea that Leno "leave our shows alone," as Kimmel and O'Brien had "kids" while Leno only had "cars".^[17]

Kimmel also made a brief appearance in the TV commercial "There's A Soldier In All Of Us" promoting the 2010 video game Call of Duty: Black Ops, along with Kobe Bryant. He is seen taking cover from bullets, then firing an RPG-7 with the words PROUD N00b on it, with the aftershock from the weapon sending him tumbling backwards.

He has been asked to host the 64th Primetime Emmy Awards which will air on September 23, 2012, marking his first time hosting the event.^[18]

Kimmel hosted the White House Correspondents' Dinner in Washington, D.C. on April 28, 2012.

Personal life[link]

Kimmel and his then girlfriend, Gina, married in June 1988. They have two children, Katie (born 1991) and Kevin (born 1993). The marriage ended in separation in early 2002. Kimmel then dated comedian Sarah Silverman for five years, splitting with her in March 2009.^[19] He started dating current girlfriend, Molly McNearney, in October 2009. McNearney is also a co-head writer for Jimmy Kimmel Live.^[20]

Kimmel plays the bass clarinet. He got a chance to showcase his talent during a July 20, 2008, concert in Costa Mesa, California, featuring the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, when he took the stage and played bass clarinet on their hit song "The Impression That I Get."^[21]

Kimmel has spoken publicly of being a narcoleptic.^[22]

Kimmel co-founded the annual LA Feast of San Gennaro,^[23] which celebrates Italian culture through entertainment, music and cuisine. The festival also honors outstanding members of the Los Angeles community and raises funds to aid needy children and families in the city. He hosted Los Angeles' eighth annual feast of San Gennaro from September 28 to 30, 2009.^[24] Kimmel served as Master of Ceremonies for the National Italian American Foundation's 34th Anniversary Gala in Washington, D.C., on October 24, 2009.

Awards[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

This article's use of external links may not follow Wikipedia's policies or guidelines. Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links, and converting useful links where appropriate into footnote references. (October 2011)

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