minor TV observations

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thats not as bad as the 'Black Like Beckham' thing or whatever it was called on last week (i think it was C4 as well) - basically just a 'docu' about how David Beckham's love of bling and Tupac and wearing silly clothes/hair means he is the prime merchant of culture convergence between black, white and asian youths who all idolise him. there may be a valid point behind that but they didnt present it in that good a way...

― stevem (blueski), Thursday, 8 May 2003 12:58 (twenty years ago) link

At least it wasn't called "Black It Like Beckham."

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 8 May 2003 14:08 (twenty years ago) link

So, did anybody watch the Neil Hamburger thing? I forgot.

― Mr. Diamond (diamond), Thursday, 8 May 2003 14:49 (twenty years ago) link

'Black Up Like Beckham' could be the worst TV show ever, in which David Beckham puts on blackface and sings Camptown Races and Mammy.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Thursday, 8 May 2003 20:56 (twenty years ago) link

In the Miss Dog Beauty Pageant, the contestant from Arizona was named Lulu! Is Ally's mom the owner?

― Nicole (Nicole), Thursday, 8 May 2003 23:41 (twenty years ago) link

Has there ever been a sitcom to rival The Good Life?

― Matt (Matt), Friday, 9 May 2003 12:24 (twenty years ago) link

Matt, I was pondering the very same thing last night.

― Nathan W (Nathan Webb), Friday, 9 May 2003 13:14 (twenty years ago) link

The Lousy Life - a sitcom about Tom and Barabara Lousy who have hippy parents but decided to be accountants. Unfortunately its plots were too reminiscent of Terry and June for it to ever really take off.

― Pete (Pete), Friday, 9 May 2003 13:21 (twenty years ago) link

I am currently watching 'The World's First Predators', a program about the very interesting Cambrian explosion of complex lifeforms. It's madly sensationalised and full of dodgy assertions, and its main focus is how humanity was to emerge victorious. A few moments ago, there was the line "The vertebrates were barely hanging on by the skin of the teeth they didn't even have yet." I felt I had to report this.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Sunday, 11 May 2003 17:32 (twenty years ago) link

Official: evolution has finished - "...next came the dinosaurs, and finally, us." We are the end of evolution. Who knew?

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Sunday, 11 May 2003 17:55 (twenty years ago) link

Was this the thing on Five with the trailers "when weird creatures walked the earth"? That somehow suggested that it may be a touch dumbed-down.

― ailsa (ailsa), Sunday, 11 May 2003 18:00 (twenty years ago) link

Apparently Adam Faith's last words were "God Channel 5 is shit!"

― Andrew L (Andrew L), Sunday, 11 May 2003 18:08 (twenty years ago) link

Actually, it's C4 that gets worse by the day - that AWFUL Heather Mills docuslag was a new low

― Andrew L (Andrew L), Sunday, 11 May 2003 18:10 (twenty years ago) link

That's the one, Ailsa.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Sunday, 11 May 2003 19:00 (twenty years ago) link

I just read an interview with Adam Faith's bit on the side where she said that his last words were "Channel 5 is shit" - apparently she was trying to distract his attention from a late-night film and he passed the aforementioned comment then had a heart attack.

Sadly can't find this article on-line anywhere.

― ailsa (ailsa), Sunday, 11 May 2003 19:41 (twenty years ago) link

I saw the adverts for the Heather Mills doc and it looked like just what you say it turned out to be, an ex-husband and tabloid hacks pointlessly sticking the boot in for no merited reason.

Didn't have the energy to watch such obvious rubbish. That it was Ch4 putting this out perhaps doesn't surprise me but man, they need to sort themselves out.

― mms (mms), Monday, 12 May 2003 10:21 (twenty years ago) link

I thought for a minute that Fulham Ladies player Farah Williams used to be in Destiny's Child, but then realised that (1) no-one else had picked up on it and (2) I was just crossing current Destiny's Child member Michelle Williams and Destiny's Child ex-member Farrah Franklin.

Duh.

― Nick H, Monday, 12 May 2003 17:49 (twenty years ago) link

did anyone actually have the nerve to watch C4's 100 Worst Britons? everyone I've spoken to seems to think it is a new low for them. obviously you couldn't vote for anyone "dead or in prison". oh no, we can't have a serious assertion that Harold Shipman might be a rather worse person than Jordan (number two, would you believe) messing up our "light" "hearted" "clip" "rundown" "show", can we?

― robin carmody (robin carmody), Monday, 12 May 2003 18:49 (twenty years ago) link

Maybe people were voting for Michael Jordan?

― Nicole (Nicole), Monday, 12 May 2003 18:50 (twenty years ago) link

apart from anything else, though, the whole idea of "100 Worst Britons" is soul-destroying, the sort of thing to make you lose faith in humanity. yes, most of us have people we hate. but two and a half hours, or however fucking long it was, of C4 devoted to it?

― robin carmody (robin carmody), Monday, 12 May 2003 18:51 (twenty years ago) link

maybe they were, Nicole - they being the same people who answered "Blue Suede Moon" when asked for a song with "blue" in the title ...

actually, I barely even know who the Jordan who is apparently The Second Worst Briton After Tony Blair Even Though He Won Two Landslides *is*. says it all, I guess.

― robin carmody (robin carmody), Monday, 12 May 2003 18:52 (twenty years ago) link

woo HAH - Lynda Block is coming back to Dream Team (she basically IS the show). she has a rather swish haircut for somebody who's just spent a year in prison

am also looking forward to series 2 of the shield (which is the best thing EVAH). I noticed it last night that it's already showing on cable but as I don't know how far into the series it is I'm going to have to wait another month for it to come back on Five

― j0e (j0e), Tuesday, 13 May 2003 10:05 (twenty years ago) link

Joe, what do you think the bad news is though?

The siege episode the other week was the best hour of tv I've seen all year so far, sheer genius.

Linda Block was in the really quite good Murphy's Law last night, with a very different hairdo at the end of it and an awful cockernee accent.

― chris (chris), Tuesday, 13 May 2003 10:09 (twenty years ago) link

I dunno chris. I mean I'm *sure* Harchester won't go down. But then what other bad news could there be apart from having points deducted and thus instant relegation?

The siege episode was fantastic. But oh, Jamie Parker, how I'll miss you. I hope this means that Tash will fuck off, I'm sick of her moaning and frosted pink eyeshadow

― j0e (j0e), Tuesday, 13 May 2003 10:13 (twenty years ago) link

They can't get relegated (I spent most of yesterday hypothesising about this on e-mail), It'd do terrible things for the continuity of the show and also for the coverage that they use.

I reckon it's that they're going to be fined so much that Phil will be bankrupt, hence the return of Linda. Phil and his secretary ride off into the sunset.

― chris (chris), Tuesday, 13 May 2003 10:15 (twenty years ago) link

I auditioned Linda Block! I read the male lines and she read the female at the casting session. She wasn't the best, or the cutest, but she was easily the most glam.

― Mark C (Mark C), Tuesday, 13 May 2003 10:19 (twenty years ago) link

oh no, we can't have a serious assertion that Harold Shipman might be a rather worse person than Jordan (number two, would you believe) messing up our "light" "hearted" "clip" "rundown" "show", can we?

Come off it Robin. I can't imagine that the relatives of Shipman's victims would really want to turn on to find him slotted in between Jordan and Mick Hucknall. It had to be done.

― N. (nickdastoor), Tuesday, 13 May 2003 10:22 (twenty years ago) link

I agree on the relegation thing, and think it'll be like REAL PROPER FOOTBALL. If a team goes down from the Prem, it loses some support - as will Harchester meaning lower ratings. People are strange enough for this to happen.

And ooh hooray, no more Nikki Peggs. But then how will Lynda Block get out of prison? (no ladder in her tights jokes please). Maybe she'll offer to help catch Patrick Doyle in return for her release or something stupid and random like that

By the way, I love the way that nobody in the show refers to her as Lynda or Ms Block but ALWAYS Lynda Block. In the wedding scene at the beginning of the series I wa sure the vicar was going to say "Do you, Lynda Block"

― j0e (j0e), Tuesday, 13 May 2003 10:23 (twenty years ago) link

Mark, that is the best claim to fame EVAH. I salute you.

― j0e (j0e), Tuesday, 13 May 2003 10:23 (twenty years ago) link

My minor tv observation is that I stumbled across '15 Storeys High' on BBC2 last Thursday (promoting BBC3's output I think) and it is great. I am a longstanding admirer of Sean Lock, and this may be his best work yet.

― Jerry the Nipper (Jerrynipper), Tuesday, 13 May 2003 10:32 (twenty years ago) link

If I see that Evian advert with the adults singing Queen songs with kids voices again I will scream. I hope the woman who bumps her hip against the photocopier puts it out and ends up with a GAMMY LEGG for the rest of her career. Hobag. And as for the old mang in the lift. And the runner. GRRR I HATE THEM ALL I AM OFF FOR LUNCH.

― Sarah (starry), Tuesday, 13 May 2003 10:34 (twenty years ago) link

j0e what is with your obsession with Lynda Block? does your mother know?

― stevem (blueski), Tuesday, 13 May 2003 10:46 (twenty years ago) link

it's not an obsession. I just think she's ace

lyndablocklyndablocklyndablocklyndablocklyndablocklyndablocklyndablocklyndablocklyndablocklyndablocklyndablocklyndablocklyndablocklyndablocklyndablocklyndablocklyndablocklyndablocklyndablock

― j0e (j0e), Tuesday, 13 May 2003 10:51 (twenty years ago) link

JtN i think that was a R4 series originally

― Snowy Mann (rdmanston), Tuesday, 13 May 2003 12:04 (twenty years ago) link

Yes, you are right Snowy. But I think it's even better with pictures (eg last week's episode's WOMBLE MOUNTAIN).

― Jerry the Nipper (Jerrynipper), Tuesday, 13 May 2003 12:07 (twenty years ago) link

ok thats cracked me up

― Snowy Mann (rdmanston), Tuesday, 13 May 2003 12:48 (twenty years ago) link

s4c makes me want to take crack

― mark s (mark s), Tuesday, 13 May 2003 19:30 (twenty years ago) link

N. - I guess you're right but then I am SICK of the whole C4 "rundown" format for about 43293 reasons

― robin carmody (robin carmody), Wednesday, 14 May 2003 01:52 (twenty years ago) link

The gridlock disaster programme on BBC2 last night was scarily plausible on a lot of fronts, but spot the obvious mistake:

When are you ever going to get a mid-season friendly international on a Friday evening, particularly on the last weekend before Christmas? (There are always league fixtures that weekend.)

― James Ball (James Ball), Wednesday, 14 May 2003 07:56 (twenty years ago) link

robin i think you should list them then we can all vote on their order of importance

― Snowy Mann (rdmanston), Wednesday, 14 May 2003 07:58 (twenty years ago) link

and get celebrities to add obvious comment

― j0e (j0e), Wednesday, 14 May 2003 08:57 (twenty years ago) link

I like the way snooker players take out chalk from their pocket. I also like the way they put it back in. Very camp & owing to position of pockets in waistcoat or whatever the fuck they wear. I impose this fetish on TV thread, as snooker exists only on TV (except I once lived next door to pro snookerist Murdo McLeod, who was beaten on telly a couple of times).

― Eyeball Kicks (Eyeball Kicks), Thursday, 15 May 2003 23:09 (twenty years ago) link

jOe, have y0u seen the trailer for Sunday's dream team?

get yr hankie ready!

― chris (chris), Friday, 16 May 2003 07:25 (twenty years ago) link

ok I saw an episode of '15 Storeys High' on BBC2 last night and I'd like to second JtN's recommendation
biblical-scripture-obsessed rat exterminator = classic

(no womble mountain in it unfortunately)

― Snowy Mann (rdmanston), Friday, 16 May 2003 08:37 (twenty years ago) link

yeh that 15 Storeys thing was quite funny - it had Peter Serafinociwicz (sp?) in it which helps

― stevem (blueski), Friday, 16 May 2003 08:50 (twenty years ago) link

one month passes...

Hooray! They were a bit stumped on Charmed tonight until they decided to reverse the polarity! Always my favourite tactic in SF, but you don't get it in fantasy so often.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Saturday, 28 June 2003 18:50 (twenty years ago) link

Get Stuffed is the best thing on TV
http://www.getstuffed.info/

― ssean, Saturday, 28 June 2003 20:04 (twenty years ago) link

haha, the guy who sets up the tasks/challenges on Big Brother looks very like Jel! Why are Poison records not involved in the tasks, Jel?

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Friday, 4 July 2003 16:13 (twenty years ago) link

Yeah, I totally thought it *was* Jel for a full thirty seconds.

― Cozen (Cozen), Friday, 4 July 2003 16:31 (twenty years ago) link

All the female characters on Friends fit "politically incorrect" stereotypes yet, as far as I know, it's never been bashed specifically for this. One of the women is a chef and a neat-freak (she likes to cook and clean); one of them works at Bloomingdale's (she likes to shop) and one of them is just a ditzy blonde. That's my minor TV observation.

― jewelly (jewelly), Saturday, 5 July 2003 04:54 (twenty years ago) link

Skipping 26 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

It is the greatest UK comedy ever made.

― N. (nickdastoor), Tuesday, 8 July 2003 11:35 (twenty years ago) link

the smiths questions included 'what label were they on?', 'what label were they on in america' and 'who was their drummer?'

this = dumbing down.

on a different note, paxman's chiding of the contestants when they couldn't do the binary arithmatic on university challenge last week was funny. after about 5 seconds he'd start hurrying them up whilst they were busy adding 2^7, 2^6 and 2^1 and dividing it by 2^3 plus 2^1.

andy

― koogs (koogs), Tuesday, 8 July 2003 19:10 (twenty years ago) link

'what label were they on?', 'what label were they on in america' and 'who was their drummer?'
this = dumbing down.

its so dumbed down, rickshaws are running over it

― stevem (blueski), Tuesday, 8 July 2003 19:16 (twenty years ago) link

Tell me there were some hard ones too - that's just ridiculous. Would we be saying the same thing about questions on 'The Cotton Trade 1750-1900' if that was what we'd misspent our youth on, I wonder. Maybe they've always been easy.

― N. (nickdastoor), Tuesday, 8 July 2003 21:26 (twenty years ago) link

I didn't think the Smiths questions were dumbed down at all - but then, I only got one of them.

In the final Magnus Magnusson series, one of the specialist subject was the Discworld novels; I knew more of the answers than the contestant did. But I wouldn't try to argue that they were asking easy questions, just because I knew what the answers were.

― caitlin (caitlin), Wednesday, 9 July 2003 10:32 (twenty years ago) link

all questions are easy if you know the answers

― mark s (mark s), Wednesday, 9 July 2003 10:43 (twenty years ago) link

Well, exactly. If you asked the Average Telly Viewer, they'd probably have as little clue what record label the Smiths were on as, say, any of the questions on Roman history or the British car industry that were on the same show.

― caitlin (caitlin), Wednesday, 9 July 2003 10:49 (twenty years ago) link

That's what I was saying.

― N. (nickdastoor), Wednesday, 9 July 2003 10:54 (twenty years ago) link

And more eloquently, too.

― caitlin (caitlin), Wednesday, 9 July 2003 10:56 (twenty years ago) link

epistemology in a nutshell

― Snowy Mann (rdmanston), Wednesday, 9 July 2003 12:15 (twenty years ago) link

B-but surely if someone is specialising in knowing stuff about the Smiths, then "who is their drummer?" is a piss-easy question.

― ailsa (ailsa), Wednesday, 9 July 2003 16:17 (twenty years ago) link

me:
adding 2^7, 2^6 and 2^1 and dividing it by 2^3 plus 2^1

this was wrong. obviously. the first 2^1 should be 2^3 (200 / 10 = 20)

sorry.

/me hangs head

andy

― koogs (koogs), Thursday, 10 July 2003 18:01 (twenty years ago) link

three weeks pass...

David Cross and Bob Odenkirk need to be beaten with sticks.

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Tuesday, 5 August 2003 12:01 (twenty years ago) link

Your first episode of Bo Selecta is always the best.

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Tuesday, 5 August 2003 12:11 (twenty years ago) link

very true!

― stevem (blueski), Tuesday, 5 August 2003 12:17 (twenty years ago) link

I was recently watching that episode of the Simpsons where the school is cutting expenses, and they have Groundskeeper Willie teaching French.

"Bonjurrrr, yeh Cheese-eatin' Surrender Monkeys"

I occasionally forget that all good things come from the Simpsons. I'm sorry.

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Tuesday, 12 August 2003 23:33 (twenty years ago) link

That girl drinking a diet coke on a train. She starts seeing suggestive lyrics in the signs around her, she's suddenly "on the pull"... Then when the fella reading a newspaper opposite her puts his paper down he's a spotty teen with a loud shirt. Calamity! She turns to one side and raises her eyebrows in a "what was I thinking" sort of way.

Here's news: YOU'RE NO OIL PAINTING YOURSELF, LOVE.

― Alan (Alan), Wednesday, 13 August 2003 07:40 (twenty years ago) link

Yes she looks like Cherie Blair.

― j0e (j0e), Wednesday, 13 August 2003 08:26 (twenty years ago) link

two months pass...

christmas adverts? already? pah

usually they wait until last week of october but both some air freshener thing and boots have already started.

andy

― koogs (koogs), Thursday, 16 October 2003 16:50 (twenty years ago) link

I have yet to see a Christmas TV ad, thankfully. Or maybe I just watch programs that wouldn't highlight Christmas ads. I have seen Halloween ads, which is more sensible and logical.

Magical New TV Show I Think As Many People As Possible Should Be Watching: ABC's "Threat Matrix". It's highly engaging and not one of those serial-type series that one would be totally lost over if one were to suddenly start watching it. Each hour-long episode highlights one complete story, and not every episode ends neatly or nicely. I'm really hoping the ratings for this show improve so it won't get cancelled.

― Many Coloured Halo (Dee the Lurker), Friday, 17 October 2003 01:25 (twenty years ago) link

They've started showing a condom ad on TV here. I could be wrong but I thought they avoided doing this (in prime time, certainly). Anyway it's one of those fnarr fnarr overtly suggestive ads - woman sees statue of David's wang and goes "hmmm", man sees woman in shop window undoing mannequin's fly and goes "hmmm", geez they might as well have gone all Percy's Progress and had trains going into tunnels, it was that silly.

― Trayce (trayce), Friday, 17 October 2003 02:52 (twenty years ago) link

one year passes...

reviving martin's thread to alert him to the 'Roni Size's Bristol' thing that's currently showing on bbc3 (follow up to 'bloke from viz talks about newcastle').

― koogs (koogs), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 10:48 (eighteen years ago) link

is big brother officially an hour long now, on c4? it used to be 30min.

― N_RQ, Wednesday, 13 July 2005 10:55 (eighteen years ago) link

has been 45 or 50 this series, occasionally 65 on weeknights.

― koogs (koogs), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 11:07 (eighteen years ago) link

"The Who" was one of the specialist questions on Mastermind, 2 days ago.

I managed 2 get more than mr expert..

― mark grout (mark grout), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 11:07 (eighteen years ago) link

Has anyone else seen the ad on BBC for CBeebies interactive telly stuff? Is it just me, or does the mother on that ad look like the girl from the Chemical Brothers' "Setting Sun" video?

― accentmonkey (accentmonkey), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 15:35 (eighteen years ago) link

Thanks, Andy - I didn't see it, though. There was something like a 'Tricky's Bristol' on some years back, I remember.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 17:06 (eighteen years ago) link

it's on again, i think, based on the 4 repeats of the newcastel one (not before friday though) and i still have it on the tivo.

― koogs (koogs), Thursday, 14 July 2005 06:55 (eighteen years ago) link

Hah! Wait until later in the series when someone is doing "The Simpsons" as their specialist subject (cartoons presumably being way dumber than music in the eyes of the Mail-reading Middle-Englanders).

Amusingly, on a Mastermind-like show here called the Einstein Factor someones specialist topic was Futurama =) I missed it though, came in just as they were done. Damn.

― Trayce (trayce), Thursday, 14 July 2005 08:20 (eighteen years ago) link

There was something like a 'Tricky's Bristol' on some years back, I remember.

'Naked & Famous' may be what you're thinking of. It's included as an extra in the Tricky: A Ruff Guide DVD (available from all good Fopps for about £7).

― Onimo (GerryNemo), Thursday, 14 July 2005 08:50 (eighteen years ago) link

Nono, there were "stars guides to their towns", I remember it as well. It must be five years or so ago, though.

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Thursday, 14 July 2005 09:15 (eighteen years ago) link

six years pass...

8 years ago:
> Magical New TV Show I Think As Many People As Possible Should Be Watching: ABC's "Threat Matrix"

??? don't think this ever made it to england. no dvds on amazon either (.co.uk or .com)

― koogs, Thursday, 3 May 2012 11:46 (eleven years ago) link

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