GOOD TV

[Whyperion]

Yeah , there is a TimeTeam discussion somewhere on the net re the production company's changes to format and content , the changes could have worked well in bringing the show to a wider audience ( so why is it Stuck on More4 and not C4 in that instance ? )

[Nolic]

There was an article about TT in one of the on line papers a couple of weeks ago.

Mick Aston will not be doing any more series as he objects to them loosing archaeologists in favour of presenters. Stewart Ainsworth and Helen Geake are to appear less often which is a real pity as Stewart is often the one who comes up with the goods and Helen is a real specialist. Apparently the new lady presenter has also said that she's quitting because of the furore.

I've found the article. Nolic

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/ar ... -Team.html

[Stanley]

Thanks for that Comrade. I knew nothing about the furore but agree with Mick Aston. The line that grabbed me was "Not everyone takes change happily.", too right, especially if you are a recognised authority and see the programme being dumbed down. TT is not the programme it was and it may be time for producers to look at their values. If it's eye candy and mass appeal they will lose me. All presenters gradually become a caricature of themselves. They forget that the star of the show is the the excavation not the interpreter or a close up of Phil's hat.

[Stanley]

Watched Time Team last night and apart from my usual beef about presenter syndrome what struck me was that Alex Langland didn't take his trade mark flat cap off when he and the lady with the teeth did their bit to camera in a chapel with a de Vere monument. Only two shots of Phil's hat this week, are standards slipping? (I must get out more....)

[PanBiker]

Horizon - Solar Storms - The Threat to Planet Earth.

Fascinating, informative, beautiful imagery and scary with the potential. for major damage and disruption to electrical based systems. Nice to know that the Space Weather centre is looking after us, well at least able to make a prediction.

[Stanley]

I watched the Stealth Technology programme instead. Horizon will be repeated on BBC4 I suspect. Turned out to be a puff for QinetiQ and the disaster of the eight Chinooks.
Dan Snow is another one with presenter syndrome, too many dashing profiles of Young Dan being intrepid. I've been watching the reruns of his progs on the Navy. He talked about the 'hail of lead' smashing into the French ships from a naval broadside. Pity the researchers didn't pick up the fact it was cast iron. Picky I know but these mistakes irritate me......

[Nolic]

Watched a recorded Ch 4 documentary last night about the real war horses in WW1. Presented by a vet with footage from old interviews of former cavalry conscripts it was a good informative and well presented programme. It also followed the exploits of Gen. Jack Seeley who'e horse "Warrior" named the horse the Germans could not kill.
Interesting snippet despite the thousands of horses that were killed, died from disease or cold there was a team of artillery "blacks" that started the war as a team and saw it to the end as a team with no casualties. They were given the honour of pulling the funeral bier of the unknown soldier to Westminster Abbey for burial in 1920. Nolic

[Stanley]

I watched the same programme Comrade. Good clear programme that rang true all the way through. Tragic the way we exploited those poor animals. But then the whole bloody war was tragic....

[Bruff]

Watched that 'White Heat' on BBC2 last night, a sweeping drama following the lives of six flatmates from the 60s to the present day. Told in flashback - they are brought together at the funeral of one (we don't know who this is) in the present. Great cast, really well-acted - Brierfield lad Lee Ingleby standing out. Should be good and we'll see if it can match the similarly premised, and one of my favourite BBC dramas, 'Our Friends in the North' of some years back.

Followed by a first TV vehicle for Sarah Millican, demure looking, bespectacled South Shields comic. She's a hoot. Looks can be deceptive - the gentlest comedy suddenly punctuated by the filthiest. Brilliant. LOL, as I think it goes these days....

Richard Broughton

[Nolic]

Anyone else watch Mrs Brown's Boys on BBC 1 ? Almost surreal with plenty of bad language and a recognition that there is an audience out front and camera's recording. Brendan O'Carroll is brilliant as the Dublin matriarch and the rest of the cast are sometimes surprised by his antics. One of the few programmes that has both Cath and myself in hysterics. Worth a watch if you can stand the language. Nolic

[Stanley]

I think I may be getting set in my ways. Watched a recording of 'Murphy's War and the New Tricks repeat. Perhaps I should get more adventurous in my viewing? I like Millican though......

[Stanley]

Watched Time Team on Shakespeare's house. I get the feeling this series is running down and losing it's way. Cost-cutting I suppose because there are plenty of sites to do a good programme on. Basically last night was Tony Robinson and Phil riding on the back of another excavation. The lady with the teeth was there as well asking bleeding obvious questions. Yes, you've guessed it, I am annoyed by the way TV has dumbed down one of the best concepts of recent years.

[Cathy]

We have a new series called 'The Great Barrier Reef (All New)', if it comes to your tele I urge you to watch it.
It is truly spectacular and awesome to watch.

[Stanley]

Cathy, I've seen some of them. As you say, good TV and spectacular images.
I usually watch Flog It while I have my teatime butty. Knowing what I do about auctions I find it quite strange that so many of the items are sold at the reserve price.

[Whyperion]

But a few are not , also auctioneers will also create phantom bids up to /near the reserve to see how far the real bidder will go, I dont think there is anything wrong with that as long as fact that there is a reserve indicated and the assumption is the reserve is somewhere around (below )the lower estimate.

[Stanley]

Whippy, I've spent enough time in auctions to know about 'pulling bids off the wall' and other cunning wheezes. I still think some of the bidding is iffy and you're wrong in thinking it's all right. It's illegal, there are laws governing how auctions are conducted and they are taken very seriously.

[Whyperion]

I get more worried about mis-descriptions. If I am bidding I know my limit and stick to it , its only when the stuff is not really of merchantable quality. I once bought a load of china - ( unseen ) , described as mostly victorian , etc- it was in fact mostly QEII's silver jubilee commenmeratives and a pile of cheapo out of china last week when it turned up. Also bid increments often rise too steep when items are lotted together - or on there own , £70 , £80 , Or Worse £60/£80 when I know the market price is actually £75 . Some of the TV auctioneers seem to be more flexible on increments near the estimates than those in reality. Of course putting stuff into auction - lotting fee , minimum commission fee , insurance , payment after three months ( if at all VAT ) , and one nearly makes nothing at all.

[Stanley]

Most of the general auctions we see and I think this applies to online auctions as well, are run on what used to be called 'farm sale conditions'. Under this system responsibility and ownership of the lot sold transfers on the fall of the hammer. Here's an exerpt from me memoirs about how this could go wrong.

Our main Scottish markets were Lanark and Ayr. Lanark was the biggest market in south west Scotland. It attracted the dealers from England and those from Aberdeen and Inverness as well. There was great competition for the cattle and usually a good trade. This attracted good cattle and therefore ensured continued interest by the dealers. I’ve already described how Lanark conformed to the usual system of cattle being the responsibility of the vendor until vetted and approved by the buyer but this wasn’t always the case. At one time Lanark used to operate under what is known as ‘farm sale’ conditions. Under this system ownership is transferred on the fall of the auctioneer’s hammer, there are no comebacks even if the beast is found to be faulty.

John Harrison’s Uncle Ralph had a big farm at Dumfries called Fontainebleau and bought a lot of cattle in Lanark. At one period he found he was getting caught with one or two ‘three wheelers’ a week and had no comeback against the vendors because of the terms of sale. He and other dealers had been complaining to the directors of the market for many months but nothing was done about it. Uncle Ralph decided to take his own remedy. At that time he had a man called John McPhail buying cattle for him in the Dumfries area and he instructed him to buy all the three teated cattle he could get. These were all entered for sale at Lanark and sold. Uncle Ralph then went in the office and told the directors that he had changed his mind about the sale conditions and that Lanark must be the best market in Scotland, he had just sold a load of incorrect cattle and got away with it. He would fetch some more the following week! The rules changed within a fortnight and ‘farm sale’ conditions were a thing of the past.

One thing you should never do is buy 'sight unseen' unless you have very good evidence the lot is as described, you know the dealer and have a way out if there is anything wrong.

[Stanley]

Watched Diarmaid MacCulloch's new series 'How God made the English' last night. A good man and an interesting thesis. Remember his 'History of Christianity'? His presenting style is fresh and unassuming, I hope he can keep it that way. Well worth watching.

[Tizer]

Watched Time Team on Shakespeare's house. I get the feeling this series is running down and losing it's way. Cost-cutting I suppose because there are plenty of sites to do a good programme on. Basically last night was Tony Robinson and Phil riding on the back of another excavation. The lady with the teeth was there as well asking bleeding obvious questions. Yes, you've guessed it, I am annoyed by the way TV has dumbed down one of the best concepts of recent years.

Mick Aston has left because of the dumbing down and now his glamour replacement Mary-Ann Ochota has left too:
http://www.thisissomerset.co.uk/Profess ... story.html

[Sue]

There is a good programme about the real Venice and its daily life. I think it is called Venice24/7 Its on BBC 4 , I think wednesday night. about 8.00 or 9.00pm. We have been watching it in France and therfore lose track of UK time.

[Stanley]

Sue, I've been watching and enjoying it.
Tiz, last nights TT was particularly bad. Too much staged 'joshing' in the pub and not enough archaeology. I have little doubt that the lady with the teeth is being directed badly and fed with 'bleeding obvious' lines. She may be bright but she's not independent enough. Perhaps a sign of insecurity and inexperience.

[Stanley]

Watched the third programme on the London Tube. Apart from the scale of the effort needed to keep it going, what struck me was the fact that we have so modified human behaviour that travellers are prepared to put up with conditions that would not be allowed if it was animals they were moving. Quite depressing to watch the lemming-like behaviour that is the norm on the system. Thank God I never had to accept those conditions!
(And we worry about traffic flows in Barlick...)

[Sue]

We have watched the first two. I was appalled by the bad behaviour of the travellers on the system

[Whyperion]

The Tube . like many other docu-soaps focuses on the excesses , ( late night on certain routes , sporting events , 'problem' areas - NW London , East London etc ). Most users are normal and other than the crush hour times its nearly civilised to use. What is wanted by most users is not a perfect system , but good , honest and reasonable information when things go wrong with unexpected delays. Mind you try WALKING down Regent St/Oxford St and around Oxford Circus at street level and the whole thing is fairly chaotic as well. (Lost Japanese and American Tourists for a start ).

Speaking of Japanese/ Chinese , I was in Leeds on Tuesday Lunchtime , one coach load of Camera holding Chinese I think alighted near the market and all walked off towards Corn Exchange , about 20 mins later all walked back and onto coach, I have no idea what they were photographing, though I note the Corn Exchange seems to have a new glass roof at the rear of it.