Be Excellent To Each Other

Before I commit to watching this, does the leader wear horrendous white trainers throughout and do they go over to Ireland and change their theme tune to suit?

No. Sorry if that's a deal-breaker for you.

I got to a point in that and there was so little consequence for any action they took, causing the bodycount to be so ridiculous, I gave up.

I thought this was the US TV thread for a moment and you were talking about Friends.

What an absurd reason to give up watching a show.

We're talking about watching the news, right?

Telitubbies

We’re two episodes into Time and it’s very good. It’s difficult to watch, but excellent.

Make sure you have tissues to hand for the third episode. It's very touching.

Definitely the hardest episode to watch.

Such a very well written show, can't believe how good it was.

Only Connect starts again tonight! Yay!

https://twitter.com/VictoriaCoren/statu ... 5585658888

Who’s in the mood for a difficult contest between two teams, likely to end in gloom and disappointment, kicking off at 8pm?

Only Connect returns@BBCTwo.

— Victoria Coren Mitchell (@VictoriaCoren) July 12, 2021

Three five pointers!

Giphy "bravo!":
https://media3.giphy.com/media/kyiHXDANuOg8Jy6ByA/giphy-loop.mp4

I recognised the Vaughan Williams piece on the music question but went for the wrong part of the title as my answer.

Safe to say that neither of those teams are going to trouble the final.

I am probably late to the party. I have started watching 'The Watch' based on Terry Pratchett's work. The 1st episode was very good.

I replied to this last night, but now it's nowhere to be seen.

I watched Ep 1 last night (when I finally discovered it's on iPlayer) and was a bit dubious at first, but enjoyed it more as it progressed.

I think book adaptations to TV/film are often tricky and it seems a lot of Pratchett's fans don't like it, or aren't even prepared to watch it. It must be 15 years since I last read Night Watch, so I can't remember all the details of the plot, which is probably a good thing.

Fans can get a bit grumpy if you move away from the source material. I had not realised it was Pratchett, until the 'dwarf' Carrot was in it....

Part of the issue is that the show they've adapted is Guards! Guards! but the cast they've assembled for it is The Watch. I can understand why - GG was something of a product of its time and consisted pretty much exclusively of white dudes whereas The Watch had a very appealing inclusivity message that very much suits the modern audience. It does mean taking a bit of a cleaver to the original though, which is a shame - I'm not sure I'm okay with a watch that doesn't have Nobby Nobbs in it.

Also what the fuck. Vimes is a hard-boiled gumshoe, not a frothing alcoholic mess. Vimes is utterly wrong.

So when first announced i was very keen on watching it as I'm a big Pratchett fan , however there was a lot of stuff that came out beforehand to put me off it and I've not watched it yet (I probably still will)

Part of the background here seems to be that when first signed up for Terry was going to be very hands on and a key part of the production , however he then was diagnosed and went downhill relatively quickly and no-one took his place so you have a series without a guiding hand on the characters and their arc's

This by Rhianna was one of the points that turned me off

https://twitter.com/rhipratchett/status ... 0860803074

Look, I think it's fairly obvious that @TheWatch shares no DNA with my father's Watch. This is neither criticism nor support. It is what it is.

— Rhianna Pratchett (@rhipratchett) October 9, 2020

Its covered in a few news stories at the time

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/ ... er-rhianna
https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-ente ... 11006.html

I think I'm more disappointed that it wont be what I wanted it to be

Luckily, I remember so little of the two books in question that it may only be Vimes' wrongness that irritates me. We shall see.

I really need to read the whole Discworld series again.

I cant remember if it was you that was asking about audiobooks before but I think the whole series is on Audible and worth a listen (maybe something on your long car trips)

It may have been me. I’ve listened to quite a few now and I’d agree. They’re good audiobooks and an enjoyable listen.

Watched a couple of BBC 4/Storyville documentaries on the Iplayer last night.

Raising a School Shooter
Three parents of school shooters talk about their experiences and relationships with their children, before, during, and after. Very sensitively filmed and quite moving at times as you see them still trying to balance parental love with the knowledge of what happened.

Red Penguins: Murder, Money, and Ice Hockey
In the madcap days of Yeltsin's Russia, the owners of the Pittsburgh Penquins formed a joint venture with the Red Army Team. The early parts of the documentary revel in the utter madness of the relaunch, turning a decript rink into the hottest ticket in Moscow, but becomes progressively darker as the political climate in Russia changes and the mafia begin to take control. Contains quite graphic scenes of street violence during the crises of the 1990s that is a stark tonal contrast to the fun and games at the start. A fascinating summary at the Yeltsin years and the chaos of Russia's post-Soviet transition.

I did feel that some establishing shots on the streets of modern New York meant to demonstrate how zany one of the main participants was (and still is) got a little uncomfortable pretty quickly.

‘Eric Clapton: Life In 12 Bars’ on BBC iPlayer.

I missed the beginning of it so I didn't know that Clapton grew up believing that his grandmother, Rose, and her second husband, Jack Clapp, his birth mother Patricia's stepfather, were his parents, and that his mother was actually his older sister. He was basically abandoned by his mum and it had a profound effect on him when he was finally told she was his mother, but she still treated him terribly badly. I knew about his drug and alcohol addictions, and his relationship with George Harrison’s wife, but a very watered down version. The full details were pretty tragic in the end. How he managed to survive is a miracle really, and it was only when his son was born that he finally made the break with his addictions, but then the loss of his son was another tragedy that must have been like the last straw, but he still managed to eventually get through that and start a new family life.

There’s lots of home made film throughout his life, and it shows what a mess and how horribly unhappy he was for years. I found it fascinating and uplifting at the end.

Oh wow, I might have to give this one a watch - thank you.

I'm part way through series one of Missions, a French SciFi series from 2017 on iPlayer. The Beeb don't appear to have publicised it a lot, as far as I can tell. I stumbled across series 2 on BBC4 it a few days ago.

Anyroadup, it's on iPlayer so I started from the beginning. I find it odd that the episodes are only 30 mins, but regardless of that, I'm enjoying it.

The story begins with two billionaires who independently fund missions to go to Mars, and the discovery of something that will rewrite human history on Earth. There a some elements if the plot that I found too predictable, like some members of one crew being military and wanting to take control, by violence if necessary, of a physical manifestation of the discovery, but I guess it's difficult to write anything really original.

No more spoilers, I can recommend it if SciFi is your thing.

That sounds right up my boulevard! Thanks

I probably should have mentioned that it's subtitled.

I love Sci Fi, and I think French ties with Scandinavian for my most watched "foreign language" destination. I can handle sub titles, and it's 1000% better than watching something dubbed into English (even for animated stuff, the dubbing actors are rarely as good as the originals)

I've just started series 2 ...... 5 years later or something. They jump around the timeline a bit. I'm not sure exactly what's going on, but I'll Percy Vere with it.

I've been watching totp on bbc4 since they repeated 1977. They're on 1991 at the moment and have just played Bryan Adams (Everything I do) I do it for you. It's not even number one yet, I quite like the song, but knowing it's going to be number 1 for 437 weeks is just a little too much!

A tweet suggested the BBC charge £60 for a TOTP feed without (EID) IDIFY, and that they'd rake it in.

Missed some really obvious ones on 'Only Connect' last night. I blame the heatwave.

I also watched China's Secret Weapon, also on BBC 2, about CCCP influence and intimidation across Australia, the US, and the UK. Raised interesting questions about the balance between open collaboration and espionage.

Mastermind has returned and finally I can watch it again now that John Humphrey has left.

Oh? Who is presenting it now? Actually, I've just checked and it's Clive!

I like Clive, I too might watch it more now.

I find 'Mastermind' suffers from the 'This is your life' problem. If I'm not interested in the subjects, I tune out. Probably not the best way to boost my general knowledge.

Will have to give the new host a go. He's a very good newsreader after all.

Round one five pointer on tonight's 'Only Connect'!



Always the sign of a good week.

Welcome return to Taskmaster last night, even if C4 put out the kid-friendly censored version by mistake.

Really charmed by the all the cast, and surprisingly refreshing to see Victoria Coren-Mitchell not in control of a situation.



Also watched the first episode of the new Drag Race UK.

Damnit I knew there was something I wanted to watch last night!

Do you know if the On Demand is the "proper" version or the censored version?

Watching all three quizzes in a row made me realise how poor Paxman now is as host of University Challenge. He just clearly doesn't want to be there, and puts a damper on the show. The universe was thankfully kept in balance last night by a guy from Wolfson who was clearly loving every minute. "Uzbekistan, baby!".

Clive Myrie, on the other hand, is great on Mastermind and I'll probably watch more as a result. He even managed to stifle an obvious corpse during the general knowledge round, when a contestant answered a question about the meaning of "apple and pears" as "toilet".

Who would be your pick for University Challenge, Kern?

Krishnan Guru-Murphy would be good, providing the requisite balance of authority and compassion. Also perhaps Radio 3's Ian Skelly.

There's nothing wrong with a stand-offish or stern host. William G Stewart's handling of 15 to 1 is a masterclass in how to play that role, but it is in part a performance. You need to be engaged to pull it off, and I just don't think Paxo wants to be there.

Incidentally, Sue Perkins has really revitalised my love of Just a Minute. Very different to Parsons but just as enthusiastic. Sometimes long-runners need refreshing.

Do you think that’s what it is with Paxman? I had more an impression that he was struggling (with his eyesight and speed of reading and wit) and perhaps was not ready to admit that he’s slowing down, maybe defiantly.

I love Myrie in the chair and it’s made Mastermind watchable for me again. I couldn’t stand Humphrey and just used to feel angry when he came on, so we stopped watching it a good few years ago.

I’d have Russell, Kern and Craster in my UC team, I think.

Didn't consider his age but yes, that's got to be a part of it.

His age, or a symptom of his Parkinson’s, which can sometimes manifest in a slowing of cognition. I’ve noticed him stumble a few words in recent series, and almost ‘give up’ the end of a sentence a few times. If I’m honest I’ve never been a huge fan of Paxman, I find him a bit brusque, but I still find it incredibly sad that he’s lost some of that vigour when he presents.

I'd have Malc. Seriously, the guy is an encyclopaedia, especially about music.

Craster would be nice eye candy I suppose

I didn't realise he had Parkinson's.
Perhaps I shouldn't have been rushing to judgement about his on-screen attitude.

That’s the only reason I said Craster.

That and you always need one person to spike the average age. I’d sit him on the right, so as the camera went left to right everyone would be waiting to see who made the average age 47. Scroll along these three fine young things and then ‘there’s the guy!’