Smtv Live reunion

SM:tv without a doubt was ITV's best effort at Saturday Morning TV of the 90s at least, and the last great Saturday morning show really - but other than launching the careers of Ant and Dec (as presenters) and Cat, I'm not quite sure what if it really has the legacy of the big BBC Saturday morning shows that came before it.

I guess the trouble is the legacy has been stolen - by TV chefs! I wonder how much a show like SM:tv actually cost ITV annually - IIRC from earlier talk the budget kind of went on CD:UK and SM:tv was made from the scraps left over.

Not has good but MOM did ok for helping Stephen and Holly in their career

...even if it wasn't *quite* as fun as The Crystal Muck, Bullsmuck, Countmuck, Muckety Muck etc. And of course, "BOGIES!!!!!!!!!"

Seriously, was Da Bungalow *not* a great Saturday morning show? (To be fair, it wasn't on either terrestrial BBC channel at first, and also it *did* owe quite a lot to a certain Chris Tarrant show from over 20 years before.)

Maybe, but that doesnt mean SMTV wasn't much better quality. People are affectionate about BBC shows because they were on the BBC and that warm cuddly traditional kids show. But, in my opinion, for the most part they were dull and strictly for the little ones. SMTV was funny, had great personality presenters and once it hit its stride really made an effort every saturday morning. You'd have an opening sketch, games like Challenge Ant and Wonkey Donkey, big written sketches like Dec Says and Chums then an hour of live music on CDUK (as opposed to 30 mins for TOTP). The likes of Live and Kicking had a lot of lame patronising games, questions with politicians (can you imagine ant and dec doing that) and little effort sketches. It was like a mish mash of low quality stuff whereas SMTV was properky formated and structured. Different people will have different tastes but i always thought SMTV/CDUK was very well made for a kids show. The proof was in the pudding with L&K axed as SMTV demolished it.

By that logic "The Saturday show" was better than SMTV as that got axed when it was overwhelmed by it.
Both Live and SMTV went downhill when they lost their star presenters and replaced them with inferior replacements.

I'm not sure The Saturday Show overwhelmed SMTV - they were neck and neck then TSS overtook them slightly. I recall Dick and Dom doing better against SMTV than TSS but by that time SMTV had been axed and was showing ant and dec repeats. Of course Dick and Dom were moved from CBBC channel to BBC1 after SMTV almost signed them up!

Have long struggled to work out what The Saturday Show was or what it wanted to be.

That said, by the time SMTV was at its height, CD:UK felt a bit like a guest at a party, staying too long up to the end not wanting to go home.

A copy of SMTV with "cool" presenters like Dani Behr. And a CDUK copycat Top of the Pops Reloaded. Yes i know you can say CDUK was a TOTP copycat but it was a very different spin on the music format. TOTP Reloaded was a desperate spoiler directly against CDUK.

Actually, the original Saturday Show was meant to directly appeal to an older audience I believe. It was treated as a prime time commission and they wanted it to feel more mature with non-kids talent in Dani Behr and Joe Mace. It tanked and they did a 180 so it became L&K in all but name by the time it returned with Fearne Cotton and Simon Grant.

You seem confused. "Top of the Pops Saturday" didn't start until year 2 of The Saturday Show. When the TSS was totally revamped with Fearne Cotton and Simon Grant. Top of the pops reloaded was a few years later.


They were neck and neck towards the end of year 1 of TSS. But the year 2 revamp saw them getting 800k v 1.2m for TSS within a few months.

TOTP saturday that was it - memory of rubbish shows bit patchy after 17 years 😉

Era 1 was neck and neck by the end.
Behr gave numerous bitchy interviews complaining about it. It shows how much SMTV had fallen when that rubbish could close the gap on it