Coolcat's posts

The Great British Bake-off

Couldn't disagree with the original poster more. Mel and Sue make The Great British Bake Off, they're a great presenting duo - they know when to intervene with a mildly amusing quip, and when to stay in the background or just play it straight (absolutely no pun intended).

Indeed, I was only wondering whether an evening version of Late Lunch - a gentle, hour-long food-themed Mel and sue-hosted magazine show with a live audience, lots of tips and newcomers showing their cooking talent, might be a way for BBC Two to capitalise on the massive viewership of this series... anyone?

A Shameless Plug...

Great work Greg, loved your little Countdown moments! "Hello Rachel... Can I have a kiss... I mean a consonant, please?!"

The Sport Thread

You'd think Antiques Roadshow could happily drop, especially as it's a 'compilation', according to the EPG.
Not quite such an easy decision at 9pm, probably stick with it on BBC1, then show Case Histories after the chequered flag?

The Sport Thread

Ooh, that's not miles away from my suggestion, I'm quite proud of that!

The Sport Thread

Right, let's test my scheduling braincells:

Sue Barker said the Queen's Final will be live on BBC1 tomorrow from midday - presumably therefore shunting The Politics Show back an hour to pre-empt Country Tracks?

They could switch coverage to BBC2 at 2.30 if they wish and run the delayed EastEnders omnibus on BBC1, but under these circumstances, with BBC1 having to hit the F1 coverage later, they'd need to move Songs of Praise.

Or... put EastEnders on BBC2 at 2.30, giving the tennis an uninterrupted run on BBC1 if needed. I think they'll do this, leaving Songs of Praise where it is for now (and only switching it across to BBC2 at 4.30, if they're still playing by then).

Of course, I may be talking rubbish. And it might yet rain and ruin all the above...

BBC Breakfast

I must say I also thought the Andy Townsend gossip was a bit of 'kite-flying', he has no experience as presenter of a sports bulletin, as far as I'm aware?? Despite many years in the pundit's chair, that's a wholly different skill. There must be countless BBC News channel or 5Live sports presenters in with a better shout.

Blue Peter

By mentioning BP specifically, The Sun's article's written (deliberately?) as if it's BP alone which might become CBBC only - that would be a very odd move indeed.

But doesn't the quote in the article (from a 'Beeb spokesman', no less!) give a few more clues as to what's actually being suggested (and flatly denied)?

"There are no immediate plans to remove children's content from the BBC's terrestrial channels."

So the suggestion is about ALL kids content, perhaps?

In amongst all these slightly flaky ideas about how to save a few bob - News channel simulcasts on BBC2, primetime repeats filling up latenight hours, etc etc - maybe someone's put forward replacing children's programmes on BBC1 with something cheaper, so that kids output becomes CBBC only.

It would still be a bad move, but now at least the article starts to make a bit more sense.

HELP WITH NEWS WRITING.... PLEASE HELP!!!

And just for fun, here's another way. I see this one as a slightly more 'commercial radio' method of getting into a soundbite taken from the answer to your final question. Usually a three-line intro:

"Leeds Crisis Centre is under threat as the city council looks to save 90 million pounds.

The face-to-face counselling service could be forced to close before the end of the year, in the latest round of spending cuts.

But Labour MP [Joe Bloggs] says he's doing all he can to ensure vital services - like the Crisis Centre - are maintained:

[clip]"

BBC National News: Presentation

A brief Breakfast (c 2000) reunion - Sophie Raworth and Jeremy Bowen together on the 'Ten' just now, with Sophie presenting, and Jeremy in the studio with the latest on the Middle East protests. All terribly formal as you'd expect though: "...Jeremy Bowen, thank you."

Eurovision 2011 - 10/12/14 May 2011

Just a personal view, but I thought the RTE selection programme, done as a special edition of the usual Friday night 'Late Late Show' chat/entertainment combo, was rather good. I'd agree it went on perhaps a shade too long, though the lengthy gaps for commercials, removed from the rte.ie live feed leaving a blank screen, added to that impression.

But as much as anything, I liked the approach - Ryan Tubridy, still only in his second year as Late Late Show presenter, is proving rather good at this sort of thing. He showed you can take the contest seriously, but still be light-hearted and have a joke when the moment arises. The show also felt like an occasion, a celebration of Eurovision, if you like, with two former Irish contest hosts being interviewed about their memories during the interval while the phone vote took place, and even a performance by the original Bucks Fizz (well, three of them).

And, since it all took place within an existing format, the audience, studio and host were already in place, so I wouldn't have thought it was too expensive to stage (compared to a normal Friday night edition on RTE).

New Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?

Good old Daily Mirror. Not sure how their reporter managed to watch the 'live spectacular' celebrity special on 'Christmas Eve' - as it was actually transmitted on Thursday 23rd December.
Does no-one actually check facts before regurgitating them anymore?

"The 6 O'Clock News, from the BBC."

I think it's Patrick Lunt, at the time a Radio 2 announcer/newsreader.