…and finally

From what I can remember of the 20 years, there was the sky news feed, the LNN feed which allowed us to see the goings on in the London tonight studio aka the glorious daybreak studio, itv generic feed which allowed to see what happened between the ads and in between the ads of Good morning Britain and daybreak, and I swear there was a itn feed which made it to the air and could be picked up but my recollections are hazy, but it was unusual to see the blue ITN endcap when it was starting to get phased out to the end viewer, the one thing I do remember is how we were all disappointed when each came to an end.

Oh yes, that person, they're so mature... not.

They do seem to have removed most of the childish thumbnails now, but some are still there.

20 years is an incredible run - I've been here more or less from the start, and I've hardly ever discussed TV presentation anywhere else.

TV Forum was there when I was just a wannabe broadcaster, all through the time I spent working in the media, and after I moved on to new things. It's been in my bookmarks for about half my life, which is pretty good going.

I certainly don't blame Asa for calling it a day. I know I've never done any job for as long as he's been running the forum, so he's definitely earned a break.

I'm looking forward to continuing the conversation elsewhere.

Saddened to (belatedly) read this news. I’ve been a member almost since the start, and I think it’s fair to say I went from a frequent face to more of a lurker for the past decade or so.

Back in the day I used to post a lot of mock designs, as well as helping Asa with some of the forum branding - anyone remember the blocky blue header?

I credit this place as being both a source of inspiration in my younger years and somewhere I was able to hone my design craft. There is no way this cannot have contributed, at the outset of my career, to my securing a job at Lambie-Nairn and subsequently onto a national broadcaster. Over the years since then I have logged on to see how people are commenting on my work. It was an interesting experience to go from being one of the armchair critics to someone responsible for what’s seen on-screen!

It’s certainly been an education. I understand now how the processes behind the scenes can force a designer down a path to create something that is far from what they intended. Something 14 year old me didn’t have a concept of!

Thanks Asa, for creating this place and for all the hard work you’ve put in over the years. I will remember it fondly.

Seeing people sharing their memories of TV Forum here, I thought I'd mention the Gallery thread I've set up.

The primary purpose is to vote for your favourite Gallery thread from TVF history, however we are all sharing our honourable mentions and memories so it's a nice way to look back. I thought I'd link to it as there are people who may not have been involved with gallery for some time, but it would be nice to get as many people as possible to participate.

https://tvforum.uk/thegallery/tv-forum-gallery-vote-46727

If you would like to vote just send a PM with a link of your choice.

So... it was regional variations that first got me hooked. In the early-ish days of the internet, sites like TV Home opened my eyes to a feast of other ITV regions with their funny logos and different ways of doing presentation.

I joined the forum to ask some questions, and just ended up staying.

Thinking back, I've learnt so much as I've read along during times like ITV Digital going bust, digital switchover happening, various channels coming and going, HD happening, the big news channel rebrands, ITV unifying their business, many Children in Need, Eurovision and election nights, and countless breakdowns in between.

These days, I particularly like seeing how other countries do TV pres and this site's made it easy to find interesting contributions from abroad.

Thanks for facilitating it all Asa, you've done a fantastic job.

Thanks to the industry insiders and everyone else too. You've all made this slightly obscure interest feel that bit more normal.

It's taken me a while to post on here, been trying to think of what to put really. I don't post on here anymore and I'll blame the likes of Twitter for that (and fair to say also, I've been a bit Cissie and Ada 'over the fence' occasionally gossiping about TVF!) but that said it's been a daily browse over the years and I'll miss the place.

I joined here way back in 2004 (under a different username) mainly to vent my disgust about how bad EastEnders had become! (I was a member of the legendary TVArk messageboard but there was never much discussion and it was usually just people asking questions about whether anyone had the ITN News titles from 1995 or certain Weathergens etc.) We used to regularly have the freedom on here to discuss soap storylines back then. When the original Corrie megathread started, we were debating about whether it was right that Rita hit Chesney for stealing sweets from The Kabin! People say this place isn't Digital Spy but I would certainly say ironically this place was more like that in it's earlier years, but just far better moderated by itsrobert and the team. It's fair to say, the forum has changed over the years, that's not the fault of Asa or any of the moderators, it's just that time has moved on and people are quick to criticise and say they're right about certain things and that's largely thanks to social media and I'll agree I've been part of that myself! It's all about instant reaction rather than debate these days and I'd say that's what has killed of this forum and led Asa up a path he understandably doesn't want to be part of anymore.

That said, 20 years is a magnificent feat for a forum which just started out as a sideline to a presentation site. Asa and the mods have worked hard on keeping up with the times and it still stands out as one of, if not the best television discussion forum on the internet ever! But of course, the internet is a big place! When the forum went through a major revamp, it was still in the days before Twitter and I was spending so much time posting on here, I was asked to be moderator but turned it down "professionally" due "to other commitments". To be fair, many of my early posts were just reacting to when a celebrity died "RIP, a sad day for television". The shock the forum went into when Richard Whiteley died and how saddened people felt is one of my earliest recollections here.

We had lots of banter on here particularly with tvarksouthwest - the late Simon of course who loved TV presentation, Grange Hill and the like. I can't even recall why we disagreed with him on things but looking back now, he's left a legacy of an archive which is still I believe live on TVArk and is much missed.

Twitter is a great place to find people's instant reaction to events but I'll miss TVF for that "oh I wonder what TV Forum are saying about this" in-depth analysis and criticism especially from members here who have in way become online friends... and yeah even Brekkie, who must have the biggest post count here!

In a way, this place going feels like it's gone a bit like Brian Potter's The Phoenix Club or those old dated Social clubs where you could see an up and coming comic before they made it big but now it's all arenas and stadiums, and of course TVF closing during the worst pandemic in 100 years is just bitter irony - I've no idea where I'm going with this but hopefully you get what I mean !! Basically Rob has big shoes to fill with his new TV Live Forum site, please sign up when you can if you haven't already. I wish him well! Lets hope the discussion continues.

But for now, from all of us here, maybe it your clooks, you're wrong cdd, I'll see you over on B1, what time does Boogie Beebies start?

Oh by the way, if Asa doesn't do end credits to this, then it's all been a waste of time! :

Maybe it YOU clooks, at least get one of the most immortal quotes in TV Forum history right

Put The Telly On: lovely post.

I've privately passed on my thanks to Asa for all his work and passion in providing TV Forum, and like all of us, I'm going to miss clicking on the blue icon that's been part of my life for twenty years.

Back in 2000 I was living abroad, and was keeping my interest alive in TV presentation by following HHG, Sub TV, TVA, TV World, Telefeis, Finton's AusTV, TV Ark, The TV Room, MHP and its infamous Private Parts, and of course TV Home.

I was even inspired to create my own site about Greek TV Idents - still archived on the web.

But the introduction of TV Forum was the best bit - being able to read people's opinions, see latest developments really quickly, and contribute in my own way (though reading back my early posts they were quite pretentious, and I probably still am!)

I'm going to miss this place tremendously, so thanks once again, Asa. It's been great.

ASA i want to thank you for leting us talk about tv and will miss this iconic website

I feel as I only joined the forum a few months ago, I haven't got much to share.

But, I have to say thanks to everyone who made this site... well, what it is. I love reading people's posts, no matter if they're from 2015 or 2020. The gallery is the most unexpected way I enjoy my limited

As the BBC Three voiceover once said "We'll see you on the other side, can't wait."