I'm think that the started to show decline because the features in the current series are starting to become repetitive and uninspiring. The big question has always been whether you get stick for trying out new ideas or sticking with the same material.
Indeed, can usually predict the flow of the show every time now:
Sketch (pack everybody into the show who's going to feature in it)
Titles.
Spiel.
Random feature (Takeaway Opportunity Knocks anybody?)
Undercover (lack of variety here I feel, using the same techniques every time)
Ant V Dec (nothing particularly memorable happening here)
Little Ant & Dec (about the only decent article left in the show IMO)
Grab The Ads (games are starting to get silly)
Win The Ads.
Music (or something that I think is supposed to be music)
Win the Ads conclusion.
Goodbye.
How dare the show have a format?
I actually think this series is an improvement on the last - though still too reliant on using contestants from I'm a Celebrity etc.
The Undercovers are no where near the standard of the Gotchas - which probably worked better due to the simplicity of a basic disguise. With Bradley Walsh on Undercover next week, has anyone been fooled by both Ant and Dec and Noel Edmonds. Bradley Walsh is the sort of person I can imagine also getting a Gotcha from Noel.
Agree the "Grab the Ads" competition is a bit tiresome - only so many "Human..." you can do - but the main Win the Ads feature is one of the best gameshow features on TV - and this year I think they've made it harder - especially with the Gamble questions.
As for Ant vs Dec. It's a nice feature, though I miss What's Next - but you couldn't really have both in the same show. I wonder though if it might be quietly dropped after next weeks show for at least a couple of weeks, not just due to Dec's injury - but Kirsty Gallagher will be competing in The Games from Fri 25th March for nine days - so be unavailable for two shows.
The Second series was great, since then though it has grown very tired very fast. The introduction of Ant V Dec has been the only (mildly) interesting part of the current series. As for 'win the ads' -giving the contents of an ad break away is a good idea.....but the way it's done is boring.
The Undercovers are no where near the standard of the Gotchas - which probably worked better due to the simplicity of a basic disguise. With Bradley Walsh on Undercover next week, has anyone been fooled by both Ant and Dec and Noel Edmonds. Bradley Walsh is the sort of person I can imagine also getting a Gotcha from Noel.
I can't remember if Bradley did get a gotcha but I assume he would have been on the hit list but I can confirm that Bradley was used as part of a ploy to gotcha Noel towards the end of the 1997/98 season.
I still think it's one of the best entertainment programmes that we have at the moment.
I wouldn't say that they're not trying. They regularily alter the games for grab the ads, have a different audience based part at the top of the show, and change the undercovers.
Of course the show is going to be the same, perhaps if they mixed it up with more ideas, like introducing sketches, changing the way they win the prizes, adding more of a stronger audience element.
One of the early ideas I was fond of was the one where they went live to an OB to surprise people and get them to run home, but only one of them was the winner.
I wouldn't say it was stale, and I wouldn't say it's past it, it just needs a few new ideas or spins on things.
I wouldn't say 10 weeks is too long, compared to other shows, especially in the US, it's nothing in comparison.
Who would have thought that Sir Trevor McDonald and one of the BBC's biggest stars Jonathan Ross would both have been on tonights Saturday Night Takeaway!
Both better and more of a shock than David Beckham
Who would have thought that Sir Trevor McDonald and one of the BBC's biggest stars Jonathan Ross would both have been on tonights Saturday Night Takeaway!
Both better and more of a shock than David Beckham
I remembered when Noel Edmonds gotcha'd Trevor McDonald on Noel's House Party. Not only did he looked really peeved off that he was gotcha'd in the first place that he decided not even to turn up to pick up his Gotcha from Noel.
