Something tells me this was more like a pilot episode to me - in that there was no theme music, no pre-credits and no real title sequence.
Things should be better next week- they could have a war break out between the different news stations or something
I think there's good potential here, but it does need a lot of honing. Maybe a better idea would be to make a series of 20 programmes in a different style, and then have a selection of them available on interactive in full each week, with the current 'hopskotch' version shown on BBC2. Just a thought - i think it'd work so much better as a one-style-per-show idea though!
I think there's good potential here, but it does need a lot of honing. Maybe a better idea would be to make a series of 20 programmes in a different style, and then have a selection of them available on interactive in full each week, with the current 'hopskotch' version shown on BBC2. Just a thought - i think it'd work so much better as a one-style-per-show idea though!
But surely you're missing the whole ethos behind this programme? The point is that there are lots of news outlets, all with different styles and approaches to journalism. The whole idea of the 'hopscotch' concept is that we get to glimpse at different programmes, enabling us to compare and contrast their different presentation styles. Much of the comedy was in the very fact that we only heard snippets or sections of a story before switching to another 'channel'. The live reporter stood outside waiting for an interview wouldn't have been funny if we'd stuck with that for half an hour, but the fact that we kept returning to him was what made it humourous, and, although caricatured, very close to what many rolling news channels do!
I think there's good potential here, but it does need a lot of honing. Maybe a better idea would be to make a series of 20 programmes in a different style, and then have a selection of them available on interactive in full each week, with the current 'hopskotch' version shown on BBC2. Just a thought - i think it'd work so much better as a one-style-per-show idea though!
But surely you're missing the whole ethos behind this programme? The point is that there are lots of news outlets, all with different styles and approaches to journalism. The whole idea of the 'hopscotch' concept is that we get to glimpse at different programmes, enabling us to compare and contrast their different presentation styles. Much of the comedy was in the very fact that we only heard snippets or sections of a story before switching to another 'channel'. The live reporter stood outside waiting for an interview wouldn't have been funny if we'd stuck with that for half an hour, but the fact that we kept returning to him was what made it humourous, and, although caricatured, very close to what many rolling news channels do!
That may have been the intention, but I found the constant flicking from one genre to another was just plain irritating. It also seemed like an excuse for some lazy writing - just cutting away when they'd run out of ideas for a particular segment.
I really don't see how they're going to stretch this to six episodes. Compared to The Day Today and even KYTV, it all seemed very thin on laughs... and budget by the looks of it.
That may have been the intention, but I found the constant flicking from one genre to another was just plain irritating. It also seemed like an excuse for some lazy writing - just cutting away when they'd run out of ideas for a particular segment.
think you're being a bit cynical in saying that they'd run out of ideas. in the Media Guardian interview, the producer stated that the channel flicking was supposed to reflect the fact that audiences do just that when it comes to news channels.
i agree though that beyond the acute observations, the material wasn't actually that funny.
i agree though that beyond the acute observations, the material wasn't actually that funny.
Agreed. And the pointless live from Greece reminded me of a similar sketch on that painful John Sergeant spoof news pilot on ITV a while back. It's too obvious a joke.
Well I was hoping for a bit more - disappointed in the long term. Each joke was worthy of about 1 minute but then stretched over several minutes.
It also lacked the careful planning and thought that Chris Morris and The Day Today captured so beautifully.
I could see where they were coming from but it didn't really make the grade - I'll probably give it a try again next week but it wasn't the must see TV that I'd hoped for.
That may have been the intention, but I found the constant flicking from one genre to another was just plain irritating. It also seemed like an excuse for some lazy writing - just cutting away when they'd run out of ideas for a particular segment.
think you're being a bit cynical in saying that they'd run out of ideas. in the Media Guardian interview, the producer stated that the channel flicking was supposed to reflect the fact that audiences do just that when it comes to news channels.
To be fair, I don't know if they'd run out of ideas, but what I do know is that the most difficult part of writing anything, especially comedy, is knowing how to end it. By just cutting away from each section, it seemed that they provided themselves with an easy get-out.
I also understand what they were trying to achieve. I just didn't think it worked; it made the show too relentless. There were no moments where you felt you could 'catch your breath'.
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i agree though that beyond the acute observations, the material wasn't actually that funny.
Sure, some of the observations were very good and quite amusing, but once you've got past that (after the first ten minutes of the first show), you get the feeling you've seen all there is to see... and there are another five episodes to go, presumably making the same observations.
I was disappointed with it to be honest all though I liked it more than other people I know because I'm a member of the forum and thus like the way the news is presented. However, I found it annoying with the constant channel hopping, despite being called broken news, as it always seemed to change at a point where there was potential to be funny.
Despite this, I'm not saying that it was all boring and unfunny as there were humourous bits, just not enough IMO. I'll give it a try next week but I can't see it being very successful especially with the majority of the public.
just cutting away when they'd run out of ideas for a particular segment.
Monty Python had that down to a fine art 30 years ago!
Spencer For Hire posted:
I really don't see how they're going to stretch this to six episodes.
Yes, I felt I'd really seen it all after 15 minutes. I wish them well with it, because it's in a good cause. The absurdities of rolling news are ripe for picking.
just cutting away when they'd run out of ideas for a particular segment.
Monty Python had that down to a fine art 30 years ago!
Spencer For Hire posted:
I really don't see how they're going to stretch this to six episodes.
Yes, I felt I'd really seen it all after 15 minutes. I wish them well with it, because it's in a good cause. The absurdities of rolling news are ripe for picking.
15 minutes was about right - it's more of a "ten minute filler" show really I think. It was ok, not very original, but just watching Breakfast for 30 minutes this morning was enough to confirm how well observed it is!
