Red Nose Day 2017

Don't look at the tv and you'd think Comic Relief is coming from the Sky News glass box.

Hate to admit it, but I think Walliams and Jeremy Kyle have saved it tonight.

Starting to wonder if this is one of those things that will appear on a TV hell list show in the distant future.

I have to concur with this. I do think that Ed Sheeran's segments, along with the more serious aspects of the show, were executed well - conveys it fittingly. Some comedy skits were decent - including Philomena Cunk and the Hecklers skit.

The comedy though - most of it is lacking humour. It's easily obvious through the cringe of the Vic and Bob skit, while other skits felt quite tacked on. Also, it's pretty questionable how you'd show young children suffering from starvation, only to cut back into a room full of biscuits.

Not to be too impulsive (I still think my rant on the Christmas pres topic left a stain on me) - but I do think that it's quite underwhelming - to an extent. They've done an alright job with Red Nose Day Actually, and the segments focusing on the less fortunate (Ed Sheeran's contribution was pretty good). But it's the comedy that also counts, and its something that's missed a beat.

Edit - the Graham Norton special dragged it down - apparently quite cringe.

I was looking forward to this, especially them making a big thing of comedians coming back instead of presenters. What a wasted opportunity. It felt like they had all just arrived and didn't know what they were doing. No really funny script. All a bit wooden and forced.

Give it a proper format, not too tight that it doesn't work. Sketches tend to work better when they are recorded. I was very surprised at French and Saunders, they rarely fail. They usually pick something and slaughter it in a nice way.

All in all, very disappointed.

Thought it couldn't get any worse, but during The Brett Domino Trio the mics cut out at first, then Russell asked them to do it again, then they cut them off early and went to a film so they went back to them a third time to finish the act. Their whole schtick is that they're a bit awkward but the interruptions just killed the joke, and the poor guys were getting destroyed on Twitter.

Absolute shocker of a production tonight, regardless of the content there should be a review into how they got the presentation so wrong. Thankfully donations are higher than ever...

I thought the broken mic was part of the joke until I saw somebody run on and swap them. Fascinatingly terrible.

And the show falls off air at exactly 0130, guessing that was when the line was booked until. Just at the exact moment Russell Brand was about to reveal the final total. Almost poetically bad.

Breakdown a few minutes ago. The picture broke up just as Russell was about to give the total. Sums it up really. It soon went to a BBC One tomorrow night menu slide before the usual breakdown caption in silence for a minute or so.

Really terrible sound tonight - and a suitably apt 'f****** hell' as Russell signed off, just after they'd gone to the VT with his mic still up. I can only assume they've been battling unexpected tech issues all evening.

Yes, I was a little optimistic earlier about the technical problems being solved. Graham Norton realising the stuff planned on the autocue was largely rubbish, the woeful technical issues that ruined The Brett Domino Trio's act (which is an excellent one); the cut out in the feed just topped it off.

Annoyingly, a lot of good stuff was lost in the technical problems.

They have put something on screen that is worse than The Nightly Show. That takes some skill!

Despite the numerous technical issues and some sketches not working out, I'd like them to continue with the comedians only policy in 2019, but with a much tighter format.

The use of Lenny Henry and Jonathan Ross was a big improvement. I'd like to see more pres work for Luisa, she was better than Fearne Cotton at least!