It's 11 O'Clock (Twice!!)

you'll be surprised what the majority of viewers miss.

I never understood how half the country missed the final episode of reach for the moon which was on in 2000. (it was about a teacher who made rockets, staring linda bellingham and jonathan kerridge, and was set on the isle of wight, just to jog the memories six years on)

At the end of episode 4 the anouncer told us the last two episodes (5 and 6) were being shown together and it was advertised all week as an hour long final episode.

When episode 5 started the announcer said episode 6 follows immediately afterwards, the end of episode 5 ended like the first half of the coronation street double, ie no end credits, just 'end of part two' and the anouncer saying episide 6 follow after this break, one comercial break later episode 6 came straight in with no opening titles just 'reach for the moon, part three' on the screen, the programme finished with longer music and extended cast list for both episodes.

so how with so much hint dropping about what was happening whilst it was happening could so many people miss it that itv had to show episode 6 again.

the fact no body has replied probably answers the question

your guesses are as good as mine

When I was in Pres at the Beeb, the rule was that both the Network Director and the Announcer checked the captions before the junctions. A good extra check in case the graphics people had experienced an attack of illiteracy when putting them together. Of course in those days (blows cobwebs off ancient history book) we had enough people in the gallery to give attention to this sort of thing. Nowadays it is more likely to be one stressed person and a computer!

Can you prove its a CRAPPY KEYBOARD??

I do not know where your from mate, but I have yet to see sheep DO ANYTHING

Maybe it's not a crappy keyboard, maybe it's a really expensive one which has a special Casio Junior emulator mode.

Oh dear, you are a bit late, aren't you, it's been *consults date* nigh on close to a month.

Listen to it, what is it? It certainly isn't a fùcking grand piano is it? It sounds like something I would have produced on my old Yamaha when I was about six years old.



You're not exactly the brightest knife in the drawer, are you? If they had filmed a sheep being mauled by a dog, or being sheared or getting it off with another sheep it may have been mildly interesting, but instead they took the lazy pìss poor presentation way out and pointed a camera at anything, and Mister Sheep happened to be in the way at the time.

I was making a statement on the quality and quantity (if any) of imagination in UTV's previous pres, not saying that I expected to see a sheep breakdancing.

I dont really care if you said it this time last year mate, this is a forum and all posts are there to be commented on.

And as for the sheep, well the idents are a reflection of the Norths landscape, and well as the region it has a large argriculture economy, this ident reflects that.

It reminds people of how nice a place we live in, a welcome break from a lot of the other crap that happens here. Looking at any shot from the North or indeed anywhere on the Island you cannot knock the quality of scenery. If UTV can do that using lazy and cheap filming methods, fair play to them.

BS. If they had filmed many sheep or cows grazing a rolling pasture or lush agricultural land being farmed then it could be classified as reflecting the agricultural backdrop of the North. A single sheep standing in an overgrown field between two dead bushes does not in my eyes do anything of the sort.



http://www.utvtoday.co.uk/images/Other/Menu_Images/idents3.jpg
Picture from www.utvtoday.co.uk

I'll sure as hell knock that scenery if I want to. Is it inspiring? Is it majestic? Does it instill pride? No. It's insipid. It represents nothing about Northern Ireland. The other idents at least gave a panoramic view of their choice of location showing sky and ground and in between. They were scenic idents. This idents shows another nameless field, which apart from a slightly bigger view at the start gives you absolutely no hint of the majesty of the lanscapes, nor does it intend to. It was lazy filming and there is no way that I would label it as scenic nor as respresenting the agricultural economic sector and I certainly wouldn't applaud UTV for its creation.

I will not repeat what you called me in a previous post, and nor will I be drawn into using your type of language, but can I ask what you know about the rural economy, and have you watched the full length ident?

The ident is more of representation of how farms used to exist and indeed still a lot do, as is shown in the ident. You do not see dry stone walls around alot of fields these days, nor them weeds either. I am sure it is a reminder to lot of the older folk who watch UTV. The ident does pan out at the end to show more scenery at the end. There is no reason to say that it does not represent the North.

I never really expected to see the sheep doing anything, so I thought that either you were being extremely naive in that you thought I did expect to see the sheep doing something or attempting a smart response. I went with the former, and quite justifiably thought you were indeed not the sharpest instrument. And before anyone suggests that should have given it away, that emoticon has been used such a lot on this forum in different contexts that I'd never stake any bet on what it means these days. In retrospect I'd say that you were attemting a sarcastic remark.

Oh and yes, BS does = bull excrement, which is exactly what I thought of your argument that suggested that the ident represented modern and current agriculture in NI.



The main shot (of greatest duration, shown above) is of the sheep alone. The wall are not visible nor any stone farmhouse, nor fences, nothing. It could be anywhere, England, Scotland, Wales, the Republic, without the shrubs it could be sheep in New Zealand. You need the name above it to be sure it's Northern Ireland. It is such an unspecific, downright dull and bland ident that it could never be specifically said to be about Northern Ireland. Many of the other idents were also of places that were unremarable, but they were filmed in a way that made them moderately more interesting and much more scenic and representative of the rugged and varied landscapes. We have stone walls (plenty of them) down south, the sheep ident could have been filmed in the backend of any county anywhere in the British Isles.

Your attempts to tag some meaning on to it simply don't wash with me. As far as I can see it was simply filmed as is and simply represents lazy presentation on behalf of the broadcaster. If they had specifically gone out there to appeal to an older audience by reminiscing about the old farms they would have filmed more of an old farmhouse, more stone walls and the like. Instead they filmed a sheep standing in the middle of nowhere surrounded by overgrown weeds which in my consistent opinion does not represent the majority of either modern or old agricultural practices on this island. They may still exist in the form that you say the ident seeks to portray, but I certainly cant see them without lots of imagination and wishing to see whats not there.

Well so it could be anywhere one these islands, you think that UTV would pay someone to fly elsewhere to make such a short film?

Im just identifying mate with the country I know, and good on UTV for showcasing it. I do believe they used to have a series called Lesser Spotted Ulster, I think these idents are just that.