Saturday Live Again

From radiotimes.com


It looks good, but I'm surprised that this is being shown on ITV, and not Channel 4. I know that it was revived on ITV in the 1990s, but that was a very short-lived series. Most people would associate Saturday Live with Channel 4, not ITV.

It seems that the reason for it being shown on ITV is that the person who commissioned it, Paul Jackson, who is currently ITV's director of entertainment and comedy, was the show's original producer.

Source:

http://www.chortle.co.uk/news/2007/11/12/6026/itv_reveals_its_new_saturday_live

Also, I thought that the series started in 1985, not 1986, so this means that it's actually a 22nd anniversary programme, not a 21st anniversary programme.

I guess the show was made by LWT for Channel Four wasn't it - that may play a part in celebrating its heritage on ITV ?

Sounds alright - apart from Marcus Brigstocke who really irritates me (he's so desperate to be the British Jon Stewart). We need another show like Saturday Live, hopefully this one-off will lead to something.

From the article . . .


That isn't strictly true as I recall. IIRC, there was a pilot in 1985, ironically titled "The Best of Saturday Live". In my hazy
memory of that, I think it was hosted by Lenny Henry, had a "fairground" style set, and featured the the first ever TV
appearance of Rik Mayall and Ade Edmonson's latest madcap characters of the time, "Dangerous Brothers".

I don't recall if this pilot was shown on ITV or C4, even though the actual series was definitely broadcast on C4.

STV person just said it been 21 years

This isn't that bad so far. Marcus Brigstocke seems very autocue driven at the moment though but he's doing a good job.

Having not seen the original Saturday Live! it's kind of like that late night show Dara O'Briain did for BBC2 a few years back with many acts.

So what did people think of this?

I was very impressed by it. Being too young for the original I'm not sure how it compared, but I was impressed with the diversity of all entertaining acts, and enjoyed every moment.

Do you think that this was part celebration and part on air pilot?

Like fanoftv, I'm too young to remember the show itself.. i've only seen a few clips. Nevertheless, it was the most entertaining thing i've seen on ITV for years. If it's so well loved, and even claim that the comedy and music is "where it should be" then why don't they bloody bring shows like that back!?

It was indeed one of the funniest things I've ever seen on ITV, second most probably only to TV Burp.

As I said perhaps they're using it as an on air pilot, and will look at the ratings and reaction to the event and then decide whether to go for a series.

How did it originally run, was it as a series for say 13 weeks, or was it a longer run, such as Saturday Night Live in America?

The only problem that I could see if they went for a full series is that fact that there would be no room in January with TV Burp, Dancing on Ice, Ant & Dec, Primeval, Dancing results and Al Murray, unless it went out around 10:45.
What time did the original air on channel 4, was it 9pm or later?

The only other problem is that it came from Studio 1 tonight and wouldn't be able to if it ran in conjunction with Ant & Dec.

I don;t think it would go out till April at the earliest,


don;t put all your eggs in one basket, it woudl do good April - July

I thought it was good, shame they didn't show any clips of the original show. Some of the acts, notably the traffic warden one didn't really do it for me but overall a good show, something like this should return more often.

Perhaps it could take Parky's timeslot?