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TFI Friday

The new series has ended ... what next? (June 2015)

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DJ
DJGM
Tomorrow night at 9pm on Channel 4, Chris Evans will be hosting a special one-off 90 minute edition of his old show TFI Friday. It's been billed as the 20th Anniversary special, even though the actual 20th Anniversary isn't until next year! It was made originally at the (old) Riverside Studios in Hammersmith, London, but those studios aren't there anymore, as this trailer shows . . .



Previously on TFI Friday . . .


TFI Friday: The Guestlist . . .


So, the show is to hosted from a new studio. I wonder if they've made it anything like the original studio?

Apparently, it's going to be massive (the show, not the studio!) . . .



I know this has been mentioned in the Channel 4 thread, but I think this is worthy of its own thread TBH.
Last edited by DJGM on 1 January 2016 5:11pm - 4 times in total
NG
noggin Founding member
I very strongly suspect it will look as similar to the original as possible. They would have done it at Riverside I'm sure, if it hadn't been turned to rubble.
IS
Inspector Sands
I'd have thought finding a studio/'bar'/gantry arrangement like the old one will be difficult, I don't think even Riverside was like that before it was demolished.

Also to look like the original style it needs to be in a setting that's not a fitted out TV studio - the one at Riverside was an empty shell before TFI started and it was only fitted out properly after it finished I believe

My bet is either somewhere like Three Mills or an empty building somewhere
Last edited by Inspector Sands on 12 June 2015 12:09pm - 2 times in total
NG
noggin Founding member
I'd have thought finding a studio/'bar'/gantry arrangement like the old one will be difficult, I don't think even Riverside was like that before it was demolished.

You can build that kind of thing on a sound stage if you have a big enough budget...
Quote:

Also to look like the original style it needs to be in a setting that's not a fitted out TV studio - the one at Riverside was an empty shell before TFI started and it was only fitted out properly after it finished I believe

Not sure about the space used for TFI, but the BBC ran Riverside as TV studios in the 60s.
Quote:

My bet is either somewhere like Three Mills or an empty building, maybe somewhere on the river


I wouldn't be surprised if it were a film stage with some heavy set design and construction. If they wanted to recreate something very similar, you'd just build a set that matched. Not cheap - but entirely do-able.

However press reports have said 'secret location in the centre of the city' - so it may well be a warehouse-style location instead. (Possibly something like the original Dragons Den location before it moved into a studio?)
IS
Inspector Sands
Riverside was a BBC studio in the 60s but from what I remember reading on TV Studio History it hadnt been for years until TFI. It was effectively a four waller in a former TV studio.

Thinking about it wonder if its from The Hospital Club
NG
noggin Founding member
Riverside was a BBC studio in the 60s but from what I remember reading on TV Studio History it hadnt been for years until TFI. It was effectively a four waller in a former TV studio.

No - it hadn't been used for years - and when TFI were there it was resourced by BBC Outside Broadcasts (via BBC Resources) as a four-waller.
Quote:

Thinking about it wonder if its from The Hospital Club


Very unlikely - that's TC2 sized - and even Watchdog is a squeeze.
JC
JCB
*
@achrisevans

*
@IanZBroudie

I'm expecting this to be a embarrassing 90 minute cringfest. Leave the 90's, especially "Cool Britannia", in the 90's.
:-(
A former member
Alas were at the right moment of time for everything 90s.
IS
Inspector Sands
Alas were at the right moment of time for everything 90s.

Why?

I don't think there's been a massive 90s revival recently has there? 6 Music and BBC4 did a 'britpop' season a while back and that was great.


One other aspect I'm curious about tonight is who's making it? It was a Ginger production originally so that presumably means its an STV format now. Evans had a TV production company a few years ago (UMTV?) but that's not made anything for ages
JB
JasonB
When will Channel 4 bring back "unpredictable breakfast telly"? Wink
TR
TROGGLES
The only problem with this sort of revival is that it shows up what utter dross is served up these days from Cowell et al.

Channel Four showing Entertaining television with good production values... whatever next!
BU
buster
Nostalgia always seems to work in 20 year cycles. You had a 50s comeback in the late 70s as we've seen on the TOTP repeats, a big 60s revival in the 80s, the 70s fashion and Abba obsession throughout the 90s and (probably to a lesser extent) the re-embraces of the 80s throughout the last decade. Which brings us to….

Partly it's a decent amount of time for nostalgia to develop, but also the people who were students and runners in the 90s are now the comissioners and controllers today who can put this sort of thing on the screen!

I'm surprised Evans is so keen. I know he's "repented" for that whole period in his books, but he couldn't even face presenting the entire last series of TFI. I was probably a bit too young for it at the time (11 when it started, 16 when it finished) but I don't really recall it being held in high esteem back then (other than as an inevitable part of the Britpop/Cool Britainnia/laddism axis) let alone now.

Obviously I'll be watching Very Happy

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