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The Bill

Gone after 26 years (March 2009)

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NE
newsatten
IMO I think the Bill was really good tonight , much less of a soap. The music did start of a bit in your face but graduly there was less of it and I suppose I got use to it.

Also I almost though that they hadn't used the filmic effect tonight - mabye I've just got used to it or mabye it was beacuse it felt right with the new tone of the programme , definatley better than the last few weeks - I felt that they were really just fillers until it moved - last week they were still more "soapy"- with the characters personal lives. But this week it was almost all cut out .

Also the reaction on DS has been fairly good, except really form the 'soap' section - I suppose people don't like that it isn't really a soap anymore
EX
excel99
It was good, but is wasnt The Bill

Also why do they need to keep putting up on screen 'end of part one', 'part two'. Its pretty obvious Exclamation
JA
jamesmd
excel99 posted:
It was good, but is wasnt The Bill

Also why do they need to keep putting up on screen 'end of part one', 'part two'. Its pretty obvious Exclamation


Are you ten? Do you know what The Bill is?

And they put those on screen because if you've just tuned in, you might not know which bit you're coming into.

I don't see the point of all these people whinging about how it's not The Bill any more. Of course it is - they've just changed it to maybe attract a different audience. If that means keeping up with other popular franchises then so be it - I'd rather watch something with (on the face of it) high production values and something that looks slick when compared with CSI. As much as I liked the pre-watershed Bill, I never thought it was gritty enough. Crims are never as polite as they are pre-watershed. Bigger, more real issues couldn't be tackled. I think it's a step in the right direction - and I like it.

But purist bores like some on here will probably complain to Ofcom and the Queen and get it changed. Ar$e.
IM
IM
I definitely think they should have kept the old theme, infact they should have brought back the 1988 theme which was the most famous version. The titles are dull and boring and should be binned before they become too familiar.
Last edited by IM on 24 July 2009 3:19pm
NG
noggin Founding member
RDJ posted:
Unfortunately they've ruined The Bill of which I have been an avid viewer until now.

I cannot fathom to see why ITV still insist on copying other succesful shows only for them to fail miserably (e.g. Primeval, Britannia High etc.) Now with a low budget carbon copy of a CSI-esque show they've tried to cheaply Americanise it which doesn't work. If I want to watch CSI then I'd watch CSI and not The Bill.

On its own I'm sure the show would be good... but in the form of The Bill I know I won't be watching anymore.


It's hardly CSI - it isn't concentrating on the Forensic teams - it is still concentrating on Police Officers...
EX
excel99
JAH posted:
excel99 posted:
It was good, but is wasnt The Bill


Are you ten? Do you know what The Bill is?

Yes, I video-ed it last night, have watched it and commented on it. I know exactly what The Bill is, and in many ways it was very different to what is has been in the past. Hence my comment

JAH posted:
And they put those on screen because if you've just tuned in, you might not know which bit you're coming into.

Cant most people work that out though. If its about half nine is pretty obvious it will be end of part two/start of part three

JAH posted:
But purist bores like some on here will probably complain to Ofcom and the Queen and get it changed. Ar$e.

People, including you, are entilted to their view and that should be respected IMO. And respecting it does not involve called people bores or Ar$e. Not everyone agrees with you and that just has to be accepted. No need to make it personal
JA
jamesmd
excel99 posted:

JAH posted:
And they put those on screen because if you've just tuned in, you might not know which bit you're coming into.

Cant most people work that out though. If its about half nine is pretty obvious it will be end of part two/start of part three


But what about people who don't know what time the show starts? Who've never watched it before? You've got to cater for all tastes and types of people - which goes back to my original point about the show.

And yes it does. Because boring sods who'll say "it's not as good as it used to be" purely because they miss shaky cameras and the old theme will ruin it for the people who like the revamped show. Just in the same way that producers were cow-towed into bringing back the older (and IMO worse) theme to Casualty after the new (and really v good) orchestral theme was brought in.
ST
Stuart
JAH posted:
I don't see the point of all these people whinging about how it's not The Bill any more. Of course it is - they've just changed it to maybe attract a different audience.

I like the way you manage to be on both sides of a debate within two sentences, and yet still try to sound as though you're convinced by what you're saying! Wink
WO
Worzel
Mattie posted:
Well I just watched the opening, well some of it, it was that long I got bored, that was after I realised it was the opening and that I hadnt missed 5 minutes of the programme.

The music has no relivence or relation to this type of drama. Its too calm, Overkill was upbeat and you know what you were getting. There no identifiers to say 'This is The Bill'. When it breaks to commerfcials you can hear when it returns if you are not in the room, you identify with the music, 'The brand'.

The only part of Overkill is when they show the words 'The' and 'Bill' and the title of the episode.

After 20 years of watching it at its best, this is the worst thing they could do, is change the 'brand' and the 'look'.

The way it is now filmed with the filmatic look that all shows seems to be going ( I remember when grange hill did it, I thought there was something wrong with my eyes)

Look what Consignia did to The Post Office, another costly mistake as people couldn't identify with it.

Verdict: 4/ 10. I dont like it.

Anyway that's my two penny worth


I agree, I used to love the Bill but it has turned in to a Frost like Drama and is dreadful.

They couldn't even keep the Title music which has been symbolic for years - now how is re-introducing new cheap no hope title music, (which isn't even music IMHO) saving money?

I can't see this format lasting.

I much prefer watching the old repeats on Alibi!
MW
Mike W
Surely it would have been cheaper to get Overkill from KPM and re do the 1988 titles
MS
Mr-Stabby
The new style really worked for me and i very much enjoyed it.

However the titles were bland and unexciting. They seemed to me to be trying with the theme music what they did with 'NYPD Blue' and that is have a theme tune that doesn't really have a melody or something that you can hum. I'm not sure I liked the NYPD Blue idea and I certainly didn't like this theme.
MW
Mike W
http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/1295/thebilllogo1998test1acr.png
Found that on my hard drive, if anyone wants it.

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