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Tiswas Reunited

General talk about the show (June 2007)

This site closed in March 2021 and is now a read-only archive
CO
Colm
StevieB posted:
Col posted:
Nice to see they didn't end with the ITV generic end credits.

The announcer needn't have reminded us Parkinson is on next during the Bucket of Water Song though.


Julian decided to remain silent for once here on UTV!


I'm surprised UTV showed it - they only ran the final series of Tiswas from September 1981-April 1982; ironically the series after Tarrant, Bob Carolgees and John Gorman left...
:-(
A former member
what I can;t Understand is why STV never showed Tiswas more as there got a contract to get there programming of ATV:
NJ
Neil Jones Founding member
623058 posted:
nok32uk posted:

It seems a lot of the TISWAS archive was stored on VHS tape - or are they "viewer copies"?


ITS Viewer tapes AS only 3-10 Espoide Were EVER Recorded as all went out live!


But wouldn't the whole lot have had to been recorded and kept in case the IBA wanted them for any reason?

According to Wiki, once the need to keep the tapes had passed (was it 30 days?), the master recordings of some episodes were wiped. Those recordings that were kept were apparently kept in awful condition, the tapes were essentially ruined and apparently they're now no longer broadcast quality. Apparently only 23 complete episodes now survive - the rest were junked by ATV. Apparently there's more surviving material (its now owned by Granada after they merged with Carlton who bought the Central/ATV archive along with the rest of the company in 1994) but its uncategorised - may well be separate elements as opposed to full episodes.

Some of the archive footage though really did look like VHS quality and looked like it had seen better days. It was even slightly pillar-boxed as well, I suppose zooming it in and cropping it to the heavens and back would have just looked incredibly fuzzy.

I was surprised though at shocked Chris Tarrant and Sally James were at seeing the Broad Street studios boarded up and run down - a quick Google could have told them that its been like that since Central moved out of the old ATV Studios into Gas Street in late 1996.
SP
Steve in Pudsey
The logger recordings wouldn't necessarily have been of anything approaching good quality, there was no need for them to be.
TV
TVArchive Founding member
Neil Jones posted:
Some of the archive footage though really did look like VHS quality and looked like it had seen better days. It was even slightly pillar-boxed as well, I suppose zooming it in and cropping it to the heavens and back would have just looked incredibly fuzzy.


All archive material was presented in this way (apart from the Opening titles) which is a testiament to time. An excellent reason though to not zoom on old recordings though! Broadcasted VHS tends to suffer, and was fuzzy enough without any zoom.

Well done for not zooming archive material. This is what we want.
RM
Roger Mellie
bilky asko posted:
Tumble Tower posted:
bilky asko posted:
Tumble Tower posted:
...TISWAS (Today Is Saturday, What A Surprise!)


Is that meant to have some humour in or are you just misinformed?

To save you the pain and embarrasment of trying to work out what it is, it's This is Saturday, Watch and Smile


Well some years ago, I was led to believe (during a mention of TISWAS on TV that it stood for "Today Is Saturday, What A Surprise!".


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiswas

And from Chris Tarrant's mouth, just then.


Along with a lot of adult humour for a children's show (confer Gary Glitter joke)

If you go onto ITV Local Central and enter "TISWAS" into the News Extra Search box, there's a nice mini-docu by Chris "breakfast platter" James about the Broad Street studios and Tiswas, with Chris Tarrant and Sally James.
WE
Westy2
Neil Jones posted:

I was surprised though at shocked Chris Tarrant and Sally James were at seeing the Broad Street studios boarded up and run down - a quick Google could have told them that its been like that since Central moved out of the old ATV Studios into Gas Street in late 1996.


Sally should've 'known' that anyway, as she did a 2 year stint at BBC WM next door practically recently, but I suppose for 'artistic reasons' etc etc.

Note to the Tiswas Online boys. Are you getting a copy of Sally's interview with 'me' Daz Hale on WM Saturday lunchtime as well?
SP
Steve in Pudsey
Roger Mellie posted:
Along with a lot of adult humour for a children's show (confer Gary Glitter joke)


The "reunited" show was hardly meant to be a kids show, it was post watershed
HA
harshy Founding member
Neil Jones posted:
623058 posted:
nok32uk posted:

It seems a lot of the TISWAS archive was stored on VHS tape - or are they "viewer copies"?


ITS Viewer tapes AS only 3-10 Espoide Were EVER Recorded as all went out live!


But wouldn't the whole lot have had to been recorded and kept in case the IBA wanted them for any reason?

According to Wiki, once the need to keep the tapes had passed (was it 30 days?), the master recordings of some episodes were wiped. Those recordings that were kept were apparently kept in awful condition, the tapes were essentially ruined and apparently they're now no longer broadcast quality. Apparently only 23 complete episodes now survive - the rest were junked by ATV. Apparently there's more surviving material (its now owned by Granada after they merged with Carlton who bought the Central/ATV archive along with the rest of the company in 1994) but its uncategorised - may well be separate elements as opposed to full episodes.

Some of the archive footage though really did look like VHS quality and looked like it had seen better days. It was even slightly pillar-boxed as well, I suppose zooming it in and cropping it to the heavens and back would have just looked incredibly fuzzy.

I was surprised though at shocked Chris Tarrant and Sally James were at seeing the Broad Street studios boarded up and run down - a quick Google could have told them that its been like that since Central moved out of the old ATV Studios into Gas Street in late 1996.


So whats happening with the Broad Street studios, obviously its still standing, but who runs it and why is it still being run, when clearly they will not resurrect the studios again?
PT
Peter Thomas
Tumble Tower posted:
You know why I1 are showing this though, don't you. During last Xmas, B2 showed "It Started With Swap Shop" which lasted about 2 hours, and it included the classic Swap Shop opening sequence. So it's only natural then, that six months on, I1 should show a tribute programme to its rival Saturday morning kids' show of the time, TISWAS (Today Is Saturday, What A Surprise!).


Actually, yesterday's reunion show was first thought of way back in 2005. So Noel Edmonds still doesn't beat Tiswas!


Tumble Tower posted:
Actually I think TISWAS started about a year before Swap Shop, albeit in the ATV region only,


Tiswas began in Jan 1974.
Sw*p Sh*p began in Oct 1976.

Tumble Tower posted:
it was a couple years later before TISWAS spread to other I1 franchise areas (Westward, HTV, LWT, Anglia et al).


For an accurate view of it really spread out (not guesswork), see this experimental page...
http://www.tiswasonline.com/look_in.php
PT
Peter Thomas
623058 posted:
The ATV stuide are still standing!

and there empty! why?


Oh nothing really, just UNSAFE for people to go into (you have to sign an injury disclaimer to go in) and earmarked for demolition this summer.

I thought TV anoraks did their homework.
PT
Peter Thomas
tvarksouthwest posted:
Sad indeed. A shame Chris and Sally didn't get political and take a shot at the 1990 Broadcasting Act and its successors which ultimately facilitated Broad Street's closure.


Um, I think you'll find it's 'concrete cancer' that facilitated Broad Street's closure. The building is crumbling! No-one's allowed in Studio 2 (Crossroads) because it's very unsafe.

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