Main Menu

Tip jar

If you like CaB and wish to support it, you can use PayPal or KoFi. Thank you, and I hope you continue to enjoy the site - Neil.

Buy Me a Coffee at ko-fi.com

Support CaB

Recent

Members
Stats
  • Total Posts: 5,559,185
  • Total Topics: 106,348
  • Online Today: 741
  • Online Ever: 3,311
  • (July 08, 2021, 03:14:41 AM)
Users Online
Welcome to Cook'd and Bomb'd. Please login or sign up.

March 29, 2024, 05:54:20 AM

Login with username, password and session length

Room 101 Cancelled

Started by Bazooka, July 24, 2018, 11:47:15 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

Bazooka

It had a good run, 24 years or something, shame I'm a big Skinner fan but nothing lasts forever.

olliebean

Maybe we can get the original one-on-one interview version back now? That ran twice as long as the new, "improved" panel-show-because-everything-fucking-has-to-be-these-days version, and was much better.

popcorn

Always thought it was mega boring and would have suited radio much better.

Beagle 2

It was on the radio, unless that was an joke.

the Nick Hancock ones were almost all brilliant, Surprised to see that Spike Milligan's episode was as late as 1999 though, that must make it a Merton episode is it?

Skinner ones fucked the format entirely, nobody could go off on any tangents or deviate from short, scripted PET PEEVES. Waste of time, grave.

Ignatius_S

Quote from: Bazooka on July 24, 2018, 11:47:15 AM
It had a good run, 24 years or something, shame I'm a big Skinner fan but nothing lasts forever.

It was a good number of years, but I'd guess more like 18-ish. When Skinner took it over, the show hadn't been broadcast for several years and was given a brand new format.

When it was first axed, the show was still performing well. Although they've tinkered round with the new format, in terms of ratings, IIRC, it was still strong.

ajsmith2

Why did even this cheap and simple show idea have to be reformatted into a loose panel/game show format come the 2010s?

By that point, was the thinking that such light diversionary-type programming has to be presented in a panel setup, as that's what audiences expect?

Ignatius_S

Quote from: Beagle 2 on July 24, 2018, 12:07:25 PM...the Nick Hancock ones were almost all brilliant...

Personally, I preferred Hancock, but IIRC, didn't find all his guests that great.

Quote from: Beagle 2 on July 24, 2018, 12:07:25 PM...Skinner ones fucked the format entirely, nobody could go off on any tangents or deviate from short, scripted PET PEEVES. Waste of time, grave.

Although I wasn't keen on the change, I'm pretty sure that the ratings for all of the Skinner episodes were greater that the previous ones. Given what's happened with audience numbers, due to changes in watching habits, that's pretty impressive.

Beagle 2

Isn't that because they moved it to BBC One though?

Ignatius_S

Quote from: ajsmith2 on July 24, 2018, 12:13:12 PM
Why did even this cheap and simple show idea have to be reformatted into a loose panel/game show format come the 2010s?

By that point, was tjhe thinking that such light diversionary-type programming has to be presented in a panel setup, as that's what audiences expect?

Programme-making by committee – seen as a safer option.

However, the previous format really lived or died by the guest, so I think there was a feeling that by having three guests, that risk is eliminated. However, that safeness seemed to just create a consistent mediocrity.

paruses

Quote from: Ignatius_S on July 24, 2018, 12:17:26 PM
Personally, I preferred Hancock, but IIRC, didn't find all his guests that great.

Although I wasn't keen on the change, I'm pretty sure that the ratings for all of the Skinner episodes were greater that the previous ones. Given what's happened with audience numbers, due to changes in watching habits, that's pretty impressive.

I too preferred Hancock but surely you've got to admit that his single guests were of a better quality than the fillers they have on these days. I can't think of a duff one in the Hancock years.

I am a Skinner fan but his need to have the joke overshadows things sometimes. Admittedly with the majority of guests that are on he has to pick up a lot of slack but Hancock was very good at keeping and building the riffs with his guests.

I suppose the format change was necessary now that viewers can't seem to concentrate on one thing for long so need  short diversionary segments which multiple guests on a panel provide.

Was Savile ever on in the old days? Am probably mixing it up with HIGNFY.

rasta-spouse

Making it a panel show was a mistake, it opened the sluice for a tonne of bores. And Skinner's try-hard visual gags were barrel scraping at times. But yes, he was just doing his best. Interestingly, Skinner's own Hancock-era Room 101 is a veritable comedy clinic.

Let's get rid of HIGNFY next. Or make a HIGNFY/Girls Gone Wild chimera, you know, for ratings.

the

The original radio Room 101 was incredible, probably my favourite radio show of all time.

No audience, just Nick Hancock in a room with a (funny) guest, dissecting and arguing over bad records and 70s tat. As a perceptive, witty and cynical study of pop culture it's unparalleled. (I haven't got round to listening to the Chart Music podcast yet, but I suspect it's attempting to mine a similar seam.)

I've refrained from starting a thread about it for ages, but I might have to, lest it get entirely eclipsed by its final Skinnerian incarnation.

The TV Hancock ones were good, but the focus shifted away from it being an inverted Desert Island Discs, and more towards miscellaneous peeves and playing to the audience.

Then through the Merton and Skinner years, it moved away from comedy/funny guests towards general humourless/unperceptive slebs, before its decent into 'rich people complaining'.

Ignatius_S

Quote from: Beagle 2 on July 24, 2018, 12:21:05 PM
Isn't that because they moved it to BBC One though?

That's a fair point, shows usually benefit from being on BBC 1, but this varies. With Count Arthur Strong, for instance, there was a boost when it switched but it went from a BBC 2 show with ok (just about) viewing figures to a BBC 1 show with bad figues.

Skinner has established himself as an experienced presenter and he was received well, and feel he played a part in the ratings increase.

As I mentioned, the change of viewing habits had really depressed the traditional overnight numbers, so the increase was rather impressive.

jobotic

People taking photos of their lunch and putting them on Facebook! Selfie-sticks! Other people's children!


Oh fuck, I was gonna say them. Erm...remote controls??


I won't miss it.

Ornlu


Brundle-Fly

I thought the Skinner series had some great moments but getting sports people and reality stars on the show was often risky. (although Rylan Clark-Neal was surprisingly funny). My partner had never seen the old shows, so I tried to pick out some good ones but on the whole, she found them a bit slow and of course, very dated compared to Frank's version.




Ignatius_S

Quote from: paruses on July 24, 2018, 12:23:47 PM
I too preferred Hancock but surely you've got to admit that his single guests were of a better quality than the fillers they have on these days. I can't think of a duff one in the Hancock years....

I haven't watched much of the news series, so can't comment too much about how good they were, but the names didn't feel me with confidence.

There were some Hancock guests that didn't work for me. Just had a quick look and I think I thought Clarkson was pretty awful. Also, I'm pretty sure that there were a few, who seemed perfectly nice but weren't that amazing (e.g. Neil Morrissey). I wouldn't go as far to say as episodes (or at least, many) were 'duff' but the quality of guest did vary for me and it was Hancock that was consistently good.

However, I would rather have interesting choices and the occasional duff person, rather than safe names, consistent meh-ness.

Quote from: paruses on July 24, 2018, 12:23:47 PM...I am a Skinner fan but his need to have the joke overshadows things sometimes. Admittedly with the majority of guests that are on he has to pick up a lot of slack but Hancock was very good at keeping and building the riffs with his gues....

Yeah, I would agree with that. Also, my memory might be playing tricks, but I think Merton sometimes just let people run – I remember Will Self being very funny and Merton was much more relaxed than when he was on HIGNFY.

Quote from: paruses on July 24, 2018, 12:23:47 PM....I suppose the format change was necessary now that viewers can't seem to concentrate on one thing for long so need  short diversionary segments which multiple guests on a panel provide.

Was Savile ever on in the old days? Am probably mixing it up with HIGNFY.

Possibly, but think sometimes that can be more of aassumption (was interested to see what Mr BF said above My gut feeling is that may have been the theory, but audiences get underestimated. Most likely, it's the creative death by 1,000 meetings.

And not according to the lists now!

EOLAN

Another one of the opinion that Hancock > Merton > Skinner

There is a little big of nostalgia involved. Interesting point by Brundle Fry that his Mrs. found the old ones far too slow. For me; I loved how they develop on a point and you really felt a relatively in-depth discussion for why something deserves to be detested (and maybe not depending on Merton's/Hancock's take). On Skinner's version, who I love as a comedian; it is basically just a brief description, a punchline or two and onto the next selection. I much prefer the slower pacing and development in the two old series.

Also; one thing I liked about Hancock was for a show which is about people hating things; I think his sarky sour humour really fitted it and there seemed to be a lot more anger there. Merton I found was good but didn't display that level of detesting things.

Sin Agog

Wonder if the format change was an attempt to copy the Norton/Corden model, except the Beeb buggered it up by making it so that none of the guests really talked with each other.  Most people who still actually watch the TV on the TV probably do so 'cause it's like a Friendship Simulator.  Except the BBC is run by fish out of water antiquarians whose hang-outs probably make a Bela Tarr movie look like a hen night.

Fave Room 101 episode is the Will Self one: Merton's spikiness/class warrior act clearly got Self proper piqued, and it was pretty fascinating to watch.

Harpo Speaks

I love Skinner, but the change of format made for a worse programme.

I was just thinking the other day about that really funny Merton-era show where Jonny Vegas gives a detailed account of the time he'd spent in a medieval-themed chatroom called 'Beauty's Castle'.

Brundle-Fly

I do recommend revisiting Sean Lock's TV Heaven, TV Hell (2006-07) on YouTube. Some real corkers there. Johnny Vaughan's episode is very funny.

lankyguy95

It should have ended the exact moment they let through Nicola Adams choosing "Losing your keys".

Sin Agog

That's another point.  All the athletes/non-funny people's choices were po-faced as hell.

"I'm putting sadness into Room 101, Frank."

notjosh

Quote from: Harpo Speaks on July 24, 2018, 01:13:57 PM
I was just thinking the other day about that really funny Merton-era show where Jonny Vegas gives a detailed account of the time he'd spent in a medieval-themed chatroom called 'Beauty's Castle'.

This is the one I always remember. The shamefaced way he muttered "Beauty's castle..." when asked for the name was beautiful.

His episode of TV Heaven, Telly Hell was great as well.

paruses

Quote from: Harpo Speaks on July 24, 2018, 01:13:57 PM
I love Skinner, but the change of format made for a worse programme.

I was just thinking the other day about that really funny Merton-era show where Jonny Vegas gives a detailed account of the time he'd spent in a medieval-themed chatroom called 'Beauty's Castle'.

The Jonny Vegas one was fantastic for Beauty's Castle  alone. I liked Spike Milligan and remember his Chris Evans nominations ("The man has no talent. The only nice thing I can wish him is an early death"). David Baddiel's hair dryer thing also sticks in my mind. And Will Self was given nice licence by Merton to riff (the B&B tiny jams bit sticks in my mind especially Paul Merton's "I see you keep a bee"*). As someone says above the Nomination-Gag-Gag-Next format has none of the joy of the original format. I am always disappointed to see Clarkson on things like this as it excuses the character he plays in his day job but even in the old format I seem to remember that Hancock was able to draw out the conversation into a reasonable quality chat rather than just letting him drop semi-outrageous and trite sound bites.

Ignatius is probably right that people can and do appreciate longer form stuff but the programmers have noticed one thing that consistently works and stubbornly refuse to try anything else.


*that was an anecdote, wasn't it? Who said it originally? That will drive me mad.



gilbertharding


paruses

Quote from: gilbertharding on July 24, 2018, 02:50:03 PM
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=i+see+your+lordship+keeps+a+bee

Thanks. I knew I could get someone to find out for me.

In keeping with the Frank Skinner theme on this board at the moment - there's a thing on his radio show about not looking things up and the satisfaction / mental exercise you get when you remember something you do know. However, I was convinced it was some Waugh-type wag rather than a colleague of James MacKay (I had to go back a browser tab just to get that right) so I would never have got that.

gilbertharding

I don't remember Hancock era Room 101 with much fondness. Perhaps it's the unfortunate association that generation of comedians has for me - early careers rooted in the puritanical alternative scene, leaping free to ride the repellant New Lad wave in the 90s, but I'm sure it's not completely hindsight... I can't picture him without Rory McGrath, Lee Hurst, etc etc, bitter hasbeens carping about how things are all shit now. Unfair, I'm sure, but that's life.

Apart from the Will Self episode with Merton, I remember the Harry Hill one, which was the confusing sight of Harry Hill wearing 'The Costume', but only from the ankles up, while airing what were obviously the complaints and obsessions of the actor who plays him. It was a bit like the gorilla in that Not the Nine O'Clock News sketch.

Very bizarre, but neither of them referred to it.

gilbertharding

Quote from: paruses on July 24, 2018, 02:54:38 PM
Thanks. I knew I could get someone to find out for me.

In keeping with the Frank Skinner theme on this board at the moment - there's a thing on his radio show about not looking things up and the satisfaction / mental exercise you get when you remember something you do know. However, I was convinced it was some Waugh-type wag rather than a colleague of James MacKay (I had to go back a browser tab just to get that right) so I would never have got that.

I'm not convinced that's the first time anyone ever said 'I see you keep a bee', mind. I mean, if Gyles Brandreth or Ned Sherrin have never passed that off as their own, I'd be amazed.

paruses

Quote from: gilbertharding on July 24, 2018, 03:02:14 PM
I'm not convinced that's the first time anyone ever said 'I see you keep a bee', mind. I mean, if Gyles Brandreth or Ned Sherrin have never passed that off as their own, I'd be amazed.

Spot on with those suspected plagiarists.