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March 28, 2024, 03:32:56 PM

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Bullseye

Started by bgmnts, March 04, 2020, 09:46:16 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

JesusAndYourBush

I tried watching an episode last year but after about 5 minutes I couldn't take any more.  I find when rewatching old shows from the 80's for nostalgic purposes that some are still watchable, while with others I can't believe we watched such dismal shows.  Different times, I guess.

There's supposed to be one where Jim asks a guy what he does for a living and he says he's unemployed, Jim says "Smashing" and the guy calls him a rude word.  Maybe an urban myth?

New page BFH.

sevendaughters

People harp on at Bowen for being a bit of his time with his patter and jokes1 but (and this has been said before) other aspects of his persona actually made him a much more interesting and empathetic figure than some contemporary uncontroversial host like (to pick on someone at random like Ben Shepherd). For one, the show actually respected intelligence of its contestants. And, more importantly, Bowen was always very good if the contestants were out of work ("it's difficult at the minute isn't it?"). He knew his audience and he got them.

me and the Mrs watched a couple of episodes in bed at like 1am on Challenge TV in our hotel at the weekend and found ourselves enjoying the nostalgia coma. I like the slower pace, the lower lighting, the esoteric questions, the darts variants, the celebrity/pro challenges, and I like that it all feels fairly low stakes and contestant-friendly. Like darts used to be. Like quizzes used to be.

Personally I find a great deal of modern game shows to be dismal and dreary. Like, sure they're well lit and pacy, but there's no real warmth. Pointless may as well have Raspberry Pi algorithms competing against each other, whilst Eggheads and The Chase is more about the format and the villains. Tenable isn't bad. The last game show I got moderately invested in was The Cube.


1 which bit him on the arse in later years when he was fired from his morning DJ job at Radio Lancs for being racist. my uncle had to fire him.

Gurke and Hare


jobotic

Quote from: Elderly Sumo Prophecy on March 05, 2020, 11:43:34 PM
IIIIIIIIIIIN ONE

As teenagers we used to have "a nest of mahogany tables" as a hilarious catchphrase. Was superceded by "IIIIIIIN One - it's me having a shit, so get out" although I don't believe Jim actually said that.

Blumf

Quote from: sevendaughters on March 06, 2020, 09:30:53 AM
Personally I find a great deal of modern game shows to be dismal and dreary. Like, sure they're well lit and pacy, but there's no real warmth. Pointless may as well have Raspberry Pi algorithms competing against each other, whilst Eggheads and The Chase is more about the format and the villains. Tenable isn't bad. The last game show I got moderately invested in was The Cube.

The Chase is pretty good. Bradley Walsh does a great job with the contestants, the questions are a nice balance, and the format doesn't get in the way. That other quiz he does, Cash Trapped, too much focus on the contestants and faffing about.

Tenable, I like the idea, but it don't half go on. Always pulling away from the quiz to focus on the boring contestants. If you drop into the show half way through it can be 5 mins plus before you actually see the question+current answers because the director is obsessed with the gormless players.




I think they should bring back Turnabout


Gulftastic

I can't link it cos I'm on my phone but look up Bullseye Star Prize disaster' on YouTube. It's also a chance to hear the losing variation of the star prize theme.

EOLAN

Love dipping into a bit of Bully on Challenge if I have nothing else to watch. Questions are of a reasonable good standard too. Don't know why I was expecting Tipping Point level of questions. 

On Eggheads; do all the teams still ask to take on the old women when the category is sport. So basically; she knows she just needs to swot up on one specific subject.

monkfromhavana

Quote from: Blumf on March 06, 2020, 10:41:17 AM

I think they should bring back Turnabout



I loved Turnabout, hosted by Rob Curling. Can't remember the premise totally, but an enjoyable 30 minutes.

Brexit's obviously put the kybosh on Going For Gold.

lankyguy95

Quote from: sevendaughters on March 06, 2020, 09:30:53 AM
And, more importantly, Bowen was always very good if the contestants were out of work ("it's difficult at the minute isn't it?"). He knew his audience and he got them.
Yeah he was great at that.

Captain Z

Quote from: Gulftastic on March 06, 2020, 10:53:42 AM
I can't link it cos I'm on my phone but look up Bullseye Star Prize disaster' on YouTube. It's also a chance to hear the losing variation of the star prize theme.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuJ96LqZslg

I suppose it's what makes this one stand out, but the dart-playing partner really should have known that all he had to do was aim for the region of the board with a concentration of higher numbers with his final two darts.

Bullseye wasn't as bad as other shows, but it still gave me a certain degree of Sunday night fear. It felt like that was as much fun as you were allowed to have on a Sunday - watching a bunch of working men only prepared to put their crippling inability to appear comfortable on camera aside because of the opportunity to get on with some serious darts business.

FWIW I hated "The Cube". Fifteen minutes of material stretched out to an hour with faux jeopardy and interaction. "How are you feeling about this one?" "What's going through your mind now?". Shut the fuck up and let them throw the fucking ball.

bgmnts

Quote from: Captain Z on March 06, 2020, 12:59:34 PM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuJ96LqZslg


Ha!

Bowen quietly saying "get your act together" to the darts player just before he steps up, brilliant.

the

Quote from: Blumf on March 06, 2020, 10:41:17 AMTurnabout

I thought I liked Turnabout until I watched one on YT recently, when I realised that the game is completely unbalanced.

Anyone who manages to get a load of spheres on the board will dominate, and accumulates points far more quickly than the underdogs. Then - and this is the kicker - once they go and do the rapid-fire bit and come back for another round, they don't start again with a clean board, so whoever was dominating in round 1 just trounces everyone again.

It's the worst abuse of the Geneva Convention on Quiz Show Formats since the opening round of 3-2-1. Turdabout, more like. Up yours, Doig.

(On the plus side, I do think more quiz shows should follow Turnabout's use of water on the set to achieve a heightened risk of electrocution.)

Back to ACTUAL BLOODY TOPIC of Bullseye:

Quote from: sevendaughters on March 06, 2020, 09:30:53 AMFor one, the show actually respected intelligence of its contestants. And, more importantly, Bowen was always very good if the contestants were out of work ("it's difficult at the minute isn't it?"). He knew his audience and he got them.

Bowen had a class affinity with the working man (or non-working man, as the 80s would have it). As I touched upon before, his enthusiasm for the job intricacies of any craftsmen was brilliant, he'd often question them on the method and technique of their craft to the total exclusion of presenting a TV gameshow.

Quote from: bgmnts on March 06, 2020, 01:05:46 PMBowen quietly saying "get your act together" to the darts player just before he steps up, brilliant.

There is one stunning moment where a team are going for the star prize. During Jim's hushed explanation of the rules, the non-dart player is nervously fiddling with his darts. Suddenly Jim's latent schoolteaching erupts and he slaps the guy's hand to make him stop. The guy is so thrown by this that he goes out and muffs it and they go home with their BFH. :)

checkoutgirl

Quote from: the on March 05, 2020, 02:22:44 PM
Yeah as if you've got a friend

What's her problem?

checkoutgirl

Quote from: pigamus on March 05, 2020, 11:15:15 PM
It amazes me how many people forget how fucking awful and dreary and miserable those Sundays used to be.

Are you being ironic? I don't think anyone forgot that at all. What are you talking about? It's an absolute cliche, people whinging about school the next day and Harry Secombe.

Rolf Lundgren

Quote from: sevendaughters on March 06, 2020, 09:30:53 AM
People harp on at Bowen for being a bit of his time with his patter and jokes1 but (and this has been said before) other aspects of his persona actually made him a much more interesting and empathetic figure than some contemporary uncontroversial host like (to pick on someone at random like Ben Shepherd). For one, the show actually respected intelligence of its contestants. And, more importantly, Bowen was always very good if the contestants were out of work ("it's difficult at the minute isn't it?"). He knew his audience and he got them.

You always got the feeling he was a host in the literal sense of the word. He was welcoming them, making them feel at home and when he talks about having a drink afterwards you fully expect him to be there at the bar getting them in.

batwings

Bowen was always suspiciously very keen to note that the money won for the charity was always 'safe' or 'in an envelope on its way to Barnado's' or similar. We never thought otherwise, until you kept mentioning it.

Anyway, I love these bleak late 70s/early 80s shows like Bullseye or 3-2-1. There's a charm to how unsophisticated and unvarnished they are. The audiences of mostly-now-dead coach parties, jokes about the stupid Irish, trade unions, British Rail and Leyland; decanters, microwaves and Flymos as prizes. In comparison, modern gameshows are more like Tron directed by Alfred Hitchcock.

checkoutgirl

Quote from: JesusAndYourBush on March 06, 2020, 12:52:36 AM
I find when rewatching old shows from the 80's for nostalgic purposes that some are still watchable, while with others I can't believe we watched such dismal shows.  Different times, I guess.

Yeah, I watched Barry McGuigan's This is Your Life from around 1986 or 1987 (just checked it's actually 1988) and couldn't believe the shite we used to accept as entertainment in those days. It was unbelievable. Just his family on voiceover saying shit like "Remember the time you lost your pencil case?" and then coming out and it's just his sister who he probably saw last week anyway. And McGuigan had probably done little more than win a boxing match at the time so had no built up store of showbiz stories to draw from. Very surreal telly. Flat, regimented and listless but with a timetable.

Then you watch Knightmare that's a kid's show that started in 1987 and it's brill.

the

Quote from: batwings on March 06, 2020, 01:59:46 PMBowen was always suspiciously very keen to note that the money won for the charity was always 'safe' or 'in an envelope on its way to Barnado's' or similar. We never thought otherwise, until you kept mentioning it.

There was one bizarre time he said something like:

"That money'll be on its way to your charity, in the post, first thing Monday morning. ... Or whenever."

EOLAN

Wasn't the whole the charity's morning is safe; to highlight that it wasn't going to be risked in an attempt to get a trip for 11 days to the Taj Mahal for the South Yorkshire Dog Kennels Fund.

DrGreggles

"What category, Trevor?"
"Sport please Jim."
"OK, we're looking for Sport please, Nigel...."
*thud*
"14th Century Scandinavian Literature you've got. So, Trevor, for four pounds..."

Fucking love it.

Lisa Jesusandmarychain

Little Known Bullseye Fact: Even when the finalists lost, they'd get given the star prize anyway, once the closing credits had finished, whether they wanted that fucking speedboat, or not.

batwings

Quote from: EOLAN on March 06, 2020, 02:12:30 PM
Wasn't the whole the charity's morning is safe; to highlight that it wasn't going to be risked in an attempt to get a trip for 11 days to the Taj Mahal for the South Yorkshire Dog Kennels Fund.

Of course, but it was Bowen's unncessary specificity ('Don't worry, first thing in the morning the money's in a Securicor van on it's way to Great Ormand's Street') that always raised the eyebrow.

bgmnts

Does Bowen actually count the money out during the break?

the

Quote from: bgmnts on March 06, 2020, 02:30:44 PMDoes Bowen actually count the money out during the break?

He doesn't even count it out in the fucking show, he's usually given up acting it out way before they've vision-mixed him into the 'End Of Part One' dartboard.

the

... To be fair, in the earlier shows where they lose a team at the end of the first round, he would count it out and comiserate them. Occasionally they'd have nowt so he'd give them a bottle of champagne, what a gent.

Captain Z

Did they still have £1 notes back then? Because when the duo linked above handed back their £199 it was just a wad of notes.

Edit: Withdrawn in 1984, so possibly.

Quote from: checkoutgirl on March 06, 2020, 02:00:48 PM
Yeah, I watched Barry McGuigan's This is Your Life from around 1986 or 1987 (just checked it's actually 1988) and couldn't believe the shite we used to accept as entertainment in those days.
My storming "Barry McGuigan in 1988" anecdote...

In 1988 I took the booking for a service on Barry McGuigan's quadbike.

Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!

Quote from: Captain Z on March 06, 2020, 02:41:43 PM
Did they still have £1 notes back then? Because when the duo linked above handed back their £199 it was just a wad of notes.

Edit: Withdrawn in 1984, so possibly.

That clip's late 80's at the absolute earliest so definitely no £1 notes.

The wad's folded in two, so it looks thicker than it really is.


sevendaughters

outside of the grand prize what's the biggest win you've seen on Bullseye? usually if they have £600 and a teasmaid at the end of the prize board they fuck off home.

gilbertharding

Quote from: batwings on March 06, 2020, 01:59:46 PM
Anyway, I love these bleak late 70s/early 80s shows like Bullseye or 3-2-1. There's a charm to how unsophisticated and unvarnished they are. The audiences of mostly-now-dead coach parties, jokes about the stupid Irish, trade unions, British Rail and Leyland; decanters, microwaves and Flymos as prizes. In comparison, modern gameshows are more like Tron directed by Alfred Hitchcock.

Even on the BBC. A couple of Xmases ago they showed an Xmas episode of It's Bruce Forsyth's The Generation Game, and one of the contestants was a hideous old crone (probably in her mid 40s) who seemed to think (in fact, definitely thought) it was fine to appear on prime time Saturday night TV without her teeth in. She had teeth (apparently - the subject WAS broached), but they were uncomfortable, so she didn't wear them, even when she was appearing on fucking television.

Clearly, people today are overly concerned with appearances, and superficial things like that...