Generic Dave Panel Shows

[vainsharpdad]

New Mel Giedroyc thing tonight - a cross between 'Would I Lie to You' and 'Shame Well'.
Left me with no impact whatsoever - like televised Ryvita.

Hypothetical is back next week. Ho-hum.

I bet they miss Taskmaster.

[neveragain]

There's an advert running - for the Giedroyc show - which yaks on about 'new comedy on Dave' and it gets me in a rage. Panel shows shouldn't be counted as comedy. They're 'entertainment' and should be funded as such. Put some money towards sketch shows and sitcom.

[UltimoLJ]

First episode so assume it gets tighter - but it did feel like a bit of a pilot.

Clearly things working well, and other things just feeling clunky as anything.

Mel is a warm personality, and the logic of that to help draw you through the darkness of the stories makes sense, but she isn't a sharp presenter. Makes everything (delivery, timing, tone) a bit woolly, which doesn't sort of work on a panel show which has...so...so many format points, and you think the best hosts 'own' it all a bit more?

Do wonder how much of a pre-interview you'd have to do for a show like this. Alex Brooker absolutely gettng hammered in this. Think there was a point he realised he...might be coming over badly but not within the confines of the 'safe space' of the show...

Drone was funny once and then just weird and awkward.
Lou Sanders was lovely, dark and weird and giving it all a gentle positive nudge.
Just felt that most of the show was the wrong side of contrived, for the majority of 'ins' to the stories. Understand you have to plan these things, but just was too nakedly 'hello person A, please tell story 2 please'.

There was fun in seeing these kinds of weird awkward stories, but just needed to be less of the machinery of a panel show to get to them. Doing it in original Room 101 style, with Mel chatting to 1 person only, Lou popping up when needed and offering them a 'subject' to go into the same stories would have been a lot 'cleaner'?

Far too many words for a fucking Dave panel show, but I would watch famous people telling anecdotes you'd not see elsewhere as a bit of a guilty pleasure. Just not when it's so cumbersome to get to them. Almost 100% a show to watch in YouTube clips as it is.

[Utter Shit]

I thought it was quite good, and a decent idea for a show. Definitely could do with tightening up a bit but it's a good format for getting funny anecdotes out of people.

Not sure of the logic of demanding panel shows not being considered comedy shows. I mean...they're comedy shows.

[Ja'moke]

I don't know why Dave doesn't try its hand at a British version of The Genius.

For those unfamiliar, The Genius was a South Korean reality game-show that "brought together 13 contestants from various sectors to compete for the top spot in rounds involving various games. Every episode, a contestant is eliminated following a main match and a death match." More info: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Genius_(TV_series)

It's one of the best game-shows ever due to its games and strategies and editing style, but it was also very funny, usually because of the type of people cast. You had a mix of comedians, entertainers, presenters, and actual genius types. It could be the ideal replacement for Taskmaster.

Glenn Hugill's Possessed Productions own the format rights for it in the UK, so it's just waiting for someone to snap it up.

Here's the pitch video for it that Possessed put together in 2015: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQITn-hUDNE

[neveragain]

Not sure of the logic of demanding panel shows not being considered comedy shows. I mean...they're comedy shows.

I dunno... I just think there are too many of them and it's an easy way for channels to avoid producing new scripted comedies, as they can say 'look at how much new comedy we're making!'[nb]Which is why the recent advert irritated me, when all you seem to get is fifteen identical shows where Avalon clients sit and riff with each other[/nb] So I'd prefer they were classed as entertainment along with chat shows and game shows.

[DrGreggles]

The Genius was a wonderful show.
Not quite Dave material though.

[thelittlemango]

The Genius was a wonderful show.
Not quite Dave material though.

One of my all-time favourite shows, but also made me think that South Korean celebrities are vastly more intelligent than British ones.

You see people get flummoxed on Taskmaster with relatively simple things, and then you watch The Genius and see firstly how complicated the games/rules are and secondly how smart/devious the approaches are from the contestants, whether they be a professional video game player, comedian, poker player or model.

[BlodwynPig]

Panel shows are so last Millennium aren't they? Tired.

[Dusty Substance]

I keep seeing a trailer for some sort of panel show featuring the quite funny but cunt in real life James Acaster and the appallingly tedious Josh Widdicombe. It makes me want to set my eyes on fire.

[amateur]

I keep seeing a trailer for some sort of panel show featuring the quite funny but cunt in real life James Acaster and the appallingly tedious Josh Widdicombe. It makes me want to set my eyes on fire.

I gave this a go in the first series, and it seemed to amount to "make up a funny story around this subject". Which once more, has the dreaded air of improv about it, and I simply cannot abide it.

Have I done it a great disservice or am I on the money as always?

[thugler]

the quite funny but cunt in real life James Acaster

Is that so? Do tell

[Utter Shit]

Yeah that seems a wild accusation.

[vainsharpdad]

James Acaster was slightly rude to him once.

That's it.

[notjosh]

One of my all-time favourite shows, but also made me think that South Korean celebrities are vastly more intelligent than British ones.

You see people get flummoxed on Taskmaster with relatively simple things, and then you watch The Genius and see firstly how complicated the games/rules are and secondly how smart/devious the approaches are from the contestants, whether they be a professional video game player, comedian, poker player or model.

Yeah, brilliant show but I think most British celebs would struggle. I watch House of Games almost every day and the amount of celebs that shit themselves at the idea of spelling a fairly common word, dividing something by three, saying a four-word phrase backwards or pointing at China on a map is unbelievable. We're a pretty fucking stupid country.

[frajer]

This thread has reminded me just how little I can stand Josh Widdicombe and how frequently he pops up. He looks and acts exactly like a poorly 8-year-old fop who's been given a glass of Ribena but denied a second glass.

[Sebastian Cobb]

There's an advert running - for the Giedroyc show - which yaks on about 'new comedy on Dave' and it gets me in a rage. Panel shows shouldn't be counted as comedy. They're 'entertainment' and should be funded as such. Put some money towards sketch shows and sitcom.

Almost certainly made by a production company owned by big agencies like Avalon, to circle as many of their clients through it as possible. Basically a closed shop piece of entertainment.

[lb99]

It's made by Expectation, who are backed by BBC Studios. Not affiliated by a talent agency, as far as I can see.

[dissolute ocelot]

The whole ethos of Dave is "something mildly entertaining you can have on while doing the ironing". I get the impression it's not meant to require concentration.

They should just put a camera in Lou Sanders' flat 24/7 and broadcast that.

Seriously, there must be lots of people with innovative ideas for funny stuff to do in front of a camera (mostly already on YouTube so you don't exactly need to look too hard). Filling the schedules with panel shows must be a deliberate choice to create a channel that's just celebs and chairs and the occasional desk.

[BeardFaceMan]

It's cheap, that's the only reason they do so many. Production costs are virtually zero compared to those of a sitcom or sketch show. And Avalon have always got someone new they want to push, panel shows are a good way of introducing comics to people, and also a good way of keeping those people endlessly on tv after they have been introduced.

[jobotic]

Almost certainly made by a production company owned by big agencies like Avalon, to circle as many of their clients through it as possible.

Yes, good description. Like the "churn" in investment management to generate transaction fees, but in this case everyone getting paid by appearing on each other's dreadful panel shows.

[Shit Good Nose]

Not strictly a panel show, at least in the sense being discussed here, but as it features much of the same people that appear on these panel shows - I think As Yet Untitled is the best show Dave has ever produced, and good in its own right.  Obviously it's (was?  Haven't been any for a few years now) only ever as good as the people on it, but it's nice to hear the anecdotes, some of which I'd not heard before.  When Matt Lucas was on there he talked about the Shooting Stars live tour, and his story explained why, by the time I saw the show in Bristol, his much-publicised-in-the-tour-marketing-materials song and dance extravaganza that was supposed to open the show was replaced by Mark Lamarr doing 20mins of very adult standup (that Shooting Stars tour was billed as suitable for 12 and over).  I was wondering for years about that change and had never had it answered until then.

[BeardFaceMan]

Yeah your mileage will vary on As Yet Untitled depending on who is on the show because it's essentially a show without a format, which makes for a good watch when it's people you like. There's a new series airing sometime this year, not sure who the guests will be. You could probably make an educated guess though.

[g0m]

Got linked this vid recently

https://monkeysky.tumblr.com/post/641682952023097344/politedemon-the-fact-the-new-series-of

"Note from the channel" implies this is a channel-wide thing? Seems odd. and obviously hilarious

[H-O-W-L]

This thread has reminded me just how little I can stand Josh Widdicombe and how frequently he pops up. He looks and acts exactly like a poorly 8-year-old fop who's been given a glass of Ribena but denied a second glass.

He looks like Ron Perlman with noodles on his head.

[Rolf Lundgren]

I've probably seen all these shows but can't really picture them in my head. Possibly "As Yet Untitled" sticks out with it's Top Gear style setting but that's about it. If they each had a real identity then they could get away with having the exact same turnover of guests cycling through them.

[worldsgreatestsinner]

Not strictly a panel show, at least in the sense being discussed here, but as it features much of the same people that appear on these panel shows - I think As Yet Untitled is the best show Dave has ever produced, and good in its own right.  Obviously it's (was?  Haven't been any for a few years now) only ever as good as the people on it, but it's nice to hear the anecdotes, some of which I'd not heard before.  When Matt Lucas was on there he talked about the Shooting Stars live tour, and his story explained why, by the time I saw the show in Bristol, his much-publicised-in-the-tour-marketing-materials song and dance extravaganza that was supposed to open the show was replaced by Mark Lamarr doing 20mins of very adult standup (that Shooting Stars tour was billed as suitable for 12 and over).  I was wondering for years about that change and had never had it answered until then.

There's a new series coming. Supposed to be this year. They were supposed to be recording them over December and January, but I don't know if Covid affected that.

[dissolute ocelot]

I watched the Mel Giedroyc show Unforgivable last night (which started this thread). Johnny Vegas was on, who's always good at this sort of thing, but why is Claire Balding on every panel show, ditto Josh Widdecombe? The format is weirdly half-assed: basically, the guests say bad things they've done, and Giedroyc rates them in a complicated yet unfunny fashion while Lou Sanders sits in the corner and is occasionally invited to read out observations she's written down in a book like one of the comedy sidekicks off of That's Life. Except it makes no sense, because they've obviously all agreed all the anecdotes in advance so the show can provide appropriate props for the panelists to be "ooh who has a story about this prop?". Anything with Vegas passes the time well (he was excellent on Taskmaster S10 obviously). But why not just invite comedians to stand behind a microphone and say funny things?

[BeardFaceMan]

I think there might be a belief from people that make/commission shows that stand-up comedy doesn't really work on tv, certainly not full shows, the best you're going to get is Live At The Apollo or something where comedians can do 15 minute bits. Weak premise panel shows are a good way for comedians to use their stand up material on telly, it's easier/cheaper on the production side of things too because all you need is a brightly lit studio and a host to ask a question based on one of the comedians stand up bits, and then let them go.

[vainsharpdad]

I shudder at the idea of Clair Balding's standup routine.

They've got Harry Redknapp coming up as a guest on this. He's a limited comedian - he only ever does that same bit as the cockney who talks through his car window.