Taskmaster series 12

[Captain Z]

I'll give Jeremy Wells some credit, he is ever so slightly better than Andy on Athletico Mince.

[AsparagusTrevor]

People forget that Greg Davies wasn't great at the start either.

I certainly did.

[BeardFaceMan]

Took him a while to find his feet, but he's good now.
People forget that Greg Davies wasn't great at the start either.

Yeah people say how everything was in place in Taskmaster from the very first episode but it took a while for Greg to create the role he has now, he was hosting it more as himself than as the Taskmaster. I wouldn't so far as to say he wasn't great but he didn't hit the ground running in the same way Alex did, which is fair as it was new to Greg and Alex's idea.

[greencalx]

My son, who seems to have an encyclopaedic memory of TM episodes, reminded me that in one of the first two series, Greg defended Alex from contestants' criticism.

[BeardFaceMan]

Indeed, it took a while for him to go from that to giving people bonus points for calling him a little fucker. That weird S&M relationship they have wasn't there at all at the start, that just developed.

[amateur]

I think that's been my main problem with the tasks the last few series, too many convoluted tasks. Those types of tasks rarely produce gold because everyone is too busy trying to remember the rules to do anything else.

My suspicion is that the tasks are getting more convoluted in order to make them longer, in the hope that they'll get more decent content out of them. They're certainly getting more content but I would argue that it's not worth it.

Admittedly you can't just have five people smashing melons every episode but there ought to be some middle ground.

[Wayman C. McCreery]

I think people are being a bit quick to write off the quality of the tasks. Series 10 was a bit of a disaster, but (the airport security one excepted) there were loads of brilliant ones in series 11.

That said, I'd be thrilled if they got some help from the NZ team to help freshen things up a bit.

[Mr Trumpet]

I feel like the forum will instinctively turn against Jeremy once you learn about his family background. He's almost royalty level of privileged.

I suppose I just assumed he was Ted Danson's illegitimate son

[Virgo76]

Are this year's bunch the most evenly matched selection ever?

[Beep Cleep Chimney]

That sand bridge building task was a bit shit, wasn't it?   Even the studio audience sounded underwhelmed.

[jobotic]

This is really boring

[Beep Cleep Chimney]

Yeah, it's been a bit of a dud, this one.
And I really cannot stand Alan Davies. 

[Norton Canes]

Surprised to see VCM in last spot after two weeks - though none of the tasks have so far played to her analytical mind or (supposed) deviousness. I reckon she'll either sink like a stone or go on an all-conquering blitz

Hmm

[Norton Canes]

Can I say, Morgana's face looks like it was sculpted by John Friedlander (that's not a criticism. In fact I think it's why I find her so attractive)

[neveragain]

This is really boring

Agree. Except for the film task.

[Wayman C. McCreery]

I'm starting to get series 6 vibes from this series. There's a standout contestant (Tim Vine/Morgana), a comedy black hole (Russell Howard/Alan Davies) and someone who's broadly fine but isn't really the right fit for the show (Alice Levine/VCM).

And on paper the tasks are good but the results just aren't entertaining enough. The wellycam one gave them all a chance to be creative and funny but only Morgana delivered. Alan's attempt was reminiscent of Baddiel's appalling chickpea task.

It might be a bit of a slog, this one. Ah well.

[Ja'moke]

Very dull episode.

[beanheadmcginty]

I'm surprised at this stage, assuming the contestants have bothered watching previous series, that they're not attempting to dismantle absolutely everything looking for secrets at the start of every task they do. That's what I'd do.

[AsparagusTrevor]

Well I liked the 'copy Alex' task, it was something a bit different and the music was inappropriately eerie sounding - reminded me of something you'd hear on a Cyriak video.

[Purple Toupee]

This has been a poor series so far, tempted to chuck it after that episode. All of the tasks were dull to watch except the welly cam one and even then Morgana was the only one who did anything creative. That copying task was nearly as bad as the acting one from the last series.

I think the quality of tasks hasn't been great for a while now but the lineup isn't really entertaining enough to make up for it this time.

[Small Man Big Horse]

I'm not even sure I'll finish this series and I normally love the show, Victoria is really irritating the hell out of me, and only Morgana and Guz are reliably funny (though I'm not sure what the latter was thinking when it came to the short film task as that was plain awful). As someone said in one of the previous threads the tasks seem to be designed so that we laugh at the contestants instead of with them, but even then far too many are really dull.

[beanheadmcginty]

The only thing that annoys me about Victoria (in general, not just on TM) is not her fault whatsoever. It's the way everyone treats her as an Einstein-level genius when, as far as I can tell, she's just fairly bright. Does everyone assume that she personally comes up with all the questions on Only Connect? Or is it the poker thing? Are we meant to assume that all successful poker players are geniuses like chess grandmasters?

[JamesTC]

I really enjoyed the first episode but the following two have been a disappointment. Hoping it is just the tasks though.

Stark that the second episode of Outsiders was much much better than this week's Taskmaster.

[Small Man Big Horse]

The only thing that annoys me about Victoria (in general, not just on TM) is not her fault whatsoever. It's the way everyone treats her as an Einstein-level genius when, as far as I can tell, she's just fairly bright. Does everyone assume that she personally comes up with all the questions on Only Connect? Or is it the poker thing? Are we meant to assume that all successful poker players are geniuses like chess grandmasters?

Probably a mixture of a famous father, an Oxford education and a very early start writing for the Daily Telegraph when she was only 16. Before this I only knew her via her book Once More With Feeling which I really, really loved, but this has sadly put me right off her.

[AsparagusTrevor]

The only thing that annoys me about Victoria (in general, not just on TM) is not her fault whatsoever. It's the way everyone treats her as an Einstein-level genius when, as far as I can tell, she's just fairly bright. Does everyone assume that she personally comes up with all the questions on Only Connect? Or is it the poker thing? Are we meant to assume that all successful poker players are geniuses like chess grandmasters?

I think it's just compared to your TOWIE characters and suchlike that take up a lot screen time, somebody with above average intellect is gonna stand out. I don't have a strong opinion on her one way or the other myself (except for disliking some cringe-worthy Only Connect stuff of course) but she is definitely clever compared to the average TV personality that most people would know.

She regularly mentions the question-writers by name on Only Connect (not sure why) so I doubt many people think she writes them herself.

[Wayman C. McCreery]

As someone said in one of the previous threads the tasks seem to be designed so that we laugh at the contestants instead of with them, but even then far too many are really dull.

That was my observation about series 10, which had far too many Crystal Maze-style games. I'd rather see funny people be funny than struggling to complete physical and mental challenges.

Series 11 was a huge improvement in terms of tasks though, and it's probably my favourite UK run. That was as much down to the contestants obviously, and that's what I think the problem has been with the last two episodes of this series.

The tasks have had the ingredients of good ones (simple, no long lists of rules, and room for creativity) but Morgana is the only one with the chops to do anything funny with them.

Guz seems like a good laugh but that welly film was dreadful, Alan doesn't have a funny bone in his body, Desiree is another Ed Gamble, and I think VCM is great on Only Connect but this isn't the right show for her.

It's still early days though. This series might end up being a classic. And the fact the previous series was one of the very best proves that they're still capable of producing gold - it's just that we might have to wait until series 13.

[DrGreggles]

Rhod Gilbert & James Acaster on their Taskmaster Arguments
https://youtu.be/QCkfa9ygKNU

[Ja'moke]

First task was awful. Another one with too many moving parts. Even the audience wasn't laughing.

This second task is better. More old school Taskmaster. Simple task and open to the contestant's interpretation.

[The Crumb]

Massive comic potential in someone putting a foot down to steady a slow moving bike.

[AsparagusTrevor]

I thought the bike task was fine, the rest were entertaining, especially the team task. I quite enjoyed the episode actually, only spoilt by my recording being cut off before the winner was announced.

Last week's recording cut off just before the credits. I'm guessing it's cos of C4's ongoing problems, along with the hazy working mans club aesthetic they've got going on this series.