More inessential shit from the backwaters of old TV you somehow still remember

[Mobbd]

For some reason this is vaguely reminding me of a listing in Fist Of Fun which may have been parodying this. Or maybe it was a bit in the Fist Of Fun book? I can't find those listings anywhere so I can't check that.

http://www.fistoffun.net/book.php

[holdover]

Does anyone remember an advert which probably aired in the early 90s which had a song sung by an old guy (not shown in the advert)- the lyrics included a line about "the land of Nod"? I think he had a Louis Armstrong vibe.

[Famous Mortimer]

I have a memory of (I think) Kate Copstick doing a variety of sketches, ongoing stories, and so on, with the central conceit being it would move from one TV  to another TV, where a different "show" would be playing. Maybe she was just in one of the sketches?

The only reason it popped into my head is there's a conversation about shows named after their star, even if they're playing a character (The Phil Silvers Show, for example) and I was going to make a crappy joke about Copstick's, but then I didn't remember the name of the show and can't find it hide nor hair of it online, which indicates this could all be a dream of some sort.

"Breakfast Serials" popped into my head, and there's even a full episode of a show by that name on Youtube, but it doesn't bear much resemblance to the thing I was describing; despite it being from the right time frame, and also being a kids morning show. Perhaps I'm conflating two things that ran at roughly the same time in my head?

[non capisco]

Does anyone remember an advert which probably aired in the early 90s which had a song sung by an old guy (not shown in the advert)- the lyrics included a line about "the land of Nod"? I think he had a Louis Armstrong vibe.

Maybe not this but the first thing I thought of was that old British Rail advert set to 'So Relax' by Leon Redbone which seemed to be running for years.

[holdover]

Maybe not this but the first thing I thought of was that old British Rail advert set to 'So Relax' by Leon Redbone which seemed to be running for years.

Cheers!

That's not the one I remember but seeing that makes me wonder if haven't just mis-remembered it all these years because that soft-mouthed crooning is very much as I hear it it my head. Much more so than Louis Armstrong.

[Capt.Midnight]

Reading that link has given me a name for a programme I saw in 1999 that stuck in my mind - turns out I watched the pilot of Frontal. Or at least the first five minutes of it. Didn't record it or anything, sadly, despite the fanfare it got from the announcer.

I do recall being immensely put off by one of the presenters, who according to that forum thread was Italian music producer Charlie Rapino. My two memories of him on the show were of the realization that Channel 4 had allowed him the swearing equivalent of diplomatic immunity (every fourth word seemed to be "fuck" or "fucking"), and also that he was the very worst kind of late 90s beery laddish media wankstain.

I do recall sticking around for that Vast music video which is also mentioned, and being impressed by it (although not so impressed that I was willing to sit through more of Charlie Rapino for whatever was after that). Thinking about it now it seemed to be mainly crossing Little Red Riding Hood with Don't Look Now, the latter of which I wasn't properly aware of at the time. It's probably aged like milk.

The whole show had a proto-edgelord vibe. Pushing boundaries, yeah? Probably embedded in the culture that Nathan Barley aped. I do remember Charlie Rapino being obnoxious, so at least there's a name to the person! Maybe he has it on VHS in his attic...

[willbo]

Loves Like a Dog, I'm fascinated by it for some reason and want it on DVD

[NurseNugent]

The school subjects thread has got me wondering about a programme we had to watch in careers class and if it was an actual programme that was shown on one of the regular channels or if it was just made for schools. It was about 5 or 6 people attending an interview and a panel, who I think were unseen, judging them. Most of them were classic examples of what not to do. We had:
A punk with a Mohican hairdo who the panel criticised for showing up dressed like that.
A guy in a t shirt who waffled on about UFOs for most of the interview.
A woman who had had several nervous breakdowns, this was not portrayed sympathetically.
Possibly another woman but I don't remember much about her.
An ex soldier who fought in the Falklands who the panel liked at first until he lost his temper and yelled at the camera.
Finally there was Jimmy who was the 'good' candidate in that he dressed smartly(by mid/late 80s standards), answered sensibly etc.
I think at the end of turned out that there wasn't even a job but Jimmy would be put forward for future consideration.
According to our teacher it had been a real programme but it just seemed so amateurish.
Did anyone else have to watch this?

[xxxx xxx x xxx]

I didn't see it at school, but we had to watch it on a re-start course that they made the long- term unemployed go on in the mid-90s.

The mohicaned punk and nervous-breakdown-woman ring a bell, but I clearly remember the Falklands veteran, who was happy to talk about everything on his CV until they got to his military service.  He quickly became the strong, silent type ("no, I can't talk about it, don't ask")and kept repeating "cut...cut...CUT" to the cameraman.



At the end we were patronisingly asked "So...who would youhave given the job to?", but I think most people had fallen asleep by that point.

[Phoenix Lazarus]

Finally there was Jimmy who was the 'good' candidate in that he dressed smartly(by mid/late 80s standards),

Do you think people are smarter on average now?

[NurseNugent]

I didn't see it at school, but we had to watch it on a re-start course that they made the long- term unemployed go on in the mid-90s.

The mohicaned punk and nervous-breakdown-woman ring a bell, but I clearly remember the Falklands veteran, who was happy to talk about everything on his CV until they got to his military service.  He quickly became the strong, silent type ("no, I can't talk about it, don't ask")and kept repeating "cut...cut...CUT" to the cameraman.



At the end we were patronisingly asked "So...who would youhave given the job to?", but I think most people had fallen asleep by that point.

Yes that's the one. I remember him yelling 'cut' at the camera too. So was it an actual programme or just some patronising nonsense they showed to teens and the unemployed?

[xxxx xxx x xxx]

The latter, I'm guessing.  Like you, I remember it being really cheap looking.

[grainger]

"So...who would youhave given the job to?"

The punk

[NurseNugent]

The punk

I liked the UFO guy.

[Norton Canes]

Want to see this thing

[Darles Chickens]

Me too.  Need to see it to be able to make an educated decision, but I definitely wouldn't give it to the cleanshirt guy.

[xxxx xxx x xxx]

I liked the UFO guy.

I can't remember him.  I hope this can be found online somewhere, it really was insultingly bad even though they were real people not actors.

[willbo]

got a memory of one of those Channel 4 prank shows (I think it was banzai) doing the "Daz Challenge" to (supposedly) Harold Shipman's wife and having her appear shaken at the door

I've probably mentioned it already, but GMTV (?) on the morning of Sherlock season 2 premiere, with the stars on,  trying to get Benedict to wear an old style Holmes hunting hat and him (understandably) panicking trying to come up with polite excuses about how it "won't fit"

[Mobbd]

An early '90s (maybe late '80s) children's TV series in which someone had to "find the golden pineapple." That's about all I can remember. Some sort of treasure hunt.

I googled it and someone is also asking on Reddit but they think it's a Finders Keepers-style gameshow. I think it's more like a drama deal along the lines of T-Bag. Anyone?

[Famous Mortimer]

Was there a golden pineapple in "The Adventure Game"? Or is that too old?

[jenna appleseed]

An early '90s (maybe late '80s) children's TV series in which someone had to "find the golden pineapple." That's about all I can remember. Some sort of treasure hunt.

I googled it and someone is also asking on Reddit but they think it's a Finders Keepers-style gameshow. I think it's more like a drama deal along the lines of T-Bag. Anyone?

Not sure about a golden Pineapple but could be the other Finders Keepers
 (not the one that was almost but not quite Fun House)

 - pos not called that here, imb claims shown in UK as The Finder
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0445116/?ref_=fn_tv_tt_4

90s imported drama about a kid who accidentally went through a portal into the future/a parallel universe and had to find various missing/lost objects as part of a creepy/'wacky' alt-universe game show forcing him to to do it against a time limit. Vague memories of the storyline being serialised and there being a running plot about rescuing a girl from one of zones or something. Think it was shown pos over several days morning/miday (on ch4?) during the (summer?) hols when they weren't showing that US one a bout teens in a band (California Dreams), and because of going on daytrips during the school holidays I missed finding out what happened and if it ever had a proper ending.

[George White]

The Odyssey (1992)?

[Mobbd]

These things all sound excellent but they do not seem to be the source of my fond remembered pineapples.

[Replies From View]

A kids game show which I think involved a lot of running around - the kind of segment you'd get on Motormouth.

This one involved questions, and you had a secondary presenter standing alongside the main one with a plate of cake and knife, because if the child said "piece of cake" they had to scoff a massive wedge of cream cake before answering a relatively easy question.  And it was all about 'well you can progress through this game answering only very easy questions if you like, but if you do you'll just end up clogging yourself up with cake'.  But the kids seemed to love it so did that on purpose.

I can't remember what the children had to say to ask for a more difficult question, but I recall it involved them not having to eat cake first.  "Go bananas" maybe.  I just mostly remember these kids saying "piece a cake" with their mouths already gummed up from the previous piece of cake, trying to answer questions whilst spitting cream everywhere and that puffed up mouth noise of someone who needs to swallow before talking but doesn't have enough time.  Horrible.

[Mobbd]

I remember that, Replies. But not well enough to identify it. What a Charlie I am.

I also remember Motormouth and Go Bananas. FWIW, I don't think the cake thing was part of the latter.

[Replies From View]

I remember that, Replies. But not well enough to identify it. What a Charlie I am.

I also remember Motormouth and Go Bananas. FWIW, I don't think the cake thing was part of the latter.

I decided to google it - something I didn't do this morning as I wanted to remember it cold, as it were, and the banana guess wasn't far off; it was called Top Banana:

https://adamnostalgia.wordpress.com/tag/top-banana/

[Mobbd]

I decided to google it - something I didn't do this morning as I wanted to remember it cold, as it were, and the banana guess wasn't far off; it was called Top Banana:

https://adamnostalgia.wordpress.com/tag/top-banana/

I REMEMBER THAT!

[Mobbd]

I REMEMBER THAT!

Hang on. What was Go Bananas then? Trev and Simon? Or was that Let's Go Nuts?

[Famous Mortimer]

I still say "top banana" the way the show did, that shit got stuck tight in my head.

[Mobius]

For some reason that "Driving School" show popped into my head, you know the one with that shit driver Maureen. It was like a reality show before reality shows were big.

Was it quite entertaining or am I misremembering? I have a hankering to watch it but I'm sure it's just daft nostalgia