Taskmaster s18

[Twilkes]

Who'dathunk that Rosie Jones would have been the most comfortable with this interview format.

Feels like it'll be a good series, maybe no hard edge but some good hearted banter and throwing themselves into the tasks, maybe unusual having two old men on the cast but while Zaltzman will be trying to anticipate the bowler and get onto the correct footing for a boundary along the ground through cover or point I feel Jack Dee may be another Alan Davies, possibly mixed with an ageing John Kearns or a straight Julian Clary.

[SteveDave]

I think that, along with his increasing smugness, is why I prefer the NZ show these days, Greg is a better Taskmaster but I'm much preferring Paul Williams as the assistant.

Especially on the rare occasions when Paul Williams breaks character. In the latest series he sneezes and says that he's allergic to a contestants bullshit. Which shocks everyone.

[BeardFaceMan]

Especially on the rare occasions when Paul Williams breaks character. In the latest series he sneezes and says that he's allergic to a contestants bullshit. Which shocks everyone.

Yeah I enjoyed that, became a nice running gag. There's much more of a camaraderie in the NZ show, they're constantly congratulating other when someone wins a task, feels a lot more playful. I suppose the UK show has got the point now where they're just getting on whoever is available so you end up with contestants who don't know each other, it gives the show a very different vibe. Not that that's a bad thing, it's just different, but I did prefer the earlier series of UK Taskmaster when everyone knew each other and it was much more of a 'mates mucking about' feeling to the show.

[Ja'moke]

Emma Sidi a clear stand out so far.

Seems like a solid group, some decent chemistry between them already.

[Tiggles]

Enjoyed that, feels different already to season 17. Agree that there seems to be some decent chemistry already. Phew!

[Wayman C. McCreery]

Enjoyed that a lot. Everyone was funny in different ways and it wasn't left to one or two people to do the heavy lifting.

I wasn't excited about Jack Dee being on as I thought he'd just be another older guy moping about but he seemed to throw himself into it.

Emma Sidi stole it though. She seems unhinged.

[darren Gibbs]

The series has been well past it's best for a while now and i predict that that the ratings for the latest series will be the worst as the quality of the line up apart from  Dee and Zaltzman  is really weak/Godawful.Shame that Ross Noble spends most of his time in Australia now as he'd make a great contestant.

[Small Man Big Horse]

Does anyone know what the situation is with Jack Dee, as this page paints him in a bad light: https://www.cookdandbombd.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=97141.1320 as does this "I hate cancel culture" interview https://www.pressreader.com/uk/daily-express/20211109/281496459519435, while something he said on Twitter was Glinner approved https://grahamlinehan.substack.com/p/glinners-twitter-b2b - I'm hoping he's changed his mind / stated "Ah, fuck, I went a bit mad there" but can't seem to find any evidence of that.

[TheDevilPuppet]

I don't think Dee has walked anything back, but he has seemed to stop bringing it up.

[Twilkes]

Does anyone know what the situation is with Jack Dee, as this page paints him in a bad light: https://www.cookdandbombd.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=97141.1320 as does this "I hate cancel culture" interview https://www.pressreader.com/uk/daily-express/20211109/281496459519435, while something he said on Twitter was Glinner approved https://grahamlinehan.substack.com/p/glinners-twitter-b2b - I'm hoping he's changed his mind / stated "Ah, fuck, I went a bit mad there" but can't seem to find any evidence of that.

Could you start a Jack Dee thread and ask there?

[Twilkes]

The series has been well past it's best for a while now and i predict that that the ratings for the latest series will be the worst as the quality of the line up apart from  Dee and Zaltzman  is really weak/Godawful.Shame that Ross Noble spends most of his time in Australia now as he'd make a great contestant.

Did you even see the show? It was the best first episode for years. All of the contestants hit the ground running. If they're that confident in the studio on the first taping it's only going to get better.

[selectivememory]

Could you start a Jack Dee thread and ask there?

I think it's fair enough to bring it up in this thread. Might be a bit of deal breaker for some people over whether they want to watch this particular series.

(which doesn't mean we have to massively derail the thread or anything, but a simple question is ok, surely)

[Twilkes]

It just seems to be an obsession with some users on this website, eventually leading to 'and they didn't even support Corbyn'.

[Snrub]

Think the ratings would really have to tank for C4 to care - it's one of the best performing shows on the channel, and easily doubles what it gets on tv via catch up. Even if ratings halved still think it would be one of C4's top shows.

If you go off the lineups alone before watching the episodes, the C4 era to be fair to them have never gone for the big name recognition across the board. Some of that is because the more series you do, the more talent you go through, but when you're launching your brand new show you've poached from another channel to a wider audience with Richard Herring (and I really like Rich) as one of the contestants, I think it's safe to say they are letting the format speak for itself and if they bring in any newbies with Jack Dee or whatever then fair enough.

Interestingly we're now at the point where there have been more C4 episodes than Dave ones.

[Twilkes]

Just realised that Dave-era Taskmaster feels like Stephen Fry QI, and C4-era Taskmaster feels like Sandi Toksvig QI. There definitely seems to have been a broadening of the cast, although Phill Jupitus still hasn't been on it. :-/

[Wayman C. McCreery]

Dee was definitely acting like an arse during Covid/lockdowns but he wasn't the only one and he never got anywhere close to going Full Glinner.

There was an interview with Rosie Jones (can't find out now) where she called him something like "the nicest, most thoughtful man" and she's probably a better judge of character than us nerds searching through old tweets.

Anyway he was funny on this last night.

[selectivememory]

It just seems to be an obsession with some users on this website, eventually leading to 'and they didn't even support Corbyn'.

Honestly, I don't really see the issue here. As long as we're not derailing the thread, I think it's ok for people to bring up issues they might have with comedians on this show.

edit: and talking of derailing the thread, I'll shut up now

[holyzombiejesus]

It just seems to be an obsession with some users on this website, eventually leading to 'and they didn't even support Corbyn'.

No-one had mentioned Corbyn until you did?

[touchingcloth]

Corbyn's confirmed for the next New Year's Treat.

[Ron Superior]

As someone who absolutely loves this show, and who thought the last series was right down there with the absolute worst ones, and who wasn't convinced by this line up at all, that was a really enjoyable first episode. I liked all the contestants, some tasks were good, and where other tasks weren't as good, they did enough with them to make them interesting.

As for Jack Dee, I think he got in with the Free Speech Union folks for a bit there. Since then he's either chilled out on it or just learned to shut the fuck up about it. Either way, I'll take it I guess. Otherwise I'd have to look into other similar things like if Vic Reeves has had anything more to do with that Miriam Elia, and I'd rather stay in blissful ignorance.

[darren Gibbs]

Did you even see the show? It was the best first episode for years. All of the contestants hit the ground running. If they're that confident in the studio on the first taping it's only going to get better.

Of course i watched it or else i would'nt have made my comment,each to their own but it was'nt for me and i stand by what i've said.

[her?]

Emma and Rosie were great, Andy and Jack had fun moments, Babatunde was pretty dull. Some poor tasks but I enjoyed the episode enough to feel optimistic about the series.

[TheDevilPuppet]

I think the best thing about this lineup was no one was a student of Taskmaster.  Emma has seen a lot of it, but (based on one ep) she's not doing a John Robins.

[DrGreggles]

It was an above average episode, which is promising - especially as it rarely flies out of the traps.

Starting so soon after the latest NZ series probably works against it, as that was another fantastic series, but Taskmaster is a fairly high standard production line these days.

[dungbeetle kpi]

It's very rare that the first episode of a new TM series is good, and the whole thing hangs on the group of contestants (as the tasks themselves are largely crap). I thought this was a really promising start though and everyone seemed to be gelling together and being pretty funny in their own different ways. I think it bodes well, although I haven't yet researched Jack Dee's stance on Corbyn, so I may have to come back and change my mind later.

[Small Man Big Horse]

Apologies for any upset caused by the Jack question, but I appreciate the responses, and I'm going to go with Ron and just hope the following has happened...

As for Jack Dee, I think he got in with the Free Speech Union folks for a bit there. Since then he's either chilled out on it or just learned to shut the fuck up about it.

As someone who absolutely loves this show, and who thought the last series was right down there with the absolute worst ones, and who wasn't convinced by this line up at all, that was a really enjoyable first episode. I liked all the contestants, some tasks were good, and where other tasks weren't as good, they did enough with them to make them interesting.

And I'm with Ron on this too, I only watched a couple of the last season before quitting it, and I wasn't sure if I'd lost interest completely in the series, but I enjoyed this. I'm also very fond of Emma, she got me to do a bit of audience participation in her show in July just before Edinburgh, I'm still not quite sure what the point of that bit was, but she seemed to be happy with my confused response.

[Ron Superior]

Yeah, if my wife hadn't wanted to keep watching the last series I would have bailed on it too, which is mad because any other series, even if not a great one, I'd always be excited to watch all of it. I had a theory that the studio episodes of the last series might have been being filmed as Alex was working on his Horne Section TV show and that was a distraction for him, but that's pure conjecture.

Aren't the first studio episodes of S19 today? Hopefully we'll find out how excited we should be about that soon.

[TheDevilPuppet]

Aren't the first studio episodes of S19 today? Hopefully we'll find out how excited we should be about that soon.

Yeah - Wed, Thu, Fri this week & Mon, Tue next.

[Twilkes]

Another good one, Rosie nailed the prize task and the doorbell footage. Everyone came out of that episode looking good, although Zaltzman didn't appear to achieve anything in particular and Babatunde is obviously trying his best, but...

I liked how Jackie Dee thought to take the doorbell cam off the wall, only to move it all of 50cm and point it at the ground.

[Wayman C. McCreery]

The show's well past its prime now (I was hoping the twist in the remember the names task would be better than... having to remember the names for longer than expected) but these contestants are a good bunch and are making it worth watching.