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Re: OT: Unbelievable Truth panel game

Messages in this topic: 12 View All
CatApr 19, 2009
 

 
It's very hit and miss. I do quite like it, but it does depend on who's on it. The format itself isn't the strongest though.

I find the fact that they read out a prepared speech almost eliminates the spontaneous with and banter that you get with other shows, but there are some good moments.

Luckily though Just A Minute and ISIHAC will be back shortly, just to inject me with another dosage of sublime silliness!

--- In just-a-minute@..., Dean Bedford <dbedford@...> wrote:
>
> You always write such interesting notes Clitheroe.
>
> The panel on the show I heard was Jeremy Hardy, Fred MacAulay, Jack Dee,
> David Mitchell and Will Self - all people I enjoy. So for me, the cast
> wasn't the problem. Maybe they needed a Nicholas type in the chair to
> keep things flowing.
>
>
> On Sunday, April 19, 2009, at 12:08 PM, Clitheroe Kid wrote:
>
> >
> >
> > I'm an un-fan(?) of this new panel game.
> >
> > You have to like the people who are on the panel, or like the chairman,
> > in
> > order to stay with a show for 40 years, as we have with JAM. A format
> > alone
> > is not enough.
> >
> > I began listening to JAM simply because I liked Kenneth Williams. I
> > enjoyed
> > "rooting for him" in the shows, and over a couple of years I gradually
> > got
> > to know and like the other regular players.
> >
> > Likewise, I enjoyed watching Call My Bluff because I liked Frank Muir.
> > And I
> > enjoy Brain of Britain (which has *no* regular panellists) because I
> > like
> > Robert Robinson.
> >
> > I don't think you can like the format of a show, and follow it just
> > because
> > of its format. The format is just the pretext for getting the people in
> > the
> > show together. If the people are not interesting, the show won't
> > capture the
> > involvement of the audience.
> >
> > JAM worked because Kenneth Williams had lots of interesting things to
> > say,
> > and was very witty with it. Derek Nimmo, Peter Jones & Clement Freud
> > were
> > also people with a lot of experience, who could tell a good anecdote.
> > Paul
> > Merton is a first class stand-up comedian.
> >
> > If these people had been dull - if they had not had interesting
> > personalities in real life - it would not have mattered that they were
> > great
> > actors when given someone else's script: the radio show would have
> > failed.
> >
> > You can't build a success out of a spontaneous panel game format, which
> > needs wit and improvisation and intelligence, without panellists who
> > have
> > those qualities. That is why JAM and Clue have succeeded, and why other
> > panel games tend not to last.
> >
> > Stephen
>

 
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