Just A Minute

 
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Re: Today's ep (#749) is up at http://mediafire.com/just-a-minute

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charles_454545Nov 22, 2010
 

 
Hm... Well. I agree with your larger point that entertainment is the bottom line...

But, poor play isn't intrinsically entertaining. Shappi Khorsandi doesn't score many points, but there's a large difference between what Shappi and Peter bring to a panel. Peter's real gift was his warmth -- I think it's fair to say he was the show's heart for many years. His gaffes, his "well"s, his inevitable hesitations, all made for nice recurring themes, but Peter's warmth would have been his touchstone even if he'd been a little better at the game. :)

Also, "comedy vs. competition" is happily not a problem now the way it was sometimes in the early days of the show. Thanks to the larger rotating cast of panelists, and the good lineup decision-making by someone at the BBC, there is plenty of room for both. (One of the (many) reasons that Paul is so good at the show is that he's learned to tailor his gameplay based on the lineup.) Still... when Sue and Paul get in a race during the last few rounds, though, the other panelists hesitate at their peril. I wonder what an episode with Paul, Sue, Gyles, and Stephen Fry would be like.

--- In just-a-minute@..., "kj.naughton" <kj.naughton@...> wrote:

> Indeed one of the reasons I loved Peter Jones in JaM was precisely because he wasn't actually very good at the game.
>
> Jenny is a better JaM contestant for me precisely because she isn't as good at the game as Sue whilst still being competent. She makes for a better show.
>
> It's all a matter of opinion, of course.
>
> Cheers
>
> kJ
>

> >
> > Jenny probably is the best overall match for JAM's pacing and humor... and she's a nice foil for Nicholas.
> >
> > But, surely Sue Perkins rates highly on the list. Most regulars have their tricks of the trade (Paul's humorous bonus points; Clement's last-second challenges; Gyles' pedantic challenges). Very few players in the show's history have been able to /simply keep talking/ as Sue can. Really, only Stephen Fry comes to mind.
>

 
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