It’s always interesting to see what perceptions people have about the show.
When you transcribe shows as I do, errors in repetition judgements do become
pretty clear. I don’t have any feeling Nicholas is improving on these – actually
it’s pretty clear his hearing is slowly deteriorating, which of course is
understandable in a man aged 88.
Of course it’s not all about hearing. Often in these cases, the panellist
him/herself will agree they repeated a word when actually they didn’t.
I gave some views on the season a couple of weeks ago. To elaborate, I do
think the shows with Paul, Sheila, Tony and Graham were up with the very best.
The two shows at Edinburgh were good too, but not as good. the shows with
Julian, Josie, Rick Wakeman and Phill Jupitus were okay, below average but okay.
I thought Josie held things together – she is on her way to being a real
star, being both very funny and very competitive.
The shows with Tony, Gyles, Pam Ayres and Miles Jupp were disappointing.
I’ve just transcribed the first of these and Pam and Miles really were
“non-starters” to use Kenneth’s phrase. Pam does have a unique style, which is
good, but she just isn’t competitive enough, or consistently funny enough. She
needs to be on with three strong players where her contributions would add
spice. Miles was struggling with the game – he eventually worked that out and
won the second show. But in mastering the game itself, he wasn’t very
funny.
So it was up to Tony and Gyles to keep the show going. I think Gyles gets
better every time he is on – has anyone else noticed he almost never falls back
into his old routine poems and stories any more. He’s inventive and funny and
likes the banter. Tony I think isn’t strong enough to hold a show together.
There are times in the show when something funny is said between the panellists
– Gyles was teasing Pam about her marriage. Now if Paul had been there, he would
have joined in and kept it going – but Tony isn’t quick enough to do the
same.
of course it’s hard to judge Tony by the standard of Paul – there aren’t
many people as funny and quick as Paul. nevertheless the producers do seem to
regard Tony as the alternate lead player if Paul is away.... and sorry Tony
fans, but I don’t think he is good enough.
I haven’t thought before about whether Nicholas is harder on Tony than
anyone else. I’ll listen to some recent shows and think about it.