Just A Minute

 
<<<<   9974   >>>>

Re: My observations thus far...

Messages in this topic: 14 View All
jerryvonkramerSep 5, 2014
 

 

I seemed to breeze through season 6. Thoughts as follows:

- There is undoubtedly a "turn" in Kenneth, but it is not as abrupt as I had first thought but more an "amping up" of what he'd been doing in season 5, just turned up to 11. At the start of season 6 he is truly manic, at times a crazed loon with Nicholas's cries of "SHUT UP KENNETH!" becoming much more frequent than previously. He's more savage to the female guests; with his "it's a disgrace! We should never have had  women on this show!" becoming more frequent as well. Kenneth really becomes the centre of attention during this season; I'm finding him a fascinating character to be honest. I like the way he has such standard reactions and catchphrases, it's like a layering of "in-jokes" for the show. But he's also supremely multi-faceted, knowledgeable about a range of subjects, a master of voices and accents, and -- very unusual for the radio -- his physicality seems somehow to transcend the medium, by which I mean you can somehow feel his animation and see his facial expressions, despite it being audio.

- All of that said, I think season 6 is overall slightly weaker than season 5. There are a number of reasons for this, but chief among them I think, is the absence of Derek Nimmo which starts being keenly felt after the first 4 or 5 episodes. Peter Jones does some to produce something in Kenneth, and he's a very likable presence in general (more in a moment on that), but he doesn't have the sheer force of personality that Derek has to act as a counter-weight to Kenneth.

- Another reason for season 6 being a slight dip after season 5 is the quality of the female guests. There's an awful lot of Andre Melley, who despite being quite experienced by this point, still doesn't really do much to put her head above the parapet. She's an okay player, she can be mildly amusing on occasion, but when she's on the show, she's always very definitely there as the "4th wheel" to make up the numbers -- like she's 6/10 in all things. Even in the season finale when she takes over as Chairman, it's not as if she really shines in the role. As I've said before, she's a poor man's Geraldine Jones.

- But on top of all that, the other female guests: Katherine Whitehorn, and the extremely flustered Juno Alexander, simply aren't as memorable as Barbara Castle or Jacqueline MacKenzie. Oh and Nicholas has one of his most excruciating shows with Aime MacDonald yet -- giving her FOURTEEN points during one round. Clement even joins in and is both remarkably sinister and creepy during it. I couldn't tell if he was deliberately sending up Nicholas by pushing the perviness to new heights, or just trying to have some fun, but the episode of December 28th 1971 is one of my least favourite so far because it is so centred on her. Clement accuses Aimi Macdonald of having a date lined up with Nicholas after the show, and there are some extended and smutty jokes from Nick insinuating that the two of them are sleeping together. As I've said before, I don't find it funny but cloying.

- All of that said, Sheila Hancock has really grown into the show now and is by far the best of the women during this season, and the shows featuring her are generally more fun than the others. I like the way she'll take Kenneth on, she'll call Clement on his dirtier tactics, and she bounces off Peter pretty well too.

- The first thing that struck me about Peter Jones was that he seems to be older than everyone else. He has a kind of strange mixture of stiffness and affability, and reminds me of an old English army officer or something like that. It seems like he's still very much finding his feet during season 6. Even by the final episodes, he's still making silly challenges on stuff like repetition of "also". I think Peter is supremely likable, there's just something about him that is endearing. He seems like he's slightly on his own planet. His voice carries the veneer of the old empire. It's fun when he gets into little arguments with Nicholas, or when he feels slighted by another player, although it doesn't happen too often during this season.

No further notes on individual episodes or rounds, which is perhaps telling that fewer things stood out to me during this season than during the last one. I think the slight dip is understandable given the replacement of Derek with Peter and the number of episodes with weak female guests. Kenneth is hilarious on some of these shows though, especially the first 3 or 4 -- he must have been in an especially funny mood during those recording sessions with Andree Melley, because he's a total nutter on them, almost psychotic!

Onwards to season 7.

 
<<<<   9974   >>>>

Back to the Top