TV - Comments by biffbampow

TV - Comments by biffbampow

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Member	Item		Review/Comment
biffbampow 16th May 2015		TV The Walking Dead (2010 - 2022)	I echo your sentiments BiggieTembo - I too saw that 200 Motels on Moviedrome... and I'm a big Zappa fan but came away from that believing Zappa should never had been allowed to make movies and films (Uncle Meat is even worse!) so I get instantly suspicious by any kind of hype thanks to being burned too many times like the Zappa instance.
biffbampow 15th May 2015		TV Grange Hill (1978 - 2008)	By the time series 8 began, I was in my first year in Senior school, so the new intake of students - including Gonch, Hollo, Robbie, Trevor Cleaver etc - were technically “my” age so their time in Grange Hill went hand in hand with my own time in senior school hence series 8 to 12 have a special magic to them for me. I feel by pure chance, the Grange Hill production team struck gold - they had a strong bunch of elder students and the newer younger ones were pretty strong and enjoyable from the word go. The final stroke of Genius came with the casting of the renowned Michael Sheard as the toupeed Mr Bronson who didn’t suffer fools at all gladly. Series 8 had the boring Stewpot and Claire saga dragged on minus the rest of the students they were with as they were given an extra years reprieve by putting them in the 6th form and horror of horrors, Stewpot two timed Claire by going off with the dreaded Annette. Series 8 mainly got on with introducing us to the newer students and straight away the double act of Gonch and Hollo provided much amusement with their endless schemes aimed at making money... which of course always ended in disaster. Roland also ends up in a romance with a French girl during an exchange and suddenly goes mad, wearing a beret and talking only in French then does a runner to France. In general series 8 is rather light hearted in tone... and then came series 9... Straight away it’s evident that Zammo is not his usual self as he starts acting deviously, constantly scrounging money... yep, it’s 1986 and series 9 is the infamous Zammo on smack saga. Thankfully the loathsome Annette is gone, having moved away and instead we gain one of the greatest characters of all - Scouser Ziggy Greaves who quickly forms a partnership with Robbie and go on to provide many wonderful funny moments. Another pair of new students Ant Jones and Danny Kendall both end up being under the fanatical scrutiny of Mr Bronson and its in this series that Bronson explodes into life becoming the most feared teacher in the school with his catchphrase being “YOU... boy!” Michael Sheard gave the performance of his life - we all loved to hate him, but when one watches them again as an adult, there’s much more than meets the eye as he’s a rather complex and fascinating character, multilayered as opposed to most teachers who by comparison were rather bland and uninteresting. With Gripper gone, the role of school bully falls to the vicious Imelda... how vicious was she? How about shoving rock wool down the back of Ziggy Greaves? With her cohorts goofy Helen and the cutesie Georgina, they go about wreaking havoc at Imelda’s beck and call. Gonch and Hollo keep up with their idiot schemes and an amusing rivalry between Trevor Cleaver and Vince Savage gets underway. Then of course there’s the Zammo saga. It ended up becoming a big anti-drugs campaign “Just Say No” complete with a godawful hit record and even getting to meet Nancy Reagan on a tour of the States where apparently half the male cast were smoking dope! It’s strange because the famous episode where Zammo is discovered zonked off his brain at the very end is one of the most boring episodes of the show since it takes place during half term and the entire episode is split unevenly between Laura Regan and her pal in some boring story which guzzles up most of the time intercut with Zammo pestering Roland in an amusement arcade where Roland works... but that final scene complete with freeze framed close ups certainly packed a punch and the following episodes as Zammo goes utterly insane have some excellent dramatic moments. Series 9 is regarded by Grange Hill fans as perhaps the very best of them all. It’s not my personal favourite but it is a gem and contains many great moments from almost everybody. I just wish the producers had the nerve to go all the way and kill Zammo off - that would had been nasty but more realistic than what did happen as he ended up in rehab and though it lingered by series ten, it was almost as if nothing exteme had actually happened to Zammo though he was a lot more irritating and boring by then.
biffbampow 15th May 2015		TV The Tube (1982 - 1987)	Oh yeah... Bad News! There was another occasion when Rik Mayall appeared on the show and caused trouble when he vomited for real! That definitely did NOT go down well with the press and Channel 4!
biffbampow 15th May 2015		TV Grange Hill (1978 - 2008)	Yep - the school uniform storyline was in 1979... a BIG mistake by the BBC to allow the pupils of Grange Hill to actually triumph. Real schoolteachers really did have to stay on their toes watching the show as was proved in 1988. There was a certain episode where Trevor Cleaver's campaign against Mr Scott reached breaking point when he started humming a drone in class, and the rest of the class joined in... this caused Mr Scott to crack. The following morning after that was shown, my first lesson was Chemistry. Sure enough, one person started humming and we all joined in. The chemistry teacher just stood there with a grin on his face and shouted "Don't waste your time... I saw that last night as well!" Cue immediate end of humming and back to work!
biffbampow 15th May 2015		TV Grange Hill (1978 - 2008)	Series 5 to 7 is a curious era. Having introduced the Stewpot/Claire/Suzanne lot in series 4, series 5 also introduced another younger year giving us our first sightings of Zammo, Ro-land and of course, Gripper Stebson. So, the show became ever more split as episodes were divided between the two factions and the Stewpot lot as mentioned before, just became a huge crushing bore for me. What didn't help series 5 either were blink and you'll miss it cameos of random members of the original cast, like Benny appeared briefly all of a sudden in an episode which was his final appearance and stranger still right near the end of the series is suddenly an episode featuring Tucker. There was a lot going on as the writers had a newish lot to build upon and introduce a younger set of characters. Roland made an immediate lasting impression being given a major storyline where things get uglier for him as Gripper Stebson begins his reign of terror in earnest and Roland was his main victim. Seeing school bullying tackled on such a level and with genuine brutality was shocking and upsetting (yes, I was regularly a punchbag for bullies myself) I know many recall Suzanne with fondness but to me she was simply Trisha Yates mark 2. This does become noticeable over the years - the original cast comprised of strong template characters so each new intake would feature a Trisha type who always rebelled against uniforms etc and did her own thing fashion wise... and sorry but I always thought Susan Tully was a right sour faced sod which didn't endear her to me either. Claire became a bit of a pin up but I always felt she was a bit... well... "fake" and her on/off romance with Stewpot bored me rigid. So, the Zammo lot ended up carrying the weight for me and make series 5 tolerable but God I couldn't stand Annette Firman. She was one of the nastiest bitchiest two faced characters in the shows history and whilst later on valid reasons were offered as to why she was that way, it still didn't excuse her in my eyes... she was just plain spiteful. Series 6 was more of the same this time adding race problems into the mix which ends in a climactic showdown which finally gets Gripper expelled by a raging Bullet Baxter. By now "Bridget" Mrs McClusky had settled in as headmistress having joined in the fourth series and one couldn't help but admire her as she tried her hardest to be tolerant and fair but sure was a tough cookie you wouldn't want to mess with either. Roland was a great character and found himself constantly being pestered by Janet who called him "Ro-LAND" and his attempts to try and get rid of her were always amusing. Fay Lucas also began becoming more ahem... noticeable... she was much fancied by my schoolmates! Series 7 saw the Zammo/Roland lot become ever more prominent as the Stewpot faction faded during their final year so was a more enjoyable affair than series 5 and 6 as we got to warm ever more to Zammo and co, despite Gripper's absence (save for a brief cameo in one episode) and the storylines not being as hard hitting. The series - and Stewpots lot's time on the show came to a limp end with a school disco. However there is no denying that compared to most of the first 12 series, series 7 did feel rather bland and it was clear a major shake up was needed... the production team certainly thought so too... Little could we had guessed that come series 8 things were about to get REALLY interesting again as another new bunch were introduced and with them a certain Mr Maurice Bronson...
biffbampow 15th May 2015		TV The Tube (1982 - 1987)	Yeah - it did involve the "groovy f*ers" phrase! A few months earlier there was an uproar when one show started with Paula and Jools outside on the roof of Tyne Tees and Paula grumbled "It's f*ing freezing!" I saw that and it amused me but I recall some scathing reports about it in the press and the NME also reported it. I think they were given warnings about that! The Jools of the 80's was rather irreverent in tone... he certainly knew his stuff musically but his sardonic humour and ability to cope with, and sometimes get carried away by what was going on made him endearing to me. His proneness for occasional swearing was why the BBC had "Later" pre-recorded for a very long time, because they didn't trust him and feared he'd let slip some swear words. Unfortunately that approach and spending what feels like a lifetime with the BBC has dullened Jools considerably. Now, I haven't got the time of day for him and can't stand the bloke, but when he did "The Tube" I thought he was great and perfect for the show.
biffbampow 15th May 2015		TV Why Don't You? (1973 - 1995)	My memories are getting ever hazier and not liking the show meant I paid it less attention so am guessing out aloud here - weren't the bratty team based on a bus for one or two series? I have some fuzzy flickering fading image in my mind somewhere that has a bus linked to this show, but could also easily be part of another show showed before or after it!
biffbampow 15th May 2015		TV The Tube (1982 - 1987)	Fabulous show - truly live and unpredictable. Weird to think there was a time when I really liked Jools Holland since in this he was in his element and I remember him being real amusing which worked great within the context of the show. Never really "got" Paula Yates at all and much preferred Muriel Gray though her encounter with Scott Walker was toecurling stuff as she died a million deaths realising that Scott was not the most talkative of guests. The first series had a chap called Gary James as one of the presenters and he presided over a Marc Bolan special within one of the shows which was stunning to see at the time since it was the first time I was finally able to see some Marc footage on TV since his death which for me gave the show an extra sense of cool. Unfortunately, it did decline towards the end not helped by Jools getting suspended because of one occasion where he used bad language, yet Paula also used it on occasion but she got away with it, so with Paula now promoted to main host... it suffered and became teethgratingly embarrassing - she was tolerable when Jools was there as a counterbalance. Then Channel 4 gave it the kiss of death by moving it from the Friday teatime slot to a spot on Sunday afternoon which made absolutely no sense at all. Sadder still, there have been compilations on TV and DVD but watching them feels rather flat since seeing just edited musical highlights fails to capture the things I remember best about the show - of course the music was an important part but it was all the hustle and bustle that went on in-between that was just as, if not more fun and gave the show it's distinct character. A show of its time which I largely enjoyed, if one could see the shows as transmitted again, they'd serve as a good little time capsule of the 80's during the era it ran.
biffbampow 14th May 2015		TV Grange Hill (1978 - 2008)	@TopPopper - yes, you're right - the Christmas 81 episode was written by some kid in that competition. It was actually filmed after series 5 had been completed but transmitted before it, so technically it was the true last episode featuring many of the original characters. Whenever I watch them again, I always watch that episode after series 5. It works better than the last appearance of Tucker, Alan, Cathy and Trisha in the McGuffy school concert near the end of series 5. It was like one last hurrah - notice how grown up Susi suddenly is compared to the last time we'd seen her in series 4. (Speaking of Susi, there's some bizarre moments in series 3 or 4 where her eyebrows magically appear and vanish from scene to scene!) After leaving Sun Hill, Tucker himself made an appearance in the very last episode of Grange Hill as the uncle of one of the pupils (his opening line was yes... "Flipping 'eck!") and the very last scene was rather poignant with one character sabotaging the school signs sending new pupils in the wrong direction just like in the very first episode... Tucker observes this, smiled, rode off on his motorbike, camera pulled out and that was the end of Grange Hill. It nice way to end it all, a complete full circle.
biffbampow 14th May 2015		TV Grange Hill (1978 - 2008)	Flippin' 'eck! Where does one start with this one? I'm gonna have to do 3 or 4 posts on this because it started when I had started school, so it ran parallel to my own schooldays and I watched it from the very first episode to the end of the 12th series... by the time that was broadcast, I was just about to end my schooldays and with it, I stopped watching Grange Hill. I have copies of all that and have watched the lot two or three times over the last ten years... OK... the early days - the first 3 or 4 series... the Tucker Jenkins era. Made quite an impact at the time. It's curious seeing the first series again since it was in reality a bunch of self contained dramas centering on one or two of the characters. They're pretty good and it's a pity Roger Sloman's nasty PE teacher never appeared again, but then again he was replaced by the legendary Mr Baxter, so... Series 2 is where it kicks into it's stride as it adopted a soap like format with continual storylines and added a few more new characters. Tucker, Alan and Benny were just legends as they got up to their tricks and japes. Trisha Yates and Cathy Hargreaves were another classic pairing and I fancied Cathy. It was in this series where they had the infamous school uniform protests which I understand was replicated in some real schools at the time... yep... all school teachers HAD to watch Grange Hill to get an idea of what their own pupils might try on them next. Michael Doyle was one of my fave characters as the bully but he was rather tame compared to who would soon come in series 5. There was the nerdy kid Justin Bennett who finally got a friend in Andrew... when one watches these episodes now there is no denying there was a strong undercurrent of homosexuality going on there between Justin and Andrew... subtly done but it's there though they never dared go far down that route. There was also things dealt with like period pains, and even the dimwitted Pogo tried using "that time of month" as an excuse in one episode, totally unaware it was a girls thing! And there was Susi being embarrassed to wear a bra which she tossed into a river only for Andrew to fish it out for her... stuff like this had NEVER been seen in kids TV shows before and it's easy to forget how groundbreaking it was at the time. Series 3 was again, great stuff though there was a shocking moment in the penultimate episode when Antoni Karamanopolis did a dare that resulted in his death... I do remember that and being genuinely shocked by it. By now we'd gotten used to the cast but, they were mostly already older than 16 so Series 4 introduced a newer younger year and the series was split between episodes featuring the old faves and the newer ones. Unfortunately, I didn't like the new lot - Stewpot, Claire and Suzanne etc - at all. I just could never warm to them as the torch was passed on and they became the dominant pupils in the show. The Tucker era ended in fine style - save for a handful of cameos in the 5th series - with the 1981 Christmas special, entirely shot on film involving a school disco that is great fun and ended up being the last time we'd see the likes of Doyle. Justin, Trisha, Tucker, Alan, Benny and Tommy all appeared in series 5 but either in brief blink or you'll miss it cameos or doing one last turn in an end of term school concert which collapses into chaos. Great stuff... obviously very dated now but an interesting encapsulation of the era and I can still enjoy watching them now. Next time, I'll deal with the era that followed...
biffbampow 14th May 2015		TV Bullseye (1981 - 2006)	The speedboat prizes always amused me... like how many of the contestants actually had the space let alone any use for one? A curious show yet an enjoyable one. Jim Bowen admitted a few years ago that he was "awful" in the earliest shows and unfortunately, he was absolutely right - watching the remaining episodes of the 1st series (ATV wiped about half of them) is comical because Bowen hasn't found his feet and is just hapless. It started to settle once Tony Green started appearing and he always used to crease me up how he'd stand by the dartboard, shuffling his feet, rubbing his hands saying "take yer time...take yer time..." Were the TV studios that cold? Watching them again now, the prizes were largely pretty dire! Always amusing hearing the audience go "WOOO!" when a colour TV or a video recorder is on offer! I always wondered how on earth it could take "a couple of minutes" to count out a hundred quid or so... Yeah, it was super, smashing, great! If one did that drinking game, where you have to drink a shot each time Mr Bowen utters one of those three words, you'd be well and truly blind drunk by the end of each episode!
biffbampow 14th May 2015		TV Why Don't You? (1973 - 1995)	Blimey... I cannot believe this ran for that long! Regardless to say, I never really liked the show and didn't need a bunch of brats to show me what things were "something less boring instead" to do. I had enough of an imagination and creativity and more than enough friends to be keeping me busy! Sure, I saw it a few times over the years but it always made me cringe and made me wish I was doing something less boring than watching "Why Don't You?" That theme tune... an earlier one which featured a solo singer and an animation was fine, but when it switched to a chorus of brats singing it... hell... I'd rather listen to Duran Duran.
biffbampow 14th May 2015		TV Multi-Coloured Swap Shop (1976 - 1982)	There's nothing big or clever about flinging flans at people. Swap Shop was a vastly superior show. True, but I'd had gladly smashed a flan into the face of Keith Chegwin!
biffbampow 14th May 2015		TV Terry And June (1979 - 1987)	Yes, you're right Zabadak... and unfortunately it failed too since The Young Ones ended in 1984 and this drivel droned on for several more series... I think I'm feeling a little off-colour today... ;)
biffbampow 14th May 2015		TV Ace Of Wands (1970 - 1972)	Yes... Petra certainly had a certain something didn't she? ;)
biffbampow 14th May 2015		TV A Question Of Sport (1970 - Now)	Hated this show. Suffered it weekly in the Emlyn Hughes and Ian Botham eras where they were up against the charmless and uninteresting Bill Beaumont and I'm aghast to see that Phil Tufnel is still doing the Beaumont role - an unfunny, uninteresting characterless has-been who clearly wants to cling to the comfort of this show since he wouldn't get work anywhere else. Yeah... one of the naffest theme tunes ever, though it's the one for "Doctors" that is the very worst - can you hum that one? Nope!
biffbampow 14th May 2015		TV Multi-Coloured Swap Shop (1976 - 1982)	I plead my innocence! I didn't add this show (but I have just added one that's TRULY horrid... gimme a K... gimme an R... an A... an N... another K... I own up to that!) but couldn't resist adding my views as I do wherever applicable! Yep... in total agreement with you about the radio DJ's thing and about John Peel being the sole exception since his turns on TOTP were brilliantly funny though I will give credit to David "Kid" Jensen for playing along with him and helping make Peel's acidic jibes even funnier. Yes, there was something rather smug and complacent about the BBC and I detested that whole Radio One presenter gang thing they had back in the day where the DJ's really believed they were bigger than the music they were playing. That was awful.
biffbampow 14th May 2015		TV Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads? (1973 - 1974)	Yes, what remains of the original series is really good and enjoyable. Apart from the mention of him in the first episode it would had been nice to have seen Cloughie in an episode or two of this later series. But that was also the difference - in the original series, they were wannabe jack the lads, young free and single whereas this time round, married and divorced. My only bugbear is how Clement and LaFrenais screwed up their own history since in the later series, Terry went into the army in 1967 and there's a few references to the coach trip to Blackpool that year where Terry copped off with Thelma whilst Bob was enjoying himself with another lady back at home. As is obvious Terry went into the army in 1966, so that discrepancy always bugs me.
biffbampow 14th May 2015		TV Terry And June (1979 - 1987)	Oh dear... this was one of those biggest mysteries of the 1980's alongside Little and Large in one wondered who on Earth liked and found this funny... it was regularly reviled and eyes would roll as another series would be wheeled out. BBC cosiness at it's most suffocating. It's kinda sad in a way given Scott and Whitfield's past works but the sheer blandness of this and it's predictability - along with that theme tune - made it rather grating. I sat through random episodes over the years and they always seemed to be the ones where Terry's boss would be coming round for dinner, a plot device I read they milked a few too many times for comfort. I found it as funny as haemorrhoids and then when I began seeing what Scott and Whitfield had done over the years before this came along, it made me feel sad seeing two fine talents wasted in something like this.
biffbampow 14th May 2015		TV Peppa Pig (2004 - Now)	Well, young kids do love it. I saw a part of it when visiting my nephew and niece and they were engrossed in it whilst I sat there feeling awkward, glancing at the screen, listening to the dialogue and kinda rolling my eyes and thinking "FFS... is this what kids TV has come to?" I felt the same way about Teletubbies... OMFG... don't get me started on Teletubbies... Hmm... the barbecue episode sounds comical and downright bizarre! What bewilders me also is Peppa is clearly a piglet... she's small... so why and how is it whenever anybody appears at public events dressed as "Peppa Pig" the costumes are ENORMOUS and the kids go NUTS with delight oblivious to the fact that there's somebody inside the costume sweating their nuts off? Good job they don't do the grown up pig costumes since taken proportionally, you'd need stilts and tons of padding to wear them!
biffbampow 14th May 2015		TV Sykes (1972 - 1979)	The first two or three series of this colour version of Sykes consisted mainly of remakes of older scripts done during the 1960-1965 era when it was called "Sykes And..." whatever the main topic was that week... that was partly down to the older shows being in black and white and that many of them even by then no longer existed, so this was another case where the BBC went into the past to hopefully entice more people into buying or hiring colour TV sets (after all, the colour TV licence was much higher!) What I've seen I've enjoyed and it's a pity they didn't release any more on DVD beyond the first series. It is a bit stagey at times, but there are some odd surreal ideas in there as well (that cuckoo clock which had a mind of it's own) and seeing Eric and Hattie cope with some absurd situations and making them worse have their moments. Then you had Deryck Guyler's regular intrusions and Richard Wattis' as the creepy snobby neighbour adding to the fun. It spoke volumes for Eric Sykes' talent and personality that he was able to get Peter Sellers guesting in perhaps it's most famous episode. My favourite episode is when Eric gets a job in a factory and wreaks all manner of havoc as he dreams up his own unique labour saving schemes. That had an impressive cast too - Jimmy Edwards, Graham Stark and George A.Cooper. All in all, just good clean polite fun, not groundbreaking in any real way but there is plenty to enjoy in there. Not the greatest comedy series but by goodness there's tons which was much worse! And this is one of the rare instances where I can't stand the theme tune - there's something I distinctly dislike about brass bands!
biffbampow 14th May 2015		TV Multi-Coloured Swap Shop (1976 - 1982)	OK... let's be reasonable here. In it's defence, this originated from an idea from the Blue Peter team. They simply wanted something to liven up the usual Saturday morning kids tosh which was usually cartoons, old American shows and those badly dubbed European dramas, so by having Noel Edmonds as a linking device with the idea tossed in that kids could ring in to try swapping their unwanted toys, the idea mutated into this show. It was up against stiff competition in Tiswas though I don't think that had yet been picked up by most ITV regions... and it became a hit. Though live and therefore things could and did often go wrong, the BBC always had that polite grip on it that kept it on a leash... I think sometimes some presenters felt tempted to inject a bit more anarchy into it but never dared to go all the way so there was always a safe clinical feeling about... a bit like the difference between Blue Peter and Magpie. The BBC opted for scripts and rehearsals whereas ITV one got the feeling they just went for it and indeed barely ever rehearsed. This was what I was "permitted" to watch and apart from if there were guests on that I liked, I hated the show. I never could stand the tidy bearded one and even as an under ten, I always thought Keith Chegwin was a complete irritating tw@ My main memories seem to come from the final year when B.A.Robertson seemed to be popping up a fair bit and that led to the Brown Sauce fiasco as Cheggers, Edmonds and Philbin under Robertson's production decided to copy Tiswas and try and make a hit record... "If You Wanna Be A Winner" was horrific... and they gave it plenty of airtime and promotion. The funniest thing is, everybody seems to have forgotten there would be long boring sequences when the old cartoons and TV shows would be shown which was the whole idea of the show... to link those and get kids watching tired old non-BBC shows - even I can't remember what they were... it's just the in between live bits I can seem to recall... and given what horrors Edmonds went on to and Cheggers simply being Cheggers, I'd rather NOT recall any of it!
biffbampow 14th May 2015		TV Tiswas (1974 - 1982)	@BiggieTembo You're also absolutely right about Trev and Simon. Saturday Superstore was again, a bit too clinical thanks to the BBC - hell, they had Margaret Thatcher on it for goodness sake (which sent me off doing "something less boring instead"!) - despite it's odd moments like the phone calls to Five Star and Matt Bianco. Going Live seemed set to be more of the same until Trev and Simon did their turns and suddenly there was a sense of free form anarchy that the BBC had been lacking and I can imagine they had a few dressing downs from BBC bigwigs for some of the stuff they unleashed! By that time I should had grown out of watching such shows, but they appealed to and amused me greatly!
biffbampow 13th May 2015		TV World Of Sport (1965 - 1985)	Hands up those of you who know that Bonzo Dog Band song "Sport (The Odd Boy)" Yep... I was THAT "odd boy" - never, EVER liked sport nor saw the point in it. So... Saturday afternoons growing up was utter Hell as, yep, the rest of my family liked their sport and that would be it... they'd switch between this and "Grandstand" to watch the stuff they wanted. OK, I did find amusement in the wrestling, but that's the only thing I enjoyed and Dickie Davies - bless him - remains permanently ingrained upon my consciousness forever, badger streak and all. So, I probably witnessed many great sporting moments but none of it ever registered with me because I was the odd boy that doesn't like sport!
biffbampow 13th May 2015		TV Tiswas (1974 - 1982)	Unfortunately I saw very little of this show since my Mum took exception to it, so it was banned in our house, so ended up having to suffer tidybeard Edmonds and bloody Keith Chegwin on the other side. By the time Mum got a Saturday job, Tiswas was in it's final months. I've enjoyed the various bits and pieces I've seen of it. The moment where Frank Carson challenges them to try and not to laugh at him laughing is just one of the funniest things I've ever seen. Frank Carson's laugh alone is enough to set me off but seeing Chris Tarrant blubbering with laughter and on the floor as Carson indeed succeeds in cracking everyone up is a great moment.
biffbampow 13th May 2015		TV Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads? (1973 - 1974)	For me, an absolute masterpiece, and I don't use the M word lightly. Yes, of course it's aged, it's over 40 years old and Rodney Bewes' haircut is almost terrifying - especially in the first series - but this is the most enjoyable comedy series I've ever seen. I first saw it when BBC2 repeated the lot in the mid 1990's and I just loved every moment. James Bolam's Terry Collier is just a great comic creation. The finest episode for me is "Boys Night In" - when Bob refuses to go out on a stag night so he and Terry spend the night in. 90% of that episode is just the two of them and it's just wonderful writing and acting. Clement and LaFrenais wrote quality stuff but this series was their finest hour. The most famous episode is the one where they try to avoid the football results. Not one bad episode, all flowed neatly. Strangely enough the movie which came after is one of the very rare instances where a film of a TV show worked even if they did resort to the cliche of sending them on holiday for a part of it. A huge pity Bewes and Bolam had the big fallout just after they made that. I find myself watching this once every couple of years - the whole lot in order. Never fails to delight and amuse me and actually, a new viewing is due any time. Now here's a question I hope one of you can answer because I'd love to know. Alan Bennett once chose his favourite episode of this during some BBC season where they showed TV shows he liked or was inspired by - would have been late 80's maybe very early 90's. I just remember he chose one episode of this. I didn't see it, but being an admirer of some of Bennett's work, I'm curious to find out which episode he singled out. Does anybody know?
biffbampow 13th May 2015		TV The Comic Strip Presents... (1982 - 2012)	A very mixed bag which was hardly surprising given each show had a different story with different characters and writers. Some - usually ones featuring Rik Mayall and Ade Edmondson were rather amusing (especially the classic pair of "Bad News" episodes) whereas some others I saw just left me sat there as stone faced as Jennifer Saunders, an actress I have huge problems with who consistently fails to make me laugh in everything she's ever done. Different strokes and all that (and no doubt somebody will add that Gary Coleman show pretty soon!)
biffbampow 13th May 2015		TV Rainbow (1972 - 1991)	Another classic... largely thanks to Roy Skelton doing the voices of Zippy and George to comical effect... especially when they start arguing with each other! It's strange seeing the earliest episodes with David Cook and I can see why they replaced him with Geoffrey Hayes who was much more likeable and down to Earth. Bungle then played by the future voice of K-9, John Leeson looked pretty scary! The music interlude acts changed several times. The first series was a male trio called Jigsaw - their song in the first episode is ridiculously catchy! Then there was another trio, this time led by a young Charlie Dore. Then there was Rod, Jane and... Matthew - featuring Matthew Corbett just before he took over the Sooty act. Matthew was replaced by a rotund guy with a moustache, Roger... he popped up a lot in bit parts on TV... finally they ended up with Freddy and I couldn't stand them! They even got their own spin off series too! There was one DVD of various episodes where Roy Skelton did a commentary as Zippy and George which was worth the price of admission, especially every time Rod, Jane and Freddy went into a song as Zippy would rip them to pieces as only he could! One constant joke about the show was when it was bedtime... Bungle would dress up in pyjamas, so how on Earth was he able to spend the rest of the time totally nude? It was a sad day when Thames decided to sack Geoffrey and replaced him with another puppet. I refused to watch it again after that happened... and yes, I was still watching it when possible until I was 18! It was just Zippy and George... they always creased me up!
biffbampow 13th May 2015		TV The Young Ones (1982 - 1984)	I know exactly what you mean DrDoom! I think the reason I can still enjoy it every once in a while is because I saw them originally back in the day so I know what they were taking the mick out of, but to a new viewer today, I think they'd largely be mystified by much of it.
biffbampow 13th May 2015		TV The Young Ones (1982 - 1984)	A classic for it's era but it is definitely showing it's age now with it's many Thatcher jibes and the music acts... which was a neat scam to get more funding since by having music, it was filed under "variety" which got more funding than comedy! Still can't stand Alexei Sayle though. Trying to think of my fave moment isn't easy but a good candidate has to be "Sick" as they shove the bags over Neil's head... cue Vyvyan who decides to use nails to secure the bag on his head and Vyvyan tells Neil "you might feel a slight prick" to which Neil retorts "What's new?"

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