The Crystal Bucket, What's on Your TV? Options

[NiteFall]

I enjoyed it, but I think it should have been which act they were most impressed with that won - I thought the first act was by far the best (and would have probably been received the best in a big Vegas show), and they even said they'd never seen anyone do it, but it didn't get through just because they'd read about it before. Best bits were obviously P&T's performances though.

Yeah, but the reason why they'd heard of it, but never seen it performed is because it was a variation on what is literally the oldest trick in the book. The world's oldest recorded magic trick involved the decapitation of and re-attachment of birds heads and it is technically an extremely easy trick to do the trick is performed by tucking the birds head under it's wing, which causes it to fall asleep, while you tuck the head under you substitute in a prop head the only real magic involved is some rather simple sleight of hand, made even simpler by the collars he put over the birds heads. I would say that yes, while his presentation was impeccable the actual skills on display weren't exceptional by any stretch. Although the switch-reveal at the end was a neat twist.

[Zoe]

I really recommend 'The Secret Life of Bob Monkhouse' on iPlayer.

It's an incredible look into a unique archive, which tells the story of one man's life, and the history of British TV & radio.

Bob's on-air reaction to be fired from The Golden Shot is... extraordinary. Has anyone seen Knowing me Knowing Yule, when Alan finds our he doesn't have a second series because of his blatant product placement...?

[Rua]

Bob's on-air reaction to be fired from The Golden Shot is... extraordinary. Has anyone seen Knowing me Knowing Yule, when Alan finds our he doesn't have a second series because of his blatant product placement...?

Really?

Now, I am going to watch.

[Zoe]

Bob was fired for product placement, though there doesn't seem to be any evidence of it. His behaviour on the final show, along with what he'd been sacked for, does suggest Coogan et al were inspired by true events. Who knows? It could just be a coincidence. Either way it's brilliant.

They even bring on the new presenter at the end. So cruel.

EDIT: I should add he's not sacked on air - but he makes sure everyone knows about it.

[Llama]

Although the switch-reveal at the end was a neat twist.

That was the bit I was impressed by though, not the decapitations. We've all seen that before.

[logger]

I liked what I saw of Episodes.

[Outatime]

Me too, but I was disappointed by Glee.

[PrincessKate]

Rachel is even worse, this series.

New Snog, Marry Avoid is on. It's all northern.

[Shack]

I liked what I saw of Episodes.

It was a promising start wasn't it?

I liked the American casting team A LOT.

And saucy Greig. Naturally. She's phwoargeous.

[Everlong]

Watched it last night myself.

Could turn out to be a good little series. Greig and Mangan were good, and I quite liked the supporting cast (was amused by the faces Daisy Haggard was pulling throughout). Surprising lack of LeBlanc but I suppose he'll be in it a lot now.

[Zoe]

terrible reviews put me off - I shall reconsider as I trust you lot more than them

[empathy-with-bea...]

I watch The Pacific boxed set over christmas and it left me curiously cold. It is always going to get compared to Band of Brothers, which is a pretty tall order to follow but nonetheless it was ditinctly underwhelming. It suffers from two probelms: firstly a fractured ensemble cast that means that a narrative flow is hard to maintain. Secondly a sense of what this story is meant to be about. In BoB each episode had a name, "Points" or "why we fight" or whatever that indicated that someone had thought about what each episode actually meant: some sort of thematic or narrative concept. The episodes of Pacific are just numbered, and it does feel to one degree or another that they lack a satisfying through line or idea behind them.


Fundamentally you have to ask the question what does this tell us about this thing that happened? I don't know if The Pacific has any real insight into this. There is no It's been a long war its been a hard war" speech, there's no bit where the guy yells at the Germans from the back of the truck....often its just an awful lot about what happened in the battles which degenerates into lots of bang bang bang.

[logger]

I faded out about half way through the first episode.

[Serafina_Pekkala]

Fundamentally you have to ask the question what does this tell us about this thing that happened? I don't know if The Pacific has any real insight into this. There is no It's been a long war its been a hard war" speech, there's no bit where the guy yells at the Germans from the back of the truck....often its just an awful lot about what happened in the battles which degenerates into lots of bang bang bang.

True. I've not seen much of Pacific but the lack of noticeable characters and relationships was a massive disappointment. I think of any series to NOT do this - yet compare themselves to BoB - is setting up for a fall. It's just so profoundly arrogant. "It's about soldiers and war in them days so it must be the same". Such sentiments do not dice with this fraulein.

[PrincessKate]

True. I've not seen much of Pacific but the lack of noticeable characters and relationships was a massive disappointment. I think of any series to NOT do this - yet compare themselves to BoB - is setting up for a fall. It's just so profoundly arrogant. "It's about soldiers and war in them days so it must be the same". [b]Such sentiments do not dice with this fraulein.[/b]

Love you...