Red Nose Day - Printable Version
+- Pres Café (https://pres.cafe)
+-- Forum: Pres Café TV and Radio Forums (https://pres.cafe/forumdisplay.php?fid=1)
+--- Forum: Programme Presentation (https://pres.cafe/forumdisplay.php?fid=8)
+--- Thread: Red Nose Day (/showthread.php?tid=372)
+- Pres Café (https://pres.cafe)
+-- Forum: Pres Café TV and Radio Forums (https://pres.cafe/forumdisplay.php?fid=1)
+--- Forum: Programme Presentation (https://pres.cafe/forumdisplay.php?fid=8)
+--- Thread: Red Nose Day (/showthread.php?tid=372)
RE: Red Nose Day - Brekkie - 21-03-2023
(21-03-2023, 08:51 PM)Andrew Wrote:(21-03-2023, 03:30 PM)madmusician Wrote: Now, I haven’t watched either telethon for years, but did they not try a rather radical ‘revamp’ of Comic Relief roughly six years ago, when they had a ‘comedy club’ feel and did it live from the O2 and it all went really badly?! So it’s not as though they haven’t tried different formats over recent years.Weren’t the main reasons for it not working, firstly sound issues, where the ‘clubbers’ in the main part we’re talking amongst themselves, particularly when items were going on off the main stage in the wings, and secondly because Richard Osman did that ‘World cup of biscuits’ thing that worked ok as a bit of fun on Twitter but didn’t translate to TV
I’d welcome a change now though, if they carry on with the telethon, I don’t want to see standard BBC safe presenters standing on a stage in Salford reading autocue into VTs. This and Children in Need are so similar I’m surprised they don’t just have a single set with the lighting changing from red to yellow
There was a night at the O2 but before that I think a night at a theatre (the Palladium or Apollo) which felt more like the classic vibes - and things going wrong would be welcome to the super slick production it's become. It used to feel like anything could happen, as did many live TV shows in the 90s especially - but as we've discussed before perhaps other than Saturday Night Takeaway production teams aren't used to making that sort of show anymore when they used to be the bread and butter of not just live TV but entertainment TV in general.
It's probably a bit lazy to blame the move to Salford considering comic talent is more used than most to touring around the country for gigs, and we see how Strictly picks itself up for it's annual trip out to Blackpool and feels like an event too. I think perhaps the issue is that for a period the sketches were really working and capturing the imagination of the public so the studio stuff was scaled back - but now the sketches seem to be few and far between it's left them without much. Flo and Joan, two relative unknowns, added so much being in the studio (I'm not 100% convinced they were live) so just a couple more routines bringing that energy would have lifted things no end.
RE: Red Nose Day - Steve in Pudsey - 22-03-2023
I think the other difference is that in the early days a big chunk of the show was showing classic comedy sketches and clips that didn't get seen very often, which doesn't really work in the era of YouTube.
I watched back the Traitors sketch and enjoyed it but couldn't help thinking that the old cliche about "if you have to explain a joke..." came into play at times.
RE: Red Nose Day - Gary Baldy - 23-03-2023
Watching back the Best Bits section and Paddy and AJ are sticking very rigidly to the autocue, and they're coming across very robotic as a result. Improvise, do something unpredictable, be rebellious- both of them are more than capable of holding their own as presenters so why have the autocue for them? Imagine telling someone in the 90's that in 30 years time Comic Relief will just be presenters reading out from an autocue to link into their films- nobody would have believed it.
I saw a comment on here that said Paddy fluffed one of his lines- why not just leave that in? Those unpredictable moments should be what makes Comic Relief great- it's all gone far too safe. For these best bits style programmes, which are filmed in a live style (despite them being pre-recorded) , what's the problem with leaving the bloopers in? it helps make the show more fun for a start- and also people stumble over their words in everyday life all the time, I really don't get why they'd cut them out of something like this. I could understand re-filming if it was a sketch or something, but the lines to introduce the videos surely don't warrant re-filming? If Paddy stumbled, leave the stumble and his correction in... what did he stumble over? Did he change the word "really" to "very" or something? Because that seems to be how fussy TV execs get nowadays- simply changing one word of a sentence to another word that means the exact same thing seems to be a no-no, because it's not *exactly* what's on the autocue.
And yes, Comic Relief likely would have always been scripted to some degree, but it never used to feel that way. Watch any of the telethons from the 90's or even 00s and so much effort was put into the show, things seemed to flow very naturally- the jokes were seldom forced. The Beeb don't seem to know what to do with it anymore- despite it not being perfect, they still somewhat get Children In Need right (although as others have mentioned, it has lacked that figurehead since dear Terry's passing) but when it comes to Comic Relief, they seem to really be struggling. I'm guessing they now have the same production team working on both or something? Whereas before, I think they were quite clearly different products- the only thing they had in common was the appeal videos- the content of both telethons was very different. Also, why did it have 5 presenters this year for a 3 hour show? It's too many. I could understand having a load of different presenters when the show used to go into the early hours of the morning, so that each presenting team put in their shift, but surely 2 or 3 would suffice for a 3 hour show. It needed a comedian on the team too- Paddy McGuiness though having a comedy background, Is more known to people as a TV presenter these days. It missed Lenny desperately, and I say that as someone who doesn't find him that funny these days either (for the same reason that he seems to lack that cheeky rebellious side these days and comes across more children's TV presenter)- but Comic Relief needed that comic relief which was missing this year.
RE: Red Nose Day - VMPhil - 23-03-2023
(23-03-2023, 11:06 AM)Gary Baldy Wrote: I saw a comment on here that said Paddy fluffed one of his lines- why not just leave that in? Those unpredictable moments should be what makes Comic Relief great- it's all gone far too safe. For these best bits style programmes, which are filmed in a live style (despite them being pre-recorded) , what's the problem with leaving the bloopers in? it helps make the show more fun for a start- and also people stumble over their words in everyday life all the time, I really don't get why they'd cut them out of something like this. I could understand re-filming if it was a sketch or something, but the lines to introduce the videos surely don't warrant re-filming? If Paddy stumbled, leave the stumble and his correction in... what did he stumble over? Did he change the word "really" to "very" or something? Because that seems to be how fussy TV execs get nowadays- simply changing one word of a sentence to another word that means the exact same thing seems to be a no-no, because it's not *exactly* what's on the autocue.
Take 1 - he said "melding mask" instead of "welding mask".
Take 2 - he said it right but the audience cheered mockingly and he put two fingers up at them.
Take 3 - he said it right and no audience cheer.
They used take 2 on the broadcast - perhaps to do what you said and leave the blooper in?
Tell you what though, it's a good point that the presenters weren't really comedians, except for Joel Dommett but I can't say I think of him as a comedian first, more a TV presenter.
RE: Red Nose Day - Brekkie - 23-03-2023
I think 5 presenters were fine as Comic Relief traditionally changes presenters every 60-90 minutes - it was the fact they were primarily presenters (and Paddy and Joel tick that box ahead of comedian now too) that was the problem, plus it just being an autocue fest which meant it felt unnecessary.
Even had they not gone till 2am I think just having an extra slot after the news through to midnight would have made the difference to make it feel a bit more of an event.
RE: Red Nose Day - fanoftv - 24-03-2023
It’s going back many years now (24 in fact, making me feel very old), but I think this clip from Comic Relief 1999 shows what many have been describing as missing these days:
https://youtu.be/SXXoMCVmUi0
There’s an enthusiastic audience, a great set, an ‘if we raise £___ in this hour, we’ll ____’ challenge, fun and a little messing around, some improvisation and amazingly a surprise for one of the hosts throwing them off and being all the more fun for it.
I know it’s many years ago, and budgets for these were most probably a lot higher, but overall it feels much more entertaining. However, I will commend Paddy McGuinness for the B*Witched and Irish dancing scene on this year’s event as that was different, unexpected and entertaining.
RE: Red Nose Day - James2001 - 25-03-2023
I still have a red nose from that year in a drawer as well!
RE: Red Nose Day - Larry the Loafer - 25-03-2023
Bloody hell. There was more energy in those ten minutes in 1999 than there was in three hours last week. The folks in charge would do good to look back at these older shows to see what they're missing nowadays.
RE: Red Nose Day - Steve in Pudsey - 25-03-2023
People criticise the presenter line ups as not being comedians, 1999 had Peter Snow from Newsnight and Davina McCall, plus Johnny Vaughan, Zoe Ball and Chris Evans
RE: Red Nose Day - fanoftv - 25-03-2023
Whether presenters, comedians or both, they used to bring the energy and the comedy with little skits on stage, for example French & Saunders: https://youtu.be/PKDpAM36f8w
These days it mostly feels like it’s links into the next VT. It used to feel like the charity was in charge of the broadcast, whereas now it feels like the same production team as Children in Need.
Part of the problem could be that they haven’t continued to bring in the comedians of today to host. There are many comedians who present on other programmes who could do similar sketches and stand up pieces bringing the fun back to the night.
Also, when did the night stop being known as Comic Relief and be referred to as Red Nose Day? Was it the rebrand a few years back?