Subject: Messageboard Date: Fri, 24 Sep 1999 22:58:19 +1000 From: Mark Longmuir To: Mark Longmuir Mark: Thoughts after DL's Australian Premiere (15-Sep-1999 10:57:44) Dana2 :o): Interesting take on that episode Mark.. It made me pull my tape out and watch it again. (n/t) (15-Sep-1999 15:29:58) Scott R.: I agree... and (melodramatically) THE FUTURE!!! (15-Sep-1999 17:20:17) Kingy: Re: It was great! (15-Sep-1999 19:31:01) Mark: That Micallef sketch... funniest thing he's done yet this series! (and that's really saying something!) (n/t) (16-Sep-1999 00:01:33) Steph: Don't you just *love* the Smokey the Bear part? I couldn't stop laughing! (n/t) (15-Sep-1999 20:36:51) DFW: a note about LMAD.... (15-Sep-1999 23:50:29) -- Mark Longmuir - longmuir@labyrinth.net.au Homepage: http://www.labyrinth.net.au/~longmuir/ Whose Line is it Anyway? - http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Lot/8451 "Stop tap dancing, you fool!" --------------------------------------------------------------------- [Inside The Web] [Image] [Get FREE Message Board] [Image] Whose Board is it Anyway? Thoughts after DL's Australian Premiere Wednesday, 15-Sep-1999 10:57:44 210.8.232.2 writes: Ok, well first of all it was a nice surprise to flip over 15 minutes early and catch Greg Proops doing a routine in Melbourne (dealing with hecklers who couldn't come up with more than "get off you fat bastard!"). And doing bits about psycho-Christians, koalas, the Maroondah Highway, Healesville Sanctuary, etc. But anyway, onto the actual show! Firstly, it feels just that bit different. No music, no Clive, slightly different set, and just the way of doing things has that touch of... well... difference :) It does feel a bit more pumped up and aimed at the non-familiar :) Drew - well, not as professional as Clive, but probably more in tune with the (his?) audience of this version. He mumbles a bit and tends to either skip over, or repeat too often, the important details. It feels more like he and the performers are co-operating on the show (even though they're doing the hard work!) rather than firing insults/lines at each other over the desk. As he gets more familiar with the games and hosting, his intros etc. will improve. But overall, he was much better than I'd thought he might be based on some of the criticisms made. The contestants - same as usual :) Colin's weirdness seems a little out of place at times, Ryan's still a little bizarre, slightly more in-your-face style seems to fit more nicely into this version. Brad and Wayne are great as usual, and in this series Wayne feels very much like an important part of the show (in the UK version he's another talented guest, but here his musical efforts are an important contribution to the show from the start). The games: Let's Make A Date - About as good as usual. Only one round through the guests, but the actual questioning goes on longer (which drags a little) Film, Theater & TV styles - Again, pretty good. A brilliant start from Ryan (shooting the fish), loses it a little in the middle, and porn recovers it a little at the end (but nowhere near where it started!) Duet - good, especially the reaction from the subject (and her friends!). Wayne seems to concentrate a little much on the impression but overall the song is great and quite funny. Wayne is left severely hanging at the end, though - looks like he was about to deliver some Sammy-type line but she walked off and the game ended before he could get it out. Weird Newscasters - not quite so good :) The quirks are partly at fault. Colin's 'child messing about' gives him a chance to do some silly things but can't keep up the hilarity for long. Wayne's 'teen getting dumped' has good moments but doesn't seem to quite be enough of either sport or getting dumped :) Perhaps it just got cut off too quickly (with the camera cut back to Brad). Ryan's 'slowly getting younger' is similar to stuff that's been done before, but seems to be lacking something this time. He nearly cracks up at the start (which is quite funny), but then as he goes through it starts to lose it and the game almost dies as he drops to the ground... until he saves it by doing the birth and beyond at the end. Scene to Rap - now this is it! STR is probably the most perfect new game of recent years, something that's current, funny, and gives all the performers a chance to fit in where they work best. (Brad & Wayne sing great immediately, Ryan is fairly good and funny after some thought, Colin is crap but hilarious to end it). Brad & Wayne's dancing is brilliant, the direction of the scene (Jason, Smokey the Bear, etc.) is completely off the wall, and I just like the music too :) Moving People - for a while there I thought it was going to be rather static! This game is a little limited in scope, after a while the same jokes about how hard it is to move, or where they're pointing, get tired. But having not seen it for a while, this episode doesn't give me that feeling and so the game works quite well. (once they start getting moved and get into the scene!) 90 Second Alphabet - interesting idea adding the time limit, though (apart from pressure) it doesn't change it too much. Drew's a bit nervous and screws up once (double l) but does fairly well. Ryan's responses are his usual funny ones, Drew's are more what the 'average guy' might come up with in the scene (indeed, sometimes word for word what I was thinking!). So even if he's not being hilarious, he can at least cope with the games and enjoy them :) Winner - I didn't (yet!) get the feeling that the "points don't matter" line was too prevalent, though if it continues at this rate for a few more episodes I will! The number 100 did come up quite often in points totals... The winner announcement seemed rather sudden, just sort of 'back from the ad break... and here's our winner, Ryan...'. Credits - Seems a little bland without the reading, though at least we get to hear the music! (which is great, though not as recognisable as I expected - I was thinking just jazzed up old version). We don't get the squished screen bit, just full screen scrolling credits with the contestants laughing and joking in the background, various pans around the audience, etc. Incidentally, how many ads in the ABC version? I think we had 3 during the show... after about every 2nd game. Looked like one of them was edited in a little badly though. So anyway, thoughts on the success of the show here? Well, with a mega 40ish episodes a year, they're going to have to pay some attention to it. There aren't too many shows that have been dropped here and are still going hugely in the US (and if there are, it's because they've bombed out here big time). I don't think this one-off 11:30 timeslot will bring huge success to the show. It may bring it to the attention of a few people, what I'm hoping to see is a few recommendations and questions about it being asked in the newspaper guides, etc. I'm wondering if maybe they thought it had a kind of 'late night feel' that suggested such a time slot. Sort of the relaxed Letterman or Molloy feel that works better late. With a bit of luck, maybe Tony Squires or someone from the Working Dog team might have seen and enjoyed it, and show a clip and give a plug or two for it on Inside the Arena or The Panel in the next week. Or some similar shows, anyway. Because that's the easiest way that it'll get big attention when they find somewhere for it in the regular schedules - preferably by dumping/shifting King of Queens and giving it the old DCS slot. Well, the good timeslot might help, but a scrap of publicity wouldn't hurt either... :) Mark ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Message thread: Mark: Thoughts after DL's Australian Premiere (15-Sep-1999 10:57:44) Dana2 :o): Interesting take on that episode Mark.. It made me pull my tape out and watch it again. (n/t) (15-Sep-1999 15:29:58) Scott R.: I agree... and (melodramatically) THE FUTURE!!! (15-Sep-1999 17:20:17) Kingy: Re: It was great! (15-Sep-1999 19:31:01) Mark: That Micallef sketch... funniest thing he's done yet this series! (and that's really saying something!) (n/t) (16-Sep-1999 00:01:33) Steph: Don't you just *love* the Smokey the Bear part? I couldn't stop laughing! (n/t) (15-Sep-1999 20:36:51) DFW: a note about LMAD.... (15-Sep-1999 23:50:29) Back to main board ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Prev Page Next Page Now viewing page 3 of 3 (16-Sep-1999 06:59:02 to 14-Sep-1999 11:22:06) [Image] Message subject: Name: (optional) Email address: (optional) Type your message here: [Get them to Buy It!] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Back to main board ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Copyright © Looksmart, Ltd. 1997-1999. All rights reserved. [Inside The Web] [Image] [Get FREE Message Board] [Image] Whose Board is it Anyway? I agree... and (melodramatically) THE FUTURE!!! Wednesday, 15-Sep-1999 17:20:17 141.209.29.221 writes: I agree with your assessment on all of the games. The advertisements went as such: After Duet, there was a commercial. After Scene to Rap, another commercial. And one more commercial after Drew says good night, between the end game and the credits. Drew segues to the commercials in the first two segments, was that still intact when you saw it? Because I'm me, I have to plug that you can indeed see the capsule for this episode at http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Set/9859/capsules.html . If you've got any Do You Notice...s, feel free to submit them, I'm always taking those. However, I don't accept reviews after the capsule goes up. As for THE FUTURE!!!, don't worry, I won't give away any specific details, just generalizations of what will get worse, get better, etc. If you want to be totally surprised, stop reading now. I'll continue after the asterisks. ********************************** That's the only time there's ever been one round of questioning in Let's Make a Date. I was confused by it as well, and I'd only seen the game once before! I feel that Weird Newscasters is always not as great as the other games; of course, that could be me. Unfortunately, the game seems to get a lot of play. Is Weird Newscasters better on the British version? Scene to Rap is usually very good, and believe it or not, Colin turns in the best performance on at least one future episode (depending on opinion). Ah, episode 104. I can't believe it's been over a year since it first aired here. (And I still remember it distinctly. Huh.) Scott R. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Message thread: Mark: Thoughts after DL's Australian Premiere (15-Sep-1999 10:57:44) Dana2 :o): Interesting take on that episode Mark.. It made me pull my tape out and watch it again. (n/t) (15-Sep-1999 15:29:58) Scott R.: I agree... and (melodramatically) THE FUTURE!!! (15-Sep-1999 17:20:17) Kingy: Re: It was great! (15-Sep-1999 19:31:01) Mark: That Micallef sketch... funniest thing he's done yet this series! (and that's really saying something!) (n/t) (16-Sep-1999 00:01:33) Steph: Don't you just *love* the Smokey the Bear part? I couldn't stop laughing! (n/t) (15-Sep-1999 20:36:51) DFW: a note about LMAD.... (15-Sep-1999 23:50:29) Back to main board ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Prev Page Next Page Now viewing page 3 of 3 (16-Sep-1999 06:59:02 to 14-Sep-1999 11:22:06) [Image] Message subject: Name: (optional) Email address: (optional) Type your message here: [Get them to Buy It!] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Back to main board ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Copyright © Looksmart, Ltd. 1997-1999. All rights reserved. [Inside The Web] [Image] [Get FREE Message Board] [Image] Whose Board is it Anyway? Re: It was great! Wednesday, 15-Sep-1999 19:31:01 128.250.6.244 writes: Oh, scene to Rap, how piss-funny was that!! Wayne and Brad are very talented young men. Yep, I saw Proopsy and other comedians at the Festival Club.. stand up and laugh before hand. All the jokes that have been done over, and over again! (except Greg) Mark, you are so right about other people such as Working Dog giving it a plug, to get it noticed. Did you see the Panel, plugging The Shaun McCallef Programme? Now that was a funny sketch! I heard that apparently ch 9 were supposed to screen WLIIA in 1997, nad it has just hit our TV screens now.. How slack! See ya dude, Tam Kingy ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Message thread: Mark: Thoughts after DL's Australian Premiere (15-Sep-1999 10:57:44) Dana2 :o): Interesting take on that episode Mark.. It made me pull my tape out and watch it again. (n/t) (15-Sep-1999 15:29:58) Scott R.: I agree... and (melodramatically) THE FUTURE!!! (15-Sep-1999 17:20:17) Kingy: Re: It was great! (15-Sep-1999 19:31:01) Mark: That Micallef sketch... funniest thing he's done yet this series! (and that's really saying something!) (n/t) (16-Sep-1999 00:01:33) Steph: Don't you just *love* the Smokey the Bear part? I couldn't stop laughing! (n/t) (15-Sep-1999 20:36:51) DFW: a note about LMAD.... (15-Sep-1999 23:50:29) Back to main board ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Prev Page Next Page Now viewing page 3 of 3 (16-Sep-1999 06:59:02 to 14-Sep-1999 11:22:06) [Image] Message subject: Name: (optional) Email address: (optional) Type your message here: [Get them to Buy It!] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Back to main board ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Copyright © Looksmart, Ltd. 1997-1999. All rights reserved. [Inside The Web] [Image] [Get FREE Message Board] [Image] Whose Board is it Anyway? a note about LMAD.... Wednesday, 15-Sep-1999 23:50:29 24.129.59.132 writes: Mark, They *did* do two round of questions at the tapings but edited it into one round. It seems a little long and awkward because they included some of the reponses from the second round, particularly in Ryan's case, if I remember correctly....it was over a year ago now. I'm not sure if they thought the game ran too long with the extra round or they didn't like the second question or all the responses, but it did make the game seem a bit strange to me when it was televised. I'm glad they include both rounds now. DFW ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Message thread: Mark: Thoughts after DL's Australian Premiere (15-Sep-1999 10:57:44) Dana2 :o): Interesting take on that episode Mark.. It made me pull my tape out and watch it again. (n/t) (15-Sep-1999 15:29:58) Scott R.: I agree... and (melodramatically) THE FUTURE!!! (15-Sep-1999 17:20:17) Kingy: Re: It was great! (15-Sep-1999 19:31:01) Mark: That Micallef sketch... funniest thing he's done yet this series! (and that's really saying something!) (n/t) (16-Sep-1999 00:01:33) Steph: Don't you just *love* the Smokey the Bear part? I couldn't stop laughing! (n/t) (15-Sep-1999 20:36:51) DFW: a note about LMAD.... (15-Sep-1999 23:50:29) Back to main board ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Prev Page Next Page Now viewing page 3 of 3 (16-Sep-1999 06:59:02 to 14-Sep-1999 11:22:06) [Image] Message subject: Name: (optional) Email address: (optional) Type your message here: [Get them to Buy It!] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Back to main board ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Copyright © Looksmart, Ltd. 1997-1999. All rights reserved.