From: imc@comlab.ox.ac.uk (Ian Collier)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.tv.uk
Subject: Re: Ch4's Big Breakfast
Date: 9 Oct 92 18:09:13 GMT
Distribution: uk
Organization: Oxford University Computing Laboratory, UK
X-Local-Date: Friday, 9th October 1992 at 7:09pm BST
Originator: imc@msc3.comlab

In article <1992Oct8.114233.9348@vax.oxford.ac.uk>, wilcox@vax.oxford.ac.uk wrote:
>In article <2534.imc@uk.ac.ox.prg>, imc@comlab.ox.ac.uk (Ian Collier) writes:
>> "Did You See" discussed the Big Breakfast last Sunday.  I thought they would
>> all say "It's rubbish", but they didn't.
>> Anyone want to know what they said?..

>"Most of it's rubbish?"

Well no-one said they wanted to hear, but I'm going to post it anyway :-)
The following are some selected quotes from the discussion.  J=Jeremy Paxman,
M=Mariella Frostrup, K=Ken Follett, and E=Enn reitel.  It seems like E hated
it, J liked it, and M thought it was a good kid's show.  K seems to have
mixed feelings...

M: I like what Planet 24 are trying to do with the show; I like the idea of
   there being something bright and vivid in the mornings and I also think
   there's room for something for kids. The trouble is I think they haven't
   decided what their audience is, and whereas a lot of the first hour is
   directed at children it's kind of split up with rediculous things like
   the Gaby interview with the woman who had a child by a catholic priest
   ...
K: Well it made Tiswas look like a current affairs programme, I thought.
   Chris Evans does it terribly well [J: he's terrific isn't he, I mean
   there's so much energy] ... I'm kind of worried about the news.  It's
   terribly short ... and they even had poodles playing the piano as a news
   item. ... The programme's fun.
E: Well I loved it.
   But, after the credits were over and I watched the programme I thought I
   was either watching a Vic Reeves sketch or Wayne's World.  It was like
   community television. ... you had this lunatic knocking on people's doors
   at 7 o'clock in the morning and expecting them to answer and invite
   them in [J: That was all quite fun, wasn't it?] Well it was fun but at 7
   o'clock in the morning it's not really what you want to see ...
J: People do seem to want to watch it; apparently it's got three times the
   audience of the Channel 4 daily.

E: It seems like just a preparation for Wacaday.

M: I disagree with you about the news actually because I think if it is a
   kid's show then it's exactly the sort of news that kids are going to want
   to have ...
M: I think it's meant to be a youth programme.  I think that what it's
   turning out to be is probably what could be a very good kid's show ...
   because they haven't decided exactly who their audience is, their
   uncertainty is showing on screen.

J: Bob Geldof is supposed to be the serious element in all of this of course
   isn't he - now did he work?
E: [in Bob Geldof voice] Well I think Trixie-bell found a magic marker and
   drew all over daddy's face before daddy went on television.
M: I think it's probably the most pretentious part of the programme... and
   as you saw in the clip he turns round and says "You don't really like
   British people, do you?" to Paul Keating, who frankly is last year's news
   anyway... I thought it was a very strange choice for the first week of
   programming to have him as a guest.
K: Keating can be a heck of a good interview actually - he was the man who
   accused one of his opponents of being such a wimp that he would step out
   of the shower to take a leak. ... Geldof didn't get any good jokes like
   that out of him, did he?

Ian Collier
Ian.Collier@prg.ox.ac.uk | imc@ecs.ox.ac.uk