The Microsoft Sam Show (Toffa)

The Microsoft Sam Show is a British entertainment programme that was the first to air on Toffa since 1 September 2003. The show's premise centres around a single character ironically named Microsoft Sam, who is known for his appearance through just one image as he is installed in a Windows XP device. In each episode, he would often discuss various subjects or have a go at different activities; most of them are a failure due to his limited capabilities, which he only managed to achieve even more in later years.
Following the axing of the other programme to air from day one of the channel, Basic Tutorials, in March 2019, it is the only remaining original element from the channel's beginnings. The show has two spin-offs: Microsoft Sam: Unseen, a more adult-oriented take on the show, which ran from 2005 to 2006, and again in 2017, and The Microsoft Gang, which centered on Sam's other allies, airing initially from 2014 to 2016, a one-off in 2020, and again since 2022. It was originally produced by Slinky Pictures from 2003 until 2006, where creative differences between it and Toffa resulted in the show being produced by Toffa in-house from 2007 until 2020. From 2020, the show has been produced by Toffa Animations.
==History==
===Development===
Whilst preparing for the launch of Toffa from mid-2002 and into 2003, the channel's founders Max Strapps and Eddie Lungs came up with some ideas for programming to air on the channel. The Microsoft Sam Show began as a concept of a cartoon-drawn character with a computerised voice; the other, Basic Tutorials was a fast-paced parody of DIY tutorials amongst other items.
Although the show regularly aired on Saturdays at 5:45pm, the first episode aired during Toffa's launch day at 3pm, setting up the series. It opens with a live action insert of a man starting up his Windows XP computer, to find that the whole desktop appearance is empty, as he hears an unusual voice speaking directly at him, whom appears to be Microsoft Sam. Baffled and frustrated, the guy leaves, as our point of view from here changes to the computer. Sam feels rather dazed and confused and isn't sure where he is. All he knows is that he is called Sam, related to Microsoft, and nothing else. The story arc for the first series is Sam exploring his personality, with his main aim being to find an appearance and discover his identity.
===Early years===
Although from Series 2, the main outline for Microsoft Sam's character was mostly complete, there was a surprising lack of content to work with. This meant that many episodes would either see Sam discuss a random subject, provide some opinions with balanced arguments or trying out different activities as it was implied that he wasn't human, with occasional dream sequences that sees Sam encountering strange matters inside the computer.
The first proper show aired at the Saturday teatime slot of 5:45pm, a slot which has remained unchanged from then. Ratings were steady at 400,000 though several critics disliked the show for being dull and alienating amongst the cheapness.
As Toffa slowly began to grow in popularity during it's first year, they wanted to give their programmes more personality. As Microsoft Sam was arguably the most popular, Toffa decided to let him introduce his show from Series 3 onwards. This decision proved popular and this would later become a full-time thing. The Slinky Pictures era was also unusual in that it had no proper title sequence or theme tune, instead usually showing the logo only.
==Microsoft Sam==
The show centers around the main character of Microsoft Sam, a program installed on a Windows XP device. Occasionally due to the slow nature of the speed of the software, occasional notifications would pop up that would interrupt him. This would be a particular focus in early editions. Following the end of Windows XP Life Support in 2014, an episode focused on two alternatives of Microsoft Sam: one where he dies, and the other seeing him being upgraded to Windows 7 in a parallel-like situation. Naturally, the latter turned out to be the reality as the former was just a deep thought from Sam during the process. 
Another episode just a year later saw Sam upgrade to Windows 10 which remained the case until the first 2020 episode where he was downgraded to an early prototype, yet somehow advanced version of Windows 3.0 albeit with modern features such as the internet. All of this was part of a two-year and two series plan to slowly change the face of Microsoft Sam, including new titles for 2013, the move to HD and finally Sam being installed into Windows 10; finishing the plan in 2015.
In the final episode of Series 21 in 2020 (also the last episode produced in-house by Toffa in a feature-length 30-minute special) Sam is seen being transported through different elements of an advanced Windows 3.0 where it is revealed in the conclusion that the computer is unstable and contains unusual features which causes Sam to jump and transport into a crude clipart looking computer, which sets up the next series and the post-Toffa produced era of the show.
The first episode of Series 22 and the first Toffa Animations-produced episode (also a feature-length 30-minute premiere) continues from where the finale left off as Sam successfully retains all of his memories at Toffa and makes a peace agreement so that he can remain unaffected.
==Transmissions==
Series	Series 	Start date 	End Date 	Episodes	Notes
1 	1 	1 September 2003	13 December 2003	16 	Episode one was repeated again at 5:30pm on 6 September 2003, directly before the broadcast of episode two.
2 	2 	4 September 2004	18 December 2004	16 	
3 	3 	2 April 2005 	16 July 2005 	16 	
4 	4 	3 September 2005	17 December 2005	16 	
5 	5 	1 April 2006 	15 July 2006 	16 	
6 	6 	2 September 2006	16 December 2006	16 	Last series produced by Slinky Pictures; last produced in 4:3.
7 	7 	7 April 2007 	21 July 2007 	16 	First series produced by Toffa; first produced in 16:9 widescreen.
8 	8 	1 September 2007	19 July 2008 	45 	
9 	9 	6 September 2008	18 July 2009 	44 	
10 	10 	5 September 2009	17 July 2010 	44 	
11 	11 	4 September 2010	16 July 2011 	44 	
12 	12 	3 September 2011	14 July 2012 	44 	
13 	13 	1 September 2012	20 July 2013 	45 	Last series produced in standard definition
14 	14 	31 August 2013 	19 July 2014 	44 	First series produced in high definition; beginning of the two-year plan.
15 	15 	6 September 2014	18 July 2015 	44 	End of the two-year plan.
16 	16 	5 September 2015	23 July 2016 	45 	First full series of Sam being installed in Windows 10.
17 	17 	3 September 2016	22 July 2017 	45 	
18 	18 	2 September 2017	21 July 2018 	44 	
19 	19 	1 September 2018	20 July 2019 	45 	Episode 1 was shown live as part of Toffa's 15th anniversary with the live celebration event: Toffa Goes Live!.
20 	20 	7 September 2019	21 December 2019	16 	
21 	21 	11 January 2020 	18 July 2020 	28 	Final series produced by Toffa in-house.
22 	22 	5
September 2020	24 July 2021 	45 	First series produced by Toffa Animations.
23 	(part one)	4 September 2021	18 December 2021	16 	For the first time, the series is split into two with The Microsoft Gang briefly taking its timeslot.
23 	(special) 	25 December 2021	25 December 2021	1 	Christmas Special
23 	(part two)	2 April 2022 	16 July 2022 	16 	
24 	(part one)	3 September 2022	17 December 2022	16 	
== Trivia ==
* Until Season 22, episodes shown on the Bloxia channels often omit the Toffa end-card and the main credits, often substituting with their own credits.