Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Farewell to the original Pop Picker

Sad to read this morning of the death of Alan 'Fluff' Freeman. The veteran Pick of the Pops host has died peacefully at his London nursing home aged 79.

He was a true legend of the airwaves, from his early days at Luxemborg through to Radio 1 and Radio 2. Forget the likes of Tony Blackburn, Jimmy Young et al, it was Freeman that was the archetypal jock of the 60s and 70s and, together with his catchphrases, boundless energy and famous theme music, set in stone some long-lasting radio memories.

It was Fluff that first insisted on playing the charts backwards from 40 to number 1, a tradition which has been carried through to all other chart shows ever since.

Despite his fame and notoriety, he always remained down to earth, able to laugh at himself and even joining in on the shows that lampooned him such as the Young Ones and of course Harry Enfield's Smashie and Nicey. I had the pleasure of interviewing him back in my hospital radio days and found him to be a real gent, full of time and patience for the young upstart amateur pointing a microphone at him.

He even looked more than happy to oblige in recording me my now treasured "Alright Pop Pickers" name checks, despite having clearly been asked to do the same by every interviewer he had ever come across in his 50-odd years of broadcasting.

Although ill-heath, particularly arthritis and asthma, took its toll in his later days, he was determined to stay on the airwaves for as long as he could. Even for a short time in 200 after moving into a residential home, he still made the weekly trip to Broadcasting House to record Pick of the Pops for Radio 2.

Despite his death, his memory will live on for many years to come and he'll be missed by radio fans around the world. Not 'Arf.

~~steve~~
www.tellytunes.com

Top 10 TV Themes - 19-25 Nov 2006

The top 10 tv themes from the tellytunes theme finder from the past week have been:

1. Family Fortunes
2. I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here
3. Countdown
4. X Factor
5. Captain Pugwash
6. Black Beauty
7. Mastermind
8. Littlest Hobo
9. BBC Cricket
10. Bullseye

~~steve~~
www.tellytunes.com

Thursday, November 23, 2006

TV execs should Play Their Cards Right

At the risk of turning this blog into a TV revivals blog (although, let's face it, the TV schedules themselves are all starting to regress 20 years), we bring you the result of our recent tellytunes poll which asked "Which 80s quiz show would you most like to see revived?".

The overwhelming answer, with over half the votes, was Play Your Cards Right. Clearly you all think it's a good game, good game, good game (...aaaannnd stop).

Full poll results were:

Play Your Cards Right 51.3%
It's a Knockout 13.2%
Name That Tune 11.8%
3-2-1 6.6%
Blankety Blank 5.3%
Going for Gold 3.9%
Mr & Mrs 2.6%
Sale of the Century 1.3%
Something else 3.9%


~~steve~~
www.tellytunes.com

The Saturday TV revival moves to mornings

Following the recent surge in 70s and 80s Saturday Night telly revivals, as previously discussed here and here, it seems that the bigwigs in TV Land are now turning their attention to the return of Saturday morning classics.

Recently the BBC announced its plans for a one-off Christmas edition of Swap Shop with Noel Edmunds, John Craven, Cheggers and former Mrs Cheggers reuniting to take a nostalgic look back at the best of Saturday morning TV over the years.

And today, ITV are trumpeting a return next year for TISWAS. Timed to mark the 30th anniversary of Tiswas becoming a national programme (how old does that make you feel!), it will again be reuniting the original team including Chris "This is what they want" Tarrant, Sally "We sing the song" James, Lenny "Wuwal Wetweats" Henry, Bob (erm...) Carolgees and, yes, Spit the Dog (exactly how would one correctly spell "Hooooocckkkk spuuffffff").

While I can't exactly see the likes of Motormouth and Number 73 making similar reappearances on our screens in the near future, the two planned revivals do seem to demonstrate that TV execs appreciate there's a general fondness amongst viewers for Saturday morning kids telly. Which begs a re-asking of the question now regulary posed - how come our only current Saturday morning viewing choice is between James Martin and Anthony Worrell-ruddy-Thompson?

Saturday mornings are a time for laughs, cartoons, kids swearing over the phone at pop bands and the odd bit of gung. Strangely enough, I don't want to be watching someone cooking a full lamb roast dinner at 9.30 in the morning.

The sooner the telly execs get back to creating a new winning Saturday morning kids format the better. Maybe a quick look through the pages of http://www.saturdaymornings.co.uk/ may just provide the necessary inspiration!

Take a look through yourself - you'll be surprised how many of these shows you'd previously forgotten about (Parallel 9 anyone?). Given the choice, which would you put front of the queue for a revival? Have your say now in the latest tellytunes poll.

~~steve~~
www.tellytunes.com

Monday, November 20, 2006

Top TV Theme Searches - 12-18 Nov

The top 10 most-searched-for tv themes via the tellytunes theme finder from the past week have been:

1. Mastermind
2. Countdown
3. Family Fortunes
4. X Factor
5. Deal or No Deal
6. Airwolf
7. Blind Date
8. This is Your Life
9. This Life
10. Coronation Street


~~steve~~
www.tellytunes.com

Thursday, November 16, 2006

I'm a Celebrity creates uncanny parallels

There have already been a couple of uncanny parallels during I'm a Celebrity so far this series.

Firstly, the weekend began with Kylie making her long-awaited return to public life in front of thousands of screaming fans in Sydney. Only a matter of hours later, and not too far away, there was more screaming as the other half of 1989's Crooners of the Year, Jason Donovan, also steps back into the glare of the public limelight - in his case, quite literally stepping back - from the doorway of a helicopter with a bungee rope attached - rather tightly it would appear from his expression - around his nether regions.

And last night brought us the most cringeworthy moment of the series so far in the form of the plastic-faced former associate of Liza Minelli desperately trying to revive his career by cobbling together a dodgy musical rendition during which he sang out of tune and only managed to remember a couple of the lines to the song.

Meanwhile, in London, at the World Music Awards... [You can finish the punchline yourself on this one]

~~steve~~
http://www.tellytunes.com/

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

It's a Marathon, not a new idea...

Last year's ITV1 Saturday night hit Ant and Dec's Gameshow Marathon was a big success for so many reasons. It's was a fitting celebration of ITV's 50th anniversary, it kept Ant & Dec in work for another couple of months, it showed us what a truely mardy git Eamonn Holmes really is and, even better, it wiped that smug grin off Tarrant's face when it pipped Millionaire to the best quiz show gong at this year's National Television Awards.

But, best of all from ITV's point of view, it gave them a good excuse to test the waters on a number of classic gameshows to see if they had stood the test of time. Amongst the success stories were Family Fortunes and The Price is Right both now doing decently in their own right in their respective Saturday night and weekday teatime slots.

The format has proved such a winner in fact that ITV's director of entertainment and comedy, Paul Jackson, has announced plans for a second run next year.

Those shows up for possible revival this time round include Mr & Mrs (which I'm sure has been touted around for revival for a couple of years now), Blankety Blank and the king of confusion itself, 3-2-1. Maybe now I'll finally have the chance to figure out what the hell that was all about...

"My first is in apple but not in your eye, come closer to me and you'll be flying high"
A trip to New York surely. Nooooo, it's Dusty Bin. WTF?!?!

Our latest tellytunes poll is canvassing opinion on which classic shows you feel are fit for revival. The shortlist I've come up with off the top of my head includes the aforementioned shows plus the legends that are Going for Gold, It's a Knockout, Name That Tune, Play Your Cards Right and Sale of the Century. I'm sure there are dozens more suggestions out there though so let's hear them in the Comments section below.

We seem to be drifting further into a new age of telly revivals, with Doctor Who, Family Fortunes, Robin Hood et al already firm fixtures back on our screens. Add to that the return announced last week of Challenge Anneka (yes!), and it can only be a matter of time now before the TV execs finally come to their senses and get The Crystal Maze and the incredibly-hard-done-by Interceptor back on our screens. I'd be happy to sign the petition for both immediately.

"Take me doon Mikey, I canna get a decent zap..."


~~steve~~
www.tellytunes.com

I'm a Celebrity serves up surprise Gest star

Last year was bad enough for us "I'm a Celebrity..." fans - trying to come to terms with the fact that, despite our best intentions, we actually found Carol Thatcher quite entertaining. But this year's series has already thrown up another dilemna.

All around the country, people are watching the show and quietly thinking to themselves - some even brave enough to say it aloud, albeit in a whisper (or a blog) - "You know what, I actually quite like David Gest!". But fear not Celebrity fans, because it seems you're not alone.

The curious ex-Mr-Minnelli went into the show on Monday as the least favourite to win by a mile. Yet, after only a couple of shows, including a predictable first vote win for the bushtucker trial, it seems that Gesty, as the tabloids will no doubt have christened him by the end of the series, is winning people over and the bets are now flying in on him.

He even seems to be winning over his fellow contestants, despite early quotes that he scared the crap out of all of them.

But it's early days yet of course. A diet of just rice, beans and kangaroo gonads for a week is surely enough to turn any calm, mild-mannered megalomaniac into a raging psychopath. And, if the world really is as beautiful a place as it should be, it'll be Toby Anstis who a ravenous Gest carves up and throws into the cooking pot first.

If only so we don't have to hear anyone else called him the ruddy "Tobester".

~~steve~~
www.tellytunes.com

Monday, November 13, 2006

Top TV Theme Searches - 29 Oct - 11 Nov

Here are the top 10 most-searched-for themes via the tellytunes tv theme finder for the past fortnight:

1. X Factor
2. Bullseye
3. Countdown
4. This is Your Life
5. The Bill
6. Mastermind
7. Match of the Day
8. Deal or No Deal
9. Family Fortunes
10. Torchwood

~~steve~~
www.tellytunes.com

Thursday, November 09, 2006

Holidays are coming, Holidays are coming...

It used to officially be getting close to Christmas when the shops started stocking tinsel - now that happens in August.

It used to officially be getting close to Christmas when the Christmas lights got turned on in town - that now happens at the start of November.

So, nowadays, for me, there is only one true sign that it really is nearly time to deck the halls with the prickly green stuff - and that's when the Coca Cola trucks come trundling back across our TV screens to the strains of "Holidays are coming, Holidays are coming...".



And it seems to be an ever-popular icon of modern Christmas culture as the number of requests we get for the jingle increases year-on-year via the tellytunes tv adverts section. Indeed, we've had 30-odd requests for it this week alone so far.

And it was while replying to one of those requests that I came across a new discovery via YouTube. With the theory in mind that you can indeed find almost any video clip imaginable on there, I went searching for the video clip of the Cola trucks advert. But, amongst the search results, was also a music video from a singer called Melanie Thornton.

Most will never have heard of her or, for that matter, ever now be likely to given that she was sadly killed in a plane crash in 2001. (Ironically while in the middle of a promotional tour plugging her album "Ready to Fly"). But she's certainly left a musical gem behind in the form of "Wonderful Dream (Holidays are Coming)" - a full song based on the "Holidays are coming" music.

It was a posthumous hit for Thornton in Germany - not that that's any huge recommendation given the whole German musical love for Hasslehoff. But I am surprised it's never come to greater attention in the UK too, especially given the popularity of the ads. Definitely one for some record producer to discover and give it a dance anthem makeover ála the Baywatch theme! (I say that simply to be able to say "I thought of that" when it DOES happen!)

Personally, I'm still trying to decide at the moment whether it's genius or dross but, for a lover of the old Christmassy jingle, it definitely has a certain charm to it.

Take a look/listen below and let me know what you think...



~~steve~~
www.tellytunes.com

Friday, November 03, 2006

Are TV themes becoming a thing of the past?

Is it the beginning of the end for TV theme tunes?

The A-Team, Knightrider, Cheers, Friends, X-Files - just some of the shows with great classic TV themes that have made a lasting impression on the viewing public. How many people now have them as ringtones, or have helped them chart by buying the singles, or perhaps occasionally find themselves innoculously humming them for no apparent reason during particularly dull and quiet moments of the working day?

Some may be only 30 seconds or so in length but a good theme helps to define a show and people's memories of it. Take St Elsewhere for example. I actually rarely watched it - couldn't tell you a single storyline or character name if my life depended on it. But give me a couple of seconds and I'll be humming the theme tune at you before you know it. (Unless I do my usual trick of getting it mixed up with the LA Law theme tune.)

So, for the sake of future TV nostalgia, and particularly for people like me dull enough to actually make a hobby out of the things, it's worry to see the increasing trend for shows which feel they should do away with their opening themes altogether. Who's going to be looking back in 20 years time, typing into their Web 6.0-powered UberBlog, reminising about the classic opening theme to Lost? And will anyone even remember Ricky Gervais and Extras by then, let alone it's complete absence of an opening sequence?

Fair enough, each of the latter-mentioned shows still has a closing theme - but, frankly, what's the point, other than as background music for the continuity announcer to ramble over or a bit of noise to clash chaotically with the other background music that the techies were meant to dub out of the trailer that's playing for some other show throughout the credits.

As I said in yesterday's post, the theme tune is the one saving grace of the Beeb's new Robin Hood revival. You don't even have that to say about the pending ratings shedder that is Torchwood.

It wouldn't be so bad if the argument for ditching opening themes was to provide more airtime for the show itself, but you can't help but think that the main aim is simply to create more time for cramming in extra ads, idents and sponsorship messages. Just imagine how much less of the bloody 118 118 guys we'd have had to suffer on Channel 4 if Lost had had a decent 60 second opener. (Their likely future absence being the ONLY good thing about the show's move to Sky BTW - don't get me started on that one.)

So come on TV Producers around the World - dust of your old tapes of Airwolf, the Littlest Hobo, the Greatest American Hero and, yes, Jossy's Giants too - and remember what a essential institution the great TV theme tune really is. One of you must still have Mike Post or Ronnie Hazelhurst's phone number, surely.

~~steve~~
www.tellytunes.com

Thursday, November 02, 2006

Robin Hood - great theme, shame about the show

Mid-80s, Saturday Nights, ITV, Robin of Sherwood - happy days!

As a young(ish!) lad, it was the peak of the summer Saturday night telly schedules, sandwiched as it was between the football results ("sssshhhh, stay stony silent while your dad checks the pools results...") and the baffling variety-show-cum-quiz combo that was 3-2-1 - a programme which, to this day, I still don't understand.

The A-Team reels were locked firmly in the ITV cupboard awaiting the autumn schedules so it was left up to Michael Praed, and later Jason Connery when Praed went off to get gunned down in a Moldavian wedding chapel, to keep the junior action-adventure fans happy on a Saturday night. Having not seen any repeats of the show for a decade or more, it's hard to remember now whether it was actually really any good or if it was one of those cases, like so many other 80s shows, where it just seemed great at the time.

Whatever the reason for the fond memories of Saturday nights in Sherwood Forest, it was with that fondness that I looked forward to the BBC's Robin Hood revival. And, like so many others it seems, I've been left hugely disappointed.

Don't get me wrong, as far as I'm concerned it's watchable. I've made the effort to keep watching each episode and have made it through each 45 minutes relatively unscathed. It's not quite the brain-stewing, soul-draining affair that some would have you believe. However, it does fall firmly into the "could do much better" pile.

Our latest tellytunes poll results would seemed to agree, with 39% of voters feeling that it's "OK and watchable". 35% say they are left cold by the show, leaving a smaller 26% singing its praises.

So why has it failed to set the world alight in the same way that Russell T Davies' fantastic Doctor Who revival has done? Before we over-analyse, let's look at the positives first...

1) It has a great theme tune. Definitely one for the growing "best thing about the show is the theme" list. And we've been inundated with requests for it following its addition to the tellytunes theme finder collection earlier this week.

2) Erm....

OK, forget that plan. Let's get down to the nitty gritty of why it's just not working as it should. In a nutshell....
  • If you cast an unknown in the lead role, you're relying heavily on having a good script. It doesn't.
  • Keith Allen is meaner as a tooth fairy in the toothpaste adverts than as the Sheriff of Nottingham.
  • I can't look at Little John without expecting him to burst into a spontaneous high-pitched screech of "Stooooneybridge".
  • Robin never actually seems to hurt or kill anyone. (Perhaps he's been to the same School of Defence as the A-Team?)
  • No-one seems to have noticed yet (or care) that Friar Tuck has gone AWOL.
  • They only seem to have three sets - castle, village, woods.
  • There's no spark between Robin and Marion. Plus she's got a face like a smacked ar$e.
The show's also been compared unfavourably, but understandably I guess, to Doctor Who. Classic revival, Saturday night prime-time slot, aimed at family audience. But you just wonder if, with the pressure of the DW success in mind, it's perhaps tried (and failed) to clone the winning formula that Russell T Davies has hit upon just a bit too closely. Still, at least they haven't decided yet that Robin Hood actually roamed the 12th Century woodlands of Cardiff. (Especially as everyone knows he's from Doncaster anyway.)

Which brings me to my final point. I found myself laughing out loud at an advert which appeared in a TV mag last week for Nottingham Tourism. Featuring THAT promo shot of Jonas Armstrong (aobve, right), it proudly cries "Visit Nottingham - the home of Robin Hood". Let's hope no-one remembers that the whole show is actually filmed in Hungary...

~~steve~~
www.tellytunes.com