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Smtv Live reunion

(August 2020)

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WH
Whataday Founding member
Amber Avenger posted:
Whataday posted:
It occurred to me watching the documentary that Chums was effectively a new version of Trevor & Simon's Laundrette. Quite a lot of Ant & Dec's more successful work is very derivative when you think about it, isn't it.


Perhaps - but I doubt the parade of presenters who tried to fill their shoes on SM:TV would agree it was quite as simple as that.


Of course, no one is doubting their talent to pull it off.
JC
JCB
Whataday posted:
It occurred to me watching the documentary that Chums was effectively a new version of Trevor & Simon's Laundrette. Quite a lot of Ant & Dec's more successful work is very derivative when you think about it, isn't it.


Yeah, if this documentary had gone on any longer it would have claimed sm:tv was the first show to broadcast in colour!. I'm not sure why the narrative seems to be comedy that appeals to adults didn't exist on Saturday mornings before Ant & Dec. Trevor & Simon had been hugely popular for a decade before sm:tv came on the scene.
BR
Brekkie
james-2001 posted:
Unlike Live & Kicking who managed to strike gold twice... in fact you could argue the Zoe & Jamie era was more successful than the Andi & Emma one.

Probably a rare example of a successful duo being replaced by a successful duo, although of course Andi and Emma basically replaced Phil and Sarah anyway. Most shows though usually struggle to replace outgoing hosts at the first time of asking.
AN
Andrew Founding member
Steve Williams posted:
Yeah, I didn't especially want them to cover the post-Ant and Dec era, it wasn't very good at all and would have been a right buzzkill. It was like when It Started With Swap Shop ended in the mid-nineties, which meant they didn't have to cover the years when the Beeb were being thrashed by SMTV.

I really enjoy Ant and Dec in these programmes, I love it when they get the chance to chat and tell stories, they're so funny. It's a bit of a shame that they do such big shows these days with limited opportunities to go off-script and just kick back and ad-lib.


I agree with both points. Firstly commenting on it being rubbish at first and then ending up really good is one thing, a good positive story. But then saying it went rubbish again and got axed would not exactly be a good way to end the programme.

And about Ant and Dec, I could watch 2 hours of them being shown old clips of their work and them laughing and joking about it. We’ve had a bit of that recently, back in Nov in the I’m a Celeb 20 years look back, and then the other day in ‘How to win a game show’ where Ant and Dec were commenting, albeit briefly on Poker Face and Friends Like These.

They should do such a format as online content for their own YouTube channel. I’m not sure it’d stand up as an actual TV show!
BR
Brekkie
The lengthy Poker Face inclusion in How to Win a Gameshow seemed a bit too random to not be testing the water - and to be honest I'd rather that returned in the New Year than a watered down COVID safe Saturday Night Takeaway.
JA
JAS84
Takeaway is impossible right now isn't it? Win the Ads can't happen due to lack of an audience, nor can the Disneyworld finale. The series in progress when everything crashed down ended up abandoned, the last two timeslots instead being clipshows.
JO
Jonwo
Takeaway is still happening as Ant and Dec were filming stuff for it.
JA
james-2001
I've uploaded the final 3 editions of SM:TV for anyone interested:

13/12/2003:
https://we.tl/t-N6btMWnAIg

20/12/2003:
https://we.tl/t-3afld1k9Uk

27/12/2003:
https://we.tl/t-fYCD9E4jxr
PA
Parker
The programme nicely avoided ITV's idiotic decision to close the London studios.
BR
Brekkie
JAS84 posted:
Takeaway is impossible right now isn't it? Win the Ads can't happen due to lack of an audience, nor can the Disneyworld finale. The series in progress when everything crashed down ended up abandoned, the last two timeslots instead being clipshows.

Although perhaps as it desperately needs freshening up being forced to rethink things might do it some good. Win the Ads could be done as a viewer comp.

I did think resting it would be wise, but then it would comeback just as it was, so maybe a change is as good as a rest.

Parker posted:
The programme nicely avoided ITV's idiotic decision to close the London studios.

Saying it was the home of ITV since 1972 was stretching it a bit.
JA
james-2001
Brekkie posted:
Parker posted:
The programme nicely avoided ITV's idiotic decision to close the London studios.

Saying it was the home of ITV since 1972 was stretching it a bit.


Particularly as for the first 20 years of that, it was only on air at weekends. It wasn't until GMTV, LNN and Carlton that there was something coming from there all week round.

One thing I wonder, was that SM:TV/CD:UK sign we saw on the wall outside in the opening link of the first episode there all the time, or was it just put there for the link? Seeing as countless other shows used Studio 2 during the rest of the week, I can't see there being anything special about SM:TV and CD:UK getting its own sign.
Last edited by james-2001 on 28 December 2020 11:47am - 2 times in total
MA
Markymark
james-2001 posted:
Brekkie posted:
Parker posted:
The programme nicely avoided ITV's idiotic decision to close the London studios.

Saying it was the home of ITV since 1972 was stretching it a bit.


Particularly as for the first 20 years of that, it was only on air at weekends. It wasn't until GMTV, LNN and Carlton that there was something coming from there all week round.


Point of order m'lord. LWT's pres suite was used in the 80s during the week for 'dual headed' C4 Racing OBs, and LWT usually did the studio pres/UK gallery 7 days a week for World Cups and Olympics. (Although Thames Euston did the 1988 Olympics pres)

But yes, it didn't become anything like 'ITV HQ' until the 90s

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