Home • About • Archives • Best Of • Subscribe

Weird Edits Part #8274232

Published 10th November 2012

TV Comedy

Beware: this post is at the extreme end of television geekery. If you object to that, pop off to Digital Spy, now.

Back? Good. Here then, is something I guarantee you haven’t noticed before about Father Ted, brought to my attention by the not-literally eagle-eyed Danny Stephenson. The episode in question is Are You Right There, Father Ted? – take a look at the beginning of the bedroom scene between Ted and Dougal. (Ignore the ad break that’s been cut out there for the DVD release – that’s a whole separate issue…)

[Read more →]

Read more about...

, ,

DWARD.

Published 28th October 2012

TV Comedy

It’s been a bit of a quiet time recently on Dirty Feed, as I’ve been busy… doing something very complicated. In the meantime (if you haven’t already) check out my review of Lemons, the third episode of Red Dwarf X – which serves as a handy sequel to this Dirty Feed post from last year. Bearing in mind how I felt about the first two episodes this series, it was a pleasant surprise that I rather enjoyed this one. SPOILERS.

I’ll also be taking part in LIVE DWARFCASTS immediately after Episodes 5 and 6 analysing the fuck out of the show, on from 10pm on Thursday 1st and 8th November. A link to the STREAM will appear on the front page of Ganymede and Titan and on the site’s Twitter feed shortly before broadcast; previous episodes happily not featuring me can be downloaded here.

I do hope my squealing fangirls will be in attendance.

Read more about...

,

Dave: The Home of Shitty Edits

Published 2nd October 2012

TV Comedy

Over the last few years, the following pattern has occurred in our household. a) Stick Dave or Gold on the telly. b) Spot some stupid edit in a beloved sitcom. c) SHOUT ABOUT IT ON TWITTER OVER AND OVER AGAIN.

For the last four weeks, to prepare for the upcoming broadcast of Red Dwarf X (Thursday 4th, 9pm folks!), Dave have been showing each series of Red Dwarf – backwards. (Don’t ask.) So, I thought, why not use my capacity for moaning and extreme anality and document all of the edits? Here you go, then:

The conclusion to the last article is especially worth reading for how I think Dave could have dealt with things better. The easiest solution all round, however, would be: don’t schedule post-watershed sitcoms pre-watershed. But let’s face it – if Dave can’t treat what is now its biggest property with respect, they’re not likely to do it with anything else.

Whenever you watch a sitcom on Dave or Gold, more likely than not you’re watching some version that’s been hacked about with. That’s no way to treat our comedy heritage.

Read more about...

, ,

A Few Notes on the Recording of the First Episode of the New Series of Yes, Prime Minister

Published 23rd August 2012

TV Comedy

There is a pattern happening over at UKTV. Last year, they commissioned a new series of Red Dwarf – a show that the BBC had decided they didn’t want any more. This year, they commissioned a new series of Yes, Prime Minister for Gold, still written by Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn – and does anyone remember the stories about the BBC rejecting a proposed series Yes Commissioner a few years ago, based around the EU?

This week, I attended the first of six recordings for the new series. (They’re happening through September, so there’s plenty of chance to grab a ticket.) Interested in a little run-down, in lazy bullet-point form?

[Read more →]

Read more about...

, ,

Cock Piss Partridge, etc

Published 24th July 2012

TV Comedy

In a world of DVDs and downloads, one advantage television still has is when it comes to rights issues. Negotiating rights to music for commercial release can be especially tricky – series like Life on Mars and Skins are especially hurt by it. Even a show like I’m Alan Partridge isn’t quite the same on the DVD release as it was on broadcast. So, when Dave decided to do an I’m Alan Partridge Series 2 marathon last Sunday night, it was an ideal way of seeing the programmes as they were originally transmitted, yes?

Anyone reading this blog who has spent more than five minutes watching any of Gold or Dave will know the answer to that question. In fact, the episodes were edited for content for transmission pre-watershed – and then also shown in this state post-watershed. (The first two episodes were shown before the watershed, as the marathon started at 8pm – but they were repeated later in the evening with exactly the same cuts.) Here then, is a list of all the edits made to these episodes – indicated [like this] – and tune in for the commentary at the end.

[Read more →]

Read more about...

, ,

A Fascinating Post About I’m Alan Partridge Title Sequences

Published 23rd July 2012

TV Comedy

Yesterday Dave decided to have an I’m Alan Partridge Series 2 marathon. Only I can spin two blog posts out of this fact. It’s the boring one today, and then the really boring one tomorrow.

So, here’s the title sequence – taken from the Series 2 DVD – from the episode I Know What Alan Did Last Summer:

…and here’s the version taken from the Dave broadcast on the 22nd July at 10:40pm:

The same clips, but without all the graphics added. Not even the title of the show! OK, so it’s not up to the standards of this, but still. (It does at least afford us a proper look at the set used for Alan’s pieces to camera which close each sequence.)

Checking the rest of the episode, barring deliberate edits for language (see tomorrow for more on that), the rest of the episode was identical to the DVD version. I’d be fascinated to know how the wrong version of the episode was even delivered to UKTV. Not that it should ever have got to air anyway…

Read more about...

, ,

Dinner is Served

Published 5th June 2012

TV Comedy

Filthy Rich & Catflap, end of Episode 3. Richie’s party has been a disaster. And, because it’s Filthy Rich & Catflap, the oven explodes, taking out a large section of the wall…

…and three figures, never seen before, peer through the hole.

Screengrab from end of Episode 3 of Filthy Rich and Catflap

(Video here.)

So, my question is: who are they? They peer into frame very deliberately, so they’re quite clearly supposed to be there.

  • Something from an earlier scene, which was then cut?
  • Next door neighbours?
  • Some kind of fourth-wall breaking malarky – the Visual Effects team, perhaps?

Answers on a postcard*, please.

* In the comments or on Twitter.

Read more about...

Dirty Feed Podcast #2: Bodysnatcher

Published 15th April 2012

Podcast / TV Comedy

Screengrab from Bodysnatcher

And so, with the surprising success of the opening episode, welcome to the second Dirty Feed podcast. This time, I take a look at Bodysnatcher – an unmade episode from the very first series of Red Dwarf…

[mejsaudio src=”https://www.dirtyfeed.org/downloads/podcast/dirtyfeed-2.mp3″]

Download Podcast #2: Bodysnatcher (23MB MP3, 11:45)
(Subscribe using RSS / iTunes)

As ever, I’d love to have your feedback below. Hopefully they’re interesting in their own right, but these podcasts are also warm-ups for some longer, half-hour shows later in the year – so any suggestions are pathetically gratefully received.

DISCLAIMER: I do know someone who worked on the DVD release mentioned here. Seeing as I spent an entire year slagging off Back To Earth though, I think you can be confident that my opinions about Red Dwarf are honest.

Read more about...

,

Dirty Feed Podcast #1: TV Offal

Published 26th February 2012

Podcast / TV Comedy

TV Offal title sequence

Because there clearly aren’t enough of them in the world, here’s the first in a new venture on Dirty Feed – a podcast. This episode, I use Victor Lewis-Smith’s 90s series TV Offal as an excuse to play a one minute long jingle from a radio station in Denver:

[mejsaudio src=”https://www.dirtyfeed.org/downloads/podcast/dirtyfeed-1.mp3″]

Download Podcast #1: TV Offal (22MB MP3, 12:00)
(Subscribe using RSS / iTunes)

These will be published WHENEVER I CAN BE BOTHERED, and are deliberately starting off pretty short. Feedback more than welcome – I’ve been involved in G&T’s Dwarfcasts for over five years now, but this is the first time I’ve done one myself.

Give it a listen! Or: don’t.

With thanks to David Barras, Bigdave, Robin Blamires, jlehmann, jonno, Sean Martin, and mjb1124 on JingleMad for help and audio.

Read more about...

,

Underestimating Your Audience

Published 4th February 2012

TV Comedy

So, the BBC have announced Laugh Track, a talent contest to find “the next big Studio Sitcom”. OK, so maybe I’m not so keen on the contest side of things – and alarm bells ring in my head when I read things like “we’re looking for writers that reflect modern Britain” – but hey, it’s still pleasing to see the BBC obviously care about audience sitcom, after some wobbly moments a few years ago. And to go with it, we have this blog post, giving some “handy” hints on how to write your script.

Let’s swiftly move past some of the questionable things in that article – a “comedy sitcom”, eh? – and get to the key section:

“In non-studio comedy series you can do strange, subtle, unusual things – think The Office, Peep Show, The Thick of It, Flight of the Conchords. In studio sitcoms, you have to make the people in the room laugh – out loud, and preferably as often as possible.”

[Read more →]

Read more about...