Goodnight Sweet Ferret

Landmark Series 30 of Last of the Summer Wine has just finished with the episode Goodnight Sweet Ferret. Despite it being a landmark series it did not feature anything special, in fact it could be one of the worst series yet. It is still unknown if their will be a 31st series but despite ‘Hobbo’ being very annoying I hope their is. Why doesn’t ol’ Roy look back on the very first few series to figure out why the series gained a lot of respect by bringing normal back to the television. Since then more ’stunts’ and ’supporting’ characters have entered the programme, ruining the original concept of three old men wondering the town discussing life. Of course you cannot help the cast dying off but instead of letting the programme get into the state it is now they should have cancelled it while at it’s prime. To be honest Alan has injected too many ‘money’ shots into the programme, like Roy he should look at the earlier series with the tighter shots. Unfortunately it is too late now but the currently very long cast list should be trimmed down a lot if it is to survive the next possible series, get rid of ‘The Captain’, Morton, Nelly and all those that was not in the programme before 1992. I am happy that the Policemen are getting more scenes though as they are very welcome parts of the programme. Also please return to proper background music instead of cut and paste recordings of Hazlehursts soundtracks, I think it is best as when he made the soundtracks, all the music was perfectly timed to the characters footsteps and other situations but now just seems like interscene connecting music which is not what it is supposed to be.

Conclusion, look at your own mistakes. Less is more. So heres to making series 31 a good one!

Some Adventures of the Inventor of the Mother Stitch

The first proper episode of Series 30 of Last of the Summer Wine was Some Adventures Of The Inventor Of The Mother Stitch but could you tell the difference between it and I Was A Hitman For Primrose Dairies? Barely. The most laughs I got out of this episode was seeing the needlessly long title come up during the dull white opening titles. \’Hobbo\’, well lets face it, is an idiot, why does he think he was part of M15? If he is going to act like that all the time then it will get boring very, very quickly.

There was also changes of characters. Glenda has changed from a naive but feisty middle aged madam to a nosey parker who ignores her husband to stare at \’The Captain\’. Pearl has also changed from a sarcastic sadistic shrew into a calm and dull wife, the old pearl would always keep Howard under control at all times. Also, please, why are there so many people with square heads and short messy grey hair? It is very hard to keep up who is who.

Storywise, was there any storylines? It all seemed to be random exerts of standard conversion sequences. Why has so much changed since only series 29 which was in my opinion one of the best series.

If it ain\’t broke, don\’t fix it. No wonder the BBC say they ma not commision another series. Stop at an even number.

Red Nose Day 2009

Red Nose Day 2009

Originally uploaded by Black Telephone

I have done my bit for Comic Relief Red Nose Day 2009 by purchasing all three of this years Red Noses – This One, That One and The Other One! I shall also be watching the ‘Comic Relief’ night tonight from 7pm on BBC One. Slightly hacked off that there is not an episode of EastEnders on tonight but since it is for ‘charity’ I will forget about it.

BBC One Still Nods

Oh don’t we miss this famous globe!? With ‘Nodding’ cameras providing a mechanical masterpiece for many years, no computers just a touch of an electronic button changed it into this clear coloured Globe. Later this evolved into a ‘yellow green’ globe on a blue background, then we went into the computerised world of ‘COW’s then ‘Crystal Ball’s until it finally went live action again for a while in the ‘Balloon’s but later additions to the latter set were computer generated. Nowadays the globe is gone but a subtle ‘nod’ remains.

It has been more than two years since BBC One relaunched with it’s new ‘Circles’ look. I must say I enjoyed a break from it during last Christmas as we saw Wallace & Gromit going round in endless circles on Plasticinesnowy hills. I was quite saddened when they returned on New Years Day to the normal Idents, especially since they have been using the original six more often than before last Christmas.

In 2007 additions were added to the set and these were quite different to the originals in terms of music style and presentation. They discontinued having something red in the Ident and the red ’swoop’ in the form up were dispensed with. The music no longer had the characteristic ‘three beeps’ though the melody has stayed but now played in the same style as the rest of the soundtrack.

The latest addition was in October 2008, this being ‘Dogs’ not long after ‘Capes’ was shown for the first time. These being prime examples of the above paragraph. I must say I prefer the additions rather than the original set for the above reasons and I hope that more are on the way.