Post by 13schoolyards on Apr 23, 2009 21:05:56 GMT 10
...and, well, it was pretty much exactly what you'd expect: Shaun was piss-funny throughout, the guests were good but not great, everyone had a good time and for a cheap'n cheerful show I reckon it'll do well at 7.30pm.
[long version]: My friend who wrangled us tickets and I rocked up at the Elsternwick studio - former home of Newstopia - a bit earlier than we needed to 'cause they were running late, so we got to hang with the most annoying pack of hipsters ever (well, the four or so guys behind us in the queue were painful). Then Brian Nankervis turns up and the age-related warm-up antics began. The less said about them the better really, as he's an old pro so he got the job done without ever really doing anything exciting or memorable.
(yes, we did get lollies. Yes, he did call someone's mum during an ad break)
But eventually we filed into the studio, took our seat, and the show began: the set up is that there's the team captains, each with a celebrity guest (on this episode: Peter Rosethorne for the Boomers, Dylan Lewis for X, the lead singer from The Grates for Y) and then it's your usual pop culture piss-farting around disguised as a quiz show: guess the cartoon characters, name the TV theme song, a prop-heavy game of movie-related charades and so on.
The teams were okay but nothing fantastic: Pickering was probably the funniest, as Keller was pretty flat and Josh Thomas (who is Australian - putting on an odd accent?) was mostly meh but did get a few good lines in. The guests were also just okay: Lewis (check out his crazy hair when he's on! Crazy! Or a tribute to Phil Spector, I'm not sure) was actually pretty funny - clearly the secret with him is, small doses - there were a bunch of pedophile gags that might not make it to air, as won't Micallef's very funny use of the word "F**k", but otherwise it was a fairly slick filming so I'm guessing what we saw was pretty much what'll go to air.
Of course, what made it a fun old time was Mr Micallef, who was doing his usual kind of thing here: gags, wordplay, face-pulling, a bit of physical comedy, decent off-the-cuff lines and so on. All of which was great and had everyone laughing all the way through to the end, which I gather doesn't always happen at TV tapings. It really felt like they were letting him do his thing here - much as the game show idea is still not my fave, there's very little doubt that he's doing it his way, and he's the element that makes this more than yet another panel show / Spicks & Specks knock-off.
In short: It's fun, you should watch it. And on the night I was there, sandcastles!
[personal stuff] My friend who kindly brought me along has a very distinctive laugh and he was laughing his arse off, so chances are you'll at least hear him, while if they show any shots taken from in the audience itself then the pinstriped shoulder on the right hand side of your screen belongs to me. Otherwise, it's as if we were never there. (though the audience did win two points during the early quizes!)
(plus I got to shake Micallef's hand afterwards! And he confirmed / I overheard no TGYH / Newstopia from him this year, as he's sticking with 10 in 2009.)
[long version]: My friend who wrangled us tickets and I rocked up at the Elsternwick studio - former home of Newstopia - a bit earlier than we needed to 'cause they were running late, so we got to hang with the most annoying pack of hipsters ever (well, the four or so guys behind us in the queue were painful). Then Brian Nankervis turns up and the age-related warm-up antics began. The less said about them the better really, as he's an old pro so he got the job done without ever really doing anything exciting or memorable.
(yes, we did get lollies. Yes, he did call someone's mum during an ad break)
But eventually we filed into the studio, took our seat, and the show began: the set up is that there's the team captains, each with a celebrity guest (on this episode: Peter Rosethorne for the Boomers, Dylan Lewis for X, the lead singer from The Grates for Y) and then it's your usual pop culture piss-farting around disguised as a quiz show: guess the cartoon characters, name the TV theme song, a prop-heavy game of movie-related charades and so on.
The teams were okay but nothing fantastic: Pickering was probably the funniest, as Keller was pretty flat and Josh Thomas (who is Australian - putting on an odd accent?) was mostly meh but did get a few good lines in. The guests were also just okay: Lewis (check out his crazy hair when he's on! Crazy! Or a tribute to Phil Spector, I'm not sure) was actually pretty funny - clearly the secret with him is, small doses - there were a bunch of pedophile gags that might not make it to air, as won't Micallef's very funny use of the word "F**k", but otherwise it was a fairly slick filming so I'm guessing what we saw was pretty much what'll go to air.
Of course, what made it a fun old time was Mr Micallef, who was doing his usual kind of thing here: gags, wordplay, face-pulling, a bit of physical comedy, decent off-the-cuff lines and so on. All of which was great and had everyone laughing all the way through to the end, which I gather doesn't always happen at TV tapings. It really felt like they were letting him do his thing here - much as the game show idea is still not my fave, there's very little doubt that he's doing it his way, and he's the element that makes this more than yet another panel show / Spicks & Specks knock-off.
In short: It's fun, you should watch it. And on the night I was there, sandcastles!
[personal stuff] My friend who kindly brought me along has a very distinctive laugh and he was laughing his arse off, so chances are you'll at least hear him, while if they show any shots taken from in the audience itself then the pinstriped shoulder on the right hand side of your screen belongs to me. Otherwise, it's as if we were never there. (though the audience did win two points during the early quizes!)
(plus I got to shake Micallef's hand afterwards! And he confirmed / I overheard no TGYH / Newstopia from him this year, as he's sticking with 10 in 2009.)
