Television Programs Thread

[Lemming]

Originally Posted by Zainub Razvi

...it is a fact that when you are working with such diverse sources for recording history such as books, newspapers, printed documents, personal papers, and other archival records, artifacts, and even oral accounts, you are bound to have different views...It is not certain unlike Maths.

This is the part of history I am uncomfortable with coming from a scientific background. Me calling history conjecture was unfair, of course it has basis, but I find huge gaps can be filled in by a historian without a second thought. All I'm trying to say is that personally I'm not comfortable believing things a historian says when blatently there is little evidence to support him and only probables exist.

Currently there are conflicting ideas about how Harold was killed at the Battle of Hastings, alot of people are quite happy to let the Bayeux Tapestry paint (or sew) the picture. But this tapestry was blatently made using hearsay from the time. I even saw one attempt to use the tapestry to pinpoint where the arrow was shot from. Using Harold's body position and the arrow's angle of entry (on a bit of out-of-perspective sewing work!!!) these people concluded there was no archer depicted by the tapestry in the region the arrow would have needed to be shot from. What was their conclusion? He must have committed suicide!!! Well, wonders never cease do they?!?!

From my point of view, I ain't believing any historian on who killed Harold at the battle of Hastings, or indeed Tutankamun, until I see C.C.T.V. footage!!

[Kirsty Harris]

Originally Posted by Zainub Razvi

I liked Murder She Wrote a lot.

Used to watch it when I was a kid, also The ATeam and Robin of Sherwood.

When I was staying with a friend in Italy once, we used to watch Murder She Wrote in Italian without subtitles and I'd try and guess what they were saying!!!

[Lemming]

Originally Posted by Ernest

Wildlife programmes I quite enjoy, in particular the wildlife in my native country, yes we do have wildlife.

Ooooh! I love wildlife as well. But only really stuff about big dangerous, rare or beautiful exotic animals. I was recently really unimpressed by Bill Odd(ball)ie and Kate Humble (she really IS humble!) on Springwatch on for one whole hour on BBC2 everysingle day!

What did they do, they showed footage of blue-tits flapping their wings and badgers scratching their **** whilst Bill Oddie prentended to be the animal speaking "I going to try and fly in my small nest even though there is no room", "Arrrr, that's better, I love a good itch". Then Kate Humble would pee herself laughing at him.

Then Bill would wonder why he hasn't seen the sparrow family for three days, when he's sitting there - a laugh a minute - shouting loudly and wearing some pink, yellow, lime green and every other bright colour shirt!! The pair of them are idiots!

I don't mind seeing British wildlife, but would prefer to see a little more of the behaviour, the guy thay had in Scotland was a bit better at doing this.

Give me Attenborough any day. Him and his team will painstakingly spend months getting the right shots of behaviour of the animals. You can't fill up an hour-long show everyday for two months with only 24 hours of effort going into getting good stuff on film every day.

Bill, stick to doing the funky gibbon mate! Kate, get a job, and a life, and a sense of humour, and a younger boyfriend! Bill's old enough to be your grandfather!

[Kirsty Harris]

The Blue Planet was an amazing series, which I have on DVD.

Attenbourgh is a legand, Lemming and so is his brother - what a family!!

[Mongoose]

Attenborough is, and has long been, the best man on telly. I could watch Attenborough programmes all day. The best series I think was 'The Life of Birds'. Now, on Channel 4 that would invlove a hand-held camera on a night out in Leeds. But Attenborough's much better than that. He showed an Australian bird (winged variety) performing the different sounds it could imitate. These included: an automatic-wind camera; a cuckaburra (including getting a reply!); a car alarm; and most amazingly, the sound of chainsaws and falling timber, all sounding as if it was happening there and then. Worth the licence fee alone.

[Kirsty Harris]

The Life of Birds was fab too! I remember the episode your talking about, it was spellbinding!!!

Any wildlife show with Meerkats in are always great viewing - they are really remarkable animals!!

[Mongoose]

Originally Posted by Kirsty Harris

Any wildlife show with Meerkats in are always great viewing - they are really remarkable animals!!

And very similar to Mongooses. Can't be bad!

[Richard Jenkins]

Whilst D attenbourgh was director of bbc 2 he commisioned programs such as the ascent of man ' with Browneski and Clarke's 'civilisation'.

I remeber Browneski at Auswich holding the ashes of human beings killed by natzi's asking the question 'where next for human beings'. What a programme.

[Ernest]

Originally Posted by Lemming

What did they do, they showed footage of blue-tits flapping their wings and badgers scratching their **** whilst Bill Oddie prentended to be the animal speaking "I going to try and fly in my small nest even though there is no room",

No I don't mean that sort of Wildlife, I was thinking more of the micro wildlife Britain has to offer.the BBC used to make some of the best wildlife programmes, and while on about Britain, they did one on the Oak tree, the insects who reside in the tree, their preditors, and even the fungi that attacks the tree.
Then I count the fauna in remote parts of Britain as interesting wildlife, the heathland, the forrests, and even the sea.

Originally Posted by Lemming

I don't mind seeing British wildlife, but would prefer to see a little more of the behaviour, the guy thay had in Scotland was a bit better at doing this.

I like most wildlife programmes, except for dolphins, sharks and that type of thing, there must have been hundreds showing the same footage, and badgers in another.

I like Aussie wildlife, in particular the Northern Territory's, there you do see exotic wildlife, and Australia along with South America, have the largest varieties of birds, the common Budgie originates in Australia.
I like the crock, and snake bloke as well, forgot his name, but he is entertaing.
But back to the UK, we have better Flora in the wild, than is cultivated in gardens, in fact some have been adapted for garden use-the Woodbine and Digitalis et al.

Yes we have a lot to see in the UK, but it have never really been given the same prominence, anyway the BBC don't make real wildlife programmes anymore.

[Occasional Fan]

Originally Posted by Ernest

I like the crock, and snake bloke as well, forgot his name, but he is entertaing.

His name is Steve Irwin, Ern, and I think he's a prat. But each to his own! I'm looking forward to seeing one of his snakes or crocs say to him "There you go, mate - I gotcha!". Roll credits.