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The Now Show. Radio 4

Martyn Miles

pfm Member
Is it just me, or has this show gone downhill ? They got rid of Jon Holmes and Mitch Benn for some reason or other.
Brought in what appear to be unknown stand-up comics, etc.
Last week they had a guest who was clearly singing of of tune and trying to be funny.
In the end I couldn’t stand it any more and switched off.
The 6.30pm slot used to be universally good.
Now, apart from ‘Just a Minute’ or ‘I’m Sorry, I Haven’t a Clue’ I avoid it.
Often switch over to Radio 4 Extra now.
 
Inclined to agree, it has become more of a framework to try out for new performers most of whom are mediocre and even if one is good they probably won`t be on again

Can`t say I`d be sorry never to hear "Just a Minute" again though.
 
Newsquiz is the only reliable program in the Friday 6:30pm slot. The Now Show runs for about 5 minutes followed by a series of stand-up comedy show acts.
I suppose it appeals to the snow flake generation.
 
Yes...it's crap now. A tired formula with little to say.
Just a minute is still ok, JUST, tho Parsons hanging on for grim death does make it a bit funnier.
ISIHAC is King for us here...I thought, when ‎Humphrey Lyttelton died, the show would never recover, but casting Jack Dee was genius...less subtle, (Humph's Samantha was a bit cleverer) but great.
I didn't know until recently she'd been named after Sam Fox :)
 
I haven't noticed, I still like the Now Show. I think the 630 slot has always been variable, especially Tu-We-Th. Monday and Friday *tend* to be more reliable. ISIHAC and JAM are the jewels in the crown and it's seldom that they have to have anything else on a Monday. Likewise Friday has News Quiz and TNS, and occasionally something less good. Tu-We-Th is used to promote the stuff that's been aired at 11pm or 1130am and worked, but I can't be alone in not liking it all. Cabin Pressure was OK, but only just. Count Arthur Strong got turned off, though I know some people loved it. Ed Reardon's week bores me, I know some people love it. Likewise some of the other shows, I can get through 25 minutes of the show before it raises a smile. I thinbk that's the function of teh midweek stuff, it's experimental. Some is brilliant, I've tracked down the early "Old Harry's Gane" episodes on Listen Again, they have Andy Hamilton as a cynical and embittered Devil, and it's great. He plays it rather like Alan Rickman did the Sheriff of Nottingham, with the weary sarcasm that only years of disillusionment can foster.
"We set a trap Sire, with the gold, but he escaped!"
In a low voice: "Oh...for...God's...sake. (Pause). Please remind me why I employ you. I'm having trouble remembering in all this...excitement. Or even why you are still alive."
 
I think I'd rather gouge my own eyes out than listen to The Now Show. From the opening sequence onwards, some overexcited shouting person yelling 'The NOW show!!!!' straining at every sinew at trying to sound funny and utterly failing, shattering to glass shreds the tranquility of R4. Just awful. I tried to listen to it once because one of the not remotely funny funny people had been slung out of my old school for something or another, but he was even more awful than the awful others.
 
Yes...it's crap now. A tired formula with little to say.
Just a minute is still ok, JUST, tho Parsons hanging on for grim death does make it a bit funnier.
ISIHAC is King for us here...I thought, when ‎Humphrey Lyttelton died, the show would never recover, but casting Jack Dee was genius...less subtle, (Humph's Samantha was a bit cleverer) but great.
I didn't know until recently she'd been named after Sam Fox :)

I may have lived a sheltered life, but who is Sam Fox ?
 
I like the news quiz. The situation comedy type affairs on radio 4 are universally terrible. I have to say the afternoon plays have gone crap as well, inevitably on the occasions I can tune in, its the second or third part of something. Most annoying!
 
I like the news quiz. The situation comedy type affairs on radio 4 are universally terrible. I have to say the afternoon plays have gone crap as well, inevitably on the occasions I can tune in, its the second or third part of something. Most annoying!

I find Miles Jupp rather bland in The News Quiz. Sandi Toksvig has a distinctive voice and had a unique
presentation on the show.
Sometimes it’s difficult to tell Jupp apart from some of the male panel members.
 
I find Miles Jupp rather bland in The News Quiz. Sandi Toksvig has a distinctive voice and had a unique
presentation on the show.
Sometimes it’s difficult to tell Jupp apart from some of the male panel members.

I have noticed that also.

'down the Line' with Rhys Thomas and Paul Whitehouse, from a few years back, one of the better experiments for me.

Bloss
 
When the Now Show is on after the Money Programme (1200 Sat's) I have lunch a little earlier and await the return of The News Quiz. Sandi T was THE News Quiz voice, but Miles Jupp does a reasonable job. It's the format which works. It's all I listen to on R4.
 
I agree about the Now Show, but one welcome, and relatively recent, addition to the R4 6:30 slot is Alexei Sayle's Imaginary Sandwich Bar, which is just brilliant. If your abiding memory of Alexei Sayle is of the shouty Trotskyist gobshite, then you should take a listen. He's still a lefty, but the comedy is superb.
 
I agree about the Now Show, but one welcome, and relatively recent, addition to the R4 6:30 slot is Alexei Sayle's Imaginary Sandwich Bar, which is just brilliant. If your abiding memory of Alexei Sayle is of the shouty Trotskyist gobshite, then you should take a listen. He's still a lefty, but the comedy is superb.

d) Strongly Agree
 
I have a Pure radio with a recording facility and listen during bouts of insomnia during the night (why are single mono ear phones so difficult to come by?).

I currently record; Old Harry's Game, Cabin Pressure, Absolute Power (big fan of anything Mark Tavener), ISIHAC, In Our Time and The Long View.

(If the insomnia's particularly bad, I put on In Our Time. Melvyn Bragg has me asleep in seconds)
 


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