Fresh Meat - Series 1 Page 10

Episode 7 - on 4OD only

Last night's episode was excellent. But how stupidly divisive was it to put it on 4OD only and not have it on proper TV? Does that mean we daren't discuss it here for fear of spoilering it for everyone else? And what happens next week when Channel 4 show the episode we had to watch on the laptop last night and, I assume, we get to watch the grand finale episode on the laptop.

Last nights' ep (favourite line "Shit my pants", though there was stiff competition) was so good it had us laughing out loud while the two of us huddled round a laptop. But frankly it is better on a big screen in HD.

Do we have an explanation as to why Channel 4 buggered up the scheduling in this way which at the very least diminishes the enjoyment of the regular faithful viewer?

Kev F The Sitcom Trials

PS: And I'm new to this thread, but I'd have put it under Sitcoms.
PPS: What's the betting Life's Too Short gets put under Sitcoms?
PPPS: Am I taking these little things too seriously? I'll go get a life, sorry.

PPPPS: As a tribute, I did some Fresh Meat Youtoobling last week. These are the videos I came up with:

Our House on The Young Ones

TVOD, The Normal FreshMeat Tribute #youtoobling

Where has Oregon? Perry Como Delaware FreshMeat Tribute #youtoobling

Howard (Devoto), Shot By Both Sides. FreshMeat Tribute #youtoobling Magazine #totp

Whitehall, Up Against The Wall. Tom Robinson Band, FreshMeat Tribute #youtoobling

Josie, Steely Dan. FreshMeat Tribute #youtoobling @4od @channel4comedy

Someone called Kingsley sings Let It Be. Very random choice for FreshMeat Tribute #youtoobling @channel4comedy

Was it a preview or did it put back the TV schedule then? I thought they'd do the online ones after, but C4 aren't C4 for nothing, they love to break the rules and try things out. BBC they are not! I admire them in a way for it and it's great to have such a contrast to the utterly dependable and rather predictable Beeb.

Quote: Alfred J Kipper @ November 3 2011, 9:08 AM GMT

Was it a preview or did it put back the TV schedule then?

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They postponed episode 7 on Channel 4 and won't be showing it till next Wednesday. Meanwhile episode 7 has supposedly been on 4OD for a week already though I only watched it last night.

Episode 8 is the final ep of the series. It will be on 4OD by next Wednesday (it might be up there already) but won't be shown on Channel 4 for two weeks. For those of us who prefer watching their "must see" TV on the big TV screen with HD rather than on their piddling laptop which you have to huddle round if there's more than one of you, it's a frustrating move.

C4 did a similar thing with Peep Show last series, previewing it on 4OD a week before putting it on actual TV. It annoyed David Mitchell, who's as old as me, but didn't seem to bother most people. With Fresh Meat it's the fact that they suddenly did it just as the series was building up momentum to its final episode that was such a pain in the arse.

Kev F

Sounds very contracty to me in that case, the internet bods/advertisers will offer big bucks for first viewing rights so it sounds like C4 may have agreed to one episode a series on some shows? Just a wild guess but it's happening in sport now because well, there's more dosh in it for the companies isn't there.

But yes that would spoil a good series for me. Money rules more and more ALAS But I can see no other logical reason for annoying your regulars!

Why don't you email C4 for the answer. I emailed them once and I got a reply! Can't remember what prog it was about. C4 do some odd things though, always have.

I haven't seen 6 or 7 yet. Argh.

Is this still on? Did it improve? (I've never seen it).

I gave up on this very early in the series, but tried it again after people here said it was worth sticking with. I didn't notice any improvement, it still doesn't seem funny enough. Very often they seem to rely on the banter, but it's just not witty enough. JP remains the strongest character, and the rest are dreary.
Can't give specifics because it would technically be a spoiler, what with the 4OD thing.

Quote: Godot Taxis @ November 3 2011, 1:47 PM GMT

Is this still on? Did it improve? (I've never seen it).

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Godot you're attitude towards telly is roughly equivalent to that of a fundamenatlist muslim Aborigine who doesn't own a telly.

You don't know whats going on, but it's not right and you're going to spear someone over it.

Ok, so a number of things:

Charlie HJ, if you ever come back, you seem to have focussed on the few negative comments that've been made without reading the positives. Further, if you want to talk about the show ... well, just talk about the show! This isn't a place just to moan about what's wrong; it may appear it on occasion, granted, but any and all debate and discussion is welcome.

Kev F, I'm not sure what exactly you're complaining about. Channel 4 have been showing some sort of drama or something (looking at my TV guide, Top Boy?) this week, and have postponed a whole host of shows, Fresh Meat being one of them, accordingly. They've also decided to put the next episode up online now - it's not only available online and never going to be broadcast, and breaks in the normal weekly broadcast pattern are not new either! No one forced you to watch it on your laptop...

Kipper, you really do talk a lot of arse. We all overlook things from time to time when making comments - I'm as guilty as anyone else - but your constant jibes at the 'predictable' BBC are laughable in their inaccuracy. As early as 2005, the BBC were premiering programmes online a week before broadcast. They then pushed new ground with the iPlayer platform, long before the "try things out" Channel 4 launched 4oD.

As for why they chose to put episode 7 online a fortnight before broadcast, that's anyone's guess. But given that it's available on Channel 4's own in-house platform rather than a 3rd party service, it's unlikely to be an issue of money. What's far more likely is that they've identified an internet and social media buzz around the show and decided that they could keep up that buzz even during the week it's not on TV, by making it available online.

Anyway. Episode 6. So very good. Still can't quite work out what to think of Josie; she's just so up and down. And a right bitch on occasion in this one. Whitehall continued to amaze as JP - and brought some particularly good stuff to this episode. How can something be so utterly, utterly sad and yet also hilarious at exactly the same time? Excellent performance, writing and direction. Top quality stuff.

From probably the absolute opposite end of the scale in episode 1, I think Oregon's the most interesting character now. The Josie/Kingsley storyline is still hanging around, but he deserves better, and it was great to see him pushing her for once. Some really interesting switches in the show's dynamic.

Quote: Aaron @ November 4 2011, 2:22 PM GMT

Kev F, I'm not sure what exactly you're complaining about. Channel 4 have been showing some sort of drama or something (looking at my TV guide, Top Boy?) this week, and have postponed a whole host of shows, Fresh Meat being one of them, accordingly. They've also decided to put the next episode up online now - it's not only available online and never going to be broadcast, and breaks in the normal weekly broadcast pattern are not new either! No one forced you to watch it on your laptop...

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I know, but this is me being a creature of habit, but bear with me.

I like my "must-see" TV. My "did you see?" TV that you discuss round the water-cooler the next day (though I have never actually had a water cooler, Twitter and forums are a very good equivalent). And what Channel 4 have done, by running a popular new series then interrupting it like this, is fracture the water-cooler experience.

Imagine if BBC1 did the same thing to Doctor Who.

Instead of the family gathering round the telly at 7.30 to see the new episode (or, as is more likely in my household because I'm a comedian who works Saturdays, watching it on Catch Up that night or the next day) then chatting, tweeting or blogging about it at the earliest convenience, you'd have some people watching it on the laptop - and anyone who think a laptop picture is as good as my TV picture doesn't have as nice a TV or as small a laptop as me - while the vast bulk of the audience wait till it's on proper telly, running the risk of a whole week of having it spoilered.

So your programme would end up either being spoilered or just spoiled. And you'd have a fractured water cooler. Which no-one wants. Not even on eBay. Trust me.

Kev F

PS: That precis in the link below: "Mrs Professor Shales gets suspicious and assumes her husband is having an affair - but with Vod, not Oregon" is a bit of a spoiler wherever you're at. Why not add "and it's JP who says 'Shit my pants' by the way"? Right I'm off to watch episode 8 before zooo has watched episode 6. It's like being a Time Lord.

Fair point - but surely all the chat about the episode will still be focussed on next Wednesday/Thursday, rather than now? The people watching it online must be in a significant minority, I would guess. I know I've not seen a single mention of the next episode other than in this thread!

Quote: Kev F @ November 4 2011, 8:42 PM GMT

Right I'm off to watch episode 8 before zooo has watched episode 6. It's like being a Time Lord.

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Quote: Aaron @ November 4 2011, 9:13 PM GMT

Fair point - but surely all the chat about the episode will still be focussed on next Wednesday/Thursday, rather than now? The people watching it online must be in a significant minority, I would guess. I know I've not seen a single mention of the next episode other than in this thread!

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Surely you're contradicting yourself there? If the point of putting the episode online was to "maintain the buzz surrounding" it, how can you then argue that noone watched it?

Got to admit, it just strikes me as a bit of a scheduling cock-up, I can't see any other reason that this would have been the plan from the start. Maybe someone only thought it was a 6 episode run initially? Or maybe someone wasn't expecting Top Boy to turn up and jump ahead in the scheduling priorities?

Anyway, I've literally just watched episode 7 online, having only watched episode 6 at the weekend. For a show that I almost gave up on after episode 2, these two episodes have made me incredibly glad I didn't.
Pretty much agree with the majority of positive points on this thread - JP has always been the best character, but Whitehall plays him very well and one of his scenes in episode 6 was simply amazing. And Oregon has definitely become the best character, while watching Vod get gradually more tangled up in her has made that situation even better.

It's just a real shame they couldn't have played Josie better from the start - take away her and JP in the first episode and I think we'd have alot more sympathy for the character and her feelings for Kingsley. Unfortunately, it almost feels like the writers felt they had to put that in for the sake of a few very minor laughs in the episode 7 I've just watched. Even the JP character set-up in that episode was superseded by his "snifter of voddy" line an episode or two later.

Quote: GGdown @ November 15 2011, 11:26 PM GMT

Surely you're contradicting yourself there? If the point of putting the episode online was to "maintain the buzz surrounding" it, how can you then argue that noone watched it?

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You misunderstand and misrepresent me a little.

My first point was that I suspect that Channel 4 believe they can maintain a certain level of interest in the show during a week when it's off air. However, the second point was that despite what may or may not happen during that week, the majority of the audience will always watch it on TV.

The two notions aren't wholly incompatible, but if you believe them to be so contradictory, well, I'm not Channel 4...

Fair enough. But you are saying you were dubious about the idea, even if you do see the logic behind it? And do you think it's worked?