Poster: A snowHead
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I have to say that I found Ski Sunday quite entertaining, and I liked the format. For me an hour long programme just focusing on the racing would become monotonous, but then I am not a racer,and have no ambition to become one. (That's not to say I wouldn't do race training for technique improvement).
I will look forward to following GB's summer walk across the alps, seeing the mountains in a different light, and seeing what the terrain is like without the snow.
Personally I don't agree that the coverage of McCartney's crash was morbid or distastful. I didn't think they overdone the replays, and you can't sweep these things under the carpet. I thought they highlighted the difficulty of the run and the balls that these guys have, and the technical prowess, attacking it at the speed they do.
They're obviously trying to widen the appeal of the program, not entirely a bad thing, and for me it worked.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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The Russian trains part was a bit of a bore wasn't it? A poor man's Michael Palin feature.
As with most people here I'd imagine, I'll watch pretty much anything on the box that has skiing in it, and so even if the latest incarnation of Ski Sunday is a bit crap, it's still worth a watch. Anybody else remember the good old days of Andy Steggall (I think it was him) on that ITV skiing show years ago? Think it was late on a Friday night? In the very early days of Sky, there was also a show they put on each week as I remember - an hour long each Thursday evening, or something like that. Don't remember much about it, but remember avidly tuning in each week. All fairly crap, but it was all watched by most of us just because it had some mountains and snow!!
And another thing... The best bit of the previous few year's coverage has always been Graham Bell's hand-held run down the course - always a great watch. Correct me if I'm wrong, but did they not edit that to within an inch of it's life today? Surely they could have spared a minute's worth of Siberian train nonsense so we could see the whole run?!?!
Star-On-Reasonably-Priced-Skis segment needs to be ditched too...
With the ski race coverage, does everybody else find themselves frequently looking through the racer to the background to try and see what the snow conditions are like? Or am I just obsessed because I'm off on hols on Saturday?!?!?
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Billy M,
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With the ski race coverage, does everybody else find themselves frequently looking through the racer to the background to try and see what the snow conditions are like?
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Wasn't that the only reason to watch Ski Sunday until now
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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I thought it was OK. As others have said, the Russian but went on a while, but the guy deserves his bit of TV coverage for travelling on a train that long to go to what looked like a very average place. My only wish with these progs is that they would do resort reviews - show is a few pistes being skied (similar to the hannekham bit - which he does every year!) amazing coverage considering the speed he gets. Made me smile to see the Londoner in full swing - I had some good nights in there!
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Very interesting reading these four pages on various opinions on the new Ski Sunday.
For what its worth, If you want to watch loads of racing (which I do) sky+ eurosport every Sat and Sun. That will give you a good 3 hours worth. I find this gives mr somthing to watch during the week when the wifes watching the soaps.
The Channel 4 ski programme has a nice balance of racing and interesting resort guides, course guides and a brief snow report plus snow sport news.
The BBC have just covered other options all of which I found enjoyable viewing.
If all they did was show 1 hour of racing people would say I could watch that on Eurosport.
If they did the same as channel 4 there would be moans about that.
IMOA they got it about right. I enjoyed the Russia clips. I find it interesting to see places that are unaccessable to myself. Why would you want to see the same stuff all the time.
I feel im in the minority but im looking forward to next weeks Ski Sunday.
One thing I do wish Ch 4 or the BBC would do is do a little bit of a more detailed course report. I appreciate that showing crashes highlights the dangers of downhill racing but by doing a slightly longer course report (ch 4) would do the same.
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They did show the teapot exercise, which is my favourite drill
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I missed the whole thing and am looking for a repeat.
Watched C4 coverage of the downhill and I thought that the TV cameras stayed on McCartney for too long after his crash. I don't particulalry want to see pictures of a guy out cold and starting to fit. Anybody know how he's doing?
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halfhand, apparently by yesterday morning he was brought out of drug induced coma and was joking with coaches. No surgery required and he is expected to make a full recovery. Keeping him in the clinic for monitoring for a few days just in case tho, which seems fairly sensible! All in all seems like he was very lucky and has got away with it pretty well
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CH4's coverage was much better earlier in the day. Even if you have to put up with Nick fellows at some un godly hour on a sunday!
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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I'm with Renry, on this one.
For plain ski racing, I can watch Eurosport (when they're not showing live international champions league floorhandvolleyballhockey... )
For 'old style' ski sunday, I can watch the Channel 4 show complete with shouty commentator who doesn't always pay attention to the racing (recorded for viewing at a more civilised time on Sunday). [Oh, and since when was Crans Montana south-west of Chamonix and part of a French Alps snow report?]
Any programme that puts more mountains on the telly is fine with me. The 'celebrity' bit was mercifully short, Graham exploring the alps in summer was genuinely interesting and Russia was big and, er, cold.
If that had been my only fix of ski racing then I'd have been annoyed - especially as it was Kitzbühel - but it wasn't, so I was happy.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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richardt, I go along with all of that. C4 already does old Ski Sunday well - there is no point in the BBC doing it again. The new BBC format could do with a littl tweaking - but on the whole, I found it entertaining and at times useful.
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Billy M,
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The Russian trains part was a bit of a bore wasn't it? A poor man's Michael Palin feature.
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I thought that was brilliant.....so much so myself and my wife are looking at that doing that....because next week they're gonna be featuring Nieseko in Hokkaido in the Japan and we've *blows on nails and polishes them on t-shirt* we've already done that so we're actively looking for far off desitinations.
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You know it makes sense.
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dazman, You must be mad... I hope you dont mean 59 hours on a train! I suppose if you love Vodka it could be fun though.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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plectrum said,
Dunny#1, Maybe you are Rob can keep watching BBC2 for the sedate snooker!
Steven Lee crashed badly last night.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Why did the race coverage look like a film though?
I don't know if it was the lens or the cameraman or the sound or all three but it just didn't seem to have the same feel as the previous format (and that on Eurosport). I see why they have to do the sider format though. I thought Graham Bell did a good job but not sure about the snowboarder bloke!
Now if they replaced him with David Vine.........
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I thought the Ski Sunday format was interesting, I'd seen the racing on Ch4 in the morning so why would I want to see it again? For the everyday skier I'm not sure how excited they are about racing, there are far more posts on this forum about resorts, technique, snow conditions etc than there is about Bode Miller skiing off the netting. I think BBC have got it right although maybe they could move the show to BBC1 as my BBC2 reception is crap!
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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The BBC have got this spot on.
The 60 mins of Ski Sunday itself is Top Gear respun for snowsports instead of motorsports. This gives it populist appeal, which is bound to elicit decent viewing figures, and prevents it from being a dry sports programme (snooker or darts anyone?) that non skiers will consider a waste of their license fee. As it is, the masses will have a good laugh watching celebrities falling on their back bottoms, etc.
After it was finished, you pressed your red button and got half an hour of 'proper' competition footage and ski resort weather reports.
The result is 90 mins of ski TV, of which only about one third is tangential (but reasonably entertaining) nonsense.
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Jumping Jack Flash wrote: |
Why did the race coverage look like a film though? |
I wondered about that. Looked like an old Olympic showreel. Not sure it added or subtracted from the experience. Probably cost money tho' and it's clear the Beeb have lobbed a big budget at this relaunch.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Peter Ross, "they could move the show to BBC1 as my BBC2 reception is crap!"
You're just lucky to be seeing Ski Sunday and not paying license fee!
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Lou, I still have to pay for NTL and also the Irish license fee, license fees are an outdated concept anyway.
paulio, I think it is good looking at crap celeb skiers being given lessons, I think the new format will appeal much more to my fiance who is less interested in how Bode and co are doing but might like some technique tips and some resort info. It will be interesting to see the ratings.
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Peter Ross, was only pulling your leg!
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my little boy nearly 4 was spellbound by the racing on the hannenkahn. I asked him if he would like to be a ski racer (indoctrination starts)- he replied "on a little one"- he had just seen the crash
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Lou,
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Peter Ross, ps..as someone from your neck of the woods
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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What is about the BBC and the government that that they seem to have to bring everything down to the lowest common denominator/mass appeal the whole time?
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Bryan, Well the Cynic in me would say that if they keep the population all thick as two short planks then we won't notice they are ripping us all off. The realist in me would say that the vast majority of the population is already thick as two short planks and they are simply giving us what we deserve!
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dan100, my litl un is 11 months old and he seems up for it as well
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You know it makes sense.
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Quote: |
The BBC have got this spot on.
The 60 mins of Ski Sunday itself is Top Gear respun for snowsports instead of motorsports
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Exactly right. While the program wasn't perfect by any means, it was a brave attempt, and I'll be watching next week.
In the same way that TopGear is vastly more entertaining than F1, the new Ski Sunday is better than the old.
Let's face it, ski racing on TV is shocking. And I speak as someone who has been totally obsessed with skiing for the last 20yrs, and loves watching sport on TV. But ski racing is just "commentating on the clock" and looking out for the snow in the trees and mountains in the background to get an idea of conditions for your next holiday. I don't give a stuff who wins the race or how they did it, and I don't suppose more than 10% of Snowheads or 5% of skiers in general do either.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Plake, Nail on head hit. Although it's always a pleasure to watch Bode.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Plake wrote: |
Quote: |
The BBC have got this spot on.
The 60 mins of Ski Sunday itself is Top Gear respun for snowsports instead of motorsports
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Exactly right. While the program wasn't perfect by any means, it was a brave attempt, and I'll be watching next week.
In the same way that TopGear is vastly more entertaining than F1, the new Ski Sunday is better than the old.
Let's face it, ski racing on TV is shocking. And I speak as someone who has been totally obsessed with skiing for the last 20yrs, and loves watching sport on TV. But ski racing is just "commentating on the clock" and looking out for the snow in the trees and mountains in the background to get an idea of conditions for your next holiday. I don't give a stuff who wins the race or how they did it, and I don't suppose more than 10% of Snowheads or 5% of skiers in general do either. |
There had to be one of these quite inane comments that pushed me over the edge and congratulations it is this one!
Your pseudonym is Plake, I guess in reference to the extreme skier Glen Plake - the show was quite boring and sedate and apart from the crashes which were a cheap way of creating entertainment the show seriously lacked entertainment in the extreme. Moreover if you have been obsessed with skiing for 20 years and the sum total is that you feel ski racing to the observer is about watching the clock then gosh how your 20 years have been mispent.
Look at the figure and form Plake ... figure & form. Do you ever wander what it takes to ski down a Olympic black hard pack at over 100kph? It is done through prescion and guile. Did you notice how the skiers turned the sharp corners at such speed, the angle of their lean the way they shifted the hips etc. Or notice on the jumps how the legs extend and then knee's compress. And wonder why the skier is so compact to create a frictionless speeding object down the mountain. Atleast the crash part to the episode showed exactly how close these skiers are to the edge ... one milli second or milli metre out and the mountain treats them like a piece of garbage ... BANG and the skier is gone.
There is nothing wrong about enjoying a travel program but Ski Sunday is not and should not be a travel program if it was then rename it Ski Holiday and when there is a race in Kitzbuhel you can show 5 mins racing by also doing a review on the resort from a holiday makers perspective.
I will most likely be watching next Sunday but it certainly ain't going to be a program that I stay in to watch.
Oh and by the way to all those dissing Top Gear ... actually over 60% of the show actually has a vehicle in the frame and normally it is moving, yes it has presenters and banter but it is about cars first and foremost.
Last edited by Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person on Mon 21-01-08 22:42; edited 1 time in total
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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[quote="Plake"]
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In the same way that TopGear is vastly more entertaining than F1, the new Ski Sunday is better than the old. |
Unfortunately not backed up by the viewing figures....!
"The Canadian Grand Prix attracted the third largest global TV audience of any sporting event in 2005, behind only the Super Bowl and the UEFA Champions League final."
Seventy-three million people tuned in for Liverpool’s 3-2 penalty shoot-out win over AC Milan in the UEFA Champions League Final, while almost 53 million watched June’s Canadian GP won by Kimi Raikkonen.
Super Bowl XXXIX between the New England Patriots and the Philadelphia Eagles topped the ratings with 93 million viewers (98 percent of them from North America).
http://www.itv-f1.com/News_Article.aspx?PO_ID=34780
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Last year Graham Bell and the snowboarder had a few competitions (top gear style ). One ice climbing and I have a vague memory of them skiing on skis they had made themselves. I wouldn't mind if there was a bit more of that in there.
I could do without the train ride though. It's bad enough being on one let alone watching someone else on one.
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mosh, or even worse... watching someone on one, on your laptop, whilst on one yourself...
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mosh wrote: |
Last year Graham Bell and the snowboarder had a few competitions (top gear style ). One ice climbing and I have a vague memory of them skiing on skis they had made themselves. I wouldn't mind if there was a bit more of that in there.
I could do without the train ride though. It's bad enough being on one let alone watching someone else on one. |
Indeed they had hand made skis and a board and skiied down Les Face in VD.
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At least they didn't completely make a pigs ear of the theme tune.
Thats about the only positive thing I could say.
Can't we have Clarkson, Hamster and stig driving an Audi Quattro down that GS course.
2 programmes for the price of one!!!
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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For me, it was a pretty decent attempt of trying to appeal to all. You can be sure that the producers will have been scouring sites like us for reaction, and next seasons offering will improve still further (I hope). A ski magazine is certainly needed. If they kept Ski Sunday as race orientated and Sundays offering was called something else we'd all be talking with a great deal more positivity.
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plectrum, Whoa, chill dude! Ok you didn't like it. You prefer to watch racing. Fair do's. But not everyone feels that way. Plake (and I) maybe get bored with racing after a while, I don't know the racers (apart from the names of a famous few) and would rather see a bit more of the resort than one run that I'm never going to ski. Sure I like to see how the experts cope, but I also like to see newbies learn. and maybe watch a bit of boarding, and perhaps look at the nightlife, or even the history of the area. There is more to skiing than racing, and IMHO Plake is right, only a small percentage of skiers are bothered who wins, most want to do it, not watch it anyway.
BTW I'm not a fan of Top gear, mostly because IMHO Clarkson is too far up his own bottom.
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