Xenon's Seventh Circle

I've discovered an entire tape full of Players. That's a TV show, rather than a packet of cigarettes. It is, you probably won't be surprised to learn, utter nonsense, but finding it makes me stupidly happy, in that "I know it's daft, but I just can't seem to care" way that characterises so much of my television viewing. Players is a show about three con men, who get early release from prison in exchange for working with the FBI. And yes, that is basically the plot of White Collar. There are big differences, though. No redemption arc for starters, and no ongoing storyline. Television didn't seem to like doing them too much until recently. Players is mostly just about being a con man and chasing bad guys; and about being filmed from arty angles, whilst pretending that you're in a hip-hop video. And car chases. It's about quite a lot of them as well.

( Probably more than you could ever wish to know about a low budget action adventure series from 1997. Starring Ice T. )

Given some of the utter tosh that I've watched over the years, I suppose it shouldn't surprise me to discover that I've also taped a lot of utter tosh. Mind you, even knowing that, it's weird what colonises the ends of video tapes, lurking in forgotten nooks and crannies, from back in the days when I used to use the things regularly. Some things are reasonable enough, if long forgotten. Others are just downright bizarre.

( ... )

My adventures hunting through the VHS collection have taken a detour into the "Episodes of Doctor Who that haven't come out on DVD yet" cupboard. Mostly because I wanted to watch some episodes of Doctor Who that haven't come out yet on DVD. And I am very glad indeed that I agreed with myself, and didn't try to insist that I watch something else instead.

( ... )

Apparently it's Newsround's fortieth birthday today, so happy birthday Newsround. Makes today's post actually relevant to something for a change. So, been rummaging around the video tape collection again, and this time turned up a cavalcade of Newsround. Mostly Roger Finn being wholly enviable. He's trekking in the Himalayas quite a lot, and that sort of thing. I know he also went boating around the Great Barrier Reef, and jaguar-spotting in Belize, the lucky sod, but I don't seem to have either of them. I do have him building rockets in France with a bunch of school boys, though. Or actually they do the rocket-building. He just stands to one side and narrates it, which isn't nearly as much fun. Quite bizarre, actually. Seems the French invite British schoolboys to an empty building in the middle of nowhere, and then give them some high explosives and cardboard tubes, and see who can reach the moon first. I like France. France is awesome.

Anyway, amongst all the reporting and the mountains and the exploding schoolboys, I also found something else - a celebrity edition of Double Dare, the highly noisy game show that used to run as part of Going Live! on a Saturday morning. This is from 1989, and features the Newsround gang versus the Blue Peter lot. So here it is:

I have no idea why I kept it, let alone for twenty-three years, but I'm glad that I did. It's absolutely daft as a brush, mind.

It never ceases to amaze me just how much of my life I seem to have dedicated to slightly dodgy American action adventure shows. Browsing through the old video collection I've found two episodes of Team: Knight Rider. There may well be more. Two episodes is probably two too many for a lot of people, and I know that Knight Rider purists loathe it. I can't help but have some fondness for the thing, though.

( ... )

What the hell? Why do I have a three hour tape full of episodes of Meego? That's six episodes. Six whole episodes of Meego. Why?! For anybody who doesn't know (and, let's face it, that's going to be everybody, because it's flipping Meego, for goodness sakes), this is a children's sitcom from the nineties. Think Charles In Charge, but with an alien. Basically this hyperactive alien named Meego crashes on Earth, and winds up as nanny to three kids, because when a spectacularly strange man turns up on your doorstep, you're obviously going to just assume that he was sent by the employment agency, and leave him in charge of your children, without even asking for ID. Anyway. I called it a sitcom - the script is impressively short on laughs. There's something weirdly compelling about it, though. Bronson Pinchot is actually very engaging as Meego, and he has a terrific rapport with the little six year old boy he's looking after (and with the obligatory dog, all of which does lead to some genuinely good adlibbing). I have no idea how this show got made though, let alone broadcast. It's seriously weird. It's clearly meant for children, and yet Meego's like this slightly less child-friendly version of Captain Jack, flirting with everything in sight, up to and including the household appliances. There's one episode where he reprograms the microwave to flirt back, in a throaty female voice. They huddle up together in the kitchen, and she asks him to push her buttons harder. If it's not the most bizarre sitcom ever, it must come bloody close.

And I have six episodes of it?!

You know, whilst looking at old TV shows is fun, one of the really good things about hunting through all these video tapes is the other bits - the between programme bits. I suppose old adverts have some appeal, but what I really enjoy is the programme continuity. Old, animated menus, that they used to have on the BBC, to advertise the evening's schedule. Terribly serious men telling us during the end credits that so-and-so is currently appearing in pantomime in Dorset. Unexpected flashes of Andy Crane trying to make things work in the Broom Cupboard. I appear to be Phillip Schofieldless, which is peculiar, but Andy's good too. Best of all, though, are the idents. I have a bit of a thing for idents.

( Warning, TV geekery within )

Another one from the VHS collection here. If you were a member of the Methos & Kronos Mailing List (hosted by Yahoo, I think) back in 1997, then I once told you that I had these, and said that I'd get them internetted as soon as I was able. Well, it only took me fifteen years...

( Peter Wingfield being very cool, in thirty second segments )