OHHHHH..have you watced it? >:( >:(...yes I know...it is supposed to be just light entertainment..not serious gardening program..but still ::) They are not even making proper effort ::)
And JOE ::)..."he is our allotment expert..there is nothing that he doesn't know about growing in allotment" ::)..OH please.........
I hate when 2 grown ups play with their food..throwing it about etc. It is not funny and certainly not way of the "good life" >:( I'm almost feeling like they are trying to mock me.....
I've just watched episode 2, which I thought a total travesty and - like you - completely unfunny.
I watched it because all the actual work - crops, livestock, and so on - had been done by a couple called Giles & Jane, who have just taken over and re-furbished the nursery in the next road to us. (His colleague, Simon, is the guy who delivers the wood chip to our allotments.) They're a lovely couple and are really starting to make a go of the business. I was rather hoping that the producers of the programme would let them appear. They don't even seem to have been credited!
This is typical of the sort of rubbish we get from television nowadays. (And I hope someone from the BBC is monitoring A4A!!)
I think if you treat it like a comedy rather than anything else it's fine. I was actually laughing out loud watching it alone this week. And they admitted they weren't there all the time and hadn't made much effort. I agree Joe wasn't the best person to have as an allotment expert, though! ;D
I do have to admit..the first part looked promising..and for while almost like they were going to have serious try...but by part two their were like 2 kids ::)..very short attention span...
I found it very irritating! :-X
I have to admit to nearly wetting myself during episode 1 when they were chasing chickens.
It was rather obvious from the start that someone else was actually doing 99% of the work.
I also had a laugh about Joe being the allotment expert.
But I agree they could put in a lot more effort. But I actually find it quite amusing.
I saw one episode and thought it was a missed opportunity for what could be a very interesting programme. It is trying to mix a documentary on running a smallholding with comedy and for me it just doesn't work.
I didn't find the so called humourus parts funny especially when Sue was stuffing hard boiled eggs into Giles' mouth.
I did pick up some good tips though so would probably watch another episode if there was nothing better on.
Taken just as light entertainment it's quite amusing... as I'm old enough to remember the first time round! I prefer the parodies of the original the best bits though... :)
I am afraid it lasted 5 minutes in our house before we switched off. ::)
I have just noticed the original 'The Good Life' has recently been released on DVD.
Make me think this dumbed down program is just for drumming up sales....
I've been rather disappointed by this programme, thought it could do so much good but more of a mockery than showing people what can be done in a normal garden environment. Sadly several programmes purported to show a simple, green lifestyle have been more of an ego trip for the relevant presenters rather than informative. I much preferred Monty Don's programmes, the mastercrafts ones (which were superb) and the one he did for growing food for young offenders/addicts to achieve.
Becky
Quote from: Digeroo on November 18, 2010, 19:01:06
I also had a laugh about Joe being the allotment expert.
;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D I bet the dummy thought he'd been booked for serious gardening program ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
I saw the first one on dopwnload last night.... I quite liked it but a big chunk of that is cos I fancy Sue Perkins (talk about the unnattainable, I'd have no chance even if she was straight).... It did have some interesting points to make mostly regarding how ill-equipped most townies (ie Giles) are for practical physical tasks.....
chrisc
Quote from: saddad on November 19, 2010, 07:36:26
Taken just as light entertainment it's quite amusing... as I'm old enough to remember the first time round! I prefer the parodies of the original the best bits though... :)
I think this is a very charitable interpretation and just about makes sense too.
Even so it wasn't that funny. After the brilliant series of programmes recently where Sue brought a run down colliery band back to strength and made them shine, this was a let down.
Must admit I found it quite funny ;D
Loved the way they went back to the neglected lottie and were bemused by what they found .
Not to be taken too seriously. :)
hubbie and i watched the first, thinking oh good, a program about what we are trying to do, live a healthy and productive lifestyle. What we saw was quite insulting really, they took it all as a joke, now with the oil on the wane and the fact that we are having to consider in the long term, producing more and more of our food within our country, i would really like to see a program that takes this issue seriously.
bah humbug and all that >:(
I think lottiedolly is making a good point, it was an opportunity missed. Anne x
I think it was meant to be a comedy ;D
I will have to watch it in that light then! :) anne x
Yes think you would enjoy it more..if you think about it when was The Good life ever a serious look at smallholding?? ;D
the original good life had good intention behind it and yes it was comedy show.
But this series were more mocking to me...I did enjoyed watching some of the stuff, but some their "comedy" was just food throwing..stuffing eggs into mouth and often eating their mouth open..that is not funny, it's Giles being like a badly behaved kid..not that he doesn't tend to be like anyway ::)..and he do eat his mouth open in other programs too ::)
Sue bless her did had hint of try in her but were drawn in by Giles' stupid games. What a waste of opportunity with all the experts they had in use..I would have like to see more Bob Flowerdew's expertise.
Aww..the bigs were lovely and stole the show in last part ;D
Possibly its only good feature is how clearly it comes over that you can't dabble in self sufficiency. After the second episode I began to wonder if that is not its true purpose, apart from giving us a laugh (very limited laughs in the case of silly horseplay with boiled eggs, and being rough with the chickens etc etc).
They showed that you have to be responsible with living creatures, do unpleasant things for them, that they can become dirty and diseased if you are not careful - that even plants need weeding and feeding and allotments don't look after themselves - sweet little pigs grow up and can knock you over - you can't eat a creature without killing and butchering it first - all that sort of thing.
There is such a fashion for instant gratification - all you need is an allotment and a few hens to feel smug about yourself - that an antidote like this, showing how it all falls apart if you don't work hard at it, could be quite useful, especially in this popularised format.
I was really dissapointed with this show because it did neither job
it didnt show how little money there would be in it if you wearnt willing to work eg if they truely owned the pigs hence all giles talk about slaughtering them then they would have paid some very good money for a pair of relatively full sized pigs so when talking about how much they would get at slaughter then the inital price of the pigs should have been considered (plus feed and straw etc). Consider the price of the stall at the show against the £3 odd they made
and they didnt make a decent job of it ie plant up the whole garden read about value of crops and plant up the whole allotment, so it fell on both counts.
not just that but it made such frustrating watching for us becuase we saw all that money and time being thown at it and this all be wasted.
not to mention the cost of cleaning a carpet with strong smelling pig poo on it.
its a shame becuase we have so few programs about real gardeneing /growing that to see this one and hope was just awful.
there is plenty of comedy as it is in veg growing and animal husbandry without contriving extra incompetance and waste of food and foolish mangement of animals.
not good comedy and not good self sufficency so what was the point? maybe if someone other than giles had done it it would have been better.
shame
Like Joe's allotment????? :-X
did i read on hear that Joe has given up his allotment?
Not so much give up, more like disappeared, Borlotti will tell you more. :( ;D ;D ;D
So Borlotti has Joe prisoner somewhere :-\ :P
Though I found it amusing it was a pity that they did not put more effort into it. Sue Perkins did not treat conducting an orchestra with so little commitment.
But when the pig started digging up the veg I found it mildly funny though not sure I would laugh if the pigs next to my lottie managed to escape into my brassicas and strawberry plants.
I suppose Joe spent more time writing the book than actually working on the allotment and I presume that he had a ghost writer so he did not spend much time writing either. A do also wish that the real gardeners had been thought worthy of a credit.
Now I know why you need a shed on allotments - to keep errant presenters tied up in.
Umm I googled "Joe's allotment" before I asked the question and saw there was a book of this name. That surprises me even more- surely someone on national television would not take on an allotment, having never grown vegetable before, write a book about it then give up the allotment. Seems very unlikely. :o :o
Strange but true .........
Borlotti said he just went never to return.
I am disappointed in Joe as I have always fancied him big time.......never mind . ;D
I reckon he's still in that shed.... :-X
Disappointing that it lacked any real informative value and made a mockery of something really important in my opinion. As oil gets really expensive in the near future (we ain't seen nothing yet) the impact on food prices will be dramatic. Then growing your own will be a skill that a lot of people wish they have.
Pair of plonkers getting paid to fool around strikes me as a complete waste of time.
Quote from: Duke Ellington on November 24, 2010, 16:38:25
So Borlotti has Joe prisoner somewhere :-\ :P
He makes great cat food. I think what you see now on GW must be a hologram! ;)
I scoured the credits for anything along the lines of 'horticultural advisers, x and y' after the last episode and was very disappointed to see nothing of the sort. It was clear to anyone with even half a brain that they weren't going to do all that from scratch without help or advice. It wouldn't have hurt at all to have put a quick screen up at the end to say thanks to . . . .
This is one of the reasons why people take on allotments & then give up after five minutes when it's clear that they have to actually do some work.
Joe did write a book, he even gave some away to people on our site (but not me) :( :( He definately is not there anymore, neither is his shed. If it wasn't so cold I would go and take photos of his plot, which has been split into three, but is looking very sad and overgrown. I have 3 of his raspberry canes. Anyone want a cat. ;D ;D ;D
QuoteI am disappointed in Joe as I have always fancied him big time.......never mind .
Intrigued, I just googled his image... hmm. Each to their own! ;D
Being charitable for just a second, is it possible that he grows his own veg, but that they chose a plot which was suitable for filming a TV series on, if perhaps his own veg garden wasn't what they wanted, or he wanted to grow what he fancied in there, and the TV allotment had to have certain veg in it for the programme. :-\
People are very fussy when choosing locations for TV shoots.
Doesn't excuse the Giles and Sue thing though.
I remember seeing the triangular raised beds on Joes allotment on Gardeners World.
QuoteI am disappointed in Joe as I have always fancied him big time.......never mind
Not my type either.
So hands up anyone who's had newcomers to their allotment site with similar levels of experience, enthusiasm and commitment to Giles and Sue ...
Quote from: timnsal on November 25, 2010, 18:15:18
So hands up anyone who's had newcomers to their allotment site with similar levels of experience, enthusiasm and commitment to Giles and Sue ...
Yes but not such smartarsed cocky gits being paid over the top for strutting their inane stuff.
You mean you didn't think much of it either?
Quote from: Trevor_D on November 25, 2010, 19:51:51
You mean you didn't think much of it either?
Mmm ... I guess!! :P
Shame I bought you the box set for Christmas, grawrc.
I must say that I do enjoy watching Sue & Giles in Supersizers.
So me being me decided to watch The Good Life with high hopes of been funny / witty yet still informative, however it saddens me to say it was just awful.
It makes me laugh, Giles is such a townie and Sue is.....well just Sue. I like her.
Not in that way.......... :-\ ::)