fmian

Saw this once on TV a couple years ago.

The show is British and in the format of someone channel surfing between different news channels. Here are some more specific things about it:

- A single news story would span the episode and different channels would present the story from extremely different angles.

- One channel had news readers who were very good at finishing each others sentences.

- Another news segment (I think it was called 'The moving news' or 'The walking news' was read while the camera followed the newsreader up and down a flight of stairs in the studio.

- The show did not have a laugh track and was very well made.

I'd really like to find out what it was called so I can track more episodes down.

Thanks.

sjrab16

Only thing I could find is this:

Brass Eye (7/97)
Controversial Channel 4 series that was originally held back for transmission. Written and presented by Christopher Morris (The Day Today), this send-up of TV news magazines very often used unwitting celebrities as part of its fake coverage. At one point (which is what got the series in hot water), members of Parliament were convinced there was a dangerous new drug sweeping the streets of London called "cake," which led to calls to "ban cake." Other TV celebrities are duped into endorsing all sorts of improbable causes, while Morris (in many guises) reports on the "issue" using state-of-the-art (and over-the-top) computer graphics as much as possible. If you're in on the joke, Brass Eye is a brilliant satire, but not everyone was amused.

sjrab16

Actually I take that back, I did find this which sounds more like what you are talking about.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_Today

Each episode is presented as a mock news programme, and the episodes rely on a combination of ludicrous fictional news stories, covered with a serious, pseudo-professional attitude. Each episode revolves around one or two major stories, which are pursued throughout the programme, along with a host of other stories usually only briefly referred to. In addition, the programme dips into other channels from time to time, presents clips of (fictional) upcoming BBC programmes, and conducts street interviews with members of the public, in a segment named "Speak Your Brains". It is difficult to ascertain whether the street interviews depicted therein are staged, or are real interviews, with the participants believing they are speaking to actual reporters; this ambiguity further adds to the humour.

orderandlaw

It's called 'Broken News' and as I recall it had something in the region of 140 actors. Personally, I found it to be an interesting idea ruined through terrible execution, rather like another TV comedy they have called 'Peep Show'. Having said that, I think that the idea is fundamentally flawed because it demands the viewer's strict attention as the fictional 'viewer' flicks channels, and TV is in essence a passive medium, which you don't always want to watch with that much devotion. And even if you did put that much energy into watching it, I think it also failed because people, by and large, don't flick channels as much as the show did, and the speed at which things move in the show makes it hard to get into, in my opinion.

There were only six episodes, and I tried to stick with it, I really did, but it was one of those stupidly popular comedies that the BBC ran for a while - basically, during the last couple of years, the BBC (especially since the rise of BBC Three) has decided to make many more of the comedies proposed to them than they normally would. This has resulted in many, many mediocre and just plain bad comedies making it to the screen when all common sense says that they shouldn't. And unfortunately, I thought Broken News was one of them. I mean, they had one episode which parodied the then-media shitstorm of bird flu, with a running story of 'tomato flu'! Hilarious! And such incisive writing. I don't know how they did it.

In the end, I think the show represents a massive fad in British comedy history, and as such, it won't be remembered by many. And certainly not talked about in the same breath as such comedies as Fawlty Towers and The Office... except that one. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but somehow the show suggests that its writers thought it was better than it was, but not earnestly. It seems to imply that the creators thought it deserved big things, and it just didn't.

Matt925

Well, I'm definately down to check it out. Expectations low, but the premise sounds really cool.

orderandlaw

Heh, yeah, that wasn't the most glowing review, I suppose... but it's always worth checking it out and seeing what you think.

Bill Needle

Don't forget "When the Whistle Blows!" when you start talking timeless comedies.

orderandlaw

Heh, I've actually got a bit of a soft spot for When The Whistle Blows. But it is crap, yes. At least it wasn't real.

Numanoid

How dare you impugn Peep Show.

Numanoid

I LOVE Britcoms, but from the clips up on the BBC website, that show does look bad.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/brokennews/

Matt925

It has some laughs, but I can see how it would be difficult sitting through it for 30 minutes.

benedict

Loved "Peep Show", no interest at all in "Broken News".

The two shows are entirely different and IMO bear no comparison with each other.

orderandlaw

It's like a religion or something. I can't stand the program, it's a great idea, but the script really lets it down. It's as though the creators spent so much time congratulating themselves on coming up with the head-camera thing that they forgot to make the show funny.

orderandlaw

I agree, with the exception of the way I already mentioned. The reason I brought it up wasn't because I think they're similar shows, because they're not. They're not by a country mile. But in terms of how disappointing I found Broken News compared to how original and clever I found the inital premise, Peep Show also sprang to mind. I didn't mean anything else.