uk f1 tv coverage - sky, bbc and ch4

[Tony Vandervell]

Anderson was about the only reason to bother enduring the Beeb's pre-race drivel. On the plus side, I can now prepare & cook our typically healthy race meal (burger/pizza/spicy fried chicken etc.) without fear of missing anything remotely interesting.

[Born Racer]

Originally Posted by Knowlesy

a toy with six bumps

A lady toy?

[ivanalesi]

Originally Posted by Gingers4Justice

Don't insult my intelligence.

You're making a very good point. It's the producers who believe people are more stupid than them and very often they come from a certain sport which isn't famous for being very intelligent, so motorsport is made more like... the sport in question. Simple and stupid

[wnut]

Originally Posted by ivanalesi

You're making a very good point. It's the producers who believe people are more stupid than them and very often they come from a certain sport which isn't famous for being very intelligent, so motorsport is made more like... the sport in question. Simple and stupid

Why do sportscasters insist on fronting broadcasts with idiots that have no specialist knowledge (knowledge at all) of, or interest in the sport they are covering?

[Knowlesy]

Originally Posted by ivanalesi

You're making a very good point. It's the producers who believe people are more stupid than them and very often they come from a certain sport which isn't famous for being very intelligent, so motorsport is made more like... the sport in question. Simple and stupid

*yawn* Which sport is that then? Actually, dont bother answering that.

It is more a question of falling into line with the rest of television. We are assumed to have no attention span. We have no appetite for information apparently, which makes one wonder how the internet is so successful.

[wnut]

Originally Posted by Knowlesy

*yawn* Which sport is that then? Actually, dont bother answering that.

It is more a question of falling into line with the rest of television. We are assumed to have no attention span. We have no appetite for information apparently, which makes one wonder how the internet is so successful.

It is just so much easier and cheaper to provide complete dross!

Another reality celebrity cooking show anyone!

[Knowlesy]

ITV once combined F1 with celebrity cooking. If I recall, Heikki Kovalainen showed us all how to cook a chicken breast, lightly seasoned with misery.

[ivanalesi]

Originally Posted by wnut

Why do sportscasters insist on fronting broadcasts with idiots that have no specialist knowledge (knowledge at all) of, or interest in the sport they are covering?

They mostly prefer people with experience in front of the camera and actual knowledge means nothing. Look who is presenting Sky F1
In the case of the UK, there are many thousands of people with great experience and knowledge in motorsport and it's a massive shame to choose someone with zero race experience even if it is just to ask the questions.

[Tucky]

Originally Posted by ivanalesi

They mostly prefer people with experience in front of the camera and actual knowledge means nothing.

I know I've had a go at some of them before, but in their defence, it can't be easy standing in front of a camera live for an hour. As much as I wish the broadcasters would pick people with more knowledge, I do have a grudging respect for them.

[ScotsBrutesFan]

Back when the BBC had the Kids presenter hosting (I believe he's "graduated" to an overpriced subscription football channel now) he posted in his blog a 20 minute sequence from one of the BBC Live races that showed the live output together with the Full talkback he was getting in his ear pieces.
Hearing the director reposition cameramen, the assistants calling timings to different things graphics being called for then called onto and off the screens, all while holding conversations with Eddie and DC. Eddie and DC get a reduced version of the talkback where they only get the bits relelvant to them.

To take all this in, plus have situational awareness of a pitlane, and which camera to be talking to is not easy. Finding someone capable of doing all that from a motorsports or F1 background would be virtually impossible.

DC, Eddie, Jonny Herbert, Martin Brundle etc, have all taken time to get to the level of competence they have, do they have full talkback in their ear when they are alone in front of the camera... or doing a preplanned live interview.

Would you trust any one of them with a full hosting of a 4 hour programme?

[Gingers4Justice]

Jake Humphrey was an anchor, and a good one at that. He knew enough about the subject to ask the right questions - I don't think he ever looked daft. There was genuine chemistry between him and the pundits and I really enjoyed watching it.

The two respective presenters now just don't seem so natural; with Lazenby in particular, the "banter" feels contrived. If you're no good at it, just don't bother at all.

Lazenby is much better when he's just asking simple questions to the pundits. Still, he hasn't got the charisma that Humphrey had.

Much prefer Lee McKenzie to any of them.

[Tucky]

Originally Posted by ScotsBrutesFan

DC, Eddie, Jonny Herbert, Martin Brundle etc, have all taken time to get to the level of competence they have

On that note, I don't think JB will stay in F1 that much longer (maybe another couple of years). Reckon he'll join one of the broadcasting teams? He's certainly got more personality than Damon, Anthony or Jonny IMO.

[p-matt]

JB feels like the natural successor to Brundle. He was excellent in the Comms box in Monaco 05.

[ECW Dan Selby]

Originally Posted by Gingers4Justice

Jake Humphrey was an anchor, and a good one at that. He knew enough about the subject to ask the right questions - I don't think he ever looked daft. There was genuine chemistry between him and the pundits and I really enjoyed watching it.

The two respective presenters now just don't seem so natural; with Lazenby in particular, the "banter" feels contrived. If you're no good at it, just don't bother at all.

Lazenby is much better when he's just asking simple questions to the pundits. Still, he hasn't got the charisma that Humphrey had.

Much prefer Lee McKenzie to any of them.

You had me until the last sentence - she's so incredibly dull!

Selby

[ivanalesi]

Originally Posted by ScotsBrutesFan

To take all this in, plus have situational awareness of a pitlane, and which camera to be talking to is not easy. Finding someone capable of doing all that from a motorsports or F1 background would be virtually impossible.

There are trainings and planning for this kind of "skills". Jake wasn't born ready to do it, he learnt it. It takes some months to be fully capable of doing this kind of work, but believe me it's much easier compared to obtaining even a reasonable knowledge about motor racing. I mean, it's 10 times easier. On top of it, just speaking in front of the camera comes natural to some people. So, especially in the UK, if they had made a proper open casting like they do in the movie industry, I bet they would have found like 20 people with proper motorsport background capable of doing this job.
Also if you have a broad motorsport knowledge/experience, both technical and racing, then you won't need people helping you in the ear.
They've just accepted that everyone in motorsports is some kind of a boffin completely incapable of interaction and scared of cameras, so they like to bring their mates into the program. And as the producers came from the aforementioned sport, they're bringing people who have the same approach as in that sport. This is why Lazenby is so massively out of place.

[davyboy]

Gary Anderson was an excellent part of the BBC team - outside of Ben Edwards - possibly the best. But then you have to ask yourself, why does F1 need to be so complicated [in a completely irrelevant way] that it needs an ex technical director to interpret and explain it to the viewing audience.

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by davyboy

Gary Anderson was an excellent part of the BBC team - outside of Ben Edwards - possibly the best. But then you have to ask yourself, why does F1 need to be so complicated [in a completely irrelevant way] that it needs an ex technical director to interpret and explain it to the viewing audience.

Agreed, whilst the sport has always been an engineering development race, in recent years it has become farcical from a technical point of view.

[Paradise City]

Both Sky and the BBC have fine, fine teams. Now Eddie Jordan is a tough and unsightly fit mind you - but it would be unfair to say he doesn't belong there by the same token. He can network to the hilt and has his own bank of experience to call upon.

There's a strong technical dimension to this sport and if you're not interested in uncovering that aspect - which I'm not that wildly interested in myself btw - then just skim over it. It's not that big a deal. Now Anderson was there he was able to decipher that complexity which was an added, unexpected bonus.

If I'm interested in the technical aspect or uncovering something I'm confused about, I usually look it up during the week so I can digest it properly. During the race action, I don't care about the technical aspects but it's great to have Anderson to crack open and reveal the race strategy for us in very simple terms. He very much added to the race coverage for me.

Ted Kravitz is a good guy, works well during the race action. I like him. He does that efficiently then I'm happy for him to have fun mucking about with bananas and hair trimmers elsewhere in the broadcast.

[Tucky]

With all the rules and considering how developed the cars are already, it's a lot harder to find the extra tenth or two than it was say twenty years ago. The technology can only get more complicated with more and more rules that the teams have to follow.

[davyboy]

Despite 100 attempts, the reason Hamilton can't overtake Hulkenberg out of the first corner is because the eraftig shelmjad on his car works dretagonally when the airflow underjects the rear. On Hamilton's it works through the vinehydratard.

Ah right then...

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by davyboy

Despite 100 attempts, the reason Hamilton can't overtake Hulkenberg out of the first corner is because the eraftig shelmjad on his car works dretagonally when the airflow underjects the rear. On Hamilton's it works through the vinehydratard.

Ah right then...

I wondered if that was the reason.

[MarkG]

Originally Posted by davyboy

Despite 100 attempts, the reason Hamilton can't overtake Hulkenberg out of the first corner is because the eraftig shelmjad on his car works dretagonally when the airflow underjects the rear. On Hamilton's it works through the vinehydratard.

Ah right then...

nice one.

As for the tv presenters, I thought Jake Humphrey did a very good job fronting the show. Also, I like Ted Kravitz, especially the 'notebook' stuff.
Ok, some people don't agree, each to their own.

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by MarkG

nice one.

As for the tv presenters, I thought Jake Humphrey did a very good job fronting the show. Also, I like Ted Kravitz, especially the 'notebook' stuff.
Ok, some people don't agree, each to their own.

Yes I like Ted's notebook thing, KISS methodology is often the best route.

Humphrey, though I can live without, he was so full of himself he was rapidly disappearing up his own something or other.

[Paradise City]

There was strategy stuff that Anderson could decode and predict that was a mystery to me otherwise whilst the race was underway. The other comms would get it wrong but Anderson had an uncanny nose for it. That's why he'll be missed.

I don't care for even well executed pre-race punditry and I eschew saturation coverage but Anderson when he had his notepad on hand I must admit I was quite partial to that.

[henners88]

Originally Posted by ScotsBrutesFan

Back when the BBC had the Kids presenter hosting (I believe he's "graduated" to an overpriced subscription football channel now) he posted in his blog a 20 minute sequence from one of the BBC Live races that showed the live output together with the Full talkback he was getting in his ear pieces.

I always thought Jake was a sports presenter who did a stint in kids TV before coming back to sport? I always thought the kids TV jibes were just stereotypical in the past.

Originally Posted by ScotsBrutesFan

DC, Eddie, Jonny Herbert, Martin Brundle etc, have all taken time to get to the level of competence they have, do they have full talkback in their ear when they are alone in front of the camera... or doing a preplanned live interview.

Would you trust any one of them with a full hosting of a 4 hour programme?

I think you could trust them, but most people don't watch the full broadcast from the stats studied, I know I usually tune in a few minutes before a race as the build up is stuff I already know anyway. They wouldn't be professional enough overall though and are suited to their current roles.