That maybe true over there, but you have to remember it's a British show and in the UK, as well as here in New Zealand and in Australia, it was played on normal free-to-air TV channels in the early evening. Still is - the new episodes (when the season is running) play here on Sunday evenings at 7:30pm on a free-to-air channel, although older episodes of various seasons are also played on the Sky TV subscriber channel UKTV.
Being a BBC series and therefore Government funded, as well as a kids' show, it has never had huge amounts of money in its budget. It doesn't really look that much cheaper or sillier than many of the American shows from the same era - Star Trek and its polystyrene boulders for example.
Last edited by Buzz Bumble on June 29th, 2014, 1:36 am, edited 1 time in total.
EricJ wrote:...it was shown weeknightly at 7:30 or 11:30pm on the same obscure PBS stations that had discovered Monty Python, and few 8-14 yo. kids ever watched it because it looked too cheap and silly.
Mmmm...Monty Python. Sorry to name drop, but we're just off to the O2 now for tonight's show...
Ben wrote:
Mmmm...Monty Python. Sorry to name drop, but we're just off to the O2 now for tonight's show...
And just off that bit of thread-drift...Mick Jagger answers fan complaints about seeing a bunch of really old guys re-drone classic record-album bits from the 70's:
(Seriously, the live shows have become more of a memory exercise: Watching Cleese and Palin do the Cheeseshop sketch one more time, and Idle recite the Travel Agency rant, you feel like you're watching the international championship finals of the Grandmother's Trunk game.)
Well, Mr J is talking crap as usual...(honestly, I don't actually know what he's saying)!
Python Live was everything you wanted it to be, and the atmosphere was amazing. The set is awesome and the Pythons themselves are as sprightly as ever. Sure, Cleese's voice has gone (probably from all that shouting he did the first time around!), but no-one forgot a line and this was a terrific live gig, complete with updates to some material and some ad-libs thrown in.
The Pythons are an English national treasure, so they were always going to get a warm reception here anyway. But they deliver on top of that, and even though we almost had to remortgage the house to land tickets, it was all well worth it, having the best night out in ages.
The recognition of what was about to come as costumes came out was excellent from the crowd...this is a reunion for the fans, and the fans came out in style, in their Gumby hats and Spanish Inquisition robes, singing along and just enjoying themselves at a final opportunity to see a legendary comedy team in action for the last time.
I wouldn't have missed it for the world, and was so pleased when it *wasn't* a bunch of old men trying to recreate their youth. They all became young again, and the fans were there to see it.
Python has never been for everyone...if you're not a fan then don't try and spoil it for the rest of us. As the end card at the close of the evening suggested..."p*** off"!
