The Insider

The Insider

Series 1 Episode 4
BBC Three
Studio Lambert (All3Media)

Two weeks ago I turned on to this by accident and liked it straight away. As someone wanting to get into an industry which people don’t know too much about, this show that shines a light on little known but creative professions really captivated me. I think this fits very well with BBC Three’s target audience for similar reasons, quite a lot of people are looking for work or a change in career. Employment is a hot topic at the moment. Making the right choice is more and more important for employer and employee alike; in this show the taster interview and undercover element help out both parties.

In this episode we see the 4 candidates compete for a job at Groupon. The potentials had to do a presentation about a bird of prey experience and come up with their own experience in the form of a party.

One thing I’m particularly enjoying about this show is that my partner likes watching it with me even though he doesn’t normally watch too much television. I think the thing that is so gripping about it I the element of mystery, the ‘who is it?’. Not just who is going to get the dream job in the end but also the 15 minutes at the beginning where the audience are completely in the dark as to who the Insider is. My partner and I often debate over who it is, both the Insider and the winner, and generally guess completely wrong. However that surprise, that twist is another element that makes it so enjoyable.

An issue with this particular episode is that I was able to guess the Insider from just the short bios at the beginning, Matt had an absolutely atrocious cover story (an ex-charity fundraiser… so is he currently unemployed?). He obviously has no life beyond his work because the ‘friend’ they got to chat about him was from Groupon and damned thing was filmed in the Groupon offices… those bright green phones are seen later on in the show kicking about the desks of his colleagues. Far too easy - I missed that mystery this week.

Another thing I didn’t like about this particular episode was the focus on Matt sneaking away to chat to colleagues and hug everyone he’d ever worked with as soon as the audience knew he was the Insider. It felt like foreshadowing, that he might give the game away eventually but this didn’t happen. However this would have been interesting as this would have been the first time someone had given the game away. He did seem fairly careless and blasé about it… I guess you don’t have to be too focused to work for Groupon. Or perhaps he’s just that much of a people person.

There is an element of forced casting in this program too. From what I experienced of the casting process at The Network there is always a need to pick people that suit the show but in every episode of ‘The Insider’ there is always someone who is too keen and they were taken down a peg or two by an outsider creative type.

Thought this is not the best episode I've seen, it still delivers a very stirring emotional journey. It is very easy to get a discussion going about this program; it inspires interactivity when the show is airing, in the home and online, but also continues discussions beyond it such as with talking points such as; How would you cope in an interview like that? Would you be up to the challenge of being ‘The Insider’?

This show has a feeling of ‘Undercover Boss’ to it, no doubt it was a source of inspiration for the development of the programme. A development of this undercover concept might actually multiple contributors filming ‘mystery shopper’ kind of experiences, I think that this might be suited to a youtube channel that consumers and other shows (maybe watchdog etc.) can browse and move the content to a wider national audience when relevant.

Given the opportunity I’d love to take part in an episode of ‘The Insider’ for the role of a television researcher. But this also brings up a potential snag for the next series (if will be one) which is keeping all the contestants in the dark that it is ‘The Insider’ that is being filmed. This is an issue I’ve seen in shows like ‘Secret Millionaire’. It will be interesting to see how they approach it next year. I’ll be watching.

Kevin McCloud's Man Made Home

Kevin McCloud’s Man Made Home
Episode: Series 2 Episode 1
Channel: Channel 4
Production Company: Optomen

I’m glad to see this back. I really enjoy the entire concept of this show, it appeals to my own personal ideals; reuse, recycle, be creative, slow down. Kevin McCloud, known from his time served as host of ‘Grand Designs’ where he critiques others designs and builds, attempts to build his own retreat away from the pressures, stress and also commodities of 21^st century living; something that I think many people would aspire to. Last series saw him build a shed in the woods with great success, this year he is tackling another great British icon: the beach hut.

In this episode we see the ‘Shed’ from last series transported to a cliff top above a beach, and settle into its new setting at the sea. It gets encased in pirate like deck complete with optional vertigo if you choose to walk to the decks edge which extends beyond the cliff end and is illuminated by homemade fish oil; a scene that was far more pleasurable to watch than McCloud’s search of biofuel in the form of ‘fatbergs’ from the London sewer system last year. There is also a somewhat disastrous attempt to get to the pub by a raft of ancient Chinese design.

One of the things that appeals to be about this show is that we get to see what Kevin would build after watching him critique and guide so many others on their own dream builds. I also really enjoy the camaraderie between Kevin and Will, every good hero needs a sidekick and these two bounce off each other very well. A case could be made that Kevin is actually the sidekick given how little he helped to dig out the shed from its previous position.

Something which grates me a little about the show is Kevin’s interaction with the camera, it’s not just ‘breaking the forth wall’, this is almost a documentary so there has to be an element of that so the presenter occasionally has to speak directly to the audience to make things clear rather than have a staged conversation with someone else in the show. No, I think it’s the way Kevin tends to dismiss the audience/crew from his hut, it borders on rude rather than being funny when he shuts the door on the camera. Perhaps I’m just being a bit sensitive, perhaps it’s because I want to work in television and feel sorry for the crew, perhaps it is the only niggly thing I can come up with so I’m focusing on it, but this doesn’t sit very comfortably with me. A friendly ‘good night’ would suffice.

As with the Robson’s Extreme Fishing Challenge I noticed many borrowed attributes. I enjoy the little animations that detail plans for the various creations and experiments, this does however remind me of Scrapheap Challenge – though one could argue that the shows aren’t too dissimilar. I also loved where Kevin and Will attempted to make candles out of fish in reference to the report of a naturist in the 18^th century, the idea for a sheepskin raft also came from this kind of historical research. This put me in mind of ‘Heston’s Feasts’ series, where he builds fabulous feasts based on culinary ideas from history books.

This is a rather specialised show and it’s very difficult to distinguish anything that might translate to another show… I might need to ponder on this a while but hopefully I can come up with something and get back to you.

A possible programme idea could be born out of the kind of historical research that both this and ‘Heston’s feasts’ use, but this would require a vast amount of time and expertise before a focusing theme or topic could be hit upon. The benefit in these shows is they already knew the kind of thing they were looking for.

Overall, I like this show. It is well suited to Channel 4 and follows their recent trend of quirky DIY programming, it is a more manly version of the various different shows that Kirstie Allsopp has presented/produced in recent years.

Will I be watching again? Yes and I hope there is another series!

Robson's Extreme Fishing Challenge

Channel: 5 star
Production Company: IWC media 

In the episode I watched Robson went to western Canada, specifically British Columbia and the Yukon. As the beautiful vistas pan across the screen it suddenly occurs to me that the show is just an extremely specialised travel program. Of course most people wouldn’t choose a holiday destination based on the fishing at the destination but some might. And who wouldn’t want to go to the Yukon anyway? I have to say that this programme was all the more enjoyable to me because it was set in an area that I myself have an interest in and would like to visit.

So what exactly is the show about? Robson’s Extreme Fishing Challenge is an evolution of Robson’s Extreme Fishing, apparently Extreme Fishing isn’t extreme enough but now you need a little bit of manly competition to make it more exciting. Sorry, extreme. So the aim of the show is now that Robson has travelled the world and learned how to hunt (yes, the he does say that you hunt fish) some extreme fish he is now pitted against the best fishermen from across the world to catch the most extreme fish, or the longest, or the most. 

Rather than spot things which could be used in other shows I noticed the many other things which had been borrowed from other shows/formats. The map to show Robson traveling from the UK to Canada gave me flashbacks to Indiana Jones movies. The top trump like stats for contestants and battles reminded me of Wrestling or even Robot Wars.

Through the course of the show we were introduced to the White Sturgeon, Northern Pike, Greyling, Lake Trout. As someone who has only been fishing once it was interesting to see all these fish, the little details about them such as the White Sturgeon’s anatomy hasn’t changed in 200 million years, the Greyling exist in a ratio of 7 females to each male, and the colour of the Trout’s belly is dependent on its diet.

One thing I was keen on was the humour they managed to shoehorn in amongst all the fishing. The tutorial on facing up to a bear was informative and hilarious at the same time. There were forfeits for failing the fishing challenges – going from a sauna to a cold lake and spending a night in bear infested woods. This was Robson’s forfeit spending the night in the woods, though it was put on the bear attack and Robson getting bear mace in his own face was funny.

So, over all I’m not sure I’ll be watching again unless perhaps I’m flicking through channels and it appears that they are in an area that I am interested in. And that is something that I think could transfer from this show to another, specialised travel. I think it would be interesting to see how people choose their holiday destinations, based on a hobby etc. This could be a series with each episode focusing on a different hobby and the top destinations around the world for that past time or, like with this show, choose one hobby and then spend series going round the world doing it. It’s just another way of seeing the world. 

So what is 'The thing about the thing I saw last night' about?

I like tv.

No, forget that I love tv! You could almost say I watch too much of it. 

This week I recently had the pleasure of discussing this passion with several people who work in the television industry at The Network 2013 at the Edinburgh International Television Festival. Pat Younge, a big cheese at the BBC in charge of in-house production, suggested broadening horizons and watching content that you wouldn't normally go for. Kim Shillinglaw, commissioning editor for BBC's science and natural history department (a.k.a. the genius behind 'Penguin: Spy in the Huddle'), suggested that when you are watching something, even something you don't like, consider one thing good about it that you could apply to another show etc. 

In this blog I intend to combine this brilliant advice. Each week (hopefully!) I'll watch a programme that I've never seen before and comment on it here. Not only an exercise in writing and critical thinking but hopefully should expand my knowledge of the industry I so desperately want to be a part of. 

Okay so now the introductions are done I'll hopefully be back next week with a post for you all.