GOOD TV

[Stanley]

Doesn't make any difference Ian if you have no interest. Was there football as well yesterday?

[Gloria]

Watched England last night, very good game

[Tripps]

Unusually I watched it too. Especially as Kieran T was playing. My nightmare is that it went to penalties, and he missed. The Deed Poll process might have had to be explored.

In truth - I found it pretty boring, except the goals. So much passing back to the goalkeeper - hard to tell which way they were playing at times.

[Big Kev]

TV is great for anyone who likes tennis...... The annual Wimbledon tyranny is with us again....

Don't talk daft, it's a fortnight, hardly tyranny. Tennis in the vast scale of things doesn't hold a candle to the coverage given to football. TV schedules are at the total mercy of that particular game. Wimbledon tends to be all in the same place on BBC1 or 2 and they don't play at stupid times under floodlights.

They've closed the roof, on court 1, and put the floodlights on for the Murray v Otte match

[PanBiker]

Indeed they did but it's a rarity rather than a regular occurrence. Andy got through to the next round as well.

[Gloria]

He had to work hard to win it, he looked knackered.

[Big Kev]

What time did it finish?

[PanBiker]

About 10.30pm I think.

[Tripps]

I got quite engrossed in the game. I was surprised he managed five hard sets after his recent fitness record, and was waiting for him to flag - but he didn't. I do wish he'd be a bit quieter though, and not pull faces.

Nice to see the Wimbledon atmosphere again - no adverts around the court, and no Mickey Mouse coloured costumes from the players. Very British. What happened to the Robinsons Barley Water?

PS I thought it was a bit disrespectful that the commentators didn't refer to him as Sir Andrew at any time. If you've got it flaunt it. I learn that his middle name is Barron - which sounds a bit premature I'd say.

[PanBiker]

Yes, he did well considering his two surgeries. I too expected him to give way with the length of the match. Lets see how he progresses. He sank down to about 168th seed in the rankings due to his injuries. Can't help but wish him well in his climb back up.

[Gloria]

Just watched England get into the semi finals…boom.

[Stanley]

I watched an old Storyville on the Voyager missions. Wonderful to think they are still out there. 1977 technology wasn't bad.

[PanBiker]

The tech for the 70's Voyager mission was actually from the 60's due to the years of planning. They have circumnavigated the solar system and now beyond on minute computing power compared to what we have today. A credit to the coding skills of the engineers that developed the routines for navigation, engine management and housekeeping.

[Stanley]

And it was possible to adjust the programming in flight, a first in 1977.
See THIS for the latest overview.

[Big Kev]

Joe Bonamassa, Greenwich Live concert from 2016 on Sky Arts. It's very good

[Wendyf]

Me too Kev.

[Stanley]

I saw the last ten minutes of the men's final and the first 15 minutes of the cup final. Then the delights of the Kobelco Gyratory Ore Crusher..... Riveting entertainment.....

[Big Kev]

Me too Kev.

It was worth watching, he's very good. My kind of thing

[Tripps]

Have you seen the Olympics?

Taekwondo - totally ridiculous. Get dressed up like an extra from Flash Gordon and get three points for kicking someone in the head!

I hear that a thirteen year old has won the Olympic skateboarding. Well done. . . .

I'm rapidly reaching my Antony Newley moment 'Stop the world I want to get off'.

[Stanley]

I have to agree David. There will be a discipline based on macramé shortly.
Did you hear the excited commentator describing the swimmer as a 'cross between Poseidon and Neptune'. He should check his mythology, they are the same thing but Greek and Roman versions....
I get the feeling everyone is getting a bit desperate to give the impression it is a roaring success when in fact it's an expensive disaster and the BBC can't afford the eye watering prices being charged for rights to broadcast.

[Tripps]

I added this to Tripps Clipps today from a comment elsewhere.- says what I think - better than I can. . . .

If you are interested in the Olympics for a sporting point of view, I can recommend the Discovery+ subscription for £6.99. It does auto-renew so I cancelled as soon as I’d paid. For the price of a bottle of plonk you can watch whatever you want, whenever you want, live or recorded.

Another great advantage is avoiding the vast hoard of BBC staff who have been flown out east at great expense to spend most of their time sat waffling on in a CGI studio. I have therefore been free of the BBC discussing how most of Team GB’s ladies yogurt knitting squad are refugees, nor been subjected to a 20 min interview with one of our hopeful’s third cousin twice removed. Similarly I have only been indirectly aware that the BBC believe Tom Daley single handedly won his pairs diving and is only a good diver because he is gay.

To be fair to the BBC the IOC did flog the rights to Discovery leaving the them a rump coverage of only being allowed to show one thing live at a time. The BBC however are responsible for decisions such as to show two hours of women’s football at the time one of GB’s best ever male swimmers was competing.

The Discovery commentators just, well, commentate. I have not heard any discussion of the ethnic make up of a squad. Nationality has only been mentioned when relevant like when a country has qualified for the first time, or if a person has changed which country they are representing. Nor have they blamed the fact is a bit hot in Tokyo in the summer on ‘Climate Change’.

The best thing is that if you don’t want to pay, you don’t have to. Market forces at work, something the BBC doesn’t have to worry about.

[Stanley]

That just about sums it up. Add to that the fact that the BBC are so short of news they are inserting fillers like reporters recounting what their childhood holidays were like. I think they have cut the news departments too far and it's showing.

[Wendyf]

Discovered that because Colin has a Vodaphone subscription so we can get 4G broadband as a backup (It's his ONLY pleasure), we can get 6 months of Discovery + for free! That's me watching the Olympic 3 day eventing over the next 3 days yippee!!

[Stanley]

Better than being condemned to BMX Wendy....
Please could someone slip the swimming commentator a tranquilliser? He sounds positively hysterical when commentating on a GB lead.....

[Big Kev]

Are there Olympic choices on the BBC iplayer? I've not watched much TV over the last week due to being on shift. Been recording some of the music documentaries from Sky Arts and watching those to wind down after a day's work. I have a Jethro Tull one still to watch