As I slag off Challenge when they do something wrong, it seems only fair to congratulate them when they do something right. With the sad death of Bob Holness yesterday, Challenge made a point of not only updating their EPG, but also recording some new links; genuinely impressive for a channel which doesn’t have live continuity. Take a look below – and make a note of listening to Bob’s intro for the female contestant, where he makes a hilariously inappropriate joke, but gets away with it because he was brilliant:
In a world full of user-created playlists, it’s a handy reminder that television works when it’s reactive – and when it shows signs of actual people in charge. Anyone can grab entertainment from the shelf; it’s television’s job to contextualise it. Yesterday Challenge managed to become – in an admittedly small way – part of celebrating Bob’s life, as opposed to just playing out the scheduled episode and the letting the channel feel odd and distant.
Television shouldn’t be just another rigid playlist.
One comment
Will J Tudor on 24 September 2012 @ 8pm
Challenge do seem to care about these things (despite cocking up some things from time to time). They reacted quickly to the recent death of Max Bygraves by showing a weekend of his Family Fortunes episodes. On the day the news broke, I tweeted them, asking if they’ll be doing something in tribute and I got a very swift reply to say they’d sort something. That is how to do these things properly.
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