They Think It's All Over

When this first started it seemed bright and witty but soon went down hill. Nick 'sitcom flop' Hancock hasn't changed his fashion sense since 1987 or his jokes for that matter. Rory McGrath has 3 jokes and 2 of those are double entendres, he has made the golfer having trouble with an iron pun 3 or 4 times. "They think it's all over" I for one wish it was.

They think it's all Over follows the same format as other shows of this genre, but, given that it came after "Have I got News for You" and before all the rest, it still is worth watching. This is assisted by the presence of Jonathan Ross. Despite not knowing too much about Sport (perhaps not ideal for a regular on the show- it is a quiz show about sport after all!), Ross injects the show with a sense of humour that is crass, but very witty and is a more than capable replacement for the departed Lee Hurst. Nick Hancock comperes the show with real passion. The viewer can tell that he loves the idea, and loves his job. Rory McGrath is the token fat guy, and, while he can be funny, matches neither Ross nor Hancock. The straight guys are Gary Lineker and David Gower. They were both ex-sportsmen, playing football and cricket respectively. Both are capable of saying some hilarious lines, but they are not as quick-witted as the others, and are basically there to have the p**s taken out of them. It's not hard hitting political satire, but "They think it's all Over" is, at its best, a very diverting and amusing way to waste half an hour of your life. I would have to recommend it to Sports fans, and people with a sense of humour everywhere.

***Tip: Have It Read To You, Heres How*** 1) Copy And Paste This To Notepad (NOT WORD) 2) Go To. START>ALL PROGRAMS>ACCESSORIES>ACCESSABILTY>NARRATOR Its hard to believe that this used to be up there with 'Have I Got News For You' and 'Never Mind The Buzzcocks', its also hard to remember when it was for that matter. The first line of Nick Hancock, David Gower, Lee Hurst, Gary Linker and Rory McGraph was great, it had a real feeling of camaraderie amongst them, each we you would see then rip into Lee for being bold, David for his age, Nick for being fat, Rory's sex life and Gary's walkers adverts. When you heard the audience laughter it sounded and was so real, even the panel would be in hysterics. So successful was the show it went on to release Video Specials which were (and still are) very funny.

What I liked was how pointless the quiz was and how effortless the humor came from the guys, for example when Lee (Hurst not Mack) was telling a story about how he was abducted by aliens for his hair.

Lee: "Back then I had a full head of hair, you see???" David Gower interrupts "Up on till then it was believable" and everyone even Lee laughed. Sadly those days are gone and are not going to be seen again outside of UK:Golds repeats of the classics.

It really all started to go bad after Hurst left, when this happened Gower (a man short) would have two guests rather that the usual one. This was still funny and you could see the show surviving. However after one series of this they decided to pick a new regular in the form of 'BBC Break Glass In Case A Carmera Is On And No-Ones Talking B.S. At It Stooge' Jonathan Ross, who every week would take 5 minutes to do a scripted gag, hog the show, interrupt the other teams questions and therefore interrupt the flow of the game, the others would struggle to get in a word or gag.

At this point the show was still watchable, mainly to a lot of editing of Ross I'd imagine, and you could see that the remaining four still have there silly school by charm.

The final blow was when Gower and Liniker left and were replaced with two dull characters Phil Tuffnal (nice guy but not funny) and David Seaman (boring and seemed to think that the quiz was serious).

This change also made Ross feel more superior as he was no longer the new boy and started going on with longer more point less scripted gags and 1970's sexual innuendos. Rory didn't come out to well either as it show that he really wasn't funny after all!!! Some how he managed to fool me but after the others left and people stopped taking the mickey out of him, you realized that he only has about three jokes. If when blindfolded he feels a slim pole i.e. A Microphone, well then you'd hear "Ahh, its Victoria Beckham" or when he gets a golfer you'd hear the Ironing Joke. Funny the 1st time but after about the 10th you kind of know whats coming.

Because of the poor rating the show was getting TTIAO changed the captains once again with Boris Johnson and Ian Wright, which was about as bad as the first change as Boris is nice but boring and Ian Wright thinks the quiz is for real and will stop any comedy if he feels it will cost his team a point, particularly at the end with the Guess Who round, All I seem to hear is "Come On, Come On".

Nick Hancock Left too and was replaced with Lee Mack as host, Which is the only person who can still raise a laugh from the audience with his auto-cue read comments, even if they seem to be humoring the panels which is a lot more that I at home am prepared to do. Also, not one to stay were the T.V. ratings ain't J. Ross also left after he was one of the panelist who turned the ship to the ice burg, and was replace with Sean Lock who is funny, but just not on this show.

Which is were we are now, a show that once manages to raise real rib crackers even to a non-sport fan like me to a show that is less funny that Question Of Sport, and i'm not kidding. At least when you watch QOS you can see the audience laughter and know that its not over dubbed.

In conclusion They Think Its All Over has already earned its place in T.V. Gold land and really was without doubt a program that you could and would stay in and watch rather that go down the bar and drink. Its a shame that I can't watch it now even if i'm home with no plans and nothing else is on.