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Room 101 - Script Writing.

NosediveNosedive Posts: 6,602
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in UK TV Shows #1
Watching a 2012 repeat of Room 101 tonight, I was wondering just how much, if not all, of the programme is scripted?

I'm sure the one liners and the witty comebacks are probably all pre written and rehearsed, but going one step further, I'm wondering if the actual room 101 items are selected way in advance by the producers and written in to the scripts.

Do the guests just turn up having learnt their lines and take whatever items they have been saddled with?

It's probably a very closely guarded secret of course but I would be curious to know. This is TV land after all!

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    CravenHavenCravenHaven Posts: 13,953
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    #2
    This reminds me of when some humorless arse wrote of the forum comedians that he could just tell they'd spent ages thinking up their replies. I can't imagine with the general inanity of it all it took more than an instant :kitty:
    You don't have to make a degree dissertation out of this. How about Celebrity thrashes out a short list of topics and submits it to the host or show assistant in advance for approval who will then ask how the celeb wants to treat it. Then they can think what prop the show might need and the host can also prepare something.
    It's not really necessary to fully script chat and repartee to kill it dead because they have enough structure and preparation there to edit down much more material than they need for the final show. If you're at the filming you'll probably find that it takes at least 1.5 hours.
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    NaturalDancerNaturalDancer Posts: 5,157
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    #3
    Well Frank always has one or two items to hand to make a joke which relates to something one of the guests has said - I know he would know beforehand what the subject matter is but the items usually relate to something specific that someone has said. And tonight he showed that clip with a gull after CB said she didn't like seagulls.
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    NosediveNosedive Posts: 6,602
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    #4
    NaturalDancer wrote: »
    Well Frank always has one or two items to hand to make a joke which relates to something one of the guests has said - I know he would know beforehand what the subject matter is but the items usually relate to something specific that someone has said. And tonight he showed that clip with a gull after CB said she didn't like seagulls.

    Well that was one of the things that got me thinking about it I must admit.

    Also at the beginning of the show, Alex Jones got a bit of a starring role with quite a lot of lines and she is not really known for doing much other than reading from an autocue.
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    BatchBatch Posts: 3,344
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    #5
    Nosedive wrote: »
    I was wondering just how much, if not all, of the programme is scripted?
    !

    "everything on TV is a Lie" Dara O'Brien :)
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    [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 234
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    #6
    Batch wrote: »
    "everything on TV is a Lie" Dara O'Brien :)

    This pretty much sums up how I think of television.
    I believe very little of what I see is actually how it is.
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    NosediveNosedive Posts: 6,602
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    #7
    Batch wrote: »
    "everything on TV is a Lie" Dara O'Brien :)
    SMART CASUAL wrote: »
    This pretty much sums up how I think of television.
    I believe very little of what I see is actually how it is.

    Ha..ha! Yes Precisely!!

    It's all very highly produced. As I said in my first post it is TV land after all
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    Chief_WiggumChief_Wiggum Posts: 6,186
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    #8
    I think it used to be quite ad-lib, but it seems to have got more and more scripted recently.
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