Television Taskmaster | Series 18 starts tonight

hobbers said:
Yeah he has those 'dodgy guy hanging around the playground fence' vibes doesnt he.
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Recovering alcoholic (not that that means he gives off dodgy guy hanging around playground vibes). Think podcast said if you think he’s competitive now, he’d have been even worse if he was still drinking.

Not the strongest season. Steve is v good at turning quite a lot of tasks into mini episodes of inside no. 9. Sophie and Nick are just useless, usually in a fairly entertaining way, John is fine…he’s just there really. Joanne has her moments too but I think irritates me more than the others.
 


Don't know any of them except Jack Dee and Rosie Jones.

Aside from the fact that the tasks will all have to incorporate Jones, I do think she's a bit rubbish. As someone who can always see someone's merits and pushes back against claims of 'diversity for the sake of it', I really think she gets away with that a bit. Terribly unfunny.
 
Yeah she's terrible, not funny at all, and I don't get why they have her. Obviously inclusion is important but they will literally have to change the layout of the entire show to fit her in, it's so pointless.
 
It's ironic that people who like such a bafflingly unfunny show should be judging someone's comedy career.
 
TwoSheds said:
It's ironic that people who like such a bafflingly unfunny show should be judging someone's comedy career.
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Massive Spanner said:
Yeah she's terrible, not funny at all, and I don't get why they have her. Obviously inclusion is important but they will literally have to change the layout of the entire show to fit her in, it's so pointless.
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Suits one of those Christmas specials better.
 
These emojis are so confusing. But yeah, I’m in the “bafflingly unfunny” camp. Doesn’t help the way every comedian who’s ever been involved is constantly circle jerking about how hilarious the show is on all their podcasts. I feel like I should like Taskmaster, so have tried a few times. Not even close to funny. Every time.

Which brings us back to Rosie Jones. Unless you find it inherently hilarious that disabled people might think/talk about sex, I really don’t see what else she has going for her.
 
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Task master has varied in quality series to series. Tasks and guests make a huge difference and I think generally the quality was higher towards the start where I think it was great.

Disappointing news about Rosie Jones. How will she cope with half the tasks and generally I don't find her funny at all.
 
Solius said:
Suits one of those Christmas specials better.
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Yeah, I posted similar when they had the child with dwarfism on this New Year's episode.

I said then that it can work for a one off, where they can tweak just the 3 or 4 tasks to deal with the handicap - but I can't see how they can do it for a full series for the likes of Rosie Jones or Chris McCormack (blind) without the quality of the tasks being weakened.

Even when they had Chris McCormack on House of Games - a show where they just sit in chairs and no physical tasks - they had to remove the many visual rounds and have every round be an audio one, which made it all very samey for the week's episodes. But the quality of tasks on Taskmaster will be effected even more to incorporate him or, in this case, (the unfunny) Rosie Jones.
 
Interesting one as I've had the discussion before with friends and no one finds her amusing. I thought we might have some argue otherwise on here but seems to be universal.

I find it all a bit unfortunate as she'll get a lot of hate on social media. It's not neccesarily undeserved but its obviously one thing to slate James Corden and another Rosie Jones.
 
Smores said:
Interesting one as I've had the discussion before with friends and no one finds her amusing. I thought we might have some argue otherwise on here but seems to be universal.

I find it all a bit unfortunate as she'll get a lot of hate on social media. It's not neccesarily undeserved but its obviously one thing to slate James Corden and another Rosie Jones.
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James Corden is hardly an apt comparison given he's hated because he's supposed to be a complete wanker and rude to everyone he meets. Rosie Jones isn't hated, she's just not funny, and people don't want to watch her on tv.

EDIT: Though I should clarify, James Corden is also not funny on top of being a total wanker
 
Controversial opinion in here by the looks of it, but I do find Rosie Jones funny on TV. I've seen her live and also found her funny.

There are loads of people who I've not looked forward to as Taskmaster contestants and been very surprised by over the years. Hopefully people will feel similar at the end of the next series.
 
I think Rosie Jones is ok and the only annoying thing about her being on are the trolls that will be all over social media giving out about her most of whom probably don't watch the show anyway.

Perhaps they might have Nish Kumar helping her on some more physical tasks which won't do much for her scoring anyway.

This is actually the first time I know all of them Emily is on Starstruck which I like and she is very good on it.

I know Babatunde from Gogglebox and Andy Zaltman is very funny

Jack Dee is the big name and someone Alex has wanted on for years it will be interesting to see how he approaches it

Still no Rhys James or Stephen Merchant who are high on Alex's wish list for the show though
 
lsd said:
I think Rosie Jones is ok and the only annoying thing about her being on are the trolls that will be all over social media giving out about her most of whom probably don't watch the show anyway.

Perhaps they might have Nish Kumar helping her on some more physical tasks which won't do much for her scoring anyway.

This is actually the first time I know all of them Emily is on Starstruck which I like and she is very good on it.

I know Babatunde from Gogglebox and Andy Zaltman is very funny

Jack Dee is the big name and someone Alex has wanted on for years it will be interesting to see how he approaches it

Still no Rhys James or Stephen Merchant who are high on Alex's wish list for the show though
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Really?
Up until the 10th series, I'd always heard of every contestant each series - normally from one panel show or another as many of the early series ones were regulars on those.

From series 10 onwards, there's almost always been one or two that I've never heard of before. In this series, it's Emma Sidi.
 
Anyone watching the second series of the Australian show? So far it looks a decent enough series, as was the first one. But it's not as good as the NZ or UK versions.

The Taskmaster is a little better than the NZ version, but the assistant is the worst of the three. Paul Williams in the NZ one is great, every bit as good as Alex Horne.

I posted the link to the first episode, and here's the second...

 
Jack Dee feels like he was on series 4 or 5. I know he wasn't.
 
Not overly bothered about the potentially less entertaining tasks although I may rethink that over the course of new series but her being the least funny British comedian that I’ve personally seen is certainly off-putting. Hopefully she’ll prove me wrong but I seriously doubt it :(
 
hobbers said:
I think he probably wants to stick to one headliner like Jack Dee on each series from now on. If they're going for 25 seasons they just need another 7

Probably Tom Allen and Miles Jupp will be on in the next couple. Hopefully Merchant and Ayoade too but I doubt it.

Shame we wont see multiple good comedians on together like in the good old days.
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Stick Richard Gadd on.
 
Finished series 10, for me it was the weakest of all series so far. Absence of audience did not help at all. Also the series had worst prize tasks in every episodes. It was like the contestants weren't even bothered about the prize tasks.

It took 9 episode to finally break Katherine.
 
Ahmer Baig said:
Season 7 has been the best season for me so far



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Yeah, I loved all of the first 7 series - culminating in it peaking with the wonderful 7th which definitely remains my favourite.

I don't think any of the series since then have reached those early highs, but I've still found them all an enjoyable watch. A bit like watching the Australian one. It's not peak Taskmaster, but they're all still very watchable and enjoyable.

If I was going to list them in order of preference, then I always remember all the contestants from the first nine series and can remember those series very well and so could easily do that with those. After that though, I generally forget which series is which and have to look them up - so would struggle to name all 5 contestants straight off if asked about a specific later series. They've just not been as memorable for me as most of the classic earlier series, but still an enjoyable watch.
 
I think 25 seasons of any show is way too much. Last season was basically a competition with one person competing and we have already seen obnoxious and crazy (Joanne) and the “I am ditzy and confused and don’t understand the game” (played by 36 year old Sophie) so many times.

It certainly won’t be Rosie Jones fault if the next series isn’t good. This one featured such classics as “make Alex nervous” and “put the watermelon on the table”. It just reaks of ableism to pick her out.

Any show like this needs a strong cast, so it should have probably been knocked on the head after 10 seasons if they couldn’t provide multiple talents together.
 
Maluco said:
I think 25 seasons of any show is way too much. Last season was basically a competition with one person competing and we have already seen obnoxious and crazy (Joanne) and the “I am ditzy and confused and don’t understand the game” (played by 36 year old Sophie) so many times.

It certainly won’t be Rosie Jones fault if the next series isn’t good. This one featured such classics as “make Alex nervous” and “put the watermelon on the table”. It just reaks of ableism to pick her out.

Any show like this needs a strong cast, so it should have probably been knocked on the head after 10 seasons if they couldn’t provide multiple talents together.
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It also featured plenty of other tasks that were a lot more physical. As most series do. They all generally have a mix of both. If next season has hardly any physical ones, it certainly won't be "ableism" to acknowledge that, and to acknowledge why that's clearly the case.

The fact there's a buzzword used to try and deflect the bleeding obvious shouldn't change the fact that it's bleeding obvious that they're going to have to factor in "Will Rosie Jones be physically able to do this?" while thinking up all the tasks. And as the answer will be "no" to a lot of the physical type tasks that they use each series, then it's clearly going to be a huge factor why if the tasks feel a bit tame and samey next series, with far less physical ones amongst the usual mix.

Hopefully they'll be able to come up with plenty of tasks that still work. And, as you suggest, there's always some tasks each series that don't work as well anyway. But, generally, apart from the Covid ones, they largely get the balance right most series. The Rosie Jones factor is, by choice this time, going to limit what they can do similar to the series filmed during Covid. Hopefully they'll work round it well and come up with plenty of good tasks.
 
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hobbers said:
It will be the same as the season with Jenny Eclair. A lot of "stand on this spot and do something" tasks. Play a one man band memory game. Peel an egg. Rotate a big wheel. Catch something in a hat. That sort of shite.
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Yeah, that's a good example. Probably one of the few / only series so far where they've clearly limited the physical tasks due to a contestant. And the next series is clearly going to have to be another.

And I agree about series 11, 12 and 14. The were all good series. To be honest, I quite enjoyed this latest series really. None of the later ones have been 'classics', but I thought it was a perfectly watchable and enjoyable series.

Though I agree about a point earlier regarding Sophie's 'confused / what am I like?' type performance. It felt like they could have plucked plenty of random 'characters' you encounter in daily life and they could have been like that on there. There wasn't much quick wit or professional comedian about her for me.
 
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Does anyone know what pic Greg showed Alex in this episode?

This has to be one of the best episodes.

 
Just finished the most recent series. I think the bottom three were solidly worthwhile contestants. Joanne less so, and the John fella a typical try hard.

Steve had some good moments.

Better than the Boyle series though for sure, tasks more interesting. Still not a patch on the early season tasks though.
 
Robindinho said:
Just finished it, great series. Wonder what the aubergine task was?! :lol:

One team, one dream, we all scream for the house queens...

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2 years too late.

They had to put aubergine in your teammate mouth and walk across the garden. The boys did very well. But they had to scrap the task before giving it to the girls because they hadn't thought how the task would be interpreted.
 
Sunny has been displaced, this is my new comfort/background noise show. I don't think I've not enjoyed a season or episode, there will always be something to make you laugh.

"Absolute casserole" had me in tears.
 
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