The HARDEST Jobs in TV | Q&A 

Never thought I would hear Richard Osman breakdown the history of rap beef and its legitimacy in pop culture

I can't believe I've binge-watched/listened my way through this entire podcast. The best part is I don't really care about 90% of the things that they talk about, I just love listening to them talk -- how weird is that? (Thanks Baby Reindeer controversy for sending me here -- now I have my own obsession!)

As an Editor I was going to interject and say we're the hardest working (and most forgotten member of any production).. but you're right, the Production Manager has the hardest job and when I think of any of the best ones I've worked with, my eyes glaze over under a torrent of respect. It's an unenviable job and while Editors might asleep on the floor sometimes, no Production Manager has ever slept, ever. True fact.

Rapping beefs are just 2 grown men writing poetry to each other

One reason i love this podcast is that youll get a question about rap beefs and one about bbc funding answered with equal enthusiasm within the same week. (Also, Kendrick won handedly, but Drake's lyric "kendrick just opened his mouth, someone go give him a grammy right now" was very funny.)

For those trying to find the artist mentioned early on, he's spelled "Lee Madgwick".

BBC Newsreader Kenneth Kendall played himself interviewing astronauts on BBC12 (uncredited) in 2001 A Space Odyssey. (1968) and had also played himself in Adam Adamant Lives in 1966. Cronkite wasn't until 1974.

I love it when Richard says by and large 😂 I'm gonna start saying it

For some time I've measured myself in units of Tom Cruise (1.02 Tom's btw).

4:07 David Mitchell once said that the BBC would not endorse sharing fake news footage for a show he was hosting on BBC3 for a show about news that people may miss, when shut away from the news for a week. The show was "The Bubble", and it was the first episode was with Victoria Coren (as she was back then), Reginald Delicious Hunter & Frank Skinner.

As someone who is "not the talent" and also "not in a union" over the years, the hours I have worked. When I first worked as a tea boy at Trident Studios in St Anne's Court Soho, we did 10hr day shifts, 15hr night shifts, and 24hr weekend shifts. And it carried on from there. I remember one live event I worked on, we got into the venue at 15:00. We then worked solid all night and all the next day, which included installing all the tech and rehearsing, then went live at 20:00. Then we had to take all our tech from the venue so it was clear for the next company coming it at 9am the next day. None of us slept. For the tech crew, ten-hour days were not unusual, plus travel. Unionised crew tended to work stricter hours. They were often lighting and sparks. Those of us in sound, or producing/directing, we worked whatever it took to hit the deadline and move on to the next project. In recording studios, especially back in the 1980s, all-nighters following working all day, were frequent.

Just wanted to say I found this podcast 3 days ago and loving it! Keep up the great work

Honourable mention for real press on screen is 1961s film The Day the Earth Caught Fire in which most of the entire staff of the Daily Express are featured, from print floor to the active Editor Arthur Christianson in a key role. Good film too.

Star Wars was classically 'saved in the edit'; Marcia Lucas made several significant cuts and changed the story running order.

It's been said already, but I love the podcast because I'm happy to listen to Richard and Marina talk about anything. They'd probably make the ingredients list on a baked bean can sound good. AND everything get equal enthusiasm. I can't think of any other that quite does that.

Several years ago, my husband and I were in the audience for some Pointless episodes recording. One contestant had a face like thunder when his answer was rejected due to just slightly wrong by a letter - he clearly thought it was close enough. On our way home by tube, he was on the train and he was telling everyone that would listen that he "was robbed"!

Re:exploding cars, if you watch American crime and spy dramas on TV you can tell when a car full of bad guys are doomed when they are driving a car that's about 5 years old. So like everyone will be driving late model G Wagons and then 4 guys split off in a Honda Civic

The quiz show with probably the most questions and answers open to interpretation is Only Connect. I have often wondered if Victoria Coren-Mitchell has lots of notes/ spent hours reading around the subject or they just pause the filming for ten minutes whilst the question setters decide before they restart.

Rich knows his rap

I always loved the bits of Countdown in About a Boy, it made that movie feel more real, unlike most Hugh Grant movies haha.

There will be accurate measurements for Dwayne Johnson somewhere from when he played American/Canadian football.

In Australian Rules Football, the Collingwood Football Club routinely overstated the height of their players, so much so that players around 5’10” came to be referred to as “Collingwood Six-Footers.”

Regarding whether you can tell if a film is a turkey, speaking as crew, whilst I am an HoD and get asked to be expert in my area, I will have opinions on the show from working on the script in pre-production however, as with any book, it is an entirely subjective vision from my reading. As such, crew must be subject to the Directors vision rather than spend every day of the shoot second guessing and actually saying "well I wouldn't have done it that way". In our heads... certainly we are, however you must trust the process and the chain of command. The feel and emotion are down to the Director and the crew likely won't truly get that vision until they see the final product with the audience, which will have been altered yet further, especially in pace, by the Editor. The crew of the original Star Wars openly hated it. Didn't get it at all but got on with the job to best of their abilities and ended up making one of most successful and game changing films of all time. So in short, you shut up, do your utmost, guide where you can and, only if asked directly to do so, offer criticism. Well all have huge egos so shutting up is best.

YES PLEASE.... I WANT the "See You Next Tuesday" merch...!!

I'll never forget the time someone called Haley Joel OSMENT "Haley Joel Osmond" on Pointless and it was accepted as a correct answer. The disgrace! Cancelled my TV licence straight after I made a furious complain to Ofcom! /s 😂😂

What Gem 💎 this show is, I have only recently discovered it and I am already running out of episodes. Great conversation the sarcasm and wit are a joy keep it up 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👌🏼

He’s huge - walked pass us at Monster Gym in Cheshunt UK when over filming a F+F movie. He’s more than 6.1 by far.

For my money I prefer to see newsreaders doing newsflash inserts on dramas because they just sound authentic but actors emote too much so sound fake. And i agree with Richard that the news editors would be best to write the script for the segment as, again, it adds to the realism.

Dwayne Johnson is probably 6.3 - 6.4. Face to Face at Wrestlemania in April he is 2-3 inch taller than John Cena. Is Rock is 6 foot tops, that makes Cena 5.9-5.10 and he's is clearly bigger than that. In college is played defensive tackle and you don't get players on that position so small.

Thank you for recognising Production Managers

I'm a French former subscriber of "Globe iPlayer" (or something), and I am so annoyed that there is no other (legal) option for me than BBC Prime (bought as part of a largely uninteresting package). I do understand the financial rationale behind the current system. Still annoyed

Would it be worth you both wearing name badges? Possibly save some hassle

Great videos but introductions would be more appreciated to include what you do or have done to give some idea to viewers appreciation of your comments. Thanks both of you

I remember the surprise in the cinema in the first mission impossible film where Sky News were on it with their news reader

Van Jones put it best on twitter when he said that Kendrick didn't just hate Drake, he holds him as the villain of the culture. He doesn't just hate the idea that Drake is Drake, he hates the idea that the material conditions of the world allowed anyone to become Drake. "He wants no more Drakes forever."

There was a quiz which recently had a question about ketosis. The question assumed that it's a diet high in protein and that that's a defining characteristic of ketosis, but it's not. Those questions are a bit odd. There shouldn't be anything behind the question over which one can argue the toss.

The problem is that the local tv services cut content to slam adverts and you need to be in the proper subscription tier to access that content. I don't mind paying for specific sports content and some series are actually quite progressive in making their content available for a worldwide audience. I think Aunty Beeb should take notice to what ITV are doing with putting sports content on Tiktok.

Sod the hardest working person. I want to know who is the hardest work!

Karen Gillan is 5'11 and The Rock is taller than her in every photo I've seen of them together. Especially ones with Kevin Hart with them for scale. 🤷‍♂️

Fall Guy the original TV show starts every episode with a voice over.

Newsreaders. Monty Python. “Lemon Curry?”

is this Chael's best video ever??! Off the top of my head, ok you don't have to correct me, it's certainly up there!

19:21 me sat in the USA wondering what my BBC America, BritBox, and Acorn subscriptions are… (also, fun factoid, on the West Coast we have cultural pockets that always say “USA” vs. “US” because of proximity to Mexico, which is officially The United States of Mexico. Also why we often say in Mexican/CA/SA Spanish that someone is estadounidense americano rather than just estadounidense).

Re:explosions/burning. Whatever is used to create the fire, it will not be petrol, which is far too volatile and unpredictable. It will be a gel or liquid that is very predictable in how it burns. Fun fact, this even goes for 'log fires' or bonfires. The flames will actually be piped gas from a bottle, which is turned off between takes. Fire is far too dangerous to be 'real' on a set. I'm sure there's some good Mythbusters episodes involving professional explosions, demonstrating what they use.

Seen that photo of the Rock next to Charles Barkley and Shaq. Charles Barkley is 1.98cm. NBA player height has to be reliable, given how important that stat is for Basketball players. Anyway Barkley is easily 13 cm, or more, taller. So I reckon Rock is 1.83 to 1.85m at most so 6 ft to 6.1 ft

Now I'm intrigued to know of instances when an Exec Producer has had a dilemma to resolve. (Talent? Crew? Network?) The episode of Celeb Pointless with Kelvin MacKenzie presumably can't have been easy?

I heard on Smith & Sniff about a pub quiz that asked which was the biggest car manufacturer in the world. They asked the quiz master if it was car manufacturer or vehicle manufacturer, so he just cancelled the question and gave everyone the answer. At the time I believe Ford was the biggest vehicle manufacturer (loads of F150) but Toyota was the biggest car manufacturer. The answer had been Toyota, so the question was formulated correctly.

Answers on quiz shows - I remember Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen and his wife on WWTBA when there had been an issue with their answer being wrong. Question was - "Translated from the Latin, what is the motto of the United States?" They gave what the Latin actually means, not what the motto is, thus wrong answer.

UTOF? That's UT F O (as in Untouchable Force Organization).

Regardless of what the height was "billed" as at the time, lest we forget, we did see Dwayne Johnson's full frame on camera relative to other men every week on TV for a solid 7 years. 😂

RO on the beef ❤️

The War of the Worlds panic _is_ overblown but funnily enough, part of it is ascribed to it _being_ 1938 (i.e. people in the US were aware it was kicking off in Europe so tensions were _already_ high - at least some of those caught up in it actually assumed it was a foreign power rather than aliens).

I remember the "Paranaimbo" episode and remember feeling terrible for the guy because he thought he smashed it.

Hope Street was cofunded by Britbox and is shown all ovver the world. Liviing in Donaghadee where it is filmed we see tourists from Oz, South Africa, Canada, and elsewhere in the UK.

I expect one of the reasons we are seeing a lot of bad VFX is that it is now possible to do very cheap VFX, but it isn't very good (the cheapest option is to just type a prompt into an AI, but you'll have no control over how many fingers the people have on each hand...). Even good quality VFX has got a lot cheaper, though, making a lot of things cheaper to do virtually than practically. There are entire TV shows shot on green screen because it was cheaper to make the sets on a computer than in real life. That's been true for while - Sanctuary was mostly green screen in 2008.

The Rock's wrestling height was billed at 6'5 because Vince McMahon would always scale heights and weights up. The Rock is probably a legit 6'2

Question - on race across the world, how much of each countries currency do the contestants get? Thanks

Big fan of Richard discussing rap beefs although it’s UTFO rather than UTOF….

The BBC should offer an iPlayer/RU-vid option for shows that aren't syndicated. Obviously Dr. Who rights should be signed away, but for a show like pointless, the options are: a small amount of streaming money, or zero in distribution rights while a small number of people watch unlicensed copies anyway.

I was hoping I might witness a squabble in the spelling round on an episode of House of Games I saw recently, but the answer given matched what the question setters were expecting, so the only controversy came from me shouting my protests at the televsion 😀- The surname Schrödinger was the thing to be spelled. The answer given was 'Schrodinger', and this was the answer that was being sought. However it is arguably wrong - ö is not the same letter as o - and, moreover, the convention is to write it as oe if you can't find a way to print the two dots.

Pretty sure The Rock is approximately 6'0" tall, and Vin Diesel is 5'11" (give or take maybe half an inch depending on time of day). I think in that picture you show at 2:34 that Vin is standing up a step on the patio or something.

sorry Richard the crew from the Roxanne saga was UTFO.

There is a streaming channel called BBC America that we can subscribe to here in USA.

I seen richard recently saying about micro aggressions about his height and how he feels, then took the mickey about people's height

speaking of real news presenters being on other shows, I remember the short lived series 'The Bubble' hosted by David Mitchell, produced by Hat Trick, in 2010, which had comedians locked away for 4 days, and then are shown news stories in the studio, they have to work out which are real and fake, ITN helped with this and had their real presenters and real graphics provide stories, but despite being on BBC TWO, BBC News refused to take part, from the wiki, 'A BBC spokesman said "We are sure The Bubble on BBC Two will be extremely funny but BBC journalists will leave it to the comedians to do the comedy," while critics of the decision pointed out that several of its presenters had taken part in other fictional shows before, and described it as a "sense of humour failure".The BBC boycott was featured as one of the news stories in the first episode, with nobody picking it as the real story.' It was a great series in 2010, I reckon a 2024 version could be developed, 2010 was pre tik tok, pre trump and 'fake news' in the way we know it now.

2:00 “candy ass” or “sweetie bum”, as we say in the UK.

Please could you let me know precisely where you discuss ‘How actors trick us into thinking they’re tall’…….. Surely this was the one thing you didn’t discuss? I’m not sure ‘telling a lie’ is what we were expecting here but an informed discussion about ‘lifts’ angles, props etc.

It’s all about the perspective…🤷‍♂️

What's behind the increased popularity/presence of Australian TV in UK? It seems to be much more prevalent these days than US shows. Married At First Sight, Lego Masters, Traitors etc.

I remember an episode of Mastermind where a contestant was told his answer was wrong and he retorted "object" and Magnus Magnusson (appeared to?) immediately accept that the right answer had been given.

1:51 The Rock was doing WHAT to Vin Diesel??

The question about challenging the quizmaster reminded me of a pub quiz, a question was "who played Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars films?" THAT'S RIGHT Kevin Bacon?

The Rock must be 6ft 1 because Stone Cold Steve Austin is 6ft 1 and they are both the same height in the ring.

Did you change the thumbnail from 'The Rock is a Short King' because the numbers weren't great?

To be fair Vin Diesel is on a step there. The Rock is around 6’1 ish maybe just over.

When did 6 foot become ‘short king’? Average is 5’ 9”. (Vlad, aged 45, 5’11” and feeling inadequate).

But that bit about selling stuff just doesn't make sense. Almost no BBC programs are shown outside of the UK in that way. For the very, very, very, very few that are, just exclude them from being viewable outside of the UK.

On an episode of Pointless, "Freddy Got Fingered" was a possible answer. But I knew they'd conveniently omit it and they did. If I was a contestant, I'd be not best pleased 🤣

They sold Dr Who to Disney+ but didn't sell to the Republic of Ireland 😢

Who wrote that on the thumbnail, there is no way either Richard or Marina are aware of the phrase "Short King"

I seem to remember a pointless episode where one contestant gave an answer with an odd pronunciation, and the other contestant then gave the same answer with the correct pronunciation. It felt like you were stuck between a rock (6 ft1) and a hard place (size unknown) where you would have normally accepted the first answer, but was then forced to not accept it (if I remember correctly, the contestant that gave the 2nd answer just ended up looking like a petulant dick)

Absolutely gutted to hear a definitive answer about making iPlayer available globally! UK TV is the absolute best! Such bad news for absoute Anglophiles like me, stuck in an economically unworthy country.

A lot of adverts in this episode

UTFO Richard

UTFO Richard ! not UTOF, oh no.. dont repeat it..oh and again

Maria's questions "bit" at the beginning is getting VERY old..

6 feet 5 inches = 196 cm

What a rubbish question from James

Am I first?!

🍉

Nearly 20 minutes in and I am extremely bored

Marina Hyde talks too fast…..

I love the 'wrong answer' on Jimmy Carr's 'I've Literally Just told you.'. He admitted the mistake at a live gig where the contestant was in the audience. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-L4Mb6qepapQ.html So sweet!