posted Jan 24, 2008

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posted Jan 24, 2008

I actually thought it was good. It needs to appeal beyond hard core skiers and there's always Eurosport or the excellent C4 programme on Sunday Morning. Thankfully we avoided a lot of the park stuff that took up too much air time last season. There was perhaps a bit too much 'travel' features for one episode but lets see how it evolves.

Enjoyed the celeb feature not because he's a celeb but because it was nice to see he had some real faults in his skiing just like the rest of us and it was interesting to see the coaching he was given. Javelin turns aren't that easy to master but it did improve his skiing. Let's see the helmets used properly though!

One thing I'd like to see is a feature on Scottish resorts. We seem to promote every other ski destination and we ought to give our own country a chance.

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posted Jan 24, 2008

I'm with ya on the scottish resorts.

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posted Jan 27, 2008

I am really pleased that Graham has replied to everyone's comments, nice to hear the rationale behind the decision to change the format.
I too agree that Ski Sunday can't be all ski racing if it wants to draw in more people into winter sports. However, 13 mins in the 1st programme and 10 mins in the 2nd does seem a bit light to me, especially given the historical significance of this programme in the national psyche.

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posted Jan 28, 2008

How can the BBC justify sending one of the producers on his own private hooley with a private helicopter snow board testing! I thought it was trying to appeal to non-skiiers! Heliskiing must reaklly inspire us!

If they are trying to appeal to non-skiiers why not teacha non skiier to ski? Not send a presenter on a bloody expensive freebie!

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posted Jan 28, 2008

I would prefer to watch you guys over the Ch4 coverage since I can't stand the constant hyped up tone of Nick Fellows commentary. But the trouble is not only do you only show a few minutes of ski racing, but even during this you spend as much time on face shots of Bell as you do on the racer, even whilst the racer is on the course. Talk about dumbing down!

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posted Feb 1, 2008

Dear Mr Bell
I don't ski. I did it once, didn't like it, now have dodgy knees and I can't stand up in snow. BUT I LOVE WATCHING SKIING ON TELLY! I love all the downhill events. I adore the biathletes (Iarochenko is gorgeous!). And as for the ski jumpers, they're all barking! I haven't even mentioned the Nordic skiing, which my ski friends tell me is more like what real people actually do on holiday.

So why can I only see 10 minutes of one race on the BBC, when there are all these amazing sports to watch?

Since Eurosport on Top up TV is on for 2 hours in the morning, the only way I can see coverage of my favourite winter sports is to record Channel 4's coverage. I think I'll replay it during Ski Sunday this week and actually enjoy watching skiing coverage.

Still, nice of you to ask for our comments. Don't suppose anyone will take any notice: you have obviously recorded all the programmes 10 weeks in advance. Don't suppose you can tell us who wins the World Cup in March? Then I can make a few bob down at the bookies!

Yours,

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posted Feb 3, 2008

Artist,
I take your point about time trials not being spectator-friendly. I'd draw your attention to the biathlon/nordic x-country sprint/pursuit format, whereby the winner of the time trial is chased in the next race by those who finished behind him, starting the same number of seconds behind him. Or what about the mass start where up to 60 racers start at the same time? Or there's the Nordic sprint formats, where racers ski through towns in a knockout format. There's so much more to skiing than one racer at a time hurtling downhill - even though the BBC doesn't seem to think so.

And I didn't even mention the non-ski winter sports like bobsleigh, skeleton...

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posted Feb 14, 2008

People need to realise that snowsports have a really high participation rate, as high as rugby, but we get so little coverage on terrestrial TV. First off we need to get people hooked, and then convert them to the sport. Graham might remember his and Martins roots in ski racing where they came from plastic to a small friendly race club called the White Hare Ski Club, rather more moons ago than he might like to admit! Time has moved on ski racing has moved on, sadly the elite impression of ski racing still exists. Despite this many hundreds of kids stand at the top of slopes plastic and snow, every year. As a mother of 2 racers I know how hard it is to get them taken seriously. How about Ski Sunday taking a camera to some of those races and taking to some of them and showing the UK that british skiing is alive and well and growing? n Nice to speak to you Graham again after about 30 years!!!

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posted Mar 3, 2008

Graham
I might be a bit slow off the mark in commenting here as we are well into the season and Ski Sunday has been up and running in its new format for a while now. I have been skiing for 26 years now since the age of 9 and I have to say that I love the new format. It does seem to try and replicate a version of Top Gear but lets face it what is wrong with that I love Top Gear! While I am an experienced skier I am also a huge fan of the Alpes and have spent summers there too so I enjoyed watching the trip you undertook during the Summer. As you rightly pointed out for those who want to watch only ski racing interactive provides that. The objective of this new format is valid it needs to have broader appeal and while I am ski mad I have other interests too and this programme deals with those. So if I see you white water rafting in the Alpes next series I will enjoy watching that too. In short Graham keep up the good work! This is not to say I am not envious of your fantastic job particulalry when I am unable to go skiing this year for the first time (baby!). Long live Ski Sunday. PS Tell Ed his bits pretty good too even if he is a snowboarder (only joking - very impressed with his uphill boarding in this weeks show but prefered your 90 mile piste route )Just a quick question is there a book planned? I would love to replicate the summer trip you did and also take on the piste route through all the resorts to Val Thoren - these are for the future! Cheers Wheels

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