posted Feb 5, 2008

I like Ski Sunday and I don't really mind if it turns in to Top Gear on skis. As a snowboarder, I really like the equal attention there is for snowboarding and skiing. I much rather see items on how to improve technique, where to go, what materials to buy etc. as this inspires me. Most people are average, decent skiers/boarders and all the high-tech stuff is nice to look at but does not relate to me.

Not sure about the whole celeb-thing but I do like the technical tips & hints they get. Maybe they could remove the celebs and have Coaching Slot every week where they have a professional showing discussing a particular bit of technique with 'normal' people of the same level as most others? I mean, many of these celebs look like they have been skiing for years and seem to be really really good already.

For racing etc, I can watch Eurosport and the likes, especially with Freeview giving us many more channels (Setanta does some snow sports as well) so I am not fussed at all about not having that on the show.

But I do draw the line at the bit in Australia where we had to watch him drive through a snowless landscape, talking about kangaroos etc. That is not Ski Sunday. Just show me the snow!

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posted Feb 5, 2008

"if the OLD boring ones at the bottom dont like the program, can they not just change channel. i have never really understood people complainging about TV programs, surely if you dont like a program just change channel, i guess they would have nothing to gurn about if they did that." (baldyboarder)

What nonsense! The 'if you don't like it then change channel' argument is one of the most flawed around.

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posted Feb 5, 2008

I was impressed with the background to the downhill, which gives a hint of how important and difficult these events are to organise.

I would like there to be more background on the events, training and technique to show how difficult it is to reach the WC level. I think it would be best in a football focus style show.

I have no problem with the other activities, competitions but the travelling is pointless.

The reason i find it disappointing is because winter sports is appears the sport is not taken seriously anymore by the BBC. There is more in depth coverage of bowls and darts?

P.S. the image people going skiing / boarding mainly coming from wealthy families is very outdated and a stereotype. Obviously they exist in some resorts but the majority are normal people

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posted Feb 6, 2008

As a winter sports enthusiast (skis and boards) that has little interest in racing I have to say that I am amused by all the comments on here.

1. Viewing figures - you do seem to have forgotten that "prime time" also means that the other channels will be showing stuff that, difficult as it may be for you to believe, people want to watch instead of Ski Sunday. The great unwashed will watch Emmerdale etc!! That's why it's called Prime Time. Regardless of how passionate we all are of our sports there is little or no chance of competing with them!! This is the direct opposite of when it was afternoon viewing when it was invariably up against stuff that no-one wanted to watch!

2. You can sit on this forum and talk amongst like-minded opponents of the show as much as you like, the concensus that I have from the real world is that more people are switching onto it precisely because of the variety of what's on offer.

3. Graham and Ed - I happen to enjoy their presenting styles, I don't regard them as trite, childish, selfish, celbrity obsessed or any of the other criticisms levelled at them (or the programme)across the four or five threads. I'd much rather see two guys that are passionate about what they do than a bunch of anoraks quoting statistics. In fact you may be able to drawer parallels here with the much derided (on here) Top Gear, which died on it's backside before being re-born rather succesfully!

4. I'm afraid that I have a rather more jaundiced view of where my license fee goes than sending Graham and Ed up a few mountains. Why do I want Jonathon Ross and his production company to receive £15m so that he can stick his tongue up a few celebrity backsides on "prime time" Friday night as opposed to the few thousand that it cost to send Ed Leigh to a destination in Australia that I may realistically get to in the next year or two? Let's get things in perspective, or is it simply a touch of the green-eyed monster???

In short - I'm a fan. But then I am a 40-something that still skateboards, windsurfs, skis and boards obsessively, with my wife and two children. I don't race (well not skis and boards anyway)but do travel, am interested in improving my skiing and like to enjoy myself when I'm doing it all. Which programme would I prefer? The stat-laden, lycra fest of the old Ski Sunday or the relaxed, varied version now on our screens? Tricky one that!!!

Good work guys, keep it up!!!

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posted Feb 6, 2008

Edit to the above post!

Viewing figures - Do you realise that this is up against "Dancing on Ice" and "Wild at Heart", two of the largest audience rated shows on ITV? That actually makes the figures for the new format even more astonishing!!

Well done lads!

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posted Feb 6, 2008

//

Viewing figures - Do you realise that this is up against "Dancing on Ice" and "Wild at Heart", two of the largest audience rated shows on ITV? That actually makes the figures for the new format even more astonishing!!

Well done lads! //

Lostboysaint

you are mad - it is aimed at a different demographic - so it could be up against corrie and stil lget teh same figures, what you have to yardstick it against is Channel 4 skiing (or Eurosports, etc).

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posted Feb 6, 2008

Id love to see some telemark/XC/Biathlon. Personally until I read this I didnt know that there was any other British involvement on teles/XC etc.

There is no coverage of telemarking elsewhere - so why not one episode? Surely its got to be more interesting and mainstream than going down the hill on a blow-up sled. Hell, there was even an article in the Metro newspaper about the health benefits of summer training using XC rollers..

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posted Feb 9, 2008

Having also just represented Great Britain, yes Great Britain at a winter sport: Telemark, I too find it disgusting that as a nation we dont follow or support our national athletes. (Oh unless you call yourself a footballer and try to act in stunt movies every saturday or sunday by rolling around the pitch!) Even Rugby is still not that well supported. Having now represented GB in the oldest skiing technique Telemark, on the World Cup circuit it is totally amazing that in all the countries that the GB Team competed by the end of that day the local and national press had the results and pictures of the teams and interviews and articles about the sport, the athletes and the event. In UK, not a jot of ink spilt on any tabloid!!
To think that 1 of our previous National Athletes Mr G Bell would not even consider covering the sport once was a disgrace to the sport and the nation.
None of the GB Telemark team are asking for millions of pounds to appear live on TV or be given flash cars and jewellery but just to show off the fact that we are competing against the best skiers in the world and the British are giving it their best shot would be a start, oh a small piece of coverage in TV to show that to the Nation!

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posted Feb 10, 2008

Whilst I am very happy with the new style Ski Sunday, apart from the loss of quite a lot of the actual racing, I do have one problem. Please, please, when skiing down a race track with the camera please do NOT film backwards, nor at the person skiing. The whole point of this part is for the viewer to imagine going down the run. This has always been the highlight. However if you keep on filming backwards or to the person on skis the whole effect is ruined. Just keep filming downhill, so the viewer can enjoy the ride. Comment is fine, but do not waver from the straightforward downhill filming. This may go against someone's idea of how to film, but ignore that, just film straight ahead!!!

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posted Feb 10, 2008

Good points TeleMaddog but I suspect that Graham didn't have a choice when it came to what was presented, so it's not really his fault. I am upset too that the Beeb fail to televise the Telemarkers as we could really do with the exposure to help our cause; a couple of minutes on National TV would give us an opportunity to promote our less-than-well-known sport. As Graham has aready said Ski Sunday is designed to promote skiing - so offering the British public the opportunity to learn about more techniques (Freestyle, bumps, ski-jumping, biathlon, cross-country, telemark) surely would be a good idea; thus widening the horizons and educating many viewers across the nation.

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