Index
» #58 Oct 2000
THE GOODIES CLARION AND GLOBE
THE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER OF 'THE GOODIES RULE - OK' FAN CLUB
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Issue No. 58 12th October 2000
CLUB WEBSITE
CLUB E-MAIL
enquiries@goodiesruleok.com
POSTAL ADDRESS
'The Goodies Rule - OK!'
P.O. Box 325
Chadstone VIC 3148, AUSTRALIA
THE LADS AND LASSES OF THE C&G
EDITOR
- Brett Allender
ACE REPORTER
- David Balston
FAB. FEATURE WRITER
- Andrew Pixley.
WORD FINDER WHIZ
- Lisa Manekofsky
C&G CONTRIBUTORS:
Tim Aslat, Tracey Baird, Phil Wadey, Brian Labza, Andy Williamson,
CONTENTS
1. T'GRAND C&G SURVEY - Your feedback about the C&G
2. BOFFO IDEAS - Club happenings and ideas.
3. SPOTTED!!! - The latest Goodies sightings.
4. 2001 AND A BIT - Tim, Graeme and Bill sightings post-Goodies.
5. FEATURE ARTICLE - Goody - Goody - Ratings - Part Two
6. GOODIES WORD SEARCH - Some interesting Goodie words to discover.
1. T'GRAND C&G SURVEY
by Brett Allender.
And ee, it were grand too, with lots of tremendous feedback, praise, constructive criticism and creative suggestions being warmly received here at the C&G editorial pirate post office. The only real disappointment is that from a club membership listing of over 1200 people, just 38 members were willing to make the effort to submit a survey form despite the excellent prizes of free signed Goodies and Graeme Garden photographs on offer for 6 lucky respondants. Given that the C&G is a free publication and is essentially written by just half a dozen people on a voluntary basis each month, it would have been nice to receive a far greater response from the general membership in return; however this only adds to the C&G Team's appreciation of those who did spare a few minutes of their time to help us in our quest to improve the newsletter. Although we can't reward all respondants with 1000 OBE's for their services, we can at least provide a signed Goodies photo to each of the following "officially amazing" people:
* Signed Goodies group photo:
Keira Newton, Michael Wauchope, Chuck McKenzie.
* Signed Graeme Garden photo:
Marf Shopmyer, Tim Chmielewski, Astrid McGinty.
And now, a representative selection of responses to each of the survey questions, along with some editorial comment where appropriate:
WHAT DO YOU LIKE MOST ABOUT THE C&G?:
* "The general 'spottings' and updates on the Goodies, especially how they rate in polls etc. I also really appreciate all the work which goes into the research, and writings......certainly is a credit to you all."
* "Keeps me informed on all 'Goodies'-related news, old and new - the first regular publication ever to do so - thus making me feel less like an old dinosaur obsessed with an ancient TV show."
* "Informative, witty, relevant commentary."
* "The knowledge that I'm not the only loony around!!! I love the memories that reading the reviews etc. bring back and the feeling that I've got a load of mad mates around the world that understand exactly *why* I like the three nutters on the trandem - instead of the very strange looks that have been shot my way whilst out in my Goodies t-shirt."
* "Hearing people's experiences, like `What's Alison up to in England now?' and reviews and the latest Goodies Goss. I am very excited when it arrives and I always enjoy reading it."
* "(1) Being able to keep up-to-date with what Tim, Graeme and Bill are doing and realising that there's a lot more to who they are as people and as performers than what we see on the television screens. (2) Reliving those golden moments of the Goodies and those other moments that you've forgotten about until someone jogs your memory a bit. (3) Knowing that there's a lot of us Goodie fans out there in the big wide world who haven't forgotten and will never forget the how much fun the series was (and still is!)."
* "The episode summaries, for all of us who were too young the first time!"
* "It's great to feel that you are keeping up with the current "Goody" news and events. The content is very informative and quite often funny."
* "The entire package is very good, but I particularly enjoy the historical articles (e.g. recently, articles on the original TV ratings for the show in the 1970's, and the articles re the music and episode synopses)."
WHAT DO YOU LIKE LEAST ABOUT THE C&G?:
* "The fact it kept reminding me that I couldn't make it to Kitten Kong...."
* "I haven't found anything I dislike about the C & G; so in the words of 'Are You Being Served', you've all done very well!"
* "The fact that it is in 2 parts with A often arriving well after B."
* "The format - I'm not having a go, but it is somewhat ugly & often difficult to read...content is great though."
* "Sometimes some of the articles drag on a bit."
* "I think it would be better if it was more strictly "The Goodies" only, as many members probably aren't interested in other things they've done."
* "Its so long my creaky old computer/email doesn't handle it very well."
COMMENT: Trying to satisfactorily resolve the twin issues of the C&G length and format has been the trickiest problem that I've encountered since taking over as editor and I know that Alison had much the same dilemma too. Most monthly editions nowadays are too large to send as a single e-mail message for many recipients, yet others would prefer the C&G as a single message instead. There would be too much time commitment and too many internet hours involved in sending out fortnightly newsletters, so it seems as though I will need to continue to split the C&G into two separate e-mails. It takes about 40 minutes for my ISP to load up the 1200+ e-mail addresses for part A and then a further 10 minutes to churn through them again when sending part B. Then for some odd reason, part B does seem to arrive first so I'll try sending them in reverse order from now on and see what happens.
Regarding the format, I agree that the "plain text e-mail" is very unattractive to read, however I am reluctant to jazz up the e-mail message with fancy fonts and styles because there are so many different e-mail programs around and what looks great on one program might well be unreadable on another. The C&G is also produced as a neat-looking two-column newsletter in Word format for the benefit of our postal members, but I don't wish to send it out to the entire mailing list in this format because out of the 1200+ members, there are inevitably 40-50 e-mails which rebound each month for various reasons and I am not keen on having my hard drive clogged up and internet time wasted with a huge pile of rebounding attached files. If you are particularly keen on receiving the C&G as an attached Word file though, please e-mail me and I'll place your name on a separate mailing list for C&G distribution.
PLEASE RATE THE FOLLOWING REGULAR SECTIONS OF THE C&G USING THE BLACK PUDDING RATINGS SYSTEM:
BOFFO IDEAS:
Average rating - 3.03 - Goody Goody Yum Yum
* "Be nice if anyone sent any in, wouldn't it? Here's a couple that occurred to me: instead of getting people to write individually to the Beeb etc and getting no-where, why don't we organise a mass e-petition of all Goodies Rule OK members and their friends and send it to the TV stations en masse? With permission from TBT, BO & GG, why don't we produce some posters from the pics on the old website? Also, ditto with the calendar. Could also produce some e-mailable scouting badges for contributors to collect - not as good as a real sew-on patch, but fab for decorating wardrobes etc!!! Also, winners of the badges would earn the right to put the badge name after their name on the message board, members pages, C&G"
* "Although a slow starter, with early editions being mostly made of tee shirt proposals, this has produced some real humdingers, culminating in Kitten Kong"
* "I don't really see what it is getting at as I don't recall any jobs in it!"
COMMENT: The Boffo Ideas section isn't exactly as glamourous as other sections like Spotted and the Episode Summaries, but its main function is to convey general information about fan club activities to our members. Obviously the Kitten Kon convention was the best boffo idea of the lot, but this section has also featured details about club merchandise, video nights, website updates and other club news which generally seems to rate quite well with most respondants. The suggestions made above are great and further boffo ideas from members are most welcome.
SPOTTED!!!:
Average rating - 4.03 - Officially Amazing
* " The "Spotted" column is also interesting and is a worthy "news" column in most instances."
* "I particularly enjoy the "Spotted" section. I enjoy the news about recent/upcoming appearances by the Goodies. I also like hearing about Goodies references in the media and forthcoming items such as books and ISIHAC tapes."
* "Very good. Naffs me off about things I've missed!"
* "Stalking the G's worldwide, I love it, though I'm very envious of those overseas contributors!"
* "Again should be more "The Goodies" only. Maybe you should rename the site/club TBT, GG and BO Rule OK!"
COMMENT: Spotted!!! appears to have universal approval, with no ratings lower than 3 and quite a few "superstars", so the contributions of all of our Ace Reporters and occasional contributors in tracking down Goodies sightings far and wide is definitely appreciated by one and all. From this month's issue onwards however, there will be a slight change in the structure of this section, with "Spotted!!!" being reserved for sightings with a "Goodies" theme and a new section called "2001 And A Bit" which will contain news of Bill, Tim and Graeme's other individual projects post-Goodies. This will still provide all of the same Goodie news on the superchaps three as before, but will enable readers who are only interested in news about "The Goodies" to more readily skip over non-Goodies items which they don't wish to read.
FEATURE ARTICLES:
Average rating - 3.97 - Officially Amazing
* "Feature articles that cover information about the show (esp censorship and the TV ratings article from the most recent edition of C&G). Info like this is great reading, especially when it's from the earlier years of the show which is my personal favourite time."
* "My other favorite items are the feature articles. I can't say enough about Andrew Pixley's contributions. They're always very interesting and well written. I suspect that they contain information which would be nearly impossible to obtain elsewhere unless someone wanted to duplicate Andrew's research, and I doubt that many of us have the time or the access to the BBC Archives to be able to do so."
* "Well written and informative articles, from what I've seen, looking forward to the next instalment of series 5-7."
* "I really love the feature articles, and I wish I had of read some of them a few years ago when I was studying. They are handled intelligently and professionally. Very inspirational!"
COMMENT: The high rating for this section is a great credit to the dedication of Andrew Pixley, Jonathan Sloman and Lisa Manekofsky, who have all made a number of outstanding contributions to the C&G over the past year in particular. Although feature articles have appeared in the past several editions of the C&G, we would certainly welcome more contributions for future editions, so if you've got something interesting about the Goodies to share with us then please send it in!
GOODIES EPISODE SUMMARIES:
Average rating - 4.00 - Officially Amazing
* "For me, who hasn't seen a Goodies episode since the 70s (except the 2 vids released by the Beeb) this is brilliant. I've seen a lot of them, but reading the summaries brings it all back. There are those boring people who will claim it's not the same as watching them (of course it's not) - but seeing as that doesn't look to be an option in the UK for a while, it'll do"
* "The 'Goodies Episode Summaries' part is a bit redundant for people who already have your very good 'The Goodies Episode Summaries' book."
* "Most of my vids are copies edited for rebroadcast. I don't always have the credits, I rarely have the "commercials," and bits get garbled. The summaries help a lot. They also remind me of the eps I barely recall but don't have on video."
* "This is annoying as I haven't seen the episodes, so I never read them "
COMMENT: I spent a couple of hundred very enjoyable (though brain straining) hours of my spare time in 1997 and 1998 putting together the Goodies Episode Summaries mainly so that other Goodies fans who didn't have similar access to the episodes on video or tv broadcast could at least gain some idea of the storyline and highlights from a written description, so I'm very pleased that the summaries seem to be fulfilling this purpose for most respondants. Unfortunately there is an element of repetition in the C&G for the 80 or so people who have already bought the entire book of summaries, but the summaries are fresh reading for the vast majority of C&G recipients.
GOODIES MUSIC REVIEWS:....
Average rating - 3.06 - Goody Goody Yum Yum
* "Music reviews tend to be hard to follow... the actual review and information lost in a slew of Goodies references and quotes :) Sometimes hard to tell where the songs come from... probably because I'm not too familiar with the non-TV episode/'Yum Yum' songs (from their other books/albums) :)"
* "The thing I like least are the Goodies music reviews. I think this stems from when I originally started getting the C&G - at that point, I had only seen about half of the Goodies episodes and I didn't have most of their albums. So I found that I didn't understand a lot of the references in the music reviews."
* "All very well if you've heard the tracks and can either shout, "yeah, mate - you're right there" or " you're talking a right load of tripe there, our kid!" at the computer as you read the review. If you can't remember the song, it doesn't really tell you much."
* "Prefer listening to the music than reading about it."
COMMENT: The music reviews were never meant to be particularly intellectual (especially not with me writing them!) or even all that informative - just a broad outline of the song mixed with a few other distorted Goodies references and a heap of bad puns in a bid to provide something creative and little bit different to all of the other factual material surrounding it in the newsletter. These reviews were first started as a joint effort by Alison Bean and myself in March 1998 and we've since covered 20 Goodies songs including all of their biggest hits and many of their more offbeat songs. It is becoming more difficult for me to write something original and creative about some of the lesser known songs every second month and there seems little point in persisting given the lukewarm response, so this seems like an appropriate time to let the Almighty Cod swallow my gramophone and put an end to this section of the C&G.
THE END:....
Average rating - 2.86 - Goody Goody Yum Yum (minus)
* "I dont think the ISIHAC stuff is very funny. It might be that it's a bit old fashioned, I don't know. I love comedy, esp British Comedy, but I dont like this stuff much. Fairly lame."
* "Bit'o'fun before signing off, I love seeing how wordily clever Graeme in particular can be..."
* "Again, more stuff I've not heard before (always was of the opinion that Radio 1 was for sprogs with no taste in music and Radios 2, 3 and 4 was for old codgers. Seeing as my Inbetweenie status is pushing me towards the old codger side, I'll have to review this opinion). Usually has me laughing out loud at the computer, which, fortunately is at home and not in a public place, where my laughter would be met with the same looks as you get when laughing at the funny birthday cards in the shops."
COMMENT: Despite the above selection of quotes appearing to give a favourable verdict overall, The End in fact produced a very polarised vote with a large number of low ratings being partially balanced out by a few 4's and 5's in turn. Although the ISIHAC material isn't actually derived from The Goodies, it is still a fine example of Goodies-style wordy humour and given that it has been a long-running comedy commitment for Tim and Graeme since the early 1970's, it is definitely worthy of a place in our newsletter. However rather than featuring it as a separate section to tie up the C&G each month, it will now appear in a slightly reduced form as part of the "2001 And A Bit" section on a regular basis.
THE C&G OVERALL:....
Average rating - 4.53 - Superstar.
* " I love it all!!!! I appreciate the interesting topics, and look forward to my Clarion.....makes my day/week/month...I am glad to be part of something which you guys have such a passion about......my friends just don't understand me!"
* "Overall, very much appreciated and looked-forward to. Seems to be being run by and contributed to by too few people. Hopefully, this survey may kick a few arses into gear (namely mine) and get more people to make the job of the above-mentioned few a lot easier."
* "Officially amazing...That it even exists at all, where do you find the time?"
* "I think that being a totally voluntary organisation, the whole Fan Club, web site, C&G, Kitten Kon, etc are bloody fantastic. Needs to be OBE's all round."
* "I'm still totally amazed at the newsletter. It's always full on interesting things which I want to know about, yet wouldn't have a clue where to start looking. I love the whole thing!"
* "I really enjoy the whole thing and look forward to getting it. 'The Goodies' has been a part of my life for 20 years now and it is brilliant to read about all the old episodes and songs etc that I know by heart."
COMMENT: Well it looks like we must be doing something right with that sort of approval rating, however there is always room for improvement and we'll try to take as many of your comments and suggestions on board as we can, though please bear in mind that we are indeed a voluntary organisation with limited resources (rather like The Goodies themselves actually!)
IDEAS / SUGGESTIONS FOR OTHER ITEMS WHICH WE COULD INCLUDE IN THE C&G:
* "Perhaps a 'letters to the editor' section (for feedback), or a 'classifieds' section, for people wanting to buy/sell/swap Goodies-related items."
* "Any chance of further interviews with Tim / Bill / Gra-bags?"
* "How difficult to include classic shots from the series? Just one classic photo each episode would be interesting.
Occasional competitions are good. Don't need to have big prizes. Just the winner's name in the next newsletter.
A friend ran a weekly movie trivia quiz for ages like this. Good way to get people involved - get to know people (but more work I admit)"
* "Maybe a quote of the month, from any episode."
* "Graphics, audio files, video clips."
* "I don't know how realistic this is, but perhaps getting the occasional input from the Goodies, or at least Tim and Graeme, would be good. How about asking Tim if he'd like to write up a short piece about his reactions to Kitten Kon, his visit to Australia, etc.?"
* "Maybe more pictures, puzzles. Including members letters inviting members to contribute. Goodies fans postal list - to contact other fans by mail. Goodies for sale - fans link up to each other to sell/buy Goodies stuff- maybe call it "Needed""
* "Maybe a reader vote or poll on certain aspects of The Goodies? Much like the annual votes that the Doctor Who Club Of Australia does. "
COMMENT: The C&G has previously featured a 'letters to the editor' section called Pirate Post Office in several editions, however most of the letters received in recent times have been specific requests for information rather than general commentary on a particular Goodies issue which would be of interest to all C&G readers, so this section does exist if you've got a query or opinion which you'd like to be published.
This month's edition contains an ad about Goodies items for sale, but members are also encouraged to utilize the excellent bulletin board which Tim has set up under the "chat" section of the club website if they have Goodies merchandise to sell or swap. However please be aware that club communications like the C&G, bulletin board and the Goodies-L are not to be used to arrange the private swapping of Goodies episodes on video due to the potential consequences for the club if the copyright holders for The Goodies episodes happened to discover any breaches of the copyright laws and decided to take legal action.
The inclusion of pictures, audio files or video clips with the C&G each month as attached files isn't a realistic option for the reason given earlier - I have no wish to receive about 40 or 50 copies of these files rebounding back from failed deliveries among the 1200+ recipients each month. In any case, virtually all of the Goodies pictures, sound and video clips which I have at my disposal are already available (or at least soon will be) in the "stuff" section of our club website for members to download at their own leisure.
I'm also prepared to run a new trivia competition in upcoming C&G's with various small prizes up for grabs, however its future will be very much dependent on getting a greater rate of support and participation from club members than this survey did. The suggestion made by several people about a "quote of the month" is also a good one which will also be taken up in future editions.
And we'd all love to be able to read more interviews or direct articles from Tim, Graeme and Bill themselves, but since all three of them made such a magnificent contribution to the success of Kitten Kon I've been reluctant to bother them with any further requests, especially as they have been very busy with other tv, radio and stage commitments since then. I'll ask very nicely and see what I can come up with over the next few months, but you'll just have to put up with the mad ramblings of your usual C&G Team for the time being! :}
ANY COMMENTS ABOUT OUR OTHER FAN CLUB ACTIVITIES?
WEBSITE
* "The website is great as well, I visit regularly and love to randomly view some of the pictures....very amusing."
* "Glad to see the new and improved website looking attractive and informative."
* "The new website is looking great, and hopefully the new address might make it easier to find for new members (particularly when Laugh Radio comes back on air!). However, the old address is still found by search engines/link sites; might be a good idea to make it clear on the main page that the most up to date version is elsewhere."
* "The new website is great, but have had trouble finding it without the address (only the old stuff seems to keep appearing with search engines like Looksmart and excite!)"
* " Additional website suggestions - Vote on your favourite episode (s). Fan artwork and art gallery. Letters to The Goodies - a place to see/read letters to The Goodies. Goodies games and activities on the website."
KITTEN KON
* "Kitten Kon was a BLAST. I loved it, my kids loved it, my mum loved it. Well done!"
* "Kitten Kon was Grouse!!!! Of course!!!"
* "Kitten Kon was great fun and I would love to see it all happen again after a suitable break :) (maybe Tim will convince the other two to come over next time?!) I think of the few conventions I've been to, it's the only one where everyone has been there simply to enjoy the show and have a great time meeting people and messing around; nobody was there to air their personal grievances about the worst bits, it was a pure spirit of fun."
VIDEO NIGHTS
* "T'would be nice to have some kind of regular (even quarterly) meetings/get togethers in Melbourne.
How about incorporating this with a viewing of the Kitten Kon videos - especially the live link-up!"
* "I've been dying for a get together/ video night of some kind in Melbourne, but its not happening. They're all having too much damned fun in Britain - not fair!"
*More video nights, but maybe we could hire a small cinema in the city, where people could come and make a night of it. I am sure some might feel intimidated by going to someone's home even though they are invited.
* "T'would be better if activities were more wide reaching and better organised - not everyone lives in Melbourne or Sydney for example, yet vid nights in Adelaide just aren't plugged as much as they could be."
COMMENT: One doesn't even have to be a fruit-fancying Roman Emperor to get the drift that the Goodies populace out there is growing restless for more opportunities to be entertained by getting together and watching lots of classic Goodies episodes for a night of fun and frivolity. While Tim Aslat recently hosted such a get-together in Adelaide, no video nights have been arranged in Melbourne yet this year because all Melbourne-based committee members were up to their eyeballs until April with the massive preparation required to host Kitten Kon and were then deserving of several months break from organising anything else afterwards. I'd willingly host a video night at my place or my local hall at any time, but given that I live about half way between Melbourne and Adelaide (well outside the 5 mile limit!) I doubt that there would be very many attendees. Therefore we really need someone (either on the committee or a general club member) who is based in Melbourne, knows of a suitable venue to host up to 50 attendees either for free or a minimal cost and is willing to act as coordinator for the night. Are there any volunteers willing to do "anything anytime" and help to organise a Melbourne video night, or for that matter, video nights in Sydney, Perth, Brisbane etc?!
And so ends the analysis of the responses of T'Grand C&G Survey. Thanks again to everyone who contributed to the survey for their welcome feedback and any further comments about the issues raised in this article will be gratefully received via <bretta@wimmera.com.au>.
2. BOFFO IDEAS
You can make it happen here. Liven up the club with a boffo idea for bob-a-job week. E-mail <enquiries@goodiesruleok.com> with your comments, ideas or suggestions.
NEW.GROK WEBSITE
The new club website at http://www.goodiesruleok.com is continuing to expand its bunny brain with thanks to the efforts of Tim Aslat, GROK's ace Technical Officer.
Tim's latest website triumph has been the successful addition of a stack of great photos from the Kitten Kon Goodies convention held in Melbourne at Easter, so if you were there and would like to relive some memories of the weekend or weren't there and would like to know what sort of crazy things we got up to, then take a sneaky peek at http://www.goodiesruleok.com/events/kittenkon/photos .
ADELAIDE GOODIES VIDEO NIGHT
by Tim Aslat (posted to Goodies-L)
Although the night (Friday September 15th) was poorly attended, I'd like to point out that those of us who actually did turn up had a pretty good time. I think the worst part was planning to have it at the same time as the overhyped Olympic opening ceremonies. Apparently lots of people don't have their priorities right :)
Strangely enough, one of the episodes we should have seen but didn't was the Olympic Games one. Oh well, perhaps next time.
I'd like to thank those people who did turn up, especially John (I hope I've got the name right) for bringing his copy of Kitten Kong.
There will be another video night soon, but I think I need to plan the timing a little better so as not to clash with major events.
KITTEN KON VIDEO
The official GROK video of the Kitten Kon convention, hopefully to feature extensive footage from Tim's talks and the live video linkup with Graeme and Bill, is making steady progress. It is hoped that the video might be ready for sale just before the world comes to an end at midnight on Christmas Eve, otherwise it will definitely be ready soon after start of 2001 ... and a bit!
UK GOODIES GET-TOGETHER
If you're one of our UK-based club members, then reading about the excitement of Kitten Kon and the conducting of Video Nights here in far-off Australia has probably made you feel rather left-out and maybe even a bit jealous (aw go on, admit it!) that you're not getting the chance to join in the fun. But there's no need to despair because planning for the very first UK Goodies Video Night is now underway, so if you'd like the opportunity to finally watch several of those long-lost Goodies episodes in the splendid company of your fellow British Goodies fans, then here's your big chance. Please e-mail the coordinator, Kay Dickinson, at <kay.dickinson@btinternet.com> if you are interested in attending and would like more information.
GOODIES FOR SALE
(from information contributed by Tracey Baird)
Peter Tatchell (from Laugh Radio in Melbourne) has a few hard-to-get-ish Goodies items for sale if any club members are interested. They are:
* 'The New Goodies LP' ($20)
* 'The Goodies File' book ($10)
* 'Wild Thing' single ($5)
Postage is extra - at cost - although Peter is happy for Melbourne residents to collect purchased items in person. Peter doesn't have an e-mail address, but can be contacted at P.O.Box 394, Caulfield East VIC 3145, Australia. Alternatively you can e-mail <enquiries@goodiesruleok.com> and we can pass on Peter's phone number to you.
MORE GOODIES VIDEOS ... MAYBE!
by Lisa Manekofsky
As most readers of the Clarion & Globe probably know, only 6 episodes of "The Goodies" have been released on video. Things are even more dismal in the United States; none of the episodes have been released on tape over here. About a year ago, I had written to several companies to see if there was any chance they might be interested in the title. Neither the cable channel BBC America nor the company that sells most of the BBC titles in the U.S. had any plans for "The Goodies" at that time. Therefore, I decided to send an email to a company called Rhino Entertainment, which has a history of releasing rare and cool pop culture titles on its audio and video labels; they also have a reputation for producing high-quality products (you can check out their website at www.rhino.com). I sent the suggestion to the appropriate email address and received the response I was pretty much expecting, which basically said "we have no plans for 'The Goodies' at this time but we'll be happy to put your request in our suggestion box". I figured that was the best that could be done for the time being.
Early last week, I received an email containing Rhino's monthly newsletter. While glancing through it I noticed a sentence saying, "We've got lots of other audio and video goodies coming down the pike to
enlighten and entertain..." I guess I was in a silly mood because the phrase "audio and video goodies" really stuck in my mind. I figured, what the heck, it'd been a while since I'd written to the company, so I hit the "reply" button, quoted the appropriate paragraph, and after their sentence about "audio and video goodies" I wrote, "How about some
audio and video FROM 'The Goodies'". I sent a short paragraph describing the series and concluded, "Get a review copy of some Goodies episodes - I assure you that you'll see that this is a perfect title for Rhino Video!"
To be perfectly honestly, after I impulsively sent my message it occurred to me that I had just responded to the address from which the newsletter was mailed; I thought it was likely that this address wouldn't accept incoming mail. Even if the message didn't bounce, I figured that it would be ignored, since it wasn't sent to the proper address for submitting suggestions. Therefore, you can imagine my surprise when I received a response a few days later. This was sent from Rhino's customer service persona, Dr. Rhino, with the subject line, "re 'The Goodies'. The message simply said:
"Lisa,
Our video crew thanks you for your suggestion, but mentioned to me that the licensing fee for this show may be prohibitive for them. We'll see"
I found this response to be *very* interesting. It at least shows that someone at Rhino had discussed the idea of licensing "The Goodies". I don't know if things will get any further than that but I thought it might not hurt for other Goodies fans to write to the company, to show that there is enough interest for Rhino to check into the actual costs of licensing the show; perhaps the costs will be lower than they expect.
As a side note, I'd like to mention that Rhino has performed some minor miracles over the years in finding and releasing some material that many people thought would never see the light of day. It's possible that the company might not want to or be able to license "The Goodies"; however, I think a few emails from Goodies fans at this time, which there is at least a tentative hope that the title is being considered, certainly can't hurt and it may do some good. Don't hesitate to write because you're don't live in the U.S. - many retailers like Amazon.com sell Rhino titles and they do ship internationally.
I'd like to suggest that people send short, polite notes to drrhino@rhino.com - please note that there are two r's in the beginning of the address (it's "Dr. Rhino" without the period or the space). That is the proper address to send questions or suggestions about products; it's also the address from which I received the response quoted above. And if anyone has any influence over licensing fees and they want to contact Rhino that would certainly be helpful... ;)
3. SPOTTED!!!
More exciting than getting your wig-spotters badge! If you've seen a Goodie recently, e-mail <enquiries@goodiesruleok.com>with the details. Here's where we've Spotted!!! The Goodies this month:
BANG GOES THE BBC
(from information contributed by Phil Wadey and David Balston)
On the September 16th screening of "Night of 1000 Shows" on BBC1, a celebration of 40 years of the BBC television centre, there were some clips from shows which had used TV centre in their own story lines. We were treated to about 5 seconds of Tim and Graeme sitting in a ruin having just blown the Centre up in the Gender Education (aka Sex And Violence) episode from the second. After the clip which received a round of applause we saw Bill in the celebrity audience
NEW GOODIES CD
by Andy Williamson.
There's a new Goodies CD scheduled for release in the UK - unfortunately it's not the Decca or Island recordings, just the Bradleys tracks again. In fact it's exactly what was released by Music Club a couple of years back, but with 4 of the tracks missing.
The CD is Funky Gibbon (The Best of the Goodies), and it is released on 23rd October on the Castle Pie label, catalogue no: PIESD 243. Castle Pie is the superbudget section of Castle Records, so it should be pretty cheap to buy.
Tracklisting: Goodies theme / Funky gibbon / In betweenies / Please let us play / Black pudding Bertha / Cricklewood / Good ole country music / Nappy love / Wild thing / Rock with a policeman / Panic / I'm a teapot / Sick man blues / Last chance dance / Father Christmas do not touch me / Make a daft noise for Christmas
WEB GOODIES
by Brian Labza (posted to Goodies-L)
4. 2001 AND A BIT
If you've sighted Tim, Bill or Graeme in a post-Goodies role, e-mail <enquiries@goodiesruleok.com> so that we can tell everyone where to spot a Goodie nowadays.
THE STUDENT PRINCE
by David Balston.
The BBC romantic comedy "The Student Prince" received a repeat showing on Friday 29th September on BBC1 at 10.25pm which stars Graeme Garden as the Master. It's a comedy by Lee Hall about a policeman detailed to guard a royal prince at university. It also stars Robson Green, Tara FitzGerald and Richard Briers.
WIRELESS WISE
by David Balston
Graeme Garden was among those taking part in a show recorded for Radio 4 called "Wireless Wise" which tests the panellists knowledge of the world of nostalgic radio. Also taking part were Chris Serle, Linda Smith, Joan Bakewell, Andy Kershaw, Stuart Maconie and Trevor Harrison. The show was recorded on 20th September 2000.
'AT LAST...THE 1948 SHOW' EVENING
by David Balston
1st October saw an NFT event to celebrate the restoration of 'At Last the 1948 show'. Special guests were Tim and Amy McDonald and the shows were restored using newly found compilation shows and filling the gaps recordings
made of the show off air, production photos and a look at the original scripts to let us know what was happening in the more visual moments. After seeing a couple of restored episodes Tim and Amy told us of the history of the show and answered questions from the audience.
WHY ME
The remaining dates and locations for Why Me, Tim Brooke-Taylor's current play, are:
Billingham 9-14 October
Crewe 16-21 October
MORE ISIHAC COMING SOON
The dates and locations for the upcoming Autumn and Spring series of 'I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue' recordings (featuring Tim Brooke-Taylor and Graeme Garden as regular panelists) are:
2000
Mon 30th Oct: Pavilion Theatre, Bournemouth (capacity 1518)
Sun 19th Nov: Belgrade Theatre, Coventry (capacity 858)
Mon 4th Dec: Wycombe Swan (capacity 1076)
2001
Sunday 13th May - Reading Hexagon (capacity 1200)
Tuesday 29th May - Theatre Royal, Norwich (capacity 1318)
Sunday 17th June - Grand Theatre, Blackpool (capacity 1215)
I'M SORRY I HAVEN'T A CLUE
This month's featured round is "Chat Up Lines for Birdwatchers" with panelists Tim Brooke-Taylor, Jeremy Hardy, Barry Cryer and Sandi Toksvig (Graeme Garden was absent for this particular show)
Jeremy: "What would you say to twelve finches?"
Tim: "I say, what a lovely horn Bill!"
Barry: "If I told you that I knew Bill Oddie would you hold it against me?"
Sandi: "Just put your teeth in the nightjar..."
Tim: "Personally I think that two in the bush is much better than one in the hand!"
Jeremy: "How do you like your corncrakes in the morning?"
Sandi: "Either I'm using these binoculars wrong or you're a VERY big boy!"
Jeremy: "Don't let a little thrush put you off!"
Tim: "One swallow doesn't make a commitment!"
5. FEATURE ARTICLE
GOODY - GOODY - RATINGS
by Andrew Pixley
PART TWO SERIES 5 TO 7
As 1975 began, "The Goodies" were in and at the height of their powers. With their novelty singles flooding the charts, the BBC2 audience was about to leap by about 7 million viewers for 13 of their finest shows ever. 8.2 million viewed the debut episode of the run, "The Movies", in the perfect Monday 9.00pm slot, and this climbed steadily during the run to put the minority channel in double figures for the last four episodes. Although on BBC2, "The Goodies" shattered their own record on Monday 14 April when Bill's self-destructive attempts in "Stunning C ..." - sorry - "Cunning Stunts" saw over 12 million viewers abandoning ITV and BBC1 for the men from Cricklewood (for "Scatty Safari", 17% of the UK's adults tuned into "The Goodies" with only 14% apiece watching BBC1's News and whatever was on ITV). At an average of the season of 9 million, this is an audience virtually unheard of on BBC2 for many years. Furthermore, the RIs were still very strong; the Rolf Harris plague of "Scatty Safari" scored 73 ... and ironically it was the large audience "Cunning Stunts" which people liked the least at only 64. Nominated for Montreux, "The Movies" was rescreened on BBC2 at 9.00pm one Thursday the following May, with an audience of 4.7 million.
Three shows had reports prepared on them: "The Movies", "Scatty Safari" and "The End". For "The Movies", a panel of 196 found the show had moderate appeal - ""A larger group felt this particular show was not as good as expected ... although the last ten minutes or so of havoc in the film studio offered excellent entertainment, the earlier part seemed slow and rather feeble; it was occasionally suggested that the Goodies scored heavily when 'visual humour' and technical wizardry were involved, but made little impression with plain dialogue." However, many said "they were delighted to have the series back, and felt this first show was as 'brilliant' and 'hilarious' as ever". Once more there were comments that "their children greatly enjoyed it - an early transmission-time was occasionally requested." "Scatty Safari"'s panel of 242 people described it as "the funniest thing on television", "so stupid, you have to laugh" and "wholesome, delicious fun". Again, many asked "Why not have it on earlier? So many Goodies fans are children." One viewer commented the show was "a bit ruthless on Rolf Harris ... I hope he enjoyed it". It was felt that the trio had really enjoyed making this week's episode. Again, editing and effects were praised ("sometimes we almost believe what we see"). "The End", although with a generally favourable response from a panel of 281, was deemed to have been "one of the Goodies' less amusing programmes". Although the format of the trio being trapped together did not attract, it was agreed that the situation was tackled in their "usual inventive and appealing manner." One in ten did not care for the broadcast at all, finding it "static and long drawn out" with the setting described as "boring". The conclusion for the season was that the stars were "in a class of their own" and 76% were eager for another season.
The strength of "The Goodies" as a comedy force on British television was cemented by the extended repeat run accorded to it by BBC1, this time at 6.50pm on Mondays running through the better rated Autumn season from September to December 1975; three episodes of Season Four were also given a third transmission towards the end of this run which, for an early evening repeat, did superbly to average 10.7 million. The audience steadily grew from 7 million with the first rerun ("Kung Fu Kapers!") to the final transmission where the team again set a new high. 15.2 million people watched a repeat of the studio-bound "The End" - one of Tim Brooke-Taylor's favourite episodes - on Monday 15 December.
However, maybe the bubble had burst slightly. After the heights of Season Five, the audience of 6.1 million for "Goodies Rule: OK?" on BBC2's Christmas 1975 broadcast was lower than expected. Agreed, this was back on the minority channel, and possibly the Sunday 7.25pm meant strong competition from BBC1 and ITV, but it was a notable drop on the start of the year. Nevertheless, the RI rating of 66 was still good for the fantastic slice of visual comedy. An Audience Research Report from 99 viewers indicated most were "more amused than usual by the 'off-beat' humour of this funny threesome." Although a proportion of the audience did not, as usual, like the "zany, surrealistic behaviour", one comment was that the viewer had "never enjoyed them more". As usual, the special effects work was highly praised. Unfortunately, the ratings for the film's first repeat - on BBC2 in February 1976 - are not available.
Reception was better for Season Six which BBC2 aired in the Tuesday 9.00pm slot from September to November 1976; however, after the dizzy heights of double figures, about a million people had deserted the show to give an average of 7.6 million. Indeed, the spread of ratings for the new shows was very narrow; the highest was the advertising satire "It Might As Well Be String" with 7.9 million and the lowest was the debut Cod war/"Jaws" item "Lips or Almighty Cod" at 7.0 million. The best received show was the atypical "The Goodies - Almost Live" pop fest which closed the run, scoring an RI of 67; lagging behind the others by some way was the panto-horse parody of "Black and White Beauty" which received a low 58. However, even a repeat of "Kitten Kong" on BBC1 in the London area only could still draw 4 million, and a fourth screening of "The Goodies and the Beanstalk" on BBC1 on New Year's Eve 1976 could still attract a healthy 10.3 million.
The Xmas repeat kicked off BBC1's very rapid repeat season; scheduled at around 7.00pm on Wednesdays from January 1977, this started off with the seven episodes which had only been broadcast on BBC2 a couple of months earlier, with three choice episodes from Season Five appended to the end. The average was again 10.3 million, with very little variance from week to week. Oddly enough, this time, "Lips or Almighty Cod" rated highest at 11.1 million with "Almost Live" trailing at 9.6 million - perhaps people who missed "Lips ..." first time around were determined to catch its repeat. "Goodies Rule: OK?" got a sporadic repeat to just over a million viewers on BBC2 in a bizarre Thursday 4.25pm slot during the Queen's Silver Jubilee in June 1977 (this was its third broadcast after all); the ratings for the single transmission of "OK Tearooms" the same month in Wales are not known.
Unfortunately, another million viewers had been shed by the time of Season Seven, firmly standing in its usual Tuesday 9.00pm slot from November to December (including a re-run of "2001 and a Bit" because of the famed royal problems surrounding "Royal Command" which bumped "Earthanasia" back a fortnight to a Thursday slot). The average was now 6.2 million and very variable. The debut show "Alternative Roots" was the best rated at 7.4 million (and also with the highest RI of 69), followed by the lowest rated "Dodonuts" at 5.3 million. However, "The Goodies" was still often the highest rated show in its slot - "Scoutrageous" got an 11% share compared to 9% for "Rock Follies of '77" on ITV. The least appealing instalment of the season was the highly topical "Punky Business", with an RI of 62.
Three shows from the run were sampled. "Dodonuts"'s panel of 234 gave it a "warm reception" although "it had not been one of the best". Apart from the usual criticisms of the script being "silly and juvenile" it was commented that "the violence seemed unpleasant rather than funny". The Goodies themselves were "superb" and although "the majority recognised each performer's talent, Bill Oddie was the clear favourite" (Bill getting the lion's share of that episode's narrative). However, the report concluded "A handful of viewers did not think the Goodies were as amusing or original as they used to be." The 231 people commenting on "Scoutrageous" found it "a very novel idea, funny and fast moving" while some felt "the Salvation Army and Boy Scout Movement were not suitable subjects for humour". "Strong point is their team work" remarked one viewer of the team's performance as they "excelled both as writers and performers". As usual, the "special effects are terrific". The usual objections for the 296 commenting on "Royal Command" was an objection to "The Goodies using the Royal Family as a target for comedy", but these were in the minority (although it seems the postponement was a good idea after all). However, "this week's script ideas appeared a little weaker than usual". In conclusion, the enthusiasm for a new series was not as strong as it had been in previous years; 38% were very enthusiastic while another 33% agreed that they wouldn't mind a new series. "There was definite feeling," concluded the report, "that other series had been better."
Again, there was little time lost before BBC1 aired the repeats - generally at 8.00pm on Fridays between February and March. If anything, the ratings here were healthier than for the last BBC1 repeat season at an average of 12.6 million. The hit of the run here though was a third broadcast of the 50s revival "Hype Pressure" - sandwiched in between Season Seven shows - which gained a healthy 14.3 million.
The BBC ceased doing their own audience research and ratings in 1979 when the ratings calculations methods were standardised and taken on board by the market research bureau BARB to finally eliminate the discrepancies and counter-claims between the BBC using their own figures and ITV who were using ratings generated by TAM. Thus, the final BBC documents cover the one-off BBC1 broadcast of "It Might As Well Be String" at 7.35pm one Tuesday in June 1978 (6.9 million and an excellent RI of 70) and the rather lacklustre performance of four episodes from Season Seven given another airing on various days at the start of BBC2's 1978 Autumn season to make up for the fact that no new episodes would be ready until the following year. Running at 9.00pm on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Friday, the highly variable audiences fluctuated from 2.2 million ("Punky Business") to 4.3 million (the previously low-rated "Dodonuts"). As it transpired, there would be no episodes of "The Goodies", first-run or repeats, airing during 1979.
Looking back at the figures - and particularly comparing them to current industry standards when anything over 9 million on BBC1 or ITV is a considered a runaway hit - it is fascinating to see how "The Goodies" attracted so many people into the backwaters of BBC2 when they were at their peak. Not even shows such as "The Young Ones" or "Red Dwarf" have achieved this sort of pulling power since. It serves to emphasise that the fact that "The Goodies" seems land-locked to the 1970s only mirrors the short-sightedness of the BBC in realising the full potential of such powerful archival material.
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THE MAIN POINTS
Highest Rated BBC2 First-Run Episode: "Cunning Stunts" (14/4/75) - 12.0M
Highest Rated BBC1 Repeat: "The End" (15/12/75) - 15.2M
Highest Rated Goodies Broadcast: "A Christmas Night With The Stars" (25/12/72) - 18.9M
Highest Reaction Index BBC2 First-Run Episode: "The Goodies and the Beanstalk" (24/12/73) - 76
Lowest Rated BBC2 First-Run Episode: "Give Police A Chance" (22/11/70) - 0.9M
Lowest Rated BBC1 Repeat: "Give Police A Chance" (19/7/71) - 3.8M
Lowest Reaction Index BBC2 First-Run Episode: "Black and White Beauty" (12/10/76) - 58
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NOTE: As the Goodies Music Reviews have now concluded, a Goodies Episode Summary will appear in the C&G each month from the October edition onwards. The upcoming episode summaries are: October: Winter Olympics; November: That Old Black Magic; December: Playgirl Club (a long-lost treat for Christmas!)
6. GOODIES WORD SEARCH
by Lisa Manekofsky
INSTRUCTIONS
Try to find all the listed words in the puzzle. Words may be found horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. Words in parentheses do not appear in the puzzle.
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WORD LIST
Animals
Apartheight
Arthur (C. Clarke)
BBC
Brooke Taylor
Camelot
Cecily
Clown Virus
Cod
(Graeme's) Computer
Disco (Billius)
Dodonuts
Dr Petal
Earthanasia
Garden
(Amazing) Gracie
Loch Ness (Monster)
Loony
LWT
(The) Movies
Nicholas (Parsons)
Oddie
(The New) Office
Panic
Pollution
Punkerella
Rome Antics
Shiny (Shoes)
Tyrannosaurus Rex
Wild Thing
Zookeeper
NEXT EDITION: #59: November 12th 2000.
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