Eurosport commentary vs ITV4

Gotte

There seems to be a lot of critisism of Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwin, but I was watching Eurosport in the the afternoon, and the commentary was a joke. I don't know the names of the commentators, but one of them sounded like Alan Partridge. Even the inclusion of Sean Kelly seems to backfire. He may have experience, but he's no presenter. The hour or so I saw, following yesterday's climb, there seemed precious little commenary about the actual race, not even the riders or route, just a constant babble about nothing in particular. At one point the commentator cracked a really flat joke (Italian goes into a bar ask for a martino, barman says, don;t you mean Martini. "No", man replies "I only want one."), and I swear he did Alan Partridge's "Ehhrrrrrrr" after it.
Unfortunately, I don;t think he was being ironic.
I'm watching ITV 4 at the moment and it's head and shoulders above Eurosport. They're actually telling me what's happening.

ju5t1n

You’re on dangerous ground here Gotte. Harmon and Kelly are very popular around these parts...
http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtop ... t=12635028

Gotte

Oh dear, I suppose I'd better get my tin hat.

fast as fupp

Gotte wrote:

Oh dear, I suppose I'd better get my tin hat.

i dont need to be told whats going on-i can see it for myself-

kelly isnt a presenter- hes there for his analysis and experience

all sherwen and liggett do is kiss armstrongs ar$e

robmanic1

I prefer the Eurosport highlites 'cos the time they're on suits me better, plus I reckon it's more in-depth coverage. Just get pi$$ed of with them trying to flog me a Peugot or humming bird or something at every break! Also that bloody Sidi advert is so lame!

Got really angry yesterday after the picture froze just as the leaders were approaching the finish, missed it completely, and this was a bleedin highlites programme?

I sound like Victor Medrew

Tim Farr

I enjoy both but on the whole watch Eurosport because they have more live coverage. Also the adverts take ages on ITV 4; four minutes each time.

robthehungrymonkey

Kelly gets lots of support on here because of his legendary status in the sport.

I find him very dull, sometimes that I actually find myself just tuning him out and then missing certain things. He definitely no presenter.... It's like Alan Shearer on Match of the day

Gazzaputt

For me I like Eurosport's coverage and commentary but I don't mind Phil and Paul at all.

Both I find informative and i'd hate to have to do 5 hours commentary on a cycle race a lot of time to fill in.

Le Commentateur

Liggett and Sherwen are the child-friendly chaperones for the newbies to the tour, but once you've heard the same old anecdotes and nicknames a couple of times you'll find yourself drawn tothe more esoteric and enquiring style of Harmon & Kelly.

Gotte

Maybe it was just the section I was watching. I'll give it another go tomorrow.

Jez mon

C'mon dude, can't you tell what's happening in the race for yourself! :P

dulldave

I like Harmon and Kelly. Kelly is no showman but he knows his onions and you really begin to warm to him. Harmon is also pretty upfront about the whole doping issue unlike Hoddit and Doddit.

His response to the Di Luca positive was more like yours or mine might be - "Quelle surprise".

I can't stand hearing the constant Armstrong chat from Liggett and Sherwin, regardless of what he's doing. And some of the cliches are quite funny but on the whole they are annoying.

Philip S

Kelly is an acquired taste - I didn't like his commentary at first, but after a week or so I warmed to him and picked out his dry sense of humour. Now I think he's the best summariser we've got.

stevieboy

As a tour following newbie I much prefer Eurosport to ITV4.

One thing I have noticed is that the lead commentator (Harmon?) must be on a deal with Oakley. Whenever he's referred to Wiggins he says, 'you can see wiggins there in those Orange Oakley Jawbones' I think today he used that phrase about 5 times. A bit random!

Other than that i'm enjoying watching my first full tour, as an MTB XC racer i'm starting to 'get it' as it were.

calvjones

Eurosport versus ITV4?????

Kelly & Harmon v Paul & Phil??????

Mayweather v Hatton. Nothing to see here, move on.

turkeytickler

Tim Farr wrote:

I enjoy both but on the whole watch Eurosport because they have more live coverage. Also the adverts take ages on ITV 4; four minutes each time.

The Co-op blowing in the wind advert is really starting to grate on me - get this every year - last year it was lloyds tsb ....

GroupOfOne MkII

turkeytickler wrote:

Tim Farr wrote:

I enjoy both but on the whole watch Eurosport because they have more live coverage. Also the adverts take ages on ITV 4; four minutes each time.

The Co-op blowing in the wind advert is really starting to grate on me - get this every year - last year it was lloyds tsb ....

And the Halfords ads, and the Aviva ad...in fact I'm sure they just play the same bloody advert break every time. There also seems to be an extra advert break in the highlights programme on ITV4 this year, am sure that we're not getting less and less actual racing.

Also no contest on the commentating front, Liggett & Sherwen do my nut in, but unfortunately with no Eurosport, I'm stuck with 'em, for this year at least.

Gazzetta67

Liggett and "team Sherwin are annoying. everyone on the Astana team are called by
Their first names ??? oh Lance is super. oh lance is a great bike rider after getting towed by wiggins.

these 2 are working for a british company, but you wouldnt have guessed would you - as their commentary is used by American TV. so they have turned this into the Smashy & Nicey show with americanisms thrown in.

Kelly and Harmon win hands down plus you hardly get adverts unlike ITV4 that last ages.

Gotte

Jez mon wrote:

C'mon dude, can't you tell what's happening in the race for yourself! :P

After about 15 years viewing, I can...just

I suppose what I meant was that they were commenting on the race, not just waffling on about very little indeed. But like I said, I'll give it another go and see if I didn;t just hit a boring patch (though it was a very long patch).

Harry Hill

the adverts on ITV kill me. On the weekday highlights show the format is:

15 mins tv
5 mins adverts
6 min tv
5 mins adverts
6 mn tv
5 mins adverts
15 min tv
Adverts till next program

During the afternoon I stick with Eurosport which has very few advert breaks and I have great respect for SK's ability to read the race and the tactics accuratly. DH is clever, knowledgable and easy to listen to. Both have a great sense of humour.

PL & PS are good at what they do, and what they do is provide a semi amusing and informative commentry for the "masses".

The other bonus with the ITV highlights show is the extra interview snippets and little Tour "montages" they put together.

I usually use the advert breaks to wash the disshes, then dry the dishes, then make a cup of tea!

paulcuthbert

I just can't hack Sean Kelly's voice. And I'm Irish!

andyrac

GroupOfOne MkII wrote:

turkeytickler wrote:

Tim Farr wrote:

I enjoy both but on the whole watch Eurosport because they have more live coverage. Also the adverts take ages on ITV 4; four minutes each time.

The Co-op blowing in the wind advert is really starting to grate on me - get this every year - last year it was lloyds tsb ....

And the Halfords ads, and the Aviva ad...in fact I'm sure they just play the same bloody advert break every time. There also seems to be an extra advert break in the highlights programme on ITV4 this year, am sure that we're not getting less and less actual racing.

Also no contest on the commentating front, Liggett & Sherwen do my nut in, but unfortunately with no Eurosport, I'm stuck with 'em, for this year at least.

The Halfords ads annoy me - it just makes me never visit that shop.
This is only the second year I've had Eurosport - and they are superior, the Lance 'love-in' on ITV4 isn't even annoying - it's far worse.