Author Topic: Claire Balding and Cycling  (Read 7134 times)

Re: Claire Balding and Cycling
« Reply #25 on: 16 August, 2008, 09:23:50 am »
I'm not sure why anyone would bother tuning into R5 though.........

Excellent radio station, with the exception of Alan Green, who I just heard commentating on the Rowing from Beijing - at least that means he wont be ruining a football commentary later today.

Rob S

Re: Claire Balding and Cycling
« Reply #26 on: 16 August, 2008, 10:18:44 am »
Speaking of other presenters... the best thing about Gabby Logan being out in Beijing for the Olympics is that she's not on R5 at the weekend.

She's better than that Gethin Jones :sick:

As for Clare Balding....I love Clare Balding, she's great at Olympics and Commonwealth Games etc :thumbsup:

Re: Claire Balding and Cycling
« Reply #27 on: 17 August, 2008, 05:41:05 pm »
Claire Balding is the worst thing about the Olympics coverage by a mile. She hasn't quite reached the depths of crapness that she achieved when presenting the Winter Olympics two years ago, but she still makes me reach for the red button every time she appears :demon:

ChrisO

Re: Claire Balding and Cycling
« Reply #28 on: 17 August, 2008, 10:51:05 pm »
The BBC coverage has been generally pretty appalling, but actually I think Clare Balding is one of the OK spots.

Compared to the others anyway.

Gaby Logan is truly awful, trying to be flirty and sexy all the time while stumbling over names and sports and clearly not having the faintest clue what she's talking about. A classic gob-on-a-stick.
Adrian Chiles matey-down-the-pub act works for football but not in an more catholic environment where he just comes across as boorish.
That bloody sailing woman might be very good in a boat but hasn't got the faintest clue how to present to camera - bobs around like a buoy in a force 9 gale. The best thing they could do would be to lash her hands together.
The "local features" from Veronica Wang or whatever her name is. They're so badly written and superficial they would fail an O level media studies course. But she's very pretty so who cares - not whichever producer fancies getting in her pants by giving her some on-air slots. "Yes Veronica it is a microphone in my pants."

As for the production of the nightly programme... The Phelps-Jaws thing is lost on anyone under the age of 30 and the Monkey magic segment is less funny than a 1950s newsreel. Don't mention the cardboard cutout.

My favourite moment so far was the sailing reporter (not the stupid blonde, they only let her do pre-prepared links) reporting from the abandoned medal race in the sailing by describing the fact that they had stopped sailing because of lack of wind as "dramatic scenes".

The interactive coverage is OK except it would be nice if they went to the trouble of using clips that didn't have the "LIVE" caption on them when they are clearly being replayed. But that would require basic effort to log feeds and probably got axed in favour of Matthew Pinsent's breakfast budget.

It's clear they've put all the budget into flashy stuff - graphics and scores of high-profile presenters. Not the basics like research and logging.

I suspect that the root of the problem is that just as generals fight the previous war, the BBC is presenting the previous Olympics. They prepared to have lots of prepared and packaged coverage and make it look stylish, but they've been caught out by actually having plenty of sport to talk about and unfortunately they haven't had the courage to throw out all the "here's one we prepared earlier" stuff.

Re: Claire Balding and Cycling
« Reply #29 on: 18 August, 2008, 08:46:45 am »
She's a horsey type isn't she?

Yes, I don't like her. She struggles covering anything other than horse-related.

Well, I really like her and think she does a great job. Very engaging, and I think she's made good work of moving from the geegees over to other sports. So there.  :)

Really?! She doesn't look very bothered or enthusiastic at all! I'd like the presenter to enjoy sports for a start...
Frenchie - Train à Grande Vitesse

JT

  • Howay the lads!
    • CTC Peterborough
Re: Claire Balding and Cycling
« Reply #30 on: 18 August, 2008, 08:52:08 am »
She's a horsey type isn't she?

Yes, I don't like her. She struggles covering anything other than horse-related.

Well, I really like her and think she does a great job. Very engaging, and I think she's made good work of moving from the geegees over to other sports. So there.  :)

Really?! She doesn't look very bothered or enthusiastic at all! I'd like the presenter to enjoy sports for a start...

Agreed. And it's dead obvious when she asks a question that has just been prompted by the producer in her ear hole.
a great mind thinks alike

Snugsy

Re: Claire Balding and Cycling
« Reply #31 on: 28 August, 2008, 10:09:28 am »
I'm not sure why Clare Balding's sexuality would have anything to do with her interest, or otherwise, in cycling  >:(

I think she's doing a good job, for what it's worth, and if  we're going to be critical of the 'generic' presenters,


I think she did pretty well as an anchor-bod. She was only supposed to introduce the expert commentary (although when Hugh Porter's involved, I think "expert" is taking it a bit far) and interview national treasures  :sick: such as clapped-out track & field types.

BTW, commentating at the TdF prologue, H Porter insisted on calling a certain French team sponsored by a livestock handling equipment company "Agritabelle". What a great name for a little girl.