Taskmaster

[deKay]

Disappointed everyone did the phone task "the right way" instead of getting the number from the phone itself.

[Uncle Mike]

I couldn't figure out why you don't either 1: phone yourself then call it back, or 2: look up the number in settings. 

[Swallow]

It had no credit to dial out. They probably couldn't work out the settings, the phone looked pretty old.

 

This is the first series I have properly watched ad absolutely loving it.

[Fry Crayola]

Mawaan tried the "phone yourself" approach - it didn't have any credit.

 

The number in the settings would be my route - like Swallow above though I think they chose an older phone to make it harder to find stuff in after 10+ years of Android and iPhone usage.

[Welrain]

This was my first Taskmaster episode.  The tasks were boring and it was far from hilarious. 

 

One of the players did try and get the phone no. via the settings but I assume this was blocked in some way to prevent cheating.

 

Can someone direct me to some best of episodes?

[AfromB]

To be honest with you, that was the worst one of the series so far. You may as well start with the previous episodes from this series, they’ve all been much better than last nights, although maybe not up there with some of the all time classics. 

[PK]

3 hours ago, Welrain said:

This was my first Taskmaster episode.  The tasks were boring and it was far from hilarious. 

 

One of the players did try and get the phone no. via the settings but I assume this was blocked in some way to prevent cheating.

 

Can someone direct me to some best of episodes?

 

Watch series 5, then watch series 7. They're all on All4, UKTV Player, or the Taskmaster channel on YouTube if you're outside the UK.

[glb]

That was a low-key episode as others have said. Johnny slowly falling apart during the phone task the highlight.

 

The balloon was clearly rigged not to burst, right? No mention afterwards. Hopefully it will return again later in the series, otherwise that was an anticlimactic ruse.

[Papaya Dance]

I thought it was a solid if unspectacular episode. I'd be quite happy for them to ditch the studio tasks in favour of another pre recorded task though. I can only think of a handful from the entire run that have been very funny.

[wev]

I still enjoyed it, Johnny's breakdown definitely being the best bit. The "bring in" tasks have been monumentally shit this series though, both in the task they've been set and the items they've brought in. Also, why did no one bring in a Nandos!?

[Yobo Ahoy]

7 hours ago, Welrain said:

This was my first Taskmaster episode.  The tasks were boring and it was far from hilarious. 

 

One of the players did try and get the phone no. via the settings but I assume this was blocked in some way to prevent cheating.

 

Can someone direct me to some best of episodes?

 

As mentioned it wasn't one of the best, but if you didn't find anything funny at all in that I'd suggest it isn't for you.

 

Anyway the champion of champion specials are two of the best ever. Not on All4 but might still be on UKTV Play. 

[Welrain]

Just now, Yobo Ahoy said:

 

As mentioned it wasn't one of the best, but if you didn't find anything funny at all in that I'd suggest it isn't for you.

 

Anyway the champion of champion specials are two of the best ever. Not on All4 but might still be on UKTV Play. 

bits were funny but I think the mix of guests isn’t right for me. Not a fan of JV, don’t really know either of the two ladies (I recognise them for their respective programmes but nothing outwith that), don’t know who the young guy is and RH is taking things a bit too seriously.

[Fry Crayola]

Not knowing people isn't a problem, I find. Plenty of people across the previous series I've not been familiar with have been great on the show, and then there are people who seem perfectly suited to the format when I can happily ignore their work outside it.

[deKay]

21 hours ago, wev said:

I still enjoyed it, Johnny's breakdown definitely being the best bit. The "bring in" tasks have been monumentally shit this series though, both in the task they've been set and the items they've brought in. Also, why did no one bring in a Nandos!?

Filmed during lockdown.

[wev]

41 minutes ago, deKay said:

Filmed during lockdown.

Eat Out To Win Taskmaster

 

Also, didn't stop Daisy hugging the security guard

[deKay]

3 minutes ago, wev said:

Eat Out To Win Taskmaster

 

Also, didn't stop Daisy hugging the security guard

No, the studio bits. Much of the task records were before lockdown.

[PK]

@Welrain I don't know about everyone else but for me this series is quite meta and is probably the worst one for a newcomer to start with. It's different to the rest - it comes with the context of having been filmed during lockdown / social distancing measures, and generally it's funny because of how shit everybody is compared to the previous series' contestants. You'd be better off starting with the earlier ones.

 

Personal top 3 are:

 

Series 5 (Aisling Bea, Bob Mortimer, Mark Watson, Nish Kumar and Sally Phillips)

Series 7 (James Acaster, Jessica Knappett, Kerry Godliman, Phil Wang and Rhod Gilbert)

Series 4 (Hugh Dennis, Joe Lycett, Lolly Adefope, Mel Giedroyc and Noel Fielding)

[PK]

Well, that's certainly an image I'll never be able to scrub from my mind.

[wev]

Omg Daisy  I hope she manages to win the whole thing, just for tonight's episode

[Bazjam]

Daisy was superb tonight.

[glb]

I can’t stand watermelon. Can’t see that ever changing now.

 

Katherine wriggling in Christmas tree netting had a quietly nightmarish feel to it. Like a red-headed giant (22 stone!) caterpillar slowly coming to life, ready to devour Little Alex Horne before our very eyes.

[Uncle Mike]

No way would Vegas or Parkinson scored any more than 0 for distance from me.

[Papaya Dance]

Dear God. That will definitely be going down as one of the all time great TM moments. Incredible.

[Made of Ghosts]

I'm not sure about this series as a whole yet, but DMC is an absolute hero.

[Mawdlin]

This is definitely not a classic series is it. However, Daisy winning the end task by swearing was brilliant.

 

That's what's good about the format: there's always some bit of hilarity in every episode.

[Uncle Mike]

I think (and I remember thinking this for the previous series) that it's starting to suffer from lack of inspiration on the tasks. You could probably point some of that this time on Corona, but it feels like maybe they need to take some time and recharge their task-creating batteries.

 

But yes, Daisy May Cooper at the end of the last episode was incredible.

[Stigweard]

Does anyone watch the outtakes on YT? This might explain why Katherine looks like she's been crying with laughter so much

 

 

[martingee]

Taskmaster had a really flat series 2-3 series ago and it's never recovered imo. After that series it returned to been funny but never to the same heights.  

 

This series is lacking something, perhaps the live audience but I wouldn't put it purely down to that. Greg Davies seems to be dialling it in a bit even in comparison to the previous series. Perhaps the move to C4, no live audience and social distancing has taken something out of it, not sure.

 

After all that I still watch it and find it funny mind.

[MarkN]

8 hours ago, Uncle Mike said:

I think (and I remember thinking this for the previous series) that it's starting to suffer from lack of inspiration on the tasks. You could probably point some of that this time on Corona, but it feels like maybe they need to take some time and recharge their task-creating batteries.

 

But yes, Daisy May Cooper at the end of the last episode was incredible.

I think the problem with the show is that it relies on a complex interplay of contestants, tasks, circumstances, and luck. Some of the funniest moments have come from some of the least-promising sounding tasks. "Throwing a potato in a hole" could have tanked massively if it wasn't for

Spoiler

Joe Wilkinson chcuking the thing in nonchalantly, and then getting disqualified for ever-so-slightly overstepping the mark.

As a game designer myself, I know a lot of stuff that sounds like fun turns out not to be, and often the good bits in a game come from stuff that players ended up doing instead of the bits you designed. I guess a lot of the less-good tasks here could have potentially produced hilarious TV on a different day, with a bit of luck, or with a different set of contestants. What we see is just what actually happened on the day. Sometimes they catch lightning in a bottle. Other times not. The good thing is that even when it's not at its best, it's still usually pretty damned funny.

[chris on the moon]

I'm sure they accepted "that" and "they" and "them" as 3 letter words