Shooting Stars holds a special place in my heart as I'm not only a fan of Vic & Bob but was also of the right age for this to be considerate a formative part of my sense of humour developing. This one-off special appealed to me then, particularly since my appetite had been whetted by the documentary clip show that preceded it in the schedules. At its best this special is very funny indeed but unfortunately it doesn't get to that high very often. Without question the challenge at the end is hilarious as Jack Dee must avoid flinching (measured by balancing a dead blue tit on his head) while an opera singer sings directly into his face, but there are not as many moments as inspired as this.
There is of course the challenge of "going back" to a successful show but this is not really the problem as they don't heavily try to recreate the past. No, the problems are different from that but before I go into those let me say that I did still enjoy the special for what it was and both Vic & Bob were on good form. A minor quibble is the set it is far too open, white and cold to really suit the chaotic comedy and at times it overwhelms the senses with this contrast. The second problem I have with it is not so much with the show itself but with the BBC who decided to make a mini "night" of the two programmes and showed them back to back. So what you have then are viewers killing themselves laughing over an hour of greatest hits clips from 5 seasons of the show, every clip of which is hilarious, only to then be followed by a new show. It goes without saying that any one show (new special or not) is not going to compare well with a rapid fire clips show so the special suffers a bit by comparison because I noticed my laugh rate drop from the documentary. Not its fault but it would have been better showing them on different nights.
The main thing for me are the guests who they have got on the show. Lucas is back thankfully and manages to look like he has not aged a bit. The same cannot be said of Jonsson although she does send herself up well and got some good laughs from pre-recorded bits. Dee does an OK job of team captain but he forgets that Self and Lamarr didn't JUST do the grumpy thing silently without getting laughs, because Dee perhaps pushes it too far without providing laughs (until the challenge when he is funny). The rest are poor though and there is no way round it. Nobody really plays along and nobody is genuinely befuddled in the way some of the best are. Rascal is the worst as he just sits there, killing most of the jokes thrown his way. Jones is much the same but not as bad. Garraway seems a very low rent "pretty girl" considering who has sat in that position before her and you know guests were a problem when the final spot is taken by the gardening expert from The One Show, Walkden.
The Special is still quite funny and fans will find much to enjoy from Vic & Bob doing their material and making it energetic and fresh, it is just a shame that significant factors play against it from the very start. Shooting Stars was brilliantly creative and funny the documentary showed us that and, although enjoyable, its one-off return deserved to be better than this was.
There is of course the challenge of "going back" to a successful show but this is not really the problem as they don't heavily try to recreate the past. No, the problems are different from that but before I go into those let me say that I did still enjoy the special for what it was and both Vic & Bob were on good form. A minor quibble is the set it is far too open, white and cold to really suit the chaotic comedy and at times it overwhelms the senses with this contrast. The second problem I have with it is not so much with the show itself but with the BBC who decided to make a mini "night" of the two programmes and showed them back to back. So what you have then are viewers killing themselves laughing over an hour of greatest hits clips from 5 seasons of the show, every clip of which is hilarious, only to then be followed by a new show. It goes without saying that any one show (new special or not) is not going to compare well with a rapid fire clips show so the special suffers a bit by comparison because I noticed my laugh rate drop from the documentary. Not its fault but it would have been better showing them on different nights.
The main thing for me are the guests who they have got on the show. Lucas is back thankfully and manages to look like he has not aged a bit. The same cannot be said of Jonsson although she does send herself up well and got some good laughs from pre-recorded bits. Dee does an OK job of team captain but he forgets that Self and Lamarr didn't JUST do the grumpy thing silently without getting laughs, because Dee perhaps pushes it too far without providing laughs (until the challenge when he is funny). The rest are poor though and there is no way round it. Nobody really plays along and nobody is genuinely befuddled in the way some of the best are. Rascal is the worst as he just sits there, killing most of the jokes thrown his way. Jones is much the same but not as bad. Garraway seems a very low rent "pretty girl" considering who has sat in that position before her and you know guests were a problem when the final spot is taken by the gardening expert from The One Show, Walkden.
The Special is still quite funny and fans will find much to enjoy from Vic & Bob doing their material and making it energetic and fresh, it is just a shame that significant factors play against it from the very start. Shooting Stars was brilliantly creative and funny the documentary showed us that and, although enjoyable, its one-off return deserved to be better than this was.