Sky at Night!

[Scott]

For my penneth ...

1) I guess something is better than nothing, so we should be thankful that the Beeb didn't decide to can the show completely when SirP died and we should be glad that the show is still running, albeit in a different format.

2) I too find John Culshaw increadibly irritating and think the show would be much better (and taken more seriously) without him. S@N doesn't need an impressionist.... and I just won a bet with myself that he couldn't go a single show without resorting to his cringeworthy immitation SirP - which he duly did when presenting the winner of the best moon show with a mobile camera. Sad and pathetic. Please stop it! (I nearly turned off at that point too!)

3) Given that the vast majority of people here seem to be of the similar opinion - the best thing to do would be to come to some collective constructive suggestions for ways to improve the show and make the cast of the show aware of these suggestions ... I'm pretty sure most of the presenters are on Twitter these days - so that shouldn't be too difficult to make them aware.

So in terms of my 'helpful suggesions'....

a) Keep at it. We love the show and would be sad to see it stop ... but please take onboard some comments / feedback from your beloved fans.

Please tell JohnC to stop immitating SirP - it's not clever or funny and everyone hates it and is actually putting people off watching the show.

I thank you...(Stands down from soap box....)

Mike

I think you've lost that bet with yourself. To my knowledge that is the first spm impersonation since jan or feb. if you can post one for every episode sinse them i'll gladly apoligise.

Not everyone hates it... spm seemed to quite enjoy it. it is clever (just try it)

[Paul M]

I was wondering when someone would mention the spm impersonation. 7 seconds since January...He really is bleeding it dry isn't he.

He's bleeding his position in the programme dry if you ask me. As an avid amatuer (so we are told) you'd think he'd drop the theatricals and crack on with the content.

But thinking about it, his SPM impressions are what got him his foot in the S@N door. Perhaps he feels he needs to remind us of his credentials every now and again?

It's no big deal, I'm not so bothered as to start timing him

​I'm a born again S@N fan. I stopped watching it maybe 15 or 20 years ago. I didn't like the format. Too much sitting around and chatting for my liking and in latter years I found it distressing to watch the Old Boy.

So I'm a fan with just a little grumble about JC's on screen antics....

[Scott]

He's bleeding his position in the programme dry if you ask me. As an avid amatuer (so we are told) you'd think he'd drop the theatricals and crack on with the content.

But thinking about it, his SPM impressions are what got him his foot in the S@N door. Perhaps he feels he needs to remind us of his credentials every now and again?

It's no big deal, I'm not so bothered as to start timing him

​I'm a born again S@N fan. I stopped watching it maybe 15 or 20 years ago. I didn't like the format. Too much sitting around and chatting for my liking and in latter years I found it distressing to watch the Old Boy.

So I'm a fan with just a little grumble about JC's on screen antics....

I don't time it either. the point i thought I was making somewhat obviously is that people bang on about his continually do spm impersonations and the plain facts are he just doesn't.

before you say "yes he does, he did it in this episode" I meant he doesn't do it continually

[Andy McK]

And there were no Druids,

Anyone want 5 ltrs of Wode ?

[Jiggy 67]

The programme seems to have lost sight of its original remit, Its called The Sky At Night, but spends very little time on the subject of observing the sky at night. It has become just another science magazine show, and pitched very low aswell, it sometimes strikes me as a childrens programme. I miss seeing Sir Patrick discussing observing with his guests, instead we have a show with presenters arranging themselves with Blue Peter like models.

I would like to see a programme that teaches us where to look, how to luck and what equipment to use and then explain to us what we are actually looking at

[Macavity]

Could be a lot worse...

[jezhughes]

I don't mind the new shows. Face it, 'space' is getting mainstream. I work in marketing and over the past 2 years i've seen a big increase in anything astro becoming popular in culture. You only have to look at what companies are doing and how NASA are succeeding from a reputation standpoint. Both Lynx and KLM have done competitions to win a trip to space in the last year, Chris Hadfield became a Twitter/YouTube superstar throughout the spring with his time on the ISS, and tonight's meteor shower is all over the news and a top read subject. I don't think the BBC are oblivious to this, but its a different kind f programming and its space being popular in a different kind of way. The show has to be more approachable for that kind of audience.

The problem is of course, 'Space' is popular, astronomy is not...

[DiamondSmiles]

Much better show this month. Think the July episode was a bit of a blip.

[mallorcasaint]

Not banging on about Culshaws SPM impressions. Just that he rarely speaks in his own voice. Even the other presenters think so.

[Scott]

Not banging on about Culshaws SPM impressions. Just that he rarely speaks in his own voice. Even the other presenters think so.

Maybe you weren't....but then again, my post was not in response to yours.

[mallorcasaint]

Maybe you weren't....but then again, my post was not in response to yours.

Never said it was.

[robbie c]

Much better show this month. Think the July episode was a bit of a blip.

Lets hope so this months show was great last month was the pits

[Bukko]

I think the general consensus is we want to keep S@N running, but it needs to appeal to its target audience.

I would expect the producers/commissiones are looking at the ratings and I wonder if they are going up, or down...

For my two pennyworth, I think there is a lot of opportunity to improve and would like to make a suggestion.

Key item is to encourage young and new people to be interested in astronomy.

I would like to see some time put aside each month to engage amateur astronomers in their pastime.

How about 10 mins with a member of our "Dob Squad" extolling the virtues of their favourite scope; the benefits and pitfalls.. And include some background on what got them into astronomy and why they like doing it.

Then the following week on the Refractor, same format, then Newts, Grab-and-Go's, Cassegrains, General session from observers and imagers. Then pick on a couple of solar watchers/imagers, Lunar, Planetary, Double stars, Clusters, Nebulae, Galaxies, Asteroids, etc..

Also do some equipment sessions, discussing the good/bad points of Alt/Az vs. EQ, etc. The list is endless and if done right would help the multitude of SGL postings on what to choose.

(But absolutely no points ratings for equipment, it should not be a hardware review, but to help potential astronomers understand what's going in.)

There is probably enough expertise on SGL to cover the lot. (No, I am not volunteering !!)

Just a thought...

Gordon.