TFI Friday
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TFI Friday was a light entertainment show, produced by Ginger TV Productions, and hosted by Chris Evans and broadcast on Fridays at 6pm on Channel 4 from 1996 to 2000, with a repeat later that night. Officially, the title stood for "Thank Four It's Friday", though a less innocuous interpretation of the initials, "Thank Fuck It's Friday", was clearly implied. The show's theme tune was actually Ron Grainer's theme from Man in a Suitcase.
During November and December 1999, the show included a segment titled "Someone's Going To Be A Millionaire!", inspired by the ITV game show Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? (which would not have its first million pound winner until November 2000). TFI Friday paid out the promised £1 million jackpot on Christmas Eve, 1999, becoming the first British TV show to do so.
The show regularly featured live music, mostly of the then-popular Britpop school. "The Riverboat Song" by Ocean Colour Scene, a band particularly championed by Evans, was regularly played as a sort of interjection during the show.
The show attracted controversy when Shaun Ryder said "fuck" several times. Following the first interview on the show in which he had used the word, he was not allowed to be interviewed live. During a Stars in Their Eyes skit, Ryder performed (as Johnny Rotten) the Sex Pistols' "Pretty Vacant". The section was transmitted live, as it was not an interview. Ryder shouted the word several times. Ryder remains barred from appearing live on any Channel 4 programme. Ewan McGregor also used the controversial word on the show. In the wake of Ryder's antics, TFI Friday was then forced to go out pre-recorded.
The show gained more notoriety when, as part of a competition, two children were forced to go head to head in order to win their parents a car. After the competition was won, the boy who had lost then started to cry, which caused the tabloids to pounce on the show believing it to be shameless, even after the next edition which showed the boy perfectly happy with the consolation prize of a lot of toys. [link] [link]
As the years wore on, the format began to wear down, and viewing figures began to steadily fall. As a result, Channel 4 announced that the next series of TFI Friday was to be the last. Chris Evans then promptly left the show, leaving the final series to be presented by a host of guest presenters, including the Spice Girls and Elton John.
In September 2005, Evans announced that he would be returning the TFI Friday format to TV, with OFI Sunday. The first edition was broadcast on 20 November 2005, but was not as successful and soon axed.
Regular features
Features on the show included:
- Freak or Unique - Every week, there would be five people waiting outside the studio, of whom three would be selected to show off a special if freakish talent (like juicing an orange with their shoulders). A running gag throughout the run was the 'Incredibly Tall Old Lady' who would always be waiting outside the studio. She was never nominated (mainly because it was obviously an old woman standing on a box).
- Fat lookalikes - Exactly what it says on the tin. People who looked like fat versions of celebrities.
- What Does The Fat Bloke Do? - An overweight man was invited on set and asked about his occupation, before dancing and leaving.
- Ugly Blokes - Unattractive gentlemen would have the opportunity to turn down the amorous advances of a 'gorgeous girl' (Catalina Guirado).
- It's Your Letters - A wide assortment of viewers' letters (this was introduced by a burst of Reef's "Place Your Hands").
- Another running gag was directed at the show's producer, Will MacDonald, where everyone in the bar would point their fingers, begin to swivel them and chant 'Wiiillll' very creepily
- Will: Pub Genius - Will MacDonald would demonstrate a trick that could be performed using tools commonly found in a pub.
- Wooden Bird with Purple Hair - Chris Evans would amuse the audience with a small nodding wooden woodpecker (with purple hair), that slid down a pole whilst an accompanying song was played.
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