Product Description

[Non-U.S. format (PAL) region 2 U.K. DVD - This will not play on many U.S./Canada DVD players (or those from most other countries outside of Europe). You would need a "multi-region" or "region-free" PAL compatible DVD player or computer.] Fact me till I fart, it's The Day Today, the most outrageously satirical show ever to feature a man called Chris Morris--until Brass Eye, that is. Both savage and surreal, The Day Today heaps great steaming mounds of abuse and scorn upon our self-appointed moral guardians, upon pompous pundits, puerile newspaper headline-writers and vacuous, self-important TV presenters. And they all richly deserve it. First broadcast in 1994, the show's format is Newsnight-meets-Crimewatch in Hell. A ridiculously protracted title sequence and melodramatic headline announcements introduce Morris' demented, Jeremy Paxman-a-like anchorman, who simpers to the viewers while castigating on-air his useless reporter Peter O'Hanraha'hanrahan. The vacant Collatallie Sisters turns financial news into a Dadaist nightmare of meaningless statistics, graphically illustrated by the currency cat or the finance arse; while American journo Barbara Wintergreen's reports from Death Row are just scary and absurd enough to be completely believable. Also making his TV debut here is Steve Coogan's legendary sports caster Alan Partridge, with his appalling sports reporting, his cringe-inducing misunderstandings and his sheer blunt-headed stupidity (many of the same team, sans Morris, would reunite the following year for Knowing Me, Knowing You). Sketches such as the spoof soap "The Bureau" and the spoof docu-soap "The Pool" also betray the writing skills of Graham Linehan and Arthur Matthews, creators of Father Ted. EXTRAS: Steve Coogan/Mark Radcliffe interview providing insight into making of the show, biographies, extended scenes, stills gallery, easter eggs.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #37916 in DVD
• Number of discs: 2
• Formats: Box set, Import, PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 78 minutes

Customer Reviews

Hilarious satire
From the opening line of episode 1 "The headlines tonight; Bottomley (a member of the former conservative British Government) refreshed after three days on cross" this is the best comedy/satire show you will find on DVD. Dating from 1994 it is mostly a vicious parody of UK BBC TV program Newsnight, as presented by Jeremy Paxman.

Nothing is sacred in this show, presenters, events, politicians and the royal family are all satirised brilliantly. Chris Morris is one of the great unsung heroes of British comedy, and as the anchor man (i.e. Paxman) he is perfect. Interviewing a woman organiser of the London Jam festival he quickly reduces her to tears saying:
"How dare you come on this program and say hey look at me I'm raising £1500 for the homeless - you could raise more money by sitting outside a tube station with a hat on the ground, even if you were twice as ugly as you are, which is very ugly indeed".

Another noteable aspect to this show is that it has the first TV appearance of Steve Coogans Alan Partridge character. Here he mans the Sports desk which leads to some marvellous moments.

Although 13 years later some of the political characters are distant memories, in general the show still hits the bullseye everytime. So long as people like Chris Morris are around the high and mighty will always be looking over their shoulder (which is how it should be).

Those are the headlines! God, I wish they weren't.
The headlines tonight: NATO annulled after delegate swallows treaty, car drives by window in town and Leicester man wins right to eat sister. Those are the headlines! Now fact me till I fart!

I was 13 when this life-changing show came on TV. Reaching a small audience on BBC2 at night, The Day Today was a parody of the distinctly British way of News programming, exaggerating all the usual idiosyncrasies and formalities. My granddad made me suffer the News every night when I was a kid so I really got the sense of humor that this show layed on so thickly.

Chris Morris is your utterly, utterly deadpan Anchorman delivering lines like '"I'm so sorry", yells exploding cleaner' to perfection. Alan Partridge (my first introduction to this popular character) is the sports presenter who hasn't a clue how to commentate or appeal to his audience, Peter O'Hanarha-hanrahan is the dunderhead foreign correspondent, Colaterie Sisters does the business news and Valerie Sinatra takes care of the roads in The Day Today Travel Tower a mile above the centre of London. There's also Sylvester Stewart doing the weather but explaining it with cryptic double-meanings that no one could ever figure out. Example 'Thunder and lightning about the volume of a Thin Lizzie concert.' Crazy one-off reporters such as Jonathan Sizz, Eugene Fraxby, Donnald Beth'le'Hem, Harfynn Teuport and Suzanna Geckaloyce are all equally as good despite their small amount of air time.

But the best of them all, without a doubt, is the hard-as-fock, the man without fear, the terrifyingly important mean machine Ted Maul. Always sent out to scope the most dangerous stories (such as a commuter train full of businessmen who have turned into barbarians because of track delays), Ted demands you pay attention and scares you into accepting the facts with his frighteningly authoritative voice. He's just so great, I cannot describe.

There was also several stories by American reporter Barbera Wintergreen with her horribly blown-out NTSC color. Barbera mostly reported on the many, many deaths of American serial killer Chapman Baxter, who always got the chair but actually died on it in various different ways (an electric toilet, while stuffing himself with cheeseburgers).

Without a single duff story, The Day Today is infinitely funny and endlessly quotable. Back in 1994, we never had MP3 players or sound-clips on the internet, so I actually made mix tapes of all the best bits (really hard to choose) and memorised practically every episode from beginning to end. To this Day (today) I still remember it all. Why haven't I bought the DVD yet? And remember, fact times importance equals NEWS!

A Still-Relevant Satire of TV News
I cannot recommend this product enough. This is so brilliant, so offensive that it will never see the light of day outside of the internet or Britain. Basically, it is a thorough, but very logical satire of television news, as well as media relations in today's world. He begins every episode with the same dopey theme music, full of horns and drums, and launches into outrageous headlines, with reporters who barely retain credibility. The reason that the series works so well is that he exploits the steady rhythm of television. On the disc two documentary, the BBC blandly state that television requires a very precise three words per second. So anyone can scream the headlines and make them sound convincing. Morris uses this to full advantage.
(By the by, the second disc is worth it for the ridiculous film the "Beeb" assembled. Clearly offended by Chris Morris' work, they show trainees stitching together a day's worth of headlines from raw video feed. However, it only further proves that TV News is neither an art, nor a science, but is really three-card monte.)
It is very hard to pick out the best parts: Sylvester's revolting weather reports, Alan Partridge's inept sports commentary, or Collaterallee Sisters' jargon-laced economic misinformation. But, I will wager that the ones that walk away with the show are the Barbara Wintergreen's death watches, and Rosie May's environmental extremism. All of these goofy, truly indescribable satires show one thing: television cannot inform us. Television, by being jumpy, prevents people from being truly intelligent. Very seldom do viewers get comedy that really lives up to the trite word "edgy". This one does.
If you are buying this DVD for extras, there aren't many. Disc Two has three features, all of which are mediocre. Buy this set for an introduction to the warped mind of Chris Morris. And don't think this is extreme. He ratchets up the ribald comedy on Brass Eye and Jam, all of which climax in the "Pedageddon" special. These are going to offend most people who watch them, but for a small minority who like their meat rare with red wine, these will be a gas.