User Reviews

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!

..and no, I'm not exaggerating. From Chris Morris' self-important tone of voice, to Steve Coogan's Alan Partridge, to illegal backstreet dentists, to Peter O'Hanererhanerohan, to The Bureau.. this show is a non-stop roller-coaster of insane ideas presented as reality, and has to be the best satire of news media ever done (possibly topped by Brass Eye). My favourite has to be Steve Coogan's road safety advert, 'well do I look cool? Do I really look cool? WELL DO I??'

It's a combination of performers who subsequently went on to do other brilliant stuff, but all of them combined is quite something.

Put simply, if you haven't seen this show, YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS.

This is a satirical parody of news and current affairs television programmes. Chris Morris, Steve Coogan, Rebecca Front, Doon Mackichan, Patrick Marber and David Schneider play various characters.

There are six episodes. They were shown in January and February 1994 on BBC Two.

Watching I.T.N. nowadays one can't help but be reminded of 'The Day Today'. Smug, patronising presenters, gaudy sets, cheesy links, gimmicky presentation, an unmistakable political bias, all were hilariously parodied by Armando Ianucci and Chris Morris over a decade ago. Morris himself is superb as the anchorman, the rest of the cast are fine too, particularly the underrated Rebecca Front. But it was Steve Coogan's verbally constipated sports commentator 'Alan Partridge' who caught the public's imagination, going onto to appear in no less than two spin-offs. The bombastic theme music and flashy graphics of 'Today' added greatly to its humour. My favourite sketch featured a convicted American killer wanting to die like his idol Elvis Presley - by gorging himself on hamburgers. It is to the credit of Ianucci and Morris that they didn't milk the concept for all it was worth - 'The Day Today' ended after only one season. Luckily for us, Morris had another great show up his sleeve - 'Brass Eye'.

'Portillo's face felt like guts says girl'

I'm talking bang! I'm talking guns, I'm talking people like Uzi MC, the Blood Rap Movement, Herman the Tosser... how do you feel when young people are presented with the sort of stuff that they're churning out? What, if someone listens to Herman the Tosser? Agh.

-I think there are very many young people who are turned off by that violence, by that sexism, by that racism and by that homophobia.

Are you levelling all those accusations at Herman the Tosser?

-No I'm not, Herman the Tosser is not someone who's invaded my own particular consciousness, although he has clearly invaded yours and is a concern

-It sounds to me, it sounds to me

It sounds to me too.

-it sounds to me a rather unpleasant name

Unpleasant name.

-but he may be a delightful man-

Man.

-in person

THIS IS THE NEEEWS!

Chris Morris is God. The funniest man i have ever clapped eyes on. You must rush out now & buy everything he has ever appeared in. Jam, Brass Eye, Nathan Barley, The Day Today, On the Hour, The IT Crowd (which he completely steals from everyone in his brief appearances). Go buy them all. Do it. Now

A news parody show that tackles topical events and, largely, fictional events (so, very much like serious news programs). Hosted by Chris Morris we have sport with Alan Partridge, business news with Collately Sisters, weather with Sylvester Stewart, traffic with Valerie Sinatra as well as on-the-spot reporters Barbara Wintergreen and Peter O'Hanraha-hanrahan.

Rough around the edges but brilliantly funny. The humour is largely absurdist and seems heavily influenced by Monty Python, which is clearly a very good thing. Inane to the point of being incomprehensible at times, yet still funny. The imagination and creativity to come up with some of the stuff is just off the charts.

This all done at breakneck speed, with the randomness and momentum of an out of control car. It's like Jackson Pollock turned his hand to comedy.

Chris Morris is excellent as the host and tends to get the best lines. Most recognisable to most people is Steve Coogan as Alan Partridge, the sports reporter. Coogan would reprise his role as Alan Partridge in several subsequent TV shows as well as a few films.

In addition to launching the career of Steve Coogan, the show also gave us Armando Iannucci who produced and co-wrote the show. He would collaborate with Coogan again by producing and co-writing the Alan Partridge shows as well as giving us the brilliant 'The Thick of It' and 'Veep'.

Somewhere someone is painting the state of 199s in painful color. The State of the states of the GB.

The day today was recently repeated on the British cable/satellite channel UKG2. I didn't manage to see the programme before, but I am a fan of Chris Morris and had been awaiting this repeat for some time. I thought it was brilliant and I think the BBC should have repeated it, as they were the network that originally screened the show. The absurdity of some of the "reports" was fantastic. The ideas of a soap opera being set in a bureau de change or the war correspondent kicking the door down of a house, shooting a woman and setting up broadcasting equipment was so surreal, it made it obviously not a real news report. The closest things to reality were the graphics and Chris Morris' portrayal of the newsreader [the graphics only were if you ignored the voiceovers of stupid phrases and the newsreader only if you ignored the madness of the news stories.]It was excellently written with a near-perfect cast and it even spawned a major character, Alan Partridge [whose segments were not that funny in my opinion.] Going back to previously, most of the acting was realistic, the things the actors were depicting wasn't.

The first time I sat down to watch The day today,it was by accident as I was looking for the news... I got the news but with a hysterical slant on this country with it! I continued to watch every week and enjoyed it more each week. (Although I didn't think it would be possible) Chris Morris' mix of news and complete jiberish has you not only laughing wildly but also wondering if you will come out of the other end of this episode with your sanity in tact... then enters spoof sports presenter Alan Partridge, just like every sports news presenter he appears to know about as much about sport as a bunch of grapes in a bag, but still gives an incredibly enthusistic report on Luton, um... "Hitting a goal!" At this point you KNOW that your sanity will at least be dented! Along with spoofs of green reports, an in-studio philosopher +even a "Day today exclusive war" you learn nothing about day to day news, (although you don't from most other news shows either!) but you do realise how odd the things are that make you laugh.

The only criticism I could possibly have of this great programme is it's one season running time. It was a loss to british comedy.

The Day Today was perhaps the best comedy programme ever invented. Chris Morris is the best News Reader ever. The rest of the cast react spectacularly to each other, and the news stories are just brilliant. "Sacked Chimney Sweep pumps boss full of mayonnaise" was just one such headline. Peter O'Hanrahanrahanrahan and Chris Morris are a great comedy pairing, and their battles still make me laugh out loud after hundreds of viewings. I cannot believe it took so long for this to be released on DVD. >From the first headline to the days papers, the show is pure, undiluted comedy. And the "War" episode is hilarious. I don't want to spoil it, but believe me, it is excellent, especially after hearing the news commentary during the recent Gulf War. It is so similar, it is uncanny. And all this from a simple comedy series! Chris Morris, Armando Ianucci, take a bow.

The Day Today was NOT trying to fool veiwers. It was a satirical portrayal of the american style of news reporting, where the producers value ratings above the truth. Sadly, this is what UK news is becoming.

It's not really a news spoof. It is a sketch show like Monty Python's Flying Circus was. The sketches are held together by the news format. It is a reminder of the happy days of the BBC, when the suits took chances, and they paid off like this did.

This is the greatest piece of news-spoofery ever made. The team behind it have made many satirical programmes for the UK, bu this is their finest outing.

Based on news broadcasting in the UK, this programme mocked, spoofed and ridiculed all those involved in sloppy and lazy news. Although over 4 years old, the videos still sell, and more discover the genius of Chris Morris.

`The Day Today' is a good show, not a great one. Carrying on in many respects from the classic `KYTV', `The Day Today' is basically a satire on tabloid TV news.

While maintaining the same high production values and calibre of actor as "KYTV", the show does fall short in a few places. The show distinctly drags in places because rather than developing a character's quirk, the show falls into the trap of creating characters that do and say practically the same thing every episode (I'm thinking specifically of Steve Coogan's character here).

There is still a strong British flavour to the comedy here, so many Americans will find themselves lost - perhaps even insulted - by the comedy employed.

It's a shame the show wasn't given more time to develop - as I remember it, the last episode was probably one of the funniest.

As a fine example of British comedy that wasn't either totally degenerate or else heavily influenced by the shrink-wrapped American sit-coms, `The Day Today' is a good place to start - especially the episode where they cover a war!

8)

I`ve never really understood the fuss about THE DAY TODAY . I know it`s a slick satire but it`s done in such an offbeat avant garde way I doubt if anyone would be taken in by it and that`s what it was trying to do was it not ? Trying to get people to believe it was a REAL current affairs show in the same way as the latter BRASS EYE , so why spoil it with surreal scenes like the man dancing in the background ?

The show does have its rare good points like the story of terrorists using " bomb dogs " and I remember many viewers complained about the sale of a video called THIS IS OUR WAR where a track like Tina Turner`s DISCO INFERNO is played over footage of burning Iraqi tanks from the 1991 Gulf war then HANDS UP by Ottawa is played and the footage cuts to a montage of Iraqi troops surrendering with their arms raised then it cuts to weeping Iraqi soldiers as STOP YOUR SOBBING by The Pretenders is used on the sound track . I don`t like to admit it but THIS IS OUR WAR made me laugh but the laughs are few and far between with THE DAY TODAY