★★★★★ 0/5

Technical jitters but Cup Fever is fun

It's rough around the edges but the looseness of Santo, Sam and Ed's Cup Fever is part of its charm.

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This isn’t a full review, given Santo, Sam and Ed’s Cup Fever is barely out of the gates, but at first glance it looks like being just the ticket for football fans.

Sure, it was rough around the edges -Santo Cilauro had freely admitted it would be anyway.

A microphone didn’t work, neither did a green screen comedy gag, and file footage didn’t want to play on cue -but nobody seemed to mind.

The show is so loose, a la The Panel (right down to some of the camera shots), that the warts and all feel was actually part of its charm. Ed Kavalee and Sam Pang look like being ideal team players joining Cilauro.

By contrast the 2010 FIFA World Cup Show featuring Les Murray and Craig Foster was plagued by technical issues that undermined a more serious show.

Hosting from a daylight-filled room, there were dreadful shadows and glare on the faces of the two hosts.

Another cross to a live interview on the ground had inadequate audio, drowned out by crowds in the distance.

Audio during the Opening Ceremony, which was probably from a  host broadcaster, was also poor.

These technical issues need fixing quick smart otherwise the “serious football” show is in for a very long month.

Amended.

16 Responses

  3. I couldn’t care less about the soccer but am such a huge fan of both Sam and Ed that I had to watch anyway and absolutely loved it. Looks like I’ll be a surprise convert to the Cup after all!

    Good to see Sam back on form after a rather lacklustre performance in the Eurovision. (And very amused to see him in a sneaky RRR t-shirt on The Circle.)

    Half hour perfect – leave ’em wanting more – it’s on every night after all.

  6. I loved the Cup Fever show – great potential there and some good laughs. I am glad I wasn’t the only one who noticed the sun glare for Murray and Foster. It looked terrible and at some points it looked like Foster was looking right into the sun.

  8. Yep, it’s so very hard to have a program such as this where everything just clicks regardless of what happens. Well done to the team, hopefully the feel can continue right through the month.

  9. Totally agree David; having the shadows on the hosts faces was very poor.. I would not even expect that from a community broadcaster. My information is that SBS took nearly no technical people (which shows), and they certainly had no venue coordinator (which really shows and can be heard). The mike spill during game 1 was really annoying. I hope they get their act together (Maybe lets do the basics first before worrying about 3D !!).

  10. It wasn’t Soccer City behind Les and Craig either. They were in Cape Town. Cup Fever, I liked it and got a few laughs, will tune in again!

  11. Fun show! Ed Kavalee proved just how brilliant he is with his quick thinking and comedy timing, saving a couple of awkward moments due to technical faults. Well done to Working Dog for keeping him on TV! His talents are being wasted on Nova.

  12. hey david, great work on this site, i missed this show, but will definately check when its on. Just to be even picker – fozzie and Les were actually in Cape Town not Johannesburg (outside soccer city) for the show last night.

  13. A bit rough around the edges but i’ll definitely be tuning in throughout the tournament. Seeing Ed Kavalee back on the box is a good thing (makes me miss TV Burp though). Also the commentary audio during the games was woeful, made worse by those bloody vuvuzelas.

  15. I thought cup fever was hilarious. They dealt with the technical issues so well and i’m used to laughing at these stuff ups because shows like the nrl footy show have been doing it for years.

    The hosts are great together and santo hasn’t changed since the panel.

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