General Banter and Random Musings

[Duke of Cheese]

The amount of people on here commenting things they have no idea about is astonishing. The team is small, but experienced, me being one of them. We’re all dedicated as a group and whilst the tv side of things hasn’t gone how we had hoped, things will always happen and we will always get back on the horse one way or another. As for anybody making personal comments about Simon, Evey or Alex, you have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. Three of the most wonderful, kind hearted and extremely talented individuals I have ever been friends with and lucky enough to continue to work with. We are all working exceptionally hard behind the scenes to do what we can do, when so much has happened out of our control. No one is overworked, underpaid, or left in the dust as some people seem to believe, we are an incredibly strong team who are trying hard, but people need to understand they are not owed anything, at the end of the day we are a business and business decisions that go beyond where someone’s order is or if they want a refund really do no concern anyone else. You’ll know what you need to know, and if we’re not telling you anything there is a reason behind it. Please stop attacking us personally, have your opinions but remember you are talking about people who tried something new and it just happened not to work. And before you go at me for being anonymous, my name is Mollie, I’ve worked with this team for a while and I’ve been in the industry since 2017. My colleagues are some of my closest friends and I cannot express how hard we are all working here.

You were a presenting breath of fresh air on the watch show with Kevin if that’s you.

 

[Jazzydrury]

You were a presenting breath of fresh air on the watch show with Kevin if that’s you.

That was Millie, Duke, who got nothing but praise, Hammy said It was the best watch show in 7 years

 

[Hammy60]

You were a presenting breath of fresh air on the watch show with Kevin if that’s you.

That was Millie, was there not a Floor manager/producer Mollie on Shop Extra.

 

[Duke of Cheese]

Oh blimey..Millie, Molly Mandy… I feel like I’m on the in-house Seen on TV forum now so many staff have joined of late. Like most on here I wanted your channel to succeed. We take the rise on here of the genre in general, and call out what we see as people misleading customers on other channels in particular. But there was much promise in most of what I saw on Seen on TV. Not everybody here hates it, and wanted it to crash and burn so soon.

 

[pavey1234]

You were a presenting breath of fresh air on the watch show with Kevin if that’s you.

That’s the lovely Millie, not me, I’ve always stayed behind the camera

 

[Hammy60]

This thread is like one of a Dr foghorn's shows, loud and manic.

 

[pavey1234]

That was Millie, was there not a Floor manager/producer Mollie on Shop Extra.

I’v been a floor manager, director, producer, production coordinator and talent manager through the years, we all muck in and gain skills in all areas

 

[Herring]

Oh blimey..Millie, Molly Mandy… I feel like I’m on the in-house Seen on TV forum now so many staff have joined of late. Like most on here I wanted your channel to succeed. We take the rise on here of the genre in general, and call out what we see as people misleading customers on other channels in particular. But there was much promise in most of what I saw on Seen on TV. Not everybody here hates it, and wanted it to crash and burn so soon.

Precisely.

And it's been said on page after page in this thread.

Which is why I find it bemusing for throwaways to roll up demonising the thread as full of "miserable critics" making "personal attacks" and "insults" about people I didn't know existed until yesterday, then moving the goalposts to belittle us for concerning ourselves with things we've no right to know — as if going on live nationwide TV to broadcast into people's homes in an effort to persuade them to buy cr*p they didn't know they need to generate profit to keep the clownshow on the road is actually a charitable act more befitting of an MBE than 'unnecessary' questions like "and will you be around long enough to fulfil my order?".

…because they get all along behind the scenes.

 

[Jazzydrury]

I’v been a floor manager, director, producer, production coordinator and talent manager through the years, we all muck in and gain skills in all areas

Haven’t you sometimes been shown modelling Sunglasses

 

[pavey1234]

Haven’t you sometimes been shown modelling Sunglasses

Den dragged me on once or twice, but I definitely prefer behind the scenes

 

[Duke of Cheese]

Usually, personal abuse (sad losers, spending your miserable lives hanging around a shopping telly forum, rot in Hell, you friendless bast…) is the argument of the lost argument. Turn to generic insults when you can’t respond coherently to salient points made. I repeat - I would have been delighted to see this channel succeed on air long-term. I very much liked its style. Equally, that doesn’t mean I can’t criticise the forward planning when the very same channel disappears after a week. I suspect this sub-forum will be joining the others in the former shopping channels section. That’s sad, because Seen on TV had a lot going for it front of house. I hope it still can have, wherever it turns up next.

 

[Herring]

And one thing I would mention to the throwaways to catch on to is, as @Duke of Cheese puts it: "We take the rise on here of the genre in general".

Grab yer thesaurus and look up: hyperbole, banter, silly, satire, aping (tropes and conventions), etc.

There was a guy who came on here many moons ago in the IW sub-forum who just could not grasp that most of us are not super serious. Most of us are not angry. Most of us aren't miserable (well, not until the goods arrive heh). Most of us* do not spend all day watching, thinking, or obsessing over selly telly. We flick over during ad breaks, we have it on for background noise during the ironing (Polti, obviously), or dip in out of habit for a few minutes every other day. Then we come here for the banter and the levity in observing how ridiculous the microcosm of selly telly can be.

It's honestly not as life and death to us as people who visit for the first time think it is.

Also, do keep in mind that as this is a forum for discussing selly telly it WILL seem like it's all we talk about is selly telly by virtue of the fact …it's a forum for discussing selly telly.

*Except Muriel.

 

[Jazzydrury]

I’v been a floor manager, director, producer, production coordinator and talent manager through the years, we all muck in and gain skills in all areas

That is some career, especially if I remember you don’t look old

 

[User 31182]

To be clear, the support from this forum for wanting the channel to succeed and allowing for still saying how good the output was even with the teethings problems (sync issues). The feedback and constructive criticism is always deeply appreciated.

My issue is solely with the ‘insider’ and who they are as a person. Most people on here are detached from personal feelings but still provide balanced discussion. The Insider is nothing short of malicious and holds zero conscience. They are using plausible information to gain more credit and reputation - from what I gather the new accounts being set up seem to have been mainly fuelled from this, as friends clearly want to defend the people they know and love from someone who is using information to manipulate and bring down a situation rather than trying to help those involved.

It’s unfortunate that some of the discussion has spilled over onto others as it’s the viewers and community that keeps support going. A lot of respect to Alex being as transparent as he can be and always being open and respectful to all of the feedback.

 

[Duke of Cheese]

He (Alex) was a shining light on here. Posting under his own name, receptive to constructive criticism, no personal abuse or dismissive sarcasm. Restored my faith in the shopping television in-house people posting on here.

 

[Herring]

You see a picture on Facebook of a man at a theme park and rip into him for having a life outside the office? It’s crazy. You praise people who are open enough to satisfy you, when you forget you aren’t owed any information at all.

I missed this when you posted it.

Forgive me, but it might be more fruitful to take up complaints with what people are saying on Facebook with the people who are saying it on Facebook since, y'know, it's people saying on it on Facebook, not here?

I don't follow Seen on TV on Facebook, much less seen "a man at a theme park" and "ripped into" him, and I don't recall seeing that here (happy to be corrected).

If you've sold enough pull n' chops, perhaps invest in some PR advice. Simon is doing what a basic crisis management plan would suggest: say nothing, respond to nothing. The less you say, the more you're covered (reputation-wise). You say we're owed no information (from you), so don't give us any.

Also think about the future: going around forums and social media to badmouth, berate, and mock people will emotionally feel like a good idea… because it's a pressure release valve. It's temporary, and it's not the "heroes cape" you think it is.

Finally, though I'm speculating here, you don't appear to know who the Insider(s) are - there's more than one, btw - but they do know who you are, as now does everyone else who reads this thread. Don't burn bridges unduly, especially since today's insider could be tomorrow's employer (as SOMEONE IN THE MEEJA, I've learned this the hard way: a quick vent on social media I made many years ago felt good at the time, and I soon forgot it, until it resurfaced to bite me in the ass, costing me an opportunity).

Stay cool. You've all had it tough, but do focus on positive actions and not recriminations, especially over things like "ill-will" - it wasn't "ill-will" which tanked the channel, it was over-ambition and a degree of hubris.

 

[The Insider]

Really? A producer with 15 years experience of the entire TV side, someone with business knowledge who has been in shopping tv for god knows how long ? Have they said it’s over? No, so stop making assumptions. They were taking thousands of orders on TikTok a day as it was, and still are so packing orders really isn’t the issue. It’s tech, as they’ve said over & over again. Didn’t realise you knew about tv gallery set up, should have employed you. You clearly know it all.

And this is my point entirely - someone who at their peak, briefly held a middle management position as a production manager at a channel that employed almost 300 people (and never worked outside of the broadcast department), would not have the business acumen to be able to pull off what they were trying to achieve and that's fine if you bring in the expertise of those who do, but they didn't.

Yes the TV channel is over, Alex has admitted as much on here today and so has a key supplier (Kevin Reynolds). Plus, their Freeview capacity is currently being shopped around to other broadcasters.

It's not just "tech" and you know that. Whether deliberate or not, Alex initially misled this forum by blaming the cameras for the suspension of live broadcasting. Yes, that was a genuine issue but the actual reason for this suspension (as Alex later admitted) was because there wasn't enough money to pay Arqiva the deposit they owed for the Freeview capacity. They have even admitted on their own Facebook page that money was to blame for the current situation - "If we are guilty of one thing, it was being incredibly naive in thinking we could do something differently and independently without a larger backer."

And in terms of a gallery setup, from the limited knowledge I have of this area - I certainly would have known better than to have relied on NDI sources and a £500 piece of software (that is designed for YouTube streamers) to run the entire live output. That would never have held up to the constant battering of 12 hours live a day.

Seen on TV was a fresh start for people who got lied to and scammed by Ideal World and many who worked there have all said how it was the best atmosphere they’ve worked in in a long time. With people genuinely trying to help customers with any issues and management genuinely caring about all of the staff.

Those who left secure jobs to work for Seen on TV may say they were lied to, or misled by Simon and Co about the financial stability of the company as one poster on here has attested to. But look, as long as the top honchos tried their hardest and everyone enjoyed the wedding, let's just forget about all those freelancers who are now without work.

The channel only took 400 orders in its first and only full week on air. Why are they having so many customer service issues? Imagine the chaos there would be right now if they were still on air and had achieved their target sales. No customer service or phone staff is absolutely comical and demonstrates a clear lack of interest in the customer experience but that is hardly surprising when their only experience in shopping TV, is the broadcast side.

I’d ask you to consider the intentions behind someone clearly lying to ‘friends’ to try to gain and post inaccurate knowledge to tear down a start-up company.

They shouldn’t be trusted by the people who know them personally and people on this forum certainly shouldn’t trust them either. They’re only here for their own personal vendetta that is not representative of the reality of what is going on behind the scenes.

Please do elaborate on what "inaccurate" information I have posted, I'll wait here patiently

 

[Hammy60]

Den dragged me on once or twice, but I definitely prefer behind the scenes

Have to say you did well in front of the camera, perfect face for modelling sunglasses with a bubbly/fun attitude.

 

[Sazza]

The amount of people on here commenting things they have no idea about is astonishing. The team is small, but experienced, me being one of them. We’re all dedicated as a group and whilst the tv side of things hasn’t gone how we had hoped, things will always happen and we will always get back on the horse one way or another. As for anybody making personal comments about Simon, Evey or Alex, you have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. Three of the most wonderful, kind hearted and extremely talented individuals I have ever been friends with and lucky enough to continue to work with. We are all working exceptionally hard behind the scenes to do what we can do, when so much has happened out of our control. No one is overworked, underpaid, or left in the dust as some people seem to believe, we are an incredibly strong team who are trying hard, but people need to understand they are not owed anything, at the end of the day we are a business and business decisions that go beyond where someone’s order is or if they want a refund really do no concern anyone else. You’ll know what you need to know, and if we’re not telling you anything there is a reason behind it. Please stop attacking us personally, have your opinions but remember you are talking about people who tried something new and it just happened not to work. And before you go at me for being anonymous, my name is Mollie, I’ve worked with this team for a while and I’ve been in the industry since 2017. My colleagues are some of my closest friends and I cannot express how hard we are all working here.

Our members are free to comment on all things shopping telly be it positive or negative.

 

[User 31182]

And this is my point entirely - someone who at their peak, briefly held a middle management position as a production manager at a channel that employed almost 300 people (and never worked outside of the broadcast department), would not have the business acumen to be able to pull off what they were trying to achieve and that's fine if you bring in the expertise of those who do, but they didn't.

Yes the TV channel is over, Alex has admitted as much on here today and so has a key supplier (Kevin Reynolds). Plus, their Freeview capacity is currently being shopped around to other broadcasters.

It's not just "tech" and you know that. Whether deliberate or not, Alex initially misled this forum by blaming the cameras for the suspension of live broadcasting. Yes, that was a genuine issue but the actual reason for this suspension (as Alex later admitted) was because there wasn't enough money to pay Arqiva the deposit they owed for the Freeview capacity. They have even admitted on their own Facebook page that money was to blame for the current situation - "If we are guilty of one thing, it was being incredibly naive in thinking we could do something differently and independently without a larger backer."

And in terms of a gallery setup, from the limited knowledge I have of this area - I certainly would have known better than to have relied on NDI sources and a £500 piece of software (that is designed for YouTube streamers) to run the entire live output. That would never have held up to the constant battering of 12 hours live a day.


Those who left secure jobs to work for Seen on TV may say they were lied to, or misled by Simon and Co about the financial stability of the company as one poster on here has attested to. But look, as long as the top honchos tried their hardest and everyone enjoyed the wedding, let's just forget about all those freelancers who are now without work.

The channel only took 400 orders in its first and only full week on air. Why are they having so many customer service issues? Imagine the chaos there would be right now if they were still on air and had achieved their target sales. No customer service or phone staff is absolutely comical and demonstrates a clear lack of interest in the customer experience but that is hardly surprising when their only experience in shopping TV, is the broadcast side.


Please do elaborate on what "inaccurate" information I have posted, I'll wait here patiently

Unfortunately, you are giving limited information. Not for me or you to discuss on a forum.

‘Those who left secure jobs to work for Seen on TV may say they were lied to, or misled by Simon and Co about the financial stability of the company as one poster on here has attested to. But look, as long as the top honchos tried their hardest and everyone enjoyed the wedding, let's just forget about all those freelancers who are now without work.’ I didn’t mention a wedding, that was someone else. No one was lied to and everyone there knew what the work was. There is ALWAYS a risk for startups.
You can’t be that concerned for ‘freelancers’ because you’d know that most of them will have multiple contacts and various sources of income as that is what a freelancer is. They work for themselves. If a the full-time employed that I think you should mean.

You said the channel was only set up by 1 producer and 2 guests. Clearly blind to the knowledge and expertise that was hired to assist with the set-up and over saw the technical issues when they arose.

You also stated on a previous post that you’re being fair and balanced but if you look back on your own previous comments, you clearly have ill-intent towards Simon, Kevin and Seen on TV in general as well as IW/TJC, but seem defensive of your facts on Shop on TV.

If you’re so ‘involved’ in the channel. Name every single person that was there on the launch day (first names, no need to publicly name people who may wish to stay private) and tell me what the staff was doing behind the scenes?

I could analyse and critique every single one of your posts if I must. I just hope that the readers of the forum see that you are not being ‘informative’ to aid their consumer rights. You have a personal vendetta and are clearly a nasty person