I know that I tend to go all out with good or bad, but last night's Dragons' Den was certainly somewhere in the middle. They still had the whole problem with over-announcing going on, but the animosity between the dragons was ratcheted up and that definitely helped things along.
I commented on it a couple of weeks ago, and it remained true last night, but the announcer that the show is kind of hyperactive. He insists and saying what is going to happen just before it does and then saying what just happened right after it occurred. On last night's episode he actually did both at one point. "Dragon number three is about to bow out." Dragon number three bows out. "Dragon number three just bowed out."
Really? Is that necessary? Is my attention span so short that I need the same thing said three times over the course of 45 seconds? If the show actually required that much filler, if there was actually nothing interesting going on I could accept the repetitiveness. It would actually make sense – they needed a way to increase the runtime of the show and couldn't do it with content. That's not a show I'd necessarily enjoy watching, but it happens.
My problem is that Dragons' Den doesn't need that sort of thing. It's a better show than that. Last night the dragons started arguing with one another. One of them, Simon Woodroffe took it upon himself to argue with each and every other dragon. He felt as though some of the investors ought to be encouraged rather than simply be slammed by the dragons. He actually ended up forcing Rachel Elnaugh, another dragon, out of a deal. He claimed that he did it because he wanted to work one-on-one with the entrepreneur, but his doing it followed so closely on the heels of his fight that one had to be suspicious of his actions.
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Article comments
1 - Esmer
I totally agree. Dragons' Den has too much commentary. The other thing that annoys me is the edited in silences! So they cut out all the interesting pitching and negotiating, leaving just the bare presentation; then they get the presenter to make sure everyone's following what is already boringly simple, and then fill the rest of the show up with obviously faked silent suspense moments!!
*presentation*
--- EDITED IN SILENCE ---
oooooohhh
Presenter: "One of the dragons is about to ask for a revenue forecast for the next year!"
Dragon: "What's your revenue for the next year?"
Contestant: "Err, 4 thousand, erm... 5.."
--- EDITED IN SILENCE ---
Presenter: "They haven't got their revenue forecast worked out, that doesn't look promising"
--- EDITED IN SILENCE ---
Presenter: "The dragons are not pleased"
Dragon: "I'm not pleased with your figures, i'm out"
Presenter: "One of the dragons has pulled out!"
--- EDITED IN SILENCE ---