TV:Wanted(Channel 4, 1996-7) Take two teams of two contestants and leave them for a week to run around inside the biggest game show studio in the country - namely the whole country itself. Then, for one hour a week, get them to hide in a phonebox live on national television. It was the recipe for one of the most original television programmes of the 90s, and sorely missed. Which 10km x 10km gridsquare would the Runners be hiding in this week? Would the Trackers hunt them down before the end of the show? The show ran for two series and attracted a cult following, which sadly wasn't large enough to save it for a third. At which point Channel 4 rather gave up on the blockbuster game show (see also Treasure Hunt, Don't Forget Your Toothbrush) until the current rather ill-advised Boys And Girls. Wanted - fondly remembered, sadly forgotten.
Music:Now That's What I Call Music(1983-now) Can it really be 20 years since someone first had the bright idea of sticking all your favourite current singles onto one album once every four months? Apparently it can. Way back on the very first NOW in 1983 you could treat yourself to chart-toppers from Phil Collins, Kajagoogoo and Culture Club, classics from Heaven 17, Human League and Howard Jones, and the unexpectedly wonderful Men Without Hats and Will Powers. The first album was the only one without a number, and the first to feature the NOW sunglassed-pig (disappeared thankfully after NOW 5 in July 1985). The three-circled NOW logo lasted from NOW 3 to NOW 17, while the current 3-D style logo kicked in with NOW 20 at Christmas 1991. We're now up to a mammoth NOW 54, although the current 42-track selection appears rather weak. Scooter, a couple of Timberlakes, DJ Sammy and no fewer than nine tracks from Pop Idol type TV nobodies. NOW just doesn't seem to be NOW any more, but it was THEN.
