Powerful

Fantastic!

A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

"No-one told you comedy could ever be so lame, Every week so different and yet always just the same. We'll be Chums forever, We'll be jolly good Chums". (intro song for chums)This show has really marked the childhood of many British children of its time. Ant and Dec have been around for a long time so i guess people really felt comfortable with them. Although I remember Live and Kicking with Emma Forbes and Andi Peters, SMTV really made me want to get out of bed early on a Saturday morning. Its legendary pokemon fights are unforgettable!Everything they did was funny and original!

This has been one of the best Saturday morning kids shows there's been for ages. National Television Award winning and British Comedy Award nominated Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly along with BAFTA winning Cat Deeley were just the perfect trio of presenters for this show. The programmes that featured on the show were very good, but I only want to concentrate on SM:TV itself. The highlights of the show that I always looked forward to (besides the programmes) were: Challenge Ant, Cat Deeley with her rotten toothed character, and Wonky Donkey. But the part I always enjoyed was the spin off (and kind-of mickey take) of Friends, called Chums. Every episode they had a special guest, and they had a relationship going between Dec and Cat. Sadly it ended, and Ant and Dec started I'm a Celebrity and Saturday Night Takeaway, and Cat went on to present Fame Academy and Star In Their Eyes. When it was on, this was just brilliant Saturday morning fun. It won the BAFTAs for Children's Award Best Entertainment (twice) and Kid's Vote, and it won the British Comedy Award for People's Choice Award. Ant and Dec were number 56 on The 100 Worst Britons (why?), Cowell was number 28, and they were number 7 on TV's 50 Greatest Stars, and the programme was number 27 on The 100 Greatest Kids' TV Shows. Very good!

Ah, the good old days. Wonkey Donkey, Challenge Ant, Chums! Ant, Dec and Cat were the best. Ant and Dec leave, who do you get? Some bloke from Hollyoaks who got fired, frigging H and Claire from Steps and presenters you would forget about anyway. Brian Dowling was all right then he left. And losing Chums, their best sketches was a big mistake.So thank you, Ant and Dec, SM:TV will be a great children's programme. From when it started till you left.

This fantastic show creates such a refreshing and welcome change to Saturday morning children's television. Although it's popularity has recently started to wane, when it was first launched it was immensely popular for nearly three years.When it was first shown, it was fronted by comedy duo Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly. These two talented, young men are now much in demand following their success on this show. They are naturally witty and extremely likable, and yet still hold a slightly mischievous quality within their personalities, allowing them to identify with and appeal to children. Cat Deely who completed the trio, added a spark as the girl who was sometimes bullied by the boys, and other times she was there to outsmart them. 'SM:tv Live' took a different approach to entertaining children. The main reason behind it was that Ant and Dec used to dislike kid's TV presenters for being too patronising. They felt children did not like being talked down to. Although it may please the younger children to hear reassuring voices, the slightly older children would become bored of it. Such sections of the show demonstrated this, for example 'Challenge Ant' was battle between Ant and a child to see whether he could answer the child's questions correctly, or not. If Ant won, the child went home with nothing as well as a gloating victory dance from McPartlin himself, as was the slightly cruel, yet humorous twist.However, it was not the first time Ant and Dec had presented a children's show. Similar ideas were used before on 'The Ant and Dec Show', yet came into a great deal of controversy. A section known as 'Beat The Barber' involved children either answering the questions right and getting rewarded, but if they lost, they also lost their hair. Complaints and pressure from the BBC meant that another series of 'The Ant and Dec Show' was never made, and also marked their parting with the BBC.'SM:tv Live', three years after 'The Ant and Dec Show', is far more accepted by everybody, which, perhaps, represents a sign of the times in the post-politically correct British media.Loved by children and adults alike, 'SM:tv Live' completely demolished the BBC's rivals of 'Live and Kicking' and, later, 'The Saturday Show'. While ITV on a Saturday morning was regularly pulling in 3 million viewers, the BBC struggled to get 1 million. This is an incredible achievement considering that 'Swap Shop', 'The Saturday Super Store', 'Going Live' and the early days of 'Live and Kicking' were far more popular than anything shown on ITV.Since the departure of Ant, Dec and Cat, 'SM:tv Live' has lost some of its magic. Although Tess Daly, Brian Dowling et al do a reasonable job, there are some things that only the original three could pull off. For example, the days of Ant and Dec comically shouting at children for giving ludicrous answers on 'Wonkey Donkey' are no longer there. The children particularly enjoyed this section, as the presenters became more like cheeky older brothers, making them infinitely more accessible.Nevertheless, this show represents a stimulating transformation from the subservient, children's television, which was long overdue for a face-lift.