OT For all you cat lovers

[ARW]

Cat cams and GPS to see what they were up to.

I found it a most interesting TV programme.

[Chris Bartram]

I loved it. There was a companion show as well:

[Dave Liquorice]

I found it rather slow and lacking in real content. Very little was properly explained or illustrated, piss poor for Horizon, a suposedly Science programme.

[Steve Firth]

The only bit that puzzled me, having worked next door to Shamley Green and having lived in the area was that they seemed to give the impression (scenes of driving down narrow muddy lanes) that it's an isolated village. Whereas it's on a very busy road not far from the Top Gear studio/track and if you're driving in from Bristol there's no need to go near a single track road.

And yes it was interesting as was the follow-up "cat diary".

[Vir Campestris]

This is why I have pretty much ceased to watch Horizon. Once it used to be really good - I recall a reporter complaining you needed a science degree to understand it. Something of an exaggeration, but not that much of one.

Andy

[Nick Odell]

I have watched a couple of recent episodes of Horizon (not this one, though). Since I don't have a television I have downloaded them from the iPlayer and played them on my computer. I have found that, if I turn the sound off and the subtitles on and then run the programme at

4x speed, what was a slow, repetitious, meandering pile of dumbed-down nonsense makes a bright, brisk, 15-minute interlude.

Nick

[Dave Liquorice]

I don't think it's ever really been degree level but certainly a little above O level sciences. It's a very long time since I watched/recorded it as it would always be a good programme, it had got better in the last couple of years but this Cats thing was awful, OK as a bit of light entertainment with some cuddly cats but not as a science programme.

[Brian Gaff]

Yes but it would have been even better if it did not have vaguely cat related music played at high level all the way through it. Brian

[Brian Gaff]

Well they do tend to pad these out of late, and seem also to rely on sound bytes rather than explanations of stuff. Its been going on for some years. Bring back proper documentaries I say, where people need to invest some thought processes in understanding the subject.

Brian

[Adrian]

The problem is that TV viewers aren't capable of or willing to do that.

[polygonum]

The problem has become that there is too little to occupy the mind in most so-called documentaries, so concentration is hard!

[F Murtz]

As long as you live in the UK.

[Peter Crosland]

Agree 100%. The undedrlying story was most interesting but the presentation was rubbish.

[Nick]

Google "uk proxy server". There appears to be at least one free one.

[Dave Liquorice]

No the problem is the programme makers don't understand the subject or even have basic scientific backgrounds. I think the only fact I got from the cuddly cats Horizon was that they can't focus closer than 25 cm. Nothing else seemed that revolutionary, though having evidence to explain/support the expected or previously observed behaviour patterns is nice.

[polygonum]

The four-to-eight weeks of age being critical as to what type of cat develops was also interesting.

The most unamazing, uninforming bit was "We got a dog and the cat didn't come back."

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I'd say it's the same difference as between a normal DIY prog an a good Grand Designs.

The first is shot within the control of the prog maker and sets out to show what he wants to see.

The latter is controlled by the actual events - not what the prog maker wants, and certainly not to his schedule.

In other words, fitting a camera to one cat each day for a month or more - then repeating with others, and showing only the interesting bits might have got a more meaningful prog than we did get. After all, this is more the way most wildlife progs are made.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Thought everyone knew a kitten had to be handled regularly more or less as soon as possible after it is born to make a good pet?

[polygonum]

I have never actually had any involvement with kittens. And the existence of such a precise window was a mild surprise.

[Bob Eager]

I was interested by the two types of purring.