The Gift. Anyone watching?

Very weird , and a bit maudlin

No. I don't like this type of programme - everyone involved seems to be being exploited, including the viewer.

I didn't fancy it, either. Thought it would be a bit like milking the 'sad' bits, really.

It got the two presenters expenses-paid trips to the USA, and the two American residents similar visits to the UK, so some people benefited. The army story was the better of the two, as there was a rapport between the two men.

But whether I'll bother to watch again......?

I did watch it - but won't bother next time. It does seem exploitative. That old man traveled thousands of miles at a time when he himself was vulnerable having lost his wife. He had clearly not thought about her over the years and it did seem manipulative.

There was nothing else on. Given a choice I wouldn't have bothered.

You could have watched 'The Secret Lives of Four Year Olds' on Channel 4 + 1 instead - it was fascinating!

Oh rats, Ana I forgot that !

Yes it does sound better. Why don't I look at the guide. Lazy.

I did not watch a thing last night- the story of my life because for me, there is very little on. The weekend is a disgrace.

I didn't watch it.

I wouldn't watch a programme that seems to exploit people's feelings and insecurities. There are too many programmes of this type, it's just lazy programme making. Important, possibly for those involved, but it smacks of voyeurism and of no interest to me.

The critics seem to hav given it a panning. Maybe it will be taken off.

Secret Life of Four Year Olds was great. x

I am just pleased we no longer pay for the doubtful pleasure of watching TV. We are ill served, I think, but then again it must be difficult to produce different programmes almost 24 hours a day! We are very much into recording the old movies and watching these when there is nothing else we fancy.

It amazes me that with the thousands of films to choose from, we get the same ones repeated. Sometimes more than once a week on different channels!

BBC I player seems to come up with some new films and with different genres. x

I watched both programmes as here they were on one after the other. The 4 year olds were fascinating and sweet - but again I felt it was a bit manipulative: the chocolate cake left with no explanation and no rule that it should not be eaten, and then when the chubby lad succumbed to the temptation of eating it, he got into trouble; the presents with one child getting extra then challenged to share (all of them were puzzled - why had she got more than them?etc.); the den building game where they set one group up to fail, knowing that the personalities would clash. Not the way to treat children I felt.

I don't like the sound of that at all!

The other way of looking at it is that the non-dominant group, the quieter children, those who usually were overpowered by the other type, had their chance to shine and succeed.

That's the way I looked at it too, Anya. It was lovely to see the less assertive children working together and finishing the project.

The children in the other group didn't seem at all bothered that they hadn't completed the task - one by one they lost interest after failing to impose their own design ideas on the others!

Some situations obviously had to be set up, otherwise it would just have been an hour's footage of 4 year olds messing about, and I didn't see anyone being told off. It was obvious by the end of the programme that they'd all learned a lot about getting along with other children and even the very quiet ones had come out of their shells.

I enjoyed the programme about the 4 year olds. I also thought the boy who took a piece of the chocolate cake wasn't exactly "naughty" because no-one had told the children not to take it and it was all cut up ready to eat. I thought what it did show was how the other children were much more nervous of authority. I suppose it was manipulative in a way, but I wouldn't have thought it would damage the children, and it was very interesting.

As for The Gift, it rather made me cringe - particularly the stilted exchange between the erstwhile "lovers". It is using almost exactly the same format as "Long Lost Families" but not as well in my opinion - and I think Nicky Campbell and Davina McCall are much more effective interviewers.

I found the 4 year olds fascinating. So interesting to see their personalities developing.