Celebrity Island
We've lost the plot - 'we' as in this green and sceptic isle we live on.
BBC1, SKY, ITV all lead last night with Richard Hammond's crash at Warp Speed 2 somewhere in Yorkshire yesterday, it's made the front of the tabloids and was the first item on 5Live this morning on the 6:30 and 7:00 News bulletins.
Now I like Hamster. Nathalie and myself watch Top Gear and his stints on Brainiac: Science Abuse and Brainiac: History Abuse are good entertainment - but the whole world has gone mad when it reaches the point where somebody working on a BBC2 show is the main news item.
I hope he recovers and that he realises how short life is and that his family should come first not some stupid, misguided attempt at record-breaking, he's a journalist first and foremost after all.
The point is we're in danger of confusing news and celebrity, acheivement with personality, some may say we've passed the point of no return and some may say that sunshine follows thunder (oh sorry Noel, you already have).
If you watch television you must be constantly reminded of that bit in Spinal Tap where the group meet their nemesis in a hotel and claim he has "this much talent," illustrating the point by holding thumb and forefinger close together. It's not a new phenomenon, but it's got to the point that a whole media industry exists to spread gossip, tittle tattle and the promotion of style over substance. If you don't watch the Holy Trinity of soaps 'Emmerdale', 'EastEnders' and 'Coronation Street' you are a social pariah in some eyes.
There are people out there with genuine talent but we are settling for low-grade celebrities.
Jade Goody? Dale Winton? Tara Palmer-Tomkinson? Noel Edmonds? Jayne Middlemiss? Callum Best? Katie Lawler? Kate Thornton? Graham Norton?
These people are worth fortunes because they exploit the market place and a public that would eat it's own gonads if the price was right. I have nothing against people being successful but I do think we've reached a nadir in society when people are employed for their looks, their quirkiness and their PR potential rather than having (some) genuine talent and ability and I think it's actually quite sad.
8 comments:
Paul, I think you've hit the nail on the head here. We are plagued by people who are famous for being famous and nothing else.
Hi Shy,
I'm glad I'm not the only one, I was beginning to think I'd reached that age where you start tut, tutting everything.
Well, Paul, I think you do "tut tut" at more things as you get older but I defy anyone to explain to me what, in terms of entertainment, is the point of Jade Goody!!!!
I shall join in and make us a holy trinity rather than a gang of three and Paul, you don't have to respond!
I am often heard saying "Who is that?" "Who?" "And what do they do then" and basically they haven't done anything apart from manage to somehow be famous for slightly longer than 15 minutes. I would be hopeless watching these 'celebrity' type shows because I don't have a clue who they are.
I do watch one soap, that being the oldest and the best; Corrie but apart from that all these soap stars pass me by and me them.
It's all very sad because it seems that youngsters think that they can achieve everything they want in life if they can manage to get on a reality programme such as X Factor. There is no further ambition and they are totally deluded as to the amount of talent they have.
There is no point to Jade Goody.
I was thinking about writing a comedy skit last night based around Interpol uncovering a plot to bump off famous TV stars around the world, with discoveries such as the brake cable having been cut on Richard Hammond's car and someone injecting the Stingray with an even more poisonous venom to get rid of Steve Irwin.
We could have had someone taking out all the roof supports and a house collapsing on david Dickinson.
Bill Odie pecked to death by rabies injected bluetits.
But I couldn't be bothered to write it.
There are few if any celebrities these days. I am trying to think when real celebrity ended.
There are too many tv stations all competing with each other and the few people that are capable are spread too thinly so we end up with people who can talk but that's all they really can do.
The reason Davina McColl's chat show failed was that she came across just as a presenter and most of the guest were presenters who came on to promote some programme they were doing such as Tess Daley and her husband(I've forgotten his name)mentioning the two of us and Eamonn Holmes promoting his lottery show.
Even chat shows are poor either because the wrong host is chosen or again guests are poor look no further than Sharon Osbourne, Richard and Judy and even This Morning is now going down the same route...we now have Jade Goody's ex as a correspondent on there.
I think Noel Edmonds and such people are perfectly ok at holding a programme together and he has never tried to promote himself as a celeb that comes down to the press as much as anything always looking for some scandal.
Is Chris Tarrant a celebrity? The papers are only interested now because of the marital problems.
I know I've mentioned it here to illustrate a point but is anyone
talking about it?
But practically anyone who comes out of the reality shows like Big Brother certainly how they get thought of and promoted and idolised is beyond me.
On the subject of celebs and wannabees I'd like to state that David Bowie's appearance in last night's Extras was inspired and the sing-a-long at the end absolutely brilliant.
I totally agree. I did laugh a lot. Oh by the way apologies for That Mitchell and Webb Look, while some of it's been good a lot of it's been rubbish. It was definitely better o radio.
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