Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Bring Back Comedy to the BBC

According to the BBC, Friday Night with Jonathan Ross was due to have been filmed at BBC Television Centre, west London, later on Wednesday. But his shows have been taken off the air until the investigation into his and Brand's prank call is concluded. A decision has yet to be taken on what should be shown in its place on Friday night.

How about something genuinely funny. . .Fawlty Towers?

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good idea, Richard.

There's a rare clip of Andrew Sachs acting with Russell Brand in Fawlty Towers here

At least I think it's Russell Brand. He doesn't actually talk in this episode.

Ken said...

Excellent idea and one that would demonstrate respect to Andrew Sachs and his family, whilst at the same time providing the British public with some genuine comic entertainment.

I sincerely hope that the BBC do make an example of both Ross and Brand, as well as their producer. Sadly of course they have probably been suspended on full pay, and if dismissed will no doubt pop up on ITV within a day or so at an even more inflated salary.

Ken said...

Having seen the 10 O'clock news tonight on BBC1 its pretty clear from the attitude and manner of their reporter that it was considered that the BBC bosses actions in suspending Messrs Brand and Ross was an over reaction, implying this has been blown out of all proportion and that they should simply have their "wrists slapped". It was also stated that the BBC tries to cater for all tastes, presumably including those Brand fans whose questionable mental state causes them to wonder what all the fuss is about. Am I missing something here? These are respected household names (well, maybe!) who humiliated another individual on air, and then effectively took the p//s when making their apology. At least Brand has now resigned...we can only hope that Mr Ross has the decency to do likewise.

Richard, my apologies for deviating a little from the subject matter!

Anonymous said...

Ken....this has to be the first time in the history of the blogosphere that the words "Mr Ross" and "decency" have appeared together in the same sentence.

I cannot help but feel that there may be an "Ebay Moment" coming upon us all very soon.

Ken said...

Sorry Lakelander, clearly an oxymoron. Mrs D had the ideal solution to replace his Friday night show. Lets introduce a talent show called "Searching for Jonathan" whereby 3 respected interviewers scour the country for a new Jonathan. They can be overseen by the Lord himself, in this case Mr Parkinson, who will of course have the final say. Sounds good to me!

Anonymous said...

The BBC should realise that much of this reaction is because license payers were so incensed at the millions being spent on Ross. This is a way of conveying their feelings about that, not just the actual incident.

Richard Havers said...

Good rant Ken! I'm glad to see that Mrs. D. is a chip off the ol' block. . .

LL. like you I was shocked at Ken's Mr Ross and decency, but then I was confused by the eBay moment....what is this, or am I being thick?

BG, I think you're right there. I was just saying to Mrs. H. that the problem we have with people like Ross and Brand is that they, like most people who end up in positions of power ultimately all fall foul of believing their own b/s. Added to which both of them rely on having the 'talking stick' which allows them, or has allowed them, to control the debate. What we're seeing is a bit of a back lash against smart Alecs? Wonderful term that.

Anonymous said...

Richard,

An "Ebay Moment" is where you do something that you later regret...such as bidding for something on Ebay that you don't really want and find that you are the highest bidder. When your purchase arrives, you can't remember what possessed you to bid for it in the first place.

In this context, it's as BBC licence payers we now find that we have been paying £6 million a year for the services of this utter idiot, Jonathan Ross.

The BBC have always justified his salary by saying that they have to pay him that to stop him from defecting to another channel.

With the business model of commercial television starting to unravel rather quickly, I suspect that he would wait a long time to get paid £6 million a year by anyone other than the BBC (i.e. by us.)

Anonymous said...

What a pair of tossers!

Sorry I meant what a pair of immature, puerile, unfunny, condescending, mean spirited tossers!

r morris said...

or anything by the goons.