The Big Breakfast

I think that was part of the issue with these three together that when off script (or autocue as it was for that stage) they tended to talk over each other.
However IMO I thought that around this point the content of the show was hitting it's stride, they'd added more humour and little features back to it, and were forming a good little version that was different with a modern edge that was quickly moved things back.

I also remember the Oscars show, I had it on VHS somewhere.

I think it's also about the only thing Melanie Sykes did having been named as one of the five relaunch presenters. Certainly don't remember her appearing in the house at all, though she perhaps did a few things for whatever the equivalent of Snap/The Sizzler was with that relaunch.

Was that the Selector?

Here she is...

Could have been - that sounds vaguely familar.

Melanie's segment above is the Selector.

Were they really on autocue for a while? How did that work with the kind of cameras the show used?

They were using steadicams at the time which I think would make Autocue more practical.

But bloody heavy to operate

There was recently a TV movie in Australia about Michael Hutchence which featured a pretty faithful reconstruction of that famous BB interview:

They've done pretty well with that.

Good find. Here it is in video form. This is from a time when the Big Breakfast came from the Houses of Parliament of course.

WARNING: Contains sex