Personally I've never really watched it proper since Richard Whiteley died (yes 6 years already!) but if I could add my two-peneth, definitely Gordon Burns.
Re Fred, has anyone seen the latest TV Cream video with him on Gambit?
Exactly - and so much comes down to luck. I never thought Phil Schofield for example would stick with This Morning for a decade, but now can't really invisage him leaving. Even Noel presenting a daytime show for six years didn't seem likely when Deal or No Deal began. Indeed he was in the frame for Countdown back then - wonder if he'd have remained with it as long.
I think the problem with Countdown is that it's hardly the most taxing or varied of presenting jobs. Something like This Morning is different every day, and the presenters have a fair amount of planning and research to do. Noel gets really involved in Deal or No Deal and again it's different every day.
Countdown is a fixed format with little to challenge a presenter. I'm not surprised that it's had such a turnover of presenters..... they probably bore of it more than anything. It's certainly not a job for someone young and ambitious
Last edited by Inspector Sands on 26 May 2011 1:18am
Exactly - and so much comes down to luck. I never thought Phil Schofield for example would stick with This Morning for a decade, but now can't really invisage him leaving. Even Noel presenting a daytime show for six years didn't seem likely when Deal or No Deal began. Indeed he was in the frame for Countdown back then - wonder if he'd have remained with it as long.
I think the problem with Countdown is that it's hardly the most taxing or varied of presenting jobs. Something like This Morning is different every day, and the presenters have a fair amount of planning and research to do. Noel gets really involved in Deal or No Deal and again it's different every day.
Countdown is a fixed format with little to challenge a presenter. I'm not surprised that it's had such a turnover of presenters..... they probably bore of it more than anything. It's certainly not a job for someone young and ambitious
If it hadn't been for Richard Whiteley's death in 2005 it's likely that he would still have been presenting Countdown today - getting someone to fill the void left by Richard's untimely death was never going to be an easy task and I think his successors have been very much aware of this.
Exactly - and so much comes down to luck. I never thought Phil Schofield for example would stick with This Morning for a decade, but now can't really invisage him leaving. Even Noel presenting a daytime show for six years didn't seem likely when Deal or No Deal began. Indeed he was in the frame for Countdown back then - wonder if he'd have remained with it as long.
I think the problem with Countdown is that it's hardly the most taxing or varied of presenting jobs. Something like This Morning is different every day, and the presenters have a fair amount of planning and research to do. Noel gets really involved in Deal or No Deal and again it's different every day.
Countdown is a fixed format with little to challenge a presenter. I'm not surprised that it's had such a turnover of presenters..... they probably bore of it more than anything. It's certainly not a job for someone young and ambitious
That's quite true I suppose, though then again in the real world most people spend years in such a job on much less pay.
Surely they need to find someone based in the north west, or the north at least - I can't imagine the constant travelling has convinced any of the Whitely replacements to stick around.
They aren't really gaining much from keeping it up north, Channel 4 don't have a regional quota like the BBC and ITV do they? It needs a bit of consistency (old people hate change!) and moving it to London could help it achieve that, because as you say the travelling is probably an issue when looking for new presenters.
I thought C4 had a higher regional quota than the BBC and ITV actually, although we all know they're nonsense at the moment considering most production companies have bases in and outside of London - so can just move shows to tick boxes.
I wonder if C4 had moved Countdown down South when Lynam quit whether he'd still be with it. I doubt though producers would want to relocate again for the second time in a couple of years - especially when a new host may once again quit a couple of years down the line. With the BBC moving so much to Salford in the next couple of years it is arguable Countdown will actually be better positioned than if it moved to London.
Gyles Brandreth would be good, has he done it since Carol left? I know he said he wouldn't, but he has been invovled in some street games of Countdown.
I know Gyles said he didn't want to be considered for the job when Richard died because he thought that whenever he came on the viewers would be disappointed that he wasn't Richard. Good old Gyles (I do wonder when the Gyles Brandreth started being Good Old Gyles and not the Awful Old Gyles he used to be in the eighties and nineties).
When Des was doing it, of course, it was also on six days a week, and there were plans to start filming some episodes in London but they decided it was too much faff to have the entire production team move as well, and certainly it would be easier to ask a presenter to commute from London every few weeks than the entire production team having to move to London full time. And like The Weakest Link going to Glasgow, the benefit of a long-running show like that in the regions is that it gives the studios and staff guaranteed regular work, so it's more valuable staying there than moving.
Gyles Brandreth would be good, has he done it since Carol left? I know he said he wouldn't, but he has been invovled in some street games of Countdown.
I know Gyles said he didn't want to be considered for the job when Richard died because he thought that whenever he came on the viewers would be disappointed that he wasn't Richard. Good old Gyles (I do wonder when the Gyles Brandreth started being Good Old Gyles and not the Awful Old Gyles he used to be in the eighties and nineties).
You'd never guess he used to be an MP considering how good he is to his word. He said he'd never appear on it after Richard died, but that didn't last long - and similarly after Carol was sacked made similar statements, but appeared within a few months of Jeff and Rachel taking over.
Unlikely to be Armstrong as well, as Pointless is likely heading to BBC 1 to replace Weakest Link (new episodes from the latest series airing have been replaced by repeats - apparently so there will be a run of 100 or so new ones when it makes the transfer)
Scrap the presenter. The programme has been running for almost 30 years, everyone knows the rules and how it is played. The contestants, Rachel Riley, Susie Dent and the dictionary corner guest can go through the motions without a presenter telling them what to do next.
Picture this, Countdown starts. The audience applauds as the director cuts to shots of each contestant (with a graphic showing their name, home town or city and the number of wins) followed by Rachel Riley, Susie Dent and finally the dictionary corner guest. The applause dies down and the first contestant selects their letters without being prompted by anyone. They may well need a floor manager to tell them when to start but this would be lost in the edit and the viewer would simply see them saying hello to Rachel and then selecting their nine letters in the usual way. After the last letter is selected, the music starts and the contestants would start trying to find the longest word without further prompting. Once the 30 seconds is over, the contestants declare their words and Susie Dent along with the dictionary corner guest lets them and us know if they are allowed and if there was anything better. A long shot of the two contestants allows us to see the scores. Repeat a few more times and then end.
Wogan is almost certainly a non starter, there's not time for interaction which he excels in and there's the travelling aspect too. He's getting on too, at 72 a commitment for at least two years would seem risky.