TV Home Forum

Edmonds admits part in TV going downhill

(August 2003)

This site closed in March 2021 and is now a read-only archive
:-(
A former member
From Ananova

Quote:
Mr Blobby creator Noel Edmonds has admitted being responsible for a downhill slide in British TV standards.



The presenter said his Saturday night show Noel's House Party went into a "downward spiral" which has had a knock-on effect to other shows.

In an interview with Radio Times said: "We tried out damnedest to make it a special entertainment but I'll admit I'm a contributor to the decline in TV standards."

"I'm guilty as charged for certain things. I don't say that with pride, but... I'm not quite so guilty as others," he added.

His show - in which celebrities were humiliated by Blobby or doused in gunge - was a Saturday night staple until it was given the push in 1999 when viewers began to desert.

"In the final three years we had 10% budget cuts, year-on-year. Production standards dropped and we got into a downward spiral of when in doubt, gunge someone," said Edmonds.

Edmonds has been off TV since the programme's demise, but has returned to broadcasting as a stand-in for Radio 2's Drivetime Show while regular host Johnnie Walker receives cancer treatment.

And he took a swipe at Radio 1 DJ Sara Cox, whose Breakfast Show slot he used to present in the 1970s, for her "crude" language.

"Sara Cox talks about 'shagging', a word I wouldn't dream of using in public. She's coarse and unpleasant - very 'yesterday'.

"I do the school run to Exeter and we joke that my kids can listen to Radio 1 until she says something crude before they tune to what they describe as Foge FM (as in fogey), Radio 2," he said.
MD
Mr D'Arcy
Noel's shows like the Late, Late Breakfast show were a breath of fresh air when they started, peaking with House Party. The trouble was the show's format hardly changed and it got very stale and should have been off a good few years before it did. That why ITV1 is in such a state, it pumps out the same downmarket stuff every year or merges programmes together using the handful presenters they have and parades Z list ex-stars and try and make it look glam.

Going back to Noel, he is a fantastic live presenter and in a world of very few light entertainers he is needed to bolster the TV schedules. At the end of the day, he doesn't exactly need the cash, he's got £70million burning away in his back pocket but his talent is very much needed.
:-(
A former member
TVF posted:
Going back to Noel, he is a fantastic live presenter and in a world of very few light entertainers he is needed to bolster the TV schedules. At the end of the day, he doesn't exactly need the cash, he's got £70million burning away in his back pocket but his talent is very much needed.


I agree. Noel was very much "Mr Saturday Night" during my childhood/teens (I was born in 1980). But he went straight from that, to being not-on-TV-at-all SO quickly. It was as if he'd died or something. Bring back Noel Edmonds!
:-(
A former member
I AGREE!!! Noel is an excellent Live TV performer. I definetly think he should come back!
SE
Square Eyes Founding member
Can't really say I was that bothered about Noel Edmonds, although did used to enjoy the House Party. However, my estimation of him has gone up triple fold following those comments about Sarah Cox, he's spot on. Get her off.
SM
smw
I think he probably is on his way back. Sitting in for JW on Radio Two and an interview in the RT, surely this is his, and perhaps the BBC's way of getting him back into the public eye.
:-(
A former member
Totally agree about his comments on Sara Cox and Radio 1 in general. It has not appealed to me for a while now. I'm 23 and i'm getting my fix from Radios 2 and 4. I've served Sara Cox food and drink in real life before a few times in my bar and she's a very pleasant women. Radio 1 needs to stop patronising its audience and grow up a bit. We're not all stupid dimwits.
NW
nwtv2003
To be honest I do have to agree with Noel's comments about Radio 1, it is poor, it's become from a damn good station to a disgrace IMO, it has become more like 1Xtra! But with TV, he might have the blame on him slightly, to be honest House Party was a good programme for the first few years and it was very good but like The Big Breakfast it went down the pan because the format of the show didn't change or anything, though they were good at first, it was just the same old thing after a while and Blobby should have been taken off screens ages ago IMO, as he became to annoying after a couple of years. Really it's not his fault that Saturday night TV isn't as good as it was, he experimented and gave TV firsts which indeed paid off, but really NHP is like Blind Date, the same format went on too long and went stale. Though Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway is very good for saturday nights I have to say that they will never beat Noel.
FA
fanoftv
He did keep trying to reinvent the party; and the last incarnation was unrecognisable from the old; gone was blobby; in came the puppets and talking sofa; sofa soccer, the round house and no proper theme tune.

Ant & Dec are this generations Noel Edmonds; but with them doing pop idol and saturday night takeaway they are doing different types of show, but at some point the public will become sick of takeaway; when they will move onto something else; just as noel moved on to many things through his career. We do need him back on saturday nights; perhaps if itv grab him to do a short stint of house party whilst ant & dec are doing pop idol; though then people may have too much of the same thing through the year.

For me i'd like to see Noel have a go at what he suggested in his This Morning interview; to try and sort out RI:SE.

I had to watch RI:SE this morning as I got back from the V festival in the early hours and even though Dougie is a great presenter; the show just doesnt have the same feel as breakfast used to.
NW
nwtv2003
fanoftv posted:
For me i'd like to see Noel have a go at what he suggested in his This Morning interview; to try and sort out RI:SE.

I had to watch RI:SE this morning as I got back from the V festival in the early hours and even though Dougie is a great presenter; the show just doesnt have the same feel as breakfast used to.


OMG People still watch RI:SE?

I have to say that Dougie is alright, but I don't think he is good as a presenter, he was damn good when he was a reporter in the Durden Smith/ Gallacher/ Bonnin era, that was brilliant, the original format of RI:SE was good and should have not been messed with it, the producers of the show didn't give it time to settle in, to be honest why did they keep Edith Bowman, I can't stand Iain Lee and I have never watched it with Kate Lawler (Well I have been doing f*ck all for two months now, so I am never up early) and I can't stand Mel and Sue.

But the Idea of Edmonds/RI:SE show would sound intresting, though I'd assume it would be aimed for the older generation, not the 16-34 group. Though to be honest you could see someone like Noel on ITV, doing a show, nothing like House Party, but something which people would like, sort of a Terry and Gaby thing IMO.
BR
Brekkie
Noels Breakfast Party - could work?
FA
fanoftv
It could work. Im not sure if channel 4 would want to try it; though I expect channel 4 are willing to try anything new following RI:SE; I bet they are kicking themselves for axing the big breakfast (though things did need to change i suppose) and for changing RI:SE;

Whose decision would this have been princess & sky alone or would channel 4 have had an input?

Newer posts