Entertainment For Lively Minds
Who's good on telly?
Rick Stein returned to our screens last night, and very welcome to the Ferruginea household he was. Seems to me he's one of those people who are naturally good on TV. He has the knowledge, ability to articulate well, and, most importantly, the sheer energetic enthusiasm and love for his subject that top TV folk require. Probably the best person around doing food related material. And he makes the effort to let the people he meets speak for themselves, without it being all about him. Comes across as a decent guy with views I am much in sympathy with too. Shows you don't need to be young and good looking, in fact it seems that often the best at it are neither of these things. I do miss Chalky though, not quite the same without him.
Any others who make/made the grade? And I don't just mean TV chefs, I mean all forms of presenters!
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TV chefs
In his prime, Keith Floyd was so good that killed the genre for everyone else.
Stein, Oliver, Ramsay... Pfft, mere ciphers for the mighty Floyd.
Agree re Floyd but unsure
Agree re Floyd but unsure about Stein. He is just one of those born rich types who can fiddle about until they find something they are half decent at. He was on radio 4 (mid week i believe) and he tried to empathise with one of the guests, who had a really terrible upbringing, by comparing it with his own 'black dog' moments. Totally cringeworthy.
A quick slurp
It's the Galloping Gourmet for me.
Met him
At a book signing in Selfridges. Thought it highly amusing that I was Gordon and he was Graham. Mind you it was during his serious drinking days!
Grim gourmet
Used to be something to watch when off sick from school - lunchtime viewing along with Crown Court. All that clarified butter and cream did for him though. Had major heart problems. Promotes some kind of five-a-day type veggie diet these days I believe.
Crown Court
now that takes me back...
to the days when daytime TV wasn't all Loose Bloody Women (you got Houseparty if you were lucky); it was Emmerdale FARM and actually had some farming in it; you could watch Farmhouse Kitchen with the legendary Dorothy Sleightholme (as namechecked by HMHB on Back in the DHSS); when BBC1 shut down in the afternoons, then came back on and showed Pobol Y Cwm so that eveyone could scratch their heads at all the Welsh speaking; and who ever managed to Paint Along with Nancy [Kaminski]?
Later on, there was Yan Can Cook. Great cook, and mental with it. The things he could do with his chopper...
See, we're being short-changed with daytime now.
And this
Ah, Jack Hargeaves
and Out of Town.
Sometimes juxtaposed with the majesty of Fred Trueman's Indoor League on a Saturday morning before World of Sport if I rememeber right (but was young at the time, so Jack was probably on a Sunday. Seems a very 'Sunday' programme to me)
Jason Bradbury
Gadget Show. Just a very funny, charming and energetic host. Has the 2 essential ingredients in my book - he knows what he's talking about and he is clearly in love with his subject.
Not good on telly is so much easier
The thing I cannot abide are the me too presenters, especially ones who are emulating people who themselves are c**ts. I saw ITN News yesterday and they had the ITV version of Robert Peston. Blood. Y. Hell.
Don't know his name but he did all the irritating stuff that Peston does and even more, like flicking his eyes at the camera, almost flirtatiously...
Claudia 'cheaper-Davina' Winkelman is another.
True but
am trying to be positive about TV. The magazine this month continues to moan about the entertainment world today, as usual. Might be nice to hear what's good about it for a change, albeit we do enjoy a good slagging off session?
Indeed, sorry
There are some who are 100% TV naturals because of their passion (why Stein is so good): Mark Nicholas, John Inverdale, Sue Barker, the bald guy stuck on hilltops on Springwatch, Philip Schofield, J Clarkson come to mind straight away.
Valentine Whatsisface
who traipses about the countryside in the latest cookery series is pretty watchable too, and I like Hugh Fearlessly-Eatsitall for the same reasons; mad as a rabid squirrel, hair like Fungus, bonkers stary eyes, and stuffs his face with as much booze and grub as he can while on screen.
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall
always reminds me of the old Lee and Herring sketch about Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and his Huge Furry Wishing Stall
There's plenty of good stuff on
The Street
Casualty
Corrie (when it's on form)
All sorts of interesting docs on BBC4
True Blood (FX)
Lie To Me (silly, but watchable)
Endless incarnations of Law & Order
The Hotel Inspector
The Supersizers Eat... (great chemistry between the presenters)
Casualty 1909
Dragons' Den
House
The Sweeney (ITV4)
The Inbetweeners
Desperate Romantics (if you like that sort of thing)
Property Snakes and Ladders
New Tricks
Psychoville (amusing, but no League Of Gentlemen)
The (new look) Bill
And they say there's nothing on...
I'm waiting for someone to say they've never heard of Casualty.
I've heard of Casualty but
haven't heard of most of the stuff on your list.
I used to watch The Sweeney and, of course, I've heard of Corrie and Dragons Den but none of the others ring any bells.
How do you find the time to watch all this stuff when there's music to be played and/or listened to? :-)
I probalby would never see half this stuff
...if it wasn't my job to do so. Because I HAVE to watch it, then I get to see stuff I perhaps wouldn't normally give the time of day to and then find to my surprise and often delight that it's really quite good.
well, my version of things
That's just the British stuff, and doesn't include good quality imports and stuff that's not on 'right' now like Doctor Who and Balderdash and Piffle.
Things are not all bad.
Vicky Coren.
Is she the perfect woman?
Does she own a brewery as well??
close
but not a fan of poker. But the link was surely spotted.
Christ am I picky.
I enjoy
BBC4 music and other stuff
F1 coverage - so much better now on Beeb
Top Gear
Everest ER
Doc series like the priest who went to look at religions around the world, and Bruce Parry's fun with tribes and other anthropological matters - 2 more top TV people
HIGNFY
Who Do You Think You Are?
Andrew Graham Dixon is good on art too
and various others.
Good new drama seems rather thinner on the ground though I must say.
Top Gear
which was most remiss of me to miss
The unwitting star of Top Gear is rapidly becoming James May. Clarkson and Hammond are always good value (especially JC mugging his schtick for the audience, but oddly with a hint of self-awareness and self-parody he never used to have), but May is a joy. He likes cars. And harpsichords.
And his shows with Oz Clarke are great too. The train station pub crawl was a hoot.
Agree about May
Enjoy his non-Top Gear work too.
I concur with the implication of this thread that a certain eccentricity, sometimes bordering on madness, appears to benefit many TV naturals. Brian Sewell is another such character.
Sewell
in spite of his awful rudeness about non-metropolitan art, one can only agree.
I think the key is that the best people don't pretend to be something they're not: they are either exactly themselves (like May or Sewell), or with one part of their personality amplified a bit (like Clarkson).
Thirded
The man is priceless.
Fourthed, he is what he is
Fourthed, he is what he is and does not pretend to be otherwise.
Not Rick
It just shows that taste is a funny thing. Whenever I've seen any bits of Rick Stein on television I've found him to be one of the most annoying presenters around. He always seems so condescending. I don't doubt that he's knowledgeable but I'm actually quite suprprised that anyone would look forward to seeing him on television.
I think one of the best, and certainly underused presenters on television is Suggs. He always seems to manage to transfer an enthusiasm for the subject to the viewer.
Me too
I tend to find Stein preachy and hectoring, critical of anyone who doesn't spend their lives eating freshly caught mussels on a bed of samphire.
And though I think I've seen him given a shoeing on these boads before, I'm going to confess a liking for Robert Llewellyn on "Scrapheap Challenge", for always giving the impression that there is nowhere else on Earth he'd rather be right now, other than watching these idiots trying to make a speedboat out of a Kenwood mixer...
Francesco da Mosta
It's about time the BBC commissioned him to do something else; Venice, Italy and Med Voyage were superb. Great to see Coren and Perkins back as well as the chemistry between them is spot on.
Good call.
His docs are brilliant. Molto bene. I think.
Si, si, signor
What a life this guy has, and how effortlessly cool is he driving around in that red Spider?
Bastardo.
Matthew Collings
I'll watch anything presented by Matthew Collings - he always manages to keep things interesting (although to be fair, he's usually dealing with subjects I'm interested in). I just like his style I guess - a bit irreverent, but with enthusiasm and a good eye for details, especially quirky ones.
And Jonathan Meades rarely fails to amuse and inform.
Sister Wendy
She's a consecrated virgin, you know, as well as a TV natural in my book.
PS: I'd have loved to have seen her presenting The Old Grey Whistle Test.
Very similar teeth
to Bob Harris. But no beard, obviously.
ITV's Tour de France team
Is anyone else here following the Tour de France?
Time and again ITV have proved they should never be allowed with 100 miles of a live sporting event but the exception to this rule is their coverage of the Tour. It is fantastic, possibly because it's made by an independent production company and not ITV at all. Basically it's the same set-up that used to be on Channel 4.
The commentators Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen are a great team - both are hugely likeable and really know their stuff. Liggett tends to get over-excited and make mistakes and ex-pro rider Sherwen (who owns a gold mine in Uganda!) gently corrects him. Each is the perfect foil for the other. They're like an old married couple.
The show is fronted by Gary Imlach who is just a great presenter with a very dry wit and should have a much higher profile. The reporters are the game, enthusiastic Ned Boulting and Matt Rendell, who seems to speak French, Spanish, Italian and possibly more languages besides and knows all there is to know about cycling. These two also host a nightly podcast which is great.
The TV show also has guest appearances from intelligent, eloquent ex-pros like Chris Boardman and Bob Roll.
Anyone else here a fan?
Yup...
Been addicted to it since C4 started showing it 20-odd years ago. I love the way it's a soap opera with characters and stories developing over the three weeks.
Since retiring I've been able to watch it live every afternoon :-)
Spot on
Never thought about it as a soap opera before but that's exactly what it is. The goings on in the Astana team alone would be worthy of a mini-series.
Envious of you being able to watch it live every day.
It's not that thrilling really :-)
The first couple of hours I tend to watch with one eye whilst eating lunch and reading the paper. Unless it's a mountain stage, the last 75km are where the action takes place.
Liggett and Sherwin?
ITV Cycling has the best after sales service in sport, period. Boulting, Imlach, Rendell and Boardman (used sparingly because of work commitments this year) provide brilliant on the spot journalism and analysis and their podcast is absolutely feckin brilliant.
I wish football broadcasters would take a leaf from their book. I also wish they would do all pf the cycling season.
But Sherwin and Liggett, in real time commentary are apalling - frequently get names wrong, talk absolute cack about tactics and miss breaks (see stage three this year in the cross winds).
The only decent live commentator is Irish cycling legend Sean Kelly and he sounds like the priest with the most boring voice from Fr Ted's Christmas special.
More on Liggett and Sherwen
I know Liggett and Sherwen make mistakes but I guess that's inevitable when you're having to keep up a continuous commentary for five or six hours while watching the race on a TV screen, getting updates in a foreign language, and trying to identify riders that look virtually identical to each other.
I usually watch the highlights rather than live coverage so maybe haven't been exposed to the worst of it but I can forgive them their lapses. I also quite like the fact that Liggett verges into Alan Partridge territory from time to time.
The thing is, although I've been watching them on the Tour for years, I don't follow the sport closely the rest of the year and so most of what I know I've picked up from them. Hope this doesn't mean I've been hopelessly misinformed.
I'd be interested in an example of them talking cack about tactics because, not necessarily knowing any better, I tend to take them at their word.
Didn't see the full show today, just the highlights, but did they make any mention of the controversy over Garmin chasing down the break? I hadn't realised that was an issue until I looked online later.
Re Sean Kelly, I used to watch the Tour on Eurosport a few years back and agree 100% - really knows his stuff, but my God is his voice boring.
agree re Tour de France
essential viewing every evening. great commentary.
I think the following are
I think the following are good, Geoffrey Boycott (more interesting as a commentator than a player!), Stevo (Sky rugby league coverage), Gary Giddens (a bit more obscure, one of the talking heads on Ken Burns Jazz and pops up occassionally on BBC4), Brian Moore and Jeff Stelling.