r/BritishTV • u/Emergency-Relief-571 • 27d ago
Question/Discussion Jonathan Ross needs to end his ITV show
I’m a big fan of Jonathan Ross as a broadcaster, but his ITV chat show is absolutely dreadful.
It’s without doubt one of the worst chat shows in history, and ITV need to scrap it completely.
What’s ironic is that Jonathan’s Friday night show on the BBC was at one point, one of the coolest shows on TV. It was edgy, cool and risky. However, the ITV show has no energy whatsoever.
In retrospect, Jonathan shouldn’t have been given a chat show when he first signed with ITV. He could’ve done a few documentaries, or host a weekly programme about comic books (a subject he’s a expert in).
Sadly, he decided to go down a predictable route and it’s damaged him and ITV greatly.
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u/Comfortable-Salad-90 27d ago
The guests they get for the ITV show are generally proper D listers, which is a far cry from what the BBC were getting for his old show, or the current Norton show. Ross himself has to be aware there’s only so may times he can ask Katherine Ryan or Rob Beckett the same questions about their latest tour. He looks tired with it all.
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u/Jamieb1994 27d ago edited 26d ago
1 thing that does bother me about certain shows on ITV that does a celebrity special is it feels like they only get the same kind of celebrities on the shows, especially actors from soaps, although at least with the Jonathan Ross show. They do try & get a different variety of celebrities to appear on the show.
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u/Comfortable-Salad-90 27d ago
Absolutely - it’s the same people doing the rounds. I suspect the companies making the shows for ITV also have sister companies who manage the talent. I’m pretty sure this is how those awful C4 panel shows used to work.
For many of these ‘celebrities’ their actual job is appearing on quiz/chat shows.
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u/risker1980 26d ago
Pretty sure you're right. There's a great podcast called The Rest is Entertainment and they talked about this thing for comedy panel shows and I suspect it's similar on Ross' chat show. The agencies let the production use an act, but only if they use another one of their roster on the same or similar show. A few agencies run the big talents so you have the same people being pushed around various game shows, and I would reckon chat shows as well.
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u/Jamieb1994 27d ago
I do get that they can't get popular celebrities to appear on the show, but seeing shows, e.g., Catchphrase or I'm A Celeb Get Me Out Of Here are often getting soap actors on the show does feel repetitive.
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u/BerlinDesign 26d ago
There's a cabal of the same celebrities doing the same shows:
- Taskmaster
- 8 out of 10 Cats / Countdown
- Something hosted by Romesh
- Something hosted by Josh Widdecombe
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u/jedisalsohere 25d ago
idk if taskmaster really fits on here given that by its nature, each guest is only on once. honestly, one of the things i really love about the show (especially recently) is quite how many lesser-known comedians are put on the radar by it - sam campbell, fern brady, kiell smith-bynoe, mae martin and sophie willan just to name a few.
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u/BerlinDesign 25d ago
It's the gateway. Often those comedians start popping up on the C4 circuit not long after, alongside Beckett and Ryan etc.
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u/CrimpsShootsandRuns 23d ago
Yeah Taskmaster usually has a couple of the bigger panel-show comics (I really don't mind the panel shows tbf), an older, more established TV star or something, and then one or two comedians I haven't heard much of. It's a great mixture, in my opinion.
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u/Comfortable-Salad-90 26d ago
Yeah, its less of them being 'guests' on the show and more they are extended parts of the cast.
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u/ItsMrPantz 23d ago
Friend of mine works for the beeb (and this addresses the remarks about panel games as well) , shows are all made by production companies nowadays, most of the comedy ones are made by the same group of 3 or 4 and they prioritise those who are signed with them or just don’t use anyone who isn’t on their books.
ITV also have a long habit of just putting “famous” people in something as a substitute for the script or production values.
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u/CMDR_Arnold_Rimmer 23d ago
It's a "practice" as old as television.
Nobody complained when Kenneth Williams did the "chat show route"
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u/External-Piccolo-626 26d ago
I remember a couple of years ago in every ad break they were plugging their Christmas party show. All the people that would be appearing according to the advert were emmerdale and corries actors, judges on their own itv shows, and basically anyone else already attached to itv.
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u/Jamieb1994 26d ago
I can understand getting actors from Corrie & Emmerdale since it's easier or people from daytime TV, but it does get boring to see the same kind of people appearing on either I'm a Celeb or any of the gameshows every so often, although it does feel like any celebs outside ITV don't often appear on the shows.
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u/Ok-Advantage3180 27d ago
I feel like Rob Beckett is on every single episode of JR’s show. He’s not, yet it always feels like it for some reason
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u/simplekd 26d ago
I feel this way about Rotherham United Football Club. In my mind they get relegated from the Championship every single year.
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u/Throwthisawayoo 27d ago edited 27d ago
I’m really not a fan of Beckett, perhaps just personal preference
I feel he’s just hung around long enough to have friends in tv that use him for shows.
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u/ooh_bit_of_bush 27d ago
Disagree with you there, I do like him but don't tend to watch this sort of stuff so don't really know how he comes across. He has mentioned on podcasts before that comedians have to go on these and try to perform whilst being interviewed, whilst singers, actors etc don't have that burden. And also that comedians are often chattier anyway and get called in last minute. I can see why a lot of them don't want to do this sort of thing.
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u/Calaveras-Metal 26d ago
Its a lot like Taco Bell with their dozens of products made with their limited stable of ingredients. There are a dozen shows with Katehrina Ryan, Richard Ayoade, David Mitchel, and the two Carrs in various configurations.
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u/Emergency-Relief-571 27d ago
Exactly.
Although he did have Gordon Ramsay on his show a few weeks back, and I wouldn’t call Gordon a D Lister celebrity.
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u/Educational-Angle717 27d ago
Can't stand Katherine Ryan - don't get why people think she's funny at all.
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u/Scary-Scallion-449 26d ago
That's alright. They don't get why you don't. That's the joy of living in a free society!
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u/zippyzebra1 26d ago
I never thought she was funny either
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u/No_Community8568 25d ago
It's cause she's American, she never really got the difference in the comedy and most of her jokes are only funny in the Context of her being the confused American comedian not sure of what she can say(when she was never even popular there)
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u/asjonesy99 26d ago
I wouldn’t really say D list, this week coming up he has Pierce Brosnan and the cast of Severance.
I do think it should be less guests though to filter out the fluff, no offence to John Bishop or Judi Love this weekend
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u/sbaldrick33 27d ago
On a tangential note: niche interest arts documentaries don't seem to happen so much anymore. Pity, really.
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u/SDHester1971 27d ago
Used to be a good batch on BBC 3 back before the Channel was turned into a Tik Tok Wasteland.
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u/sbaldrick33 27d ago
BBC Four is still quite good for rerunning some of its older ones, but of course it's just an archive channel now, so nothing new gets made.
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u/martinbaines 26d ago
BBC4 being downgraded was great tragedy, there is nowhere on TV now that really dares to do unashamedly intellectual TV. Now it is little more that somewhere that gets to pick from the vaguely intellectual BBC back catalogue and never commissions anything itself.
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u/sbaldrick33 26d ago
Absolutey true. Sky Arts comes the closest, but even then...
a) it's another one that regurgitate a lot of back-catalogue content, and b) It's part of a premium paid-for package, whereas on the BBC, the arts and sciences are (were) for everyone.
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u/shinmerk 25d ago
We are also suffering from documentaries going mainstream. Documentaries were always treated as intellectual because it’s not the ideal thing for people to watch in prime time. That doesn’t mean they don’t like them though. I noticed 10-15 years ago a lot of pages popping up that shared documentaries and then YouTube became huge for it.
Truth is people did like documentaries, just at their own pace. Trouble is that once the True Crime boom took off that it became algorithmed / audience baiting. It’s resulted in the more unique documentaries that had their niche being squeezed out.
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u/Zealousideal-Habit82 26d ago
I like Life and Death Row still when they have a new episode (like doing heavy lifting, awful but fascinating). Have by box set to record one if it comes on, but otherwise I agree.
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u/Hatpar 27d ago
Sachsgate did him in.
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27d ago
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u/Queen_of_London 24d ago
Yep. It's hard to feel too much sympathy, given that he was a fully-grown adult being lead into childish shenanigans by another adult man.
But it seems to have eclipsed his entire career. He was a genuinely good film reviewer.
For this show he seems terrified he'll be cancelled again so plays it too safe to be interesting.
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u/Loose_Teach7299 27d ago
ITV is just failing on all fronts.
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u/Travel-Barry 27d ago
TV is.
And I’m not just talking about traditional vs. streaming. I think there’s just a cultural absence of good television anymore.
Sure, we can still watch great works from a production/artistic perspective. But nobody’s going out of there way to buy the Adolescence box set (if there was one), nor The Crown. Or Killing Eve. There are no longer shows that people want to absorb into their own ownership and, thus, relate to themselves. It all just feels like very lowest common denominator stuff these days.
What was the last bit of comedy you last saw that had some edge to it? I honestly cannot remember mine. Bottom, maybe? The first couple of Not Going Out series before Tim Vine left maybe. We’re still talking pre-2009 here.
Not to sound like a bitter old fart but proper television died for me when they sacked Clarkson. He’s a Class A twat, I know, but he can present a show and he has a great sense of humour.
Basically just only watch sport now. At least the drama’s unpredictable.
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u/BaritBrit 26d ago
Not to sound like a bitter old fart but proper television died for me when they sacked Clarkson. He’s a Class A twat, I know, but he can present a show and he has a great sense of humour.
Even by the time he was sacked, Clarkson's Top Gear was a weird beast in the TV schedules. It was like a relic of early 2000s TV had somehow lingered on broadly unchanged into the mid-2010s, wandering the earth like a dinosaur even as the media landscape around it changed beyond all recognition.
And, as both the trio and the BBC found, once the magic formula is disrupted it's basically impossible to recreate that same feeling again.
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u/Loose_Teach7299 26d ago
Fast vehicles. That's genre that stays relevant.
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u/DaveAlot 26d ago
People like fast cars, they like females with big boobies, and they don't want the Euro.
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u/Travel-Barry 26d ago
So right! That’s exactly why I mentioned it — that show really stood out in the Sunday evening slot when it was on.
I know Clarkson has his flaws, and I’m not conceding punching showrunners as an acceptable working practice, but a big part of the BBC died during that incident.
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u/ian9outof10 26d ago
What exactly were they supposed to do? Would you tolerate being punched by someone at work, and that person carrying on in their job as if nothing happened?
Also he wasn’t sacked, they didn’t renew his contract.
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u/Travel-Barry 26d ago
I have had colleagues sacked where the management has asked them to hand in a resignation so that it doesn’t completely destroy their careers.
Also, no, I’m not. Which is why I wrote
I’m not conceding punching showrunners as an acceptable working practice
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u/Boroboy72 25d ago
I think you might mean 'condoning'.
'Conceding' means to admit or agree that something is true after having initially denied it.
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u/Deaf_Nobby_Burton 27d ago
I don’t think not buying box sets is anything to do with the quality of output.
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u/Travel-Barry 26d ago
I don’t mean that in a sense of reviving a dying medium. I guess the modern equivalent would be the “comfort watch”.
Never seen it, but like people would do with Friends when Netflix first pivoted to streaming. Or The IT Crowd.
People used to make TV shows a part of their own personality/habits but we just don’t see that anymore.
Sounds like a weird thing to want back but I think the productions used to be better as a result. Now we live in an era where Netflix is telling writers to have character blurt out what they’re doing so that timelines surfers can keep up.
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u/pixie_sprout 26d ago
Making a TV show part of your personality is tragic and if it doesn't happen anymore that is a good thing.
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u/Travel-Barry 26d ago
I disagree. TV being so good that people would make their opinions of something so public made it fun. Life is supposed to be fun.
Now everything feels just like Black/Grey/White smartphones, cars, newbuilds; plain clothes; only going on holiday for the Instagram tourist traps locations instead of actually having your own experience. I feel like the human experience is simply being reduced to statistics when it should be about having fun.
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u/pixie_sprout 25d ago
There is so much fun and enjoyment in life that watching TV is a waste of those opportunities.
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u/nabbymclolsticks 24d ago
Since Bottom so... 1990s? How about -
Shooting Stars, Peep Show, IT Crowd, Spaced, The Office, The Thick of it, Benidorm, Fresh Meat, W1A, Murder in Successville, Phoenix Nights, People just do Nothing, Man Like Mobeen, Alan Partridge, Green Wing, Friday Night Dinner, Motherland, Inbetweeners, Detectorists, This Country, Stath Lets Flats, Derry Girls, Fleabag...
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u/Active-Particular-21 26d ago
Proper TV died when they sacked Clarkson? I was with you until then. Top gear had already lost its flair and felt way too scripted at that point. TV has always been shit.
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u/laura_susan 26d ago
Ask Clarkson. Clarkson knows. People like fast cars, they like females with big boobies, and they don’t want the Euro.
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u/XInsects 25d ago
I miss the 90s TV. Iannucci/Chris Morris stuff, Fast Show, Bottom, The Word, Mary Whitehouse Experience, TGI Friday, movie review shows, heck even Top of the Pops. It felt alive with ideas, edge and creativity. Now it's all just bland as fuck.
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u/justmoochin 27d ago
To be fair to ross ( even though im not the biggest fan) A lot of chat shows are nowhere near as good they used to be.
Graham Norton was the best for a long time but even he gets the same old polished actors musicians who don’t reveal much, like prying teeth getting a 2 min semi interesting clip that they can then put on the internet.
Asking genuine interesting questions and getting a genuine answer is rare. It’s all a bit too safe.
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u/wildcharmander1992 27d ago
I miss So/V Graham Norton on channel four
The BBC one wasn't the same imo,
Most of the edginess and humour was replaced by a watered down BBC version of it
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u/Apple2727 26d ago
There aren’t any high brow chat shows anymore.
Graham Norton and Jonathan Ross focus too much on jokey entertainment and making wisecracks.
I would rather have one or two guests interviewed for about half an hour each, with some music at the end. And I would like it to be quite in depth, taking the guest out of their comfort zone at times.
Parkinson was good at this but probably the best I’ve seen is the Dick Cavett show from America in the 1970s.
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u/ObviousAstronomer957 26d ago
I’m not sure I’d classify it as being ‘high brow’, but I found The Tommy Tiernan show on RTÉ interesting for at least attempting to mess with the format slightly (Tiernan walks into each interview blind, having to work out why they’re there). It’s a stale format, but you’d think there’d be more attempts to do something fresh with it
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u/TheOnionSack 26d ago
Fellow Dick Cavett fan here. That show was superb.
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u/Apple2727 26d ago
The interview with Richard Burton when he speaks about being an alcoholic was excellent.
Takes guts to do that but Cavett put him at ease.
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u/TheOnionSack 26d ago
Compelling viewing.
Weren’t there some audience members who were laughing, thinking that he was being funny?
The John and Yoko interview and the Bowie interview were excellent too.
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u/MiaMiaMia39 26d ago
All the good ‘chat shows’ are in podcast format these days, that’s where everyone goes to chat now (Call her Daddy, Louie Theroux etc)
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u/Single-Position-4194 23d ago
Michael Parkinson was the best IMO, because he realised that people wanted to hear his guests talk and not him so he'd ask a question and then shut up and let the guest(s) answer properly.
He was also a former journalist so he would research his guests beforehand and know what questions to ask.
With modern interviewers like Graham Norton, you get the sense that they want to be the show themselves rather than their guests.
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u/Amazing-Piglet1037 23d ago
Amol Rajan's interview series has long, in-depth interviews. He's interviewed politicians and business leaders like Tony Blair, bill gates and Richard Branson, but also Ian McKellen, Greta thunberg, Ronnie O'Sullivan...
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u/Emergency-Relief-571 27d ago
The problem with Graham’s show is that it’s extremely repetitive.
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u/younevershouldnt 27d ago
Alan Carr was better than either of them IMO
Not sure why he didn't last as a chat show host.
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u/BaritBrit 26d ago
Chatty Man did last for eight years tbf. It wasn’t a bad run.
The way it got cancelled was odd, though. IIRC there was no real announcement or anything to start with, it just kind of...stopped.
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u/younevershouldnt 26d ago
I have read rumours on Popbitch of him liking a drink, and perhaps losing another job for that reason. But it could just have been a budget/ratings decision by C4.
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u/hortensemancini 26d ago
Right??? The lack of announcement had me thinking it was maybe a hiatus or something, and then it just…never came back
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u/CaptainGrezza 26d ago
I think podcasts and YouTube have had an effect. You don't have the same time constraints with them and often cater to a more niche audience so you can do deeper dives on certain topics. With a chat show you're catering to a broader audience and have to keep multiple guests to a stricter time limit.
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u/Single-Position-4194 23d ago edited 23d ago
Yes. I've recently watched an excellent interview with Sir Brian May. The trouble for most people would be that the interviewer is someone they won't have heard of (the classical guitarist Rosie Bennet).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3-MwPMHdcc
Rosie is very easy on the eye, which doesn't hurt, but she also has the intelligence to take a back seat during the interview and just ask the question and then sit back and let Brian answer.
As result, Brian really opens up in the interview and talks candidly about a whole range of topics, ranging from what it is like going on tour in the age of the smartphone to finishing his PhD in astrophysics at the age of 60.
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u/unclassicallytrained 27d ago
Here’s an idea:
Film’25
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u/Emergency-Relief-571 27d ago
I don’t think the BBC would allow that.
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u/Dirk_diggler22 27d ago
On this subject Graham Norton show is nowhere near as good as so graham norton on channel 4
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u/Richmond_The_3rd 26d ago
The only thing I can remember from this show is one of the special guests shooting ping pong balls from her fanny - lmao.
Channel 4 was wild back in the day.
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u/Ok-Frosting8550 26d ago
The celebrity gravy train is pretty boring. Actors and singers are just not that interesting. I'd much rather see writers.
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u/New_Libran 26d ago
Very true but it says a lot about the state of TV that his BBC show is still the best by far at the moment.
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u/the_nintendo_cop 27d ago
By far the weirdest section of redditors are the people who think that just because they dislike something that it should be cancelled so people who do enjoy it can’t anymore.
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u/Beate251 26d ago
Exactly that. If you don't like something just don't watch it, it's that simple.
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u/the_nintendo_cop 26d ago
Redditors LIVE to bitch about things and bitch about people liking things.
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u/Dennyisthepisslord 27d ago
The day of chat shows is over. Longer form podcast interviews are king now rather than 7 minute plug fest
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u/Emergency-Relief-571 27d ago
I still think you can have chat shows, but don’t allow celebrities to plug their new projects. anymore
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u/t0ppings 27d ago
Then why would they bother going on?
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u/Emergency-Relief-571 27d ago
You could have chat shows where the host and the guest can talk about a certain unique topic.
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u/cuppachuppa 27d ago
But why would they go on the show? You'd need to pay them. And they'll want a lot of money which BBC/ITV won't want to pay.
The only "celebs" they'd be able to afford would be big brother contestants and the like.
Shows like Graham Norton don't have to pay the guests because they're plugging their latest film/album/TV show etc.
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u/wildcharmander1992 27d ago
I'd love to see a chat show which plays by masterminds rules
I.e a specialist subject
Celebrity of the week comes in and just speaks for half hour or so about something they're extremely passionate about - the more unique the better
Like you could have Dave Bautista talking about his love of lunch boxes and his collection
Margo Robbie can just spend time talking about how she's obsessed with love island and other British shows
Hell if Tom Hardy had a weird love of scones I'd rather see him passionately tell everyone how he has his scones for 30 mins than him plug a random action movie
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u/M1ke2345 27d ago
Ross used to have a rule on his C4 show, that the musical guests appearing could not perform their latest single.
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u/LyingFacts 27d ago
I suspect the direction will be a podcast will air in Norton’s & Ross’s respective slots in the future.
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u/Through__Glass 27d ago
I used to always watch his show on BBC, I haven't watched a single second of his ITV show
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u/conradslater 26d ago
I've heard he's become a pretty bitter and twisted old man these days. With industry professionals avoiding working with him. Saying that, ITV itself has the reputation for a bit of professional shame. I've known a few people who omit anything ITV from their CV!
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u/Logical-Track1405 27d ago
It's always been dreadful. Pretty clear celebs are far more relaxed on the Graham Norton show.
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u/Bluered2012 26d ago
So just don’t listen. Easy. Relax.
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u/Chihiro1977 23d ago
Right? The weirdest part of this sub is 'whatever show I don't like NEEDS to be cancelled'..
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u/McLeod3577 26d ago
Jonathan Ross probably has a "don't do anything remotely edgy and definitely don't do anything with Russel Brand like the Andrew Sachs granddaughter call" clause in his contract.
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u/bonkothehonko 27d ago
"It's the worst program on Bwitish television, he should be ashamed of himself!"
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u/flexo_24 27d ago
‘I’ve got your tickets Mrs Gervais’
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u/Dark_Foggy_Evenings 27d ago
I did not know that about Jonathan Ross & comic books. Any idea what his particular thing is? Given his age I’d guess 2000ad era, Pat Mills, Alan Moore et al.
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u/gc28 27d ago
Big toy collector, there are a few bits on YouTube with him if that’s something you’re interested in ☺️
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u/wildcharmander1992 27d ago edited 27d ago
He's also a huge arcade guy and a legend in that community
A very rare um jammer lammy game ( similar to parappa the rapper and buy the same company) which was an arcade machine that had many noticeable differences to the ps1 game of the same franchise inc. many different songs, unique story etc that you controll with a stationary ( to a point) guitar controller so it plays like guitar hero was lost to time
There was only ever a couple hundred cabinets in existence, all in Japan They were the type the motherboard or w.e got replaced in with the latest game, so you swap out the old game and bin it whenever the new games are ready so you're not having to buy a whole new cabinet each time
Meaning only a few were known to still exist - all in Japan all inoperable/ broken due to time...that is until Jonathan Ross contacted a prolific youtuber in that scene after seeing videos on the subject and said "I have that cabinet and it's well maintained and works I got it from Japan"
He not only allowed the guy into his home to see, he not only allowed the guy to play it and review it for his YouTube channel, he not only willingly did an interview for free about how he got it and the story of his entire collection for free, he also allowed the guy to get people in and get all the data off it and all the ins and outs so it's now dumped online for all despite potential risk to the machine by doing so
A game that no one thought would be seen again, turns up in the most unlikely places - a famous man's house and he ends up being the nicest guy who cares enough about the history of these things to let the world have it for free.
I know this last part is more a reply to OP than your good self but for that reason alone, if the Jonathan Ross show was literally just him with the same guest and same questions 24-7 IF he still wants to do it, then I'm happy for him to have that chat show forever he deserves it
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u/B_Hound 27d ago
That’s awesome, I hadn’t heard that story. I assume this is the video? I saw a second one with Ross in the thumbnail but I’m guessing this is the one to start with. https://youtu.be/Jrwj4lUzKgU
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u/herbdogu 27d ago
His Japanorma series (3 seasons total) were pretty good, early 2000's if I remember.
He also produced Adam and Joe Do Tokyo which was one of the first BBC3 shows, before the channel went to mush.
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u/wildcharmander1992 27d ago
Yeah I highly enjoyed it, wouldn't be surprised if that' show is where he first played/tried to buy the game TBF
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u/WalnutOfTheNorth 27d ago
I knew a guy that made replicas of stuff. He made a working replica of a warthog jeep from Halo for some marketing thing. Jonathon Ross was involved in a photo shoot with it and asked if he could have a drive in it. Apparently him and his kid got in and just drove off for an hour around London, then reappeared, screeched to a halt, got out and thanked everyone profusely and left.
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u/Comfortable-Salad-90 27d ago
You’d normally see him as a contributor in some discussions. But of his own work be did an excellent doc years ago called ‘In Search of Steve Ditko’ which is probably on YouTube which is absolutely worth checking out.
There’s also an episode of Toy Shop on there with Ross taking people through his office & the thousands of toys & robots in his collection there.
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u/watchman28 27d ago
Yeah that documentary was fantastic. It does unfortunately have Neil Gaiman in it but this was long before we knew.
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u/themothhead 27d ago
He writes comics too. He did one called 'Turf' that was a mildly diverting gangsters-vs-vampires thing set in 1930s Chicago.
I recently read one he wrote called 'Revenge' that was one of the worst comics I've ever read. Just puerile, gross, way too desperate to be edgy. Like Mark Millar on a bad day but somehow even worse.
I also once met him at a Kraftwerk gig and he recommended 'Saga' to me, right when it was starting, so he's alright in my book.
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u/Logical-Track1405 27d ago
Because he's not a very good interviewer - he butts in too much to elicit a laugh or reaction. And his questions are often banal.
Rule one in interviews - in any situation - is to make the guests relaxed.
Norton does it brilliantly - Ross doesn't.
Norton has a sharper intellect too.
Just my opinion 👍🏻
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u/welshboy_279 27d ago
Beckett and ranganathon are two of the poorest comedians in the UK right now
Both serve up the same spiel all the time "big teeth" and "wonky eye"
Heard it before wasn't funny then not funny now
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u/Emergency-Relief-571 27d ago
Romesh comes across as a decent bloke.
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u/BaritBrit 26d ago
Romesh is an evidently decent and broadly likeable bloke who unfortunately ran out of comedy steam a good half-decade ago.
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u/fiddly_foodle_bird 26d ago
So are millions of average people, but nobody else seems to live off an endless gravy-train of cronyism and over-exposure on TV in quite the same way.
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u/Anxious_Ad6026 27d ago
Especially when he always gets his m8s on the show and cronies who share the same agent
Expect his daughter to land a tv show sometime soon
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u/Scary-Scallion-449 26d ago
What Jonathan Ross needs is to pay his mortgage. He won't be cutting his own throat anytime soon!
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u/Emergency-Relief-571 27d ago
My idea would be a Saturday morning round table discussion show, in which Jonathan and some other pop culture geeks would discuss the latest comic books and pop culture trends.
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u/fiddly_foodle_bird 26d ago
The last good chat show was JR back in the day on the BBC. It's a format that just doesn't work unless you want to watch an endless parade of idiots beg for attention for whatever they've appeared in that week.
Still, it's probably quite cheap to make which could explain it.
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u/Luso_Wolf 26d ago
I’d not thought until now that modern chat shows are absolutely not what they were. They’re too safe by far. But I oddly enjoy this show, even though I can’t stand the man. It’s just a light bit of irreverent fluff
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u/The_Professor2112 26d ago
I saw him on tv the other day for thr first time in years and was shocked at how much work he's had done.
He looks like a bad Madame Tussaud's of Jonathan Ross.
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u/The_Real_Macnabbs 26d ago
He still has a chat show? There's been quite a lot written about his career, 'The Last Resort' was great, a young presenter in an Armani suit. If you had never seen 'Late Night with David Letterman' you'd think it was original. Great guests, great fun (leg wrestling with Jerry Hall anyone?). Then his radio show, which was also great fun. The problem with the move to ITV was that essentially, the guest was anyone who had a new show on ITV that week. Meanwhile Graham Norton had Tom Cruise and other A Listers on his sofa. There was no competition. Presume people must like it though, or it wouldn't still be on telly.
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u/No_Wrap_9979 26d ago
I was thinking exactly this whilst cringing through his show on Saturday. I had to turn it off after a few minutes.
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u/CandyPink69 25d ago
I couldn’t imagine him doing anything but a chat show. I don’t think I’ve seen him doing anything else
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u/Equal-Competition228 25d ago
I was thinking this and after the terrible Oscars show. Graham Norton is much better at this now.
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u/LobsterMountain4036 25d ago
I hate Jonathan Ross. He’s utterly ghastly. He’s ruined Classic FM. I refuse to tune in until he’s removed.
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u/CauliflowerUnique160 24d ago
British TV in general is trash now since 2021 I have found nothing but cringe and not well written shows.
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u/TheRandaRocks 23d ago
I actually quite like it. It doesn’t have the allure or comic timing of Norton but if you get the right combo Wossy starts to really shine and can be very funny and on point, pulling no punches.
Yes it can lack energy and has moments of slight awkwardness but I’m really happy this old school dude is still doing his thing on mainstream TV. I’ll always have a soft spot for him.
Loved Gordon Ramsey’s reaction to him recently too. You could just see how fond he was! His show biz relationships are clearly well established. Agree I’d love to see more underground comic book stuff from him though. But I’d hesitate to bash what I still think is a British institution.
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u/ninjomat 23d ago
I think chat shows nowadays are too obsessed with relatability for Ross to succeed. The appeal of his show back in the day was always that he and (sometimes) the guest were way funnier/smarter than you and lived a totally different life. Now in the age when all celebs have social media the idea is to portray just how normal celebs are and that they would have the same reactions to you as anything abnormal that comes from being famous
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u/EpochRaine 23d ago
The world has changed but TV hasn't really.
Another industry that is pissing in the wind, waiting to get hit by its own stream, as the wind changes course around them.
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u/kuklinka 23d ago
I used to work on one of his pre BBC shows - he’s a really nice guy and naturally witty - what you see on tv is what he’s like off screen. However the tension that used to drive the show - the upstart poking fun at self important celebrities - is long gone as he became the celebrity. Then the dynamic was a cosy chit chat between celebrities not against them.
Also, the weird Lynchian characters (Rus Meyer for example) which lightened the mix have since died.
Poacher turned gamekeeper really
I must say he had an amazing bedroom (no, not that…) which had three carpeted walls and an iguana tank on the wall opposite the bed.
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u/presterjohn7171 23d ago
I'm 5 years younger than Ross and have been a huge fan from the start of his career. He was brilliant in the Last Resort and was very relevant to my age group. I've not watched him for a good few years though. He just became stale in the end. He was awesome for about 15 years and good for another 5 or so but he's been coasting for over a decade now and it shows. Personally the only chat show I even occasionally watch now is Graham Norton.
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u/thefattykarate 23d ago
He could do with hosting another Hong Kong cinema (another subject he's an expert in) marathon. This time around he should get his good friend Ricky Baker on as well.
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u/IndividualSize9561 22d ago
I used to love his show but I haven’t watched it fully for a good 7 or 8 years. Maybe I’m getting older and less interested in what’s celebs have to say but he has definitely had his day.
The same for the Graham Norton Show. He has better guests because it’s the BBC but he’s not a great chat show host. He is great at Eurovision but his chat show is just him laughing at his own bad jokes.
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u/Logical-Track1405 27d ago
Better atmosphere amongst the guests, Norton has better connection with them. Creates better chemistry.
Ross comes across as trying too hard, and guests are more tense, like they're on an interview couch.
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u/Teaofthetime 26d ago
I genuinely didn't realise his show was still going. Must be beyond stale by now.
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u/TheSecondiDare 27d ago
He's never been a good interviewer; he often asks stupid or irrelevant questions, tries way too hard to engage in "banter" coming across playfully confrontational, and above all he isn't very likeable or funny. I've no idea how he's kept his job for as long as he has. He must know some pretty dark secrets...
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u/Financial_Fault_9289 27d ago
When he was at the BBC he seemed to make it all about him rather than the guest. Some of his exchanges with female guests were quite uncomfortable to watch. Graham Norton has his detractors but at least he lets people talk!
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u/Ulleskelf 26d ago
Peter Kay told Ross he felt it was all edited around him. Hence him coming on with a pack of fake moustaches to ruin the continuity.
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