Wednesday, March 02, 2005

I'M ON BBC TWO, NOW...: Terry Wogan giving his main employers a sound kicking is nothing new; indeed, back before newspapers were bunged together on computers, the Telegraph employed a man whose sole job was to typeset 'Wogan Attacks BBC Chiefs' stories. So there isn't anything that surprising about his latest whine about the corporation, that BBC Chiefs are stuck in "a rut", getting hold of an idea and beating it to death. Says the guy who used to preside over a three-nights-a-week chatshow and clearly had no plans to stop doing so until the thing had been lead through the streets of London in a glass carriage preceeded by a white horse. And, yes, maybe the BBC does tend to stick to things that have been tried and tested rather than taking a chance on something new and wacky - how many years running have you presented Children In Need now, Terry? - and there's quite a good reason for that: audiences seem to like it. You could have called the decision by Radio 2 to resurrect Wogan's breakfast show some years after he'd quit for TV beating an idea to death - why bring back ole' Wogan? why not try something new and fresh? - and yet Terry is now doing Europe's most-listened to radio programme. It's one thing to complain about management being conservative, but isn't at least part of the problem that audiences have a deeply conservative streak as well?

Oddly, he was happy enough with BBC bosses churning out a bog standard celeb autobiography...


3 comments:

Ade said...

Hard to disagree with his comments about the telly but fucks sake, is this the same Wogan who "joked" to the Guardian about doing the "same old rubbish" every morning? It's almost a breath of fresh air when he takes yet another holiday and someone else fills his spot - at least there's less Katie Melua.

Anonymous said...

Permission to be a pedantic old curmudgeon? (Thank you...)

Well, you see, I believe the past tense of "to lead" is "led". Yet you always spell it "lead" - too consistently for it to be a mere typographical error.

And, I'm afraid it distresses me beyond words. I shan't be able to do anything else today until I've had a good lie down, now.

OK, I'll get my coat...

Simon Hayes Budgen said...

Yep. Fair point. I was away from school the day they did leading and led. Please accept my apologies.

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