Den The Dragon

 

 

Money Matters: Dragons’ Den judge and star of ITV’s Tycoon – the flop rip-off of the BBC‘s Apprentice – Peter Jones – says he gets rather annoyed by begging letters from spongers who want cash without working for it. He commented on Teletext: “To really annoy me, ask me for money so you can buy the house of your dreams and a car like mine.” Well, that’s what happens when you appear on ITV. Did no one tell you Pete that the channel aims these days at the lowest form of life – chavs?

Poaching on the Hill: BBC bosses want to ‘borrow’ comedian Harry Hill from ITV. They want the TV Burp star to host a new series of the long running family game show, The Generation Game. It follows the success of the UKTV Gold aired, and Bruce Forsyth hosted, revival last year; Generation Game: Now and Then. The unfortunate part to the news is the BBC apparently want to ‘revamp’ the format. Yes, well just look at what happened to Telly Addicts when you did that aunty Beeb!

The Generation Game since its launch in 1971 has had a number of hosts. Bruce Forsyth originally, who also returned to the programme for five years in 1991, Roy Castle, Larry Grayson and Jim Davidson. Paul O’Grady recorded a pilot edition in 2006, but turned down an offer to present a full series. In recent years Graham Norton’s name has been mooted a number of times as a possible new host, he however has only so far presented a one-off celebrity special entitled Generation Fame. Harry Hill currently presents TV Burb and You’ve Been Framed! for ITV.

Kitchen Kitten: Former Atomic Kitten singer Liz McClarnon will become a GMTV cook for Lorraine Kelly’s LK Today when it returns in September. Liz was the winner of this years Celebrity Masterchef in July. I take it viewers won’t have to phone a premium rate number to get the recipes?

Four Carr: Camp Alan Carr will front a new chat show for Channel 4 its been reported. The £3 million deal beats an earlier offer from ITV of £2 million to switch networks. Carr has proved popular with his Celebrity Ding Dong and Sunday Night Project presenting roles. ITV had tried a camp chat show in 2007, however dire host Antony Cotton had absolutely no presenting ability nor a likeable personality to pull off the format. It was axed after ratings fell behind Children’s BBC, BBC2 and Channel 4.

ITV do however hope to beat the BBC‘s Jonathan Ross chat show when they put their own format – fronted by former Mirror newspaper editor, and story faker, Piers Morgan – up against it.

Morgan is now famous for being a talentless z-list personality telling other more talented humans they’re talentless on Britain’s Got Talent. Ironic isn’t it.

Ratings: Quick look at some ratings news: X Factor managed just under 11 million viewers, proving that the nation still likes to have a good laugh at the mentally ill and fame-seeking of Great Britain. 7 million tuned in to see the end of the Beijing Olympic Games while the last episode in the current series of New Tricks drew in 7.82 million, that is over double of most ITV Dramas’ ratings..

Paranoid: Fiona Bruce worries that she may be “quietly dropped” by the BBC in years to come. I doubt it, most ex-newsreaders find a home on BBC One daytime looking at old antiques don’t they?

ITV Spin: Former Wheel Of Fortune host Bradley Walsh is returning to ITV to host a new quiz show, Spin Star. The casino themed show sees contestants playing on the Moneyspinner – a five-reel slot machine. Walsh has also hosted daytime quiz Win, Lose or Draw! and short-lived gameshow The Midas Touch for the channel.