Chz
Stark Raving Sane
So I "found" a Google Drive folder* with every series of Never Mind the Buzzcocks in it. Figured I would see the current state of it and maybe revisit some older ones.
The current series is... okay. Greg Davies is an amenable enough host. Enough of an edge to suit the show (he's in his Taskmaster persona), but not really capable of the sort of bullying that Lamarr and Amstell got up to. AIUI, the current series was helped a lot by Sophie Willan filling in for Daisy May Cooper for most of the episodes. I like Willan and while I don't dislike Cooper don't really care for her either. So works for me. They still manage to attract some people you've heard of, and many you haven't. Which sort of surprises me, I'd have thought the history of the show would keep anyone sensible away in the 2020s. Fielding is last man standing from the BBC run of the show, and he looks bored. I'm not his biggest fan in the first place, so that could be my bias talking. As I say, it's okay. I didn't roll my eyes much if at all, and genuinely chuckled a couple of times.
Then I picked some random Lamarr and Amstell. Jesus christ. I mean, it's funny. Sometimes so, so funny. But it's really, really mean. Been told that Amstell had a minor breakdown over how much of a cunt he was having to be on the show and didn't want to be that way so he quit. I can understand why. As for Lamarr, you have to wonder if he has something against women sometimes. I still think he's a fantastic host, whip smart on the sidecracks and musical knowledge second to none. But the show as it was then would never, ever fly today.
I should watch a bit of Rhod Gilbert's run. My memory tells me that the show had almost got good again while he was host, but the Beeb cruelly chose then to cut it down instead of 5 years previous like it should have been.
*https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1louZ55AJZ47QZ5ta50Oo2jhyZnBAGV34
The current series is... okay. Greg Davies is an amenable enough host. Enough of an edge to suit the show (he's in his Taskmaster persona), but not really capable of the sort of bullying that Lamarr and Amstell got up to. AIUI, the current series was helped a lot by Sophie Willan filling in for Daisy May Cooper for most of the episodes. I like Willan and while I don't dislike Cooper don't really care for her either. So works for me. They still manage to attract some people you've heard of, and many you haven't. Which sort of surprises me, I'd have thought the history of the show would keep anyone sensible away in the 2020s. Fielding is last man standing from the BBC run of the show, and he looks bored. I'm not his biggest fan in the first place, so that could be my bias talking. As I say, it's okay. I didn't roll my eyes much if at all, and genuinely chuckled a couple of times.
Then I picked some random Lamarr and Amstell. Jesus christ. I mean, it's funny. Sometimes so, so funny. But it's really, really mean. Been told that Amstell had a minor breakdown over how much of a cunt he was having to be on the show and didn't want to be that way so he quit. I can understand why. As for Lamarr, you have to wonder if he has something against women sometimes. I still think he's a fantastic host, whip smart on the sidecracks and musical knowledge second to none. But the show as it was then would never, ever fly today.
I should watch a bit of Rhod Gilbert's run. My memory tells me that the show had almost got good again while he was host, but the Beeb cruelly chose then to cut it down instead of 5 years previous like it should have been.
*https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1louZ55AJZ47QZ5ta50Oo2jhyZnBAGV34
