Fucking ubiquitous "light entertainment" celebrities

[cromby]

Jill Scott is on the One Show currently, in case you haven't seen enough of her, plugging A League of Their Own on Sky. Going from the clip they've just shown, she's starring alongside Romesh Ranganathan, in case you haven't seen enough of him, and Katherine Ryan, in case you haven't seen enough of her.

Am I looking at the past through rose-tinted lenses, or are we, culturally, in a worse place than ever in terms of the need for every person of any basic level of celebrity to become a "light entertainment star" who pops up on fucking everything? You can't just be a footballer anymore, or just be a comedian, you have to prop up every shitey corner of terrestrial TV without cession for about five years, then drop off.

I'm not talking your Claires from Stepses and that here, i.e. people with a (modicum) of talent who'll pop up on the odd reality show or whatever. I mean your Scotts (A. and J.)/Ranganathans/Becketts/Ramseys/Ryans who are just on fucking everything. Surely commissioning bigwigs can't think people enjoy seeing the same five faces on fucking everything over and over again til the heat death of the sun?

[dontpaintyourteeth]

Presented by Maya Jama

[cromby]

Presented by Maya Jama

Don't mind Jama as it goes, she can stay _{at mine}.

[FeederFan500]

I think Romesh has more than a modicum of talent himself but I think the problem is not that we have the same people on everything, but that everything has to have a celebrity on it. Have a popular show? Here's a spinoff which has the same recurring guests pretending to care about whatever TV show the plebs watch in the evening. There are then so many guest appearances available, but only a narrow strip of people who are moderately famous enough to be a name, but also not have acting/singing/sport to do.

Sometimes it's really obvious how celebs are shoehorned in, every Saturday evening show seems to have public contestants with a celebrity panel just to comment, without affecting the format of the show whatsoever. Given how many celebrity quizzes there are now I guess the celebrity appearances must get the viewers.

[Gurke and Hare]

Jill Scott is on the One Show currently

Jermaine fucking Jenas wasn't on tonight then? Must have had something else to present.

I can't be doing with Rylan popping up every fucking where. Everyone always says he's a lovely bloke and I've no reason to think that isn't true, but I can't fucking stand him, he's the epitome of vacuity. Clearly I'm finally turning into my dad.

[dissolute ocelot]

I blame Celebrity Big Brother.

But there's also the phenomenon that you can't have an expert presenting a program, or even someone who specialises in travel programs (like Whicker, Chalmers, etc). Just grab the same celebrities and send them around the world. Plus channels like ITV2 or Sky seem entirely dependent on the same small number of celebs on every show. And the rise of niche genres like the Dave comedy panel show and "people/cricketers arsing about around the world".

Having said that, even 20 years ago there were definitely omnipresent celebs, like Carol Vorderman or Davina McCall.

[jobotic]

Fucking LOVE watching the same people go on holidays that I will never be able to afford with the other same people on each other's travel shows. What could be better?

[Natnar]

I can't be doing with Rylan popping up every fucking where. Everyone always says he's a lovely bloke and I've no reason to think that isn't true, but I can't fucking stand him, he's the epitome of vacuity. Clearly I'm finally turning into my dad.

I can't stand Rylan even if he is supposed to be a nice bloke. He just comes across as incredibly false to me. He's ginger underneath all that black hair  dye isn't he?

[Sebastian Cobb]

Not like it was in my day, when you had Ant and Dec, Cilla and Michael Barrymore singing See You When You Get There with Remission.

[centristmelt]

Richie Anderson is stealing a living isn't he?

[Elderly Sumo Prophecy]

Jill Scott does seem to be really going for it with the current "media" arc of her career. Is she any good at it? I tend to zone out or turn over when she turns up on some random shit.

[Icehaven]

I have never heard of Jill Scott until I google her in 20 seconds.
Oh she's a footballer, that's why.

[phantom_power]

It might be a bit more so now but hasn't this always happened? Frank Bruno popping up on things, and Willie Carson, George Best, etcetera.

[BlodwynPig]

BBC2 This Saturday "Rio Ferdinand Trundles Through Bolivia"

This Sunday on More 4 "Jamie Theakston Revisits His Dead Ancestors in...Celebrity GRAAAAAAAVE"

[cromby]

It might be a bit more so now but hasn't this always happened? Frank Bruno popping up on things, and Willie Carson, George Best, etcetera.

The thing was, there was more celebrities back then who rotated through stuff. You didn't see Frank Bruno on EVERYTHING, whereas I'm always fearful Jill Scott may be poised to pop up at any turn.

Plus, the people you mentioned had something resembling a personality. JS is, I'm sure, a very nice woman, but she's boring as fuck.

[Gurke and Hare]

What was Willie Carson on apart from Question of Sport?

[badaids]

What was Willie Carson on apart from Question of Sport?

Horses

[Uncle TechTip]

I get the objection regarding people popping up out of context, but why are people mystified that a show featuring Celeb + thing does better than unfamiliar person + thing? Vastly more people will tune in to watch the celeb, especially if their name is the first word in the title. Sad but true.

[Blue Jam]

I can't stand Rylan even if he is supposed to be a nice bloke. He just comes across as incredibly false to me. He's ginger underneath all that black hair  dye isn't he?

That's all I can think about whenever I see him on anything. Nowt wrong with being a ginge and the black hair/beard really doesn't suit him. It's distracting, in the way a bad wig or a combover is distracting.

Anyway, would Stephen Fry count as the OG ubiquitous light entertainment celebrity?

[phantom_power]

I think the key to not being bothered with this sort of thing is to not watch shit TV shows

[Blue Jam]

I think the key to not being bothered with this sort of thing is to not watch shit TV shows

Rylan Clark seems to be on loads of adverts so I only see him when I'm watching snooker, but I watch a lot of snooker.

Fred Sirieux seems to pop up everywhere, and not just on TV. I was surprised to see his mug on endorsements for wine in M&S. Bloke's done alright for a waiter.

[studpuppet]

Jill Scott does seem to be really going for it with the current "media" arc of her career.

Fair play to her - after getting less than average wages for most of her playing career, why shouldn't she ride the wave of the increased popularity and bankability of her sport by taking any paid gig she can? If she's lucky parlay it up to a better-paid second career like Alex Scott has, then so much the better.

Richie Anderson is stealing a living isn't he?

As discussed in the Radio 2 thread, he's aching to be a minor celeb but his desperation is Palpable - like Bridget Jones jumping out of an aeroplane on a daily basis. The Day Today even predicted him: when Wayne Kerr's posse are talking about animals and one of the voices says, "According to my boyfriend, I AM!!"

[studpuppet]

That's all I can think about whenever I see him on anything. Nowt wrong with being a ginge and the black hair/beard really doesn't suit him. It's distracting, in the way a bad wig or a combover is distracting.

It's the Max Headroom/Robbie Rotten look.

[dissolute ocelot]

There are fewer ugly middle-aged men on television now than 40 years ago. Remember when Derek Jameson had a regular TV show, Clive James, Bruce Forsyth, Alan Whicker, Parky, Les Dawson, Twice Nightly Whiteley, don't know how you feel about the attractiveness of Wogan...

[Icehaven]

I think the key to not being bothered with this sort of thing is to not watch shit TV shows

I've never really noticed the apparent over-exposure of some comedians because I don't generally watch panel shows (not intentionally or anything, they just never seem to be on if I'm channel hopping and I don't seek them out). Finding out that that's probably 75% of what they do makes sense though, when they seem to be maintaining a relatively high profile despite not producing much of their own work. 

[Rolf Lundgren]

You can't just be a footballer anymore, or just be a comedian, you have to prop up every shitey corner of terrestrial TV without cession for about five years, then drop off.

Make hay while the sun shines. People like Linda Barker, Jonathan Wilkes and Anthony Worrall Thompson seemed ubiquitous at one point but now they're half forgotten memories like tears in rain. I don't begrudge people milking it while they've got the chance.

The ones with no discernible personality are more baffling than others though, the aforementioned Fred Sireix perhaps being the prime example who has inexplicably been in a slew of primetime shows despite his talent being making Card Factory level statements about love and showing people to their table.

[buttgammon]

The current level of reality TV allows this to happen, but the wave of so-called docusoaps in the nineties did something similar. The thought of Jeremy Spake or that woman who was bad at driving becoming ubiquitous celebrities still seems absurd.

[Icehaven]

The ones with no discernible personality are more baffling than others though, the aforementioned Fred Sireix perhaps being the prime example who has inexplicably been in a slew of primetime shows despite his talent being making Card Factory level statements about love and showing people to their table.

I'm sure I remember posting something like "STOP TRYING TO MAKE FRED SIRIEUX HAPPEN" somewhere what feels like a decade ago. It's disappointing the nothing bastard's still around and happening more than ever.

[Clive Dogshit]

He looks absolutely fucking mad as well, like he's had his face in a tin of emulsion and now he thinks he's a condor. I would not be surprised to hear he'd gone on a red-faced, watery-eyed cleaver rampage through the riviera naked except for an apron and a cartoon chefs hat.

[Easy_To_Assemble]

Wonder if we should have an adjacent thread for current comedians who pop up everywhere. I don't dislike Romesh Ranganathan. But, I wish the BBC would stop putting him in literally everything.