This week's 'Aw fuck off!' Alison Graham column

[Emergency Lalla Ward Ten]

She also has a go at The Smith & Jones Sketchbook in her column, but praises it on the 'Today's' Choice' page.

[goldfish]

No 'Today's Choice' for the Scots, at least not on the Smith & Jones sketchbook, as we're not getting it until the 29th.

[The Horse]

She also has a go at The Smith & Jones Sketchbook in her column, but praises it on the 'Today's' Choice' page.

Well, not really. She has a mild dig in passing in her column, and then is pretty equivocal on the Today's Choices page.

[Cabbages and Bells]

Chist on a fucking bike.  Jim Shelley wrote the most pathetic, badly researched, tediously unfunny example of opinion masquerading as fact in The Mirror the other day.  A run down of the past Doctor Who's which manages to make several factual errors and make such sweeping generalisations as to be worse than useless.

Can't link to it right now as I can't logn to Outpost Gallifrey yet, but reading in did make me very annoyed.

[The Mumbler]

She also has a go at The Smith & Jones Sketchbook in her column, but praises it on the 'Today's' Choice' page.

Is that because it's now 'obviously a formula show' and The Two Ronnies was so last year?  Mind you, if Mel or Griff croaks it around autumn time, expect 'national treasure' bollocks.

I didn't see Jimmy McGovern The Street tonight, but I was intrigued to see that
in last week's issue, La Graham sniffily regarded episode one as 'old-fashioned', yet episode two will apparently be well worth watching because of Jim Broadbent, another recipient of the phrase 'national treasure' from people who have just stopped using it about Bill Nighy.

[Brutus Beefcake]

And it looks like she's dumped Green Wing without any explanation.

[The Mumbler]

This week, Alison gets furious about The Inspector Lynley Mysteries, and then a few pages on, fills some space in the radio section about terrible comedies like Bearded Ladies (doesn't name any others, though...).  Whew, dangerous stuff.  Still, good to be reminded that both programmes are still going.  I would have forgotten otherwise.

Alison in the same radio column tells us that she's given up The Archers after 27 years owing to its reliance on 'issues'.  Two things: 1) What's her excuse for sticking with EastEnders all this time? and 2) She hasn't been listening very hard - even an extremely occasional listener like me (ie I hear the last few minutes sometimes) knows it's been issue-led for well over a decade.

Shrill bollocks.  As always.

[Emergency Lalla Ward Ten]

She's only got two subjects - 'British comedy is in rude health' and 'Detective shows generally'.

[Emergency Lalla Ward Ten]

This week, Alison gets furious about The Inspector Lynley Mysteries...

Oh God, it's one of the columns where she tries to write comedy isn't it?

I genuinely wonder if AG has any fans at all. Beyond Gill Hudson. I mean, I genuinely can't imagine anyone picking up Radio Times and thinking 'Can't wait to see what she says this week'. Not even really dull, stupid people. Zoe Williams in the Guardian probably has more admirers. And yet AG is convinced that people hang on her every word and chuckle away every week.

[Oscar]

I genuinely wonder if AG has any fans at all. Beyond Gill Hudson. I mean, I genuinely can't imagine anyone picking up Radio Times and thinking 'Can't wait to see what she says this week'. Not even really dull, stupid people. Zoe Williams in the Guardian probably has more admirers. And yet AG is convinced that people hang on her every word and chuckle away every week.

You know she has fans and, if you think about it, you know what they'd be like. I wouldn't advise thinking about it - I did and now I feel cold inside.

[The Mumbler]

I genuinely wonder if AG has any fans at all. Beyond Gill Hudson. I mean, I genuinely can't imagine anyone picking up Radio Times and thinking 'Can't wait to see what she says this week'. Not even really dull, stupid people. Zoe Williams in the Guardian probably has more admirers. And yet AG is convinced that people hang on her every word and chuckle away every week.

She'll never work anywhere else.  I think she's been there well over 10 years, doing more or less the same thing.  Hopeless Corporation apologist.  

Her team of minions are all useless too, though.   David Butcher's no better than Graham - indeed, he seems to have assimilated the same sort of syntax.  Jane Rackham's another gusher.  Sarah Dempster yet another one, only you can lop 20 years off her age.  Jack Seale threatened to be interesting once, but a sub-editor recognised it as wind.  Geoff Ellis could bore for Earth.  Mark Braxton's supposedly the highbrow one - he seems to get handed the BBC4 stuff, but never forget this is the bloke who didn't realise How To Broadcast was a spoof when he reviewed that history of The Third Programme.  They're all shit.

[Emergency Lalla Ward Ten]

I always feel slightly uneasy watching TV chefs because I always imagine that they're completely alone in their kitchens - there's no camera crew, no 'friends and family coming over later', not even an audience besides me...they're just trapped there, wittering on about food day in day out.

And that's how I see Alison Graham. She writes as if we're all on tenterhooks regarding her opinions, and yet there's no evidene that anyone knows who she is. I'm convinced any RT letter which mentions her name has been tweaked from the original copy which read 'some twat or other wrote...'.

[Bean Is A Carrot]

I saw Alison Graham "live" once. She was part of a panel debate at the NFT in 2000 about some list of the top 100 TV shows ever, ever, ever than had been voted for by "peers" (i.e. producers, reviewers, etc). The first thing Alison Graham said was "I love polls". She then said something about how they were jolly good fun and how people who criticised them weren't getting in to the spirit of it, etc. I really don't think she is able to form any opinions of her own. Or at least not proper ones.

[Catalogue Trousers]

mycroft wrote:

I've half a mind to write

And by God if you're Alison Graham, that's all that you need.

[The Duck Man]

The RT was absolutely all over the place last week. A page spread on new ITV drama Jane Hall, then David Butcher slagging it off in review - "It's never a good sign when a series finishes filming then hangs around for two years waiting for a slot in the schedules. Sure enough..."

Then Alison Graham moaning on and on and on about the football yet having the World Cup final on the cover. She makes the stereotype that obvious us football-likers can't like any other form of television. Urgh.

[Jemble Fred]

A page spread on new ITV drama Jane Hall, then David Butcher slagging it off in review - "It's never a good sign when a series finishes filming then hangs around for two years waiting for a slot in the schedules. Sure enough..."

Going off on a tangent, I quite liked that. Hardly ground-breaking comedy drama, but a good ensemble cast playing what seem like interesting characters.

Okay, I just fancy Sarah Smart something rotten.

But it's a clever idea really – girly viewers can enjoy poor Jane's pitfalls and emotional swings, and the blokey viewers can enjoy the sweet/sexy sides of Sarah Smart.

[Hoogstraten'sSmilingUlcer]

Yeah, she was fitter in At Home With the Braithwaites though. God, I miss that show. No, actually, I just miss Peter Davison.

ELW 10 wrote:  

I mean, I genuinely can't imagine anyone picking up Radio Times and thinking 'Can't wait to see what she says this week'. Not even really dull, stupid people

Peter Kay.

[mrpants]

terrible comedies like Bearded Ladies (doesn't name any others, though...).

Sorry to drag this thread over to a quick tangent but has this been broadcast yet then?

[LeboviciAB84]

It's returned to the Tuesday six-thirty slot. A good time to do the Hoovering. Or any drilling you've been meaning to do.

[Jemble Fred]

Yeah, she was fitter in At Home With the Braithwaites though.

I thought the character was too much of a grade A cunt in that. Good show though – any time I caught it it was just a load of characters running around being certifiably hysterical and melodramatic. But in a good way.