UKC

I was flicking through the channels yesterday and saw that Celebrity Big Brother was on, I though I would leave on for a minute and a see who this years victims were.

I've always thought I was quite good at absorbing celebrity culture stuff, even if it's not something I am in to, but I recognised 3 people, 4 (of 15) when I looked at the website to see who they were.

How about you? Am I totally out of touch, or are Channel 5 plumbing new depths.

In reply to The New NickB:

C'mon Nick, keep up! You must have heard of .......... errrrrrrrrrr?

In reply to The New NickB:

Hate to say it but it's probably you that are out of touch.

A few weeks ago my 16 year old niece was at our house for a few days and wanted to watch some celebrity comedy show.
Like you I didn't recognise any of them but she knew who they all were.

In reply to The New NickB:

http://bigbrother.channel5.com/housemates

One only for me - Helen Lederer. Not the foggiest about any of the others.

In reply to The New NickB:

Most of them have probably just been on other shit TV shows. Hardly a measure of merit.

I think these shows must be aimed at ten year olds and adults with similar mental abilities.

In reply to Dax H:




But sh*t media exposure propagates sh*t media exposure.

Moons ago 'celebrity' anything involved taking someone famous for one thing (sport, acting, presenting etc.) and getting them to do something else (go into a jungle, dress up in fancy dress and do silly competitions etc)

Now there is a musical chairs of people are simply do 'celebrity' things without creating their celebrity by being good at something (or notorious perhaps).

So they aren't really celebrities at all, they are simply known names to people who consume trash culture.

In reply to The New NickB:

You're 40, right? I'd like to see any 16-year-old namecheck Julian Cope, Olivia Newton-John, Gordon Honeycombe, Steve Ogrizovic, Lesley Judd, Cliff Thorburn. Maybe these aren't your generation tho?

In reply to Chris Harris:

No idea whatsoever! But very content with my complete ignorance!

In reply to The New NickB:

I shouldn't sweat it if I were you.

More importantly, wtf is Helen Lederer doing on it ? A big tax bill that needs paying maybe ?

In reply to ClimberEd:


I agree. Ellen MacArthur, for example, was apparently a national heroine in France in the past (possibly she still is), thanks to her sailing exploits, but I've not known of the same here. Being famous for being famous, probably shouldn't be something worthy of recognition.

In reply to lummox:

Who's Helen Lederer?

In reply to XXXX:

Comedian/writer/actress who was on BBC quite a bit in the late 80s and early to mid 90s. Subsequently mostly seen as a talking head on various "I love the late 80s and early to mid 90s" TV clip shows AFAIK but perhaps she's doing a fair bit of comedy writing too.

In reply to XXXX:

An actress from the olden times. You probably would't remember her.

In reply to Blue Straggler:

Thanks. Never heard of her. Who needs Google?

In reply to The New NickB:

I got five and that includes Paul Danan who is simply a name I think I recognise from tabloid headlines about romantic entanglements with someone or some people slightly more famous than him but still D-listers themselves. I see a number of the housemates are there as previous housemates on non-celebrity Big Brother. The Scene That Creates Itself.

I saw a headline yesterday that said Gemma Atkinson was the biggest star on the Strictly Come Dancing Autumn roster too.

But I accept that I am out of touch.

In reply to XXXX:

She was on quality alternative BBC2 comedy. Early Angus Deayton stuff like KYTV (which may not in hindsight be any good at all but when I was 13 or 14 and it was a choice between that and Joint Account, 2.4 Children etc, it seemed the better bet

In reply to felt:


42, but yes I know who they all are.

In reply to Dax H:

We've got a 16 year old in the house, so there is regularly rubbish on the TV, but it doesn't seem to be helping me. I'm sure I'll get over it.

In reply to Blue Straggler:

I have got a much better strike rate with the strictly contestants, only two I don't know and they appear to be in popular peak time tv programmes, that I just happen to not watch.

I once started a conversation with Gemma Atkinson, then realised that I didn't actually know her, just recognised her face off the telly. She was very nice about it.

In reply to The New NickB:

"Who is Gazza?"

In reply to felt:


That is a question for Paul and his psychotherapist!

In reply to The New NickB:

Sounds like you're a celeb junkie to me (0!)

In reply to The New NickB:


Now there's a tough assignment!

In reply to The New NickB:

pub quiz on sunday night a question was name 5 contestants on this years 'love island'. Wife and I genuinely blanked. we came 3rd 4 points of the winner! could have done with 20 YO daughter with us

In reply to The New NickB:

I think this one is an age thing at 50 something I recognise the 67 year old Acorah, Lederer at 62 and Williamson at 52 beyond that I have no clue on the others.

In reply to The New NickB:

Congratulations to all you who answered 5 or less, you are definitely middle class/educated/old/"I don't even have a TV" or whatever it was you were trying to convey.

In reply to Tyler:

All of that actually

In reply to Blue Straggler:


Wrong Helen. Helen Atkinson-wood was in KYTV (and Radio Active, which I certainly have fond memories of)

I think Helen Lederer may have been funny for 15 minutes in the 80s and was last seen on Absolutely Fabulous

In reply to Tyler:


I scored 4 out of 15 on the celebs and 3 out of 4 on the middle class/educated/old/"I don't even have a TV"

Do I get a prize ?

In reply to Tyler:


It was inevitable that someone would make this comment and thinking about it the odds of it being you were probably fairly short. I'll tell you what I was trying to convey.

1. Saw some of Celebrity Big Brother on the TV (yes, I own a TV).

2. I was surprised at how few of the "celebrities" I recognised. For the record, those that I did recognise were an ex-Eastenders actor, a former member of Girls Aloud, a comic actress and a TV psychic. Sorry if that is a bit high brow.

3. I wondered if I was out of touch, or that Channel 5 were plumbing the depths a little too deep.

4. I wondered what other people thought.

In reply to Chris the Tall:

I'm not at all surprised to have scored a big fat zero. Middle class and educated, I probably can't argue with nowadays. But does that now make me old? And do I have to throw away the telly - even though it doesn't receive any UK channels?

In reply to Chris the Tall:



Yes, a year's subscription to Heat magazine

In reply to The New NickB:

As were the odds of you being the one to start such a thread

Almost certainly a bit of both, the longer this goes on the more interest will wane so presumably the exposure (and maybe cash) reduces whilst the chances of ending up humiliating yourself stays the same. There must be a limit to how much work there is for former Celebrity/Jungle winners so the risk/reward ratio is not favourable for someone with even a moderately high profile. Looking at the list most seem under thirty so its also a generational thing, it'd have to be someone really famous for me to recognise a celeb under thirty and I expect these are mostly D list.

I don't think the fact that the entrants aren't proper celebs matters too much, it makes them more relateable to the audience. People can probably aspire to being 'no-talent vaguely familiar name who appeared in a tabloid for a while' in a way they cannot aspire to being Tom Cruise (get me with my current popular culture touch points!)

In reply to john arran:

Au contraire! You have raised the pretentious bar a notch there:

"Actually, I don't have a TV"
"Oh, how terribly gauche. I have one but its programmed to only show foreign films in their original language"

I know you actually live in France but the alternative hypothesis makes me smile.

In reply to Tyler:

"Oh, how terribly gauche. I have one but its programmed to only show foreign films in their original language"

I assume that it would be a Black & White one as well?