It wasn't always like this, I swear. Nowadays the people who are chosen to present television and radio programmes greatly influence whether or not I will watch or listen to a particular programme.
I have always enjoyed documentary-style programmes that transport viewers to interesting places. Maybe there will be a bit of history thrown in too. "Great Railway Journeys" should entirely be my cup of tea but I have never watched it simply because it is presented by the supercilious former Tory MP, Michael Portillo. His smugness is as cringe-worthy as his pomposity.
I feel comfortable with authentic presenters who are passionate about their subjects and are not fuelled by their egos - people like Chris Packham and David Attenborough who focus principally on the natural world. Another presenter I like is Professor Alice Roberts who brings authority and an easygoing personal style to her archaeological wanderings in "Digging for Britain".
Reading the weather and telling us what to expect should be a straightforward, functional role but there are some weather presenters who really get my goat. On the one hand you have Chris Fawkes - charming, professionally dressed and capable of delivering weather news succinctly. On the other hand, there's Tomasz Schafernaker who seems to be on a perpetual ego trip with his laconic style and odd, inappropriate clothing choices. It's not all about you Tomasz! You are only there to tell us about the weather my friend.
Most mornings I reach over to our faithful and now vintage Sony radio alarm clock without even opening my eyes. I press the button that brings on "The Today Show" on BBC Radio 4 - a news and current affairs programme that runs from six to nine every weekday morning. This was once the territory of the great John Humphrys who brought intelligence and clarity to his interviewing style. In contrast, nowadays we often have to tolerate Emma Barnett and Nick Robinson who don't really listen to their interviewees and have an annoying habit of interrupting even as their questions are being answered. They could learn a lot from their co-presenter Justin Webb who is almost as brilliant as John Humphrys was in the past.
Sadly, I find Chris Packham an extremely offensive individual, with a planet-sized ego, who thinks that his opinions are like tablets of stone headed down by some kind of God. He is totally divorced from reality in relation to those who are living and working in the real country, as opposed to his fantasy world.
ReplyDeleteDavid Attenborough was, once upon a time, a reasonable presenter, but latterly again has developed a God complex.
Chris Packham is autistic. I did not know that David Attenborough thought of himself as God on Earth.
DeleteFor me, the Today programme has never been the same since Jack de Manio stopped presenting it.....
ReplyDeleteWhat? Are you a hundred years old Will?
DeleteI cannot stand Laura Kuenssberg. She's like a ferret up a trouser leg.
ReplyDeleteOh! I have had one of them! Weirdly, I quite liked it.
DeleteAs I live on the other side of the Atlantic, I'm not familiar with a lot of those names, however I think Dr. Alice Roberts is terrific, I only wish I could hear what she says. Her voice just does not carry. And I love her silver necklace.
ReplyDeleteI am sure you also have good and annoying presenters over there in Canada Shammy.
DeleteThe worst of this group are the sports commentators. they seem to think that the harder they yell the better it is.
ReplyDeleteOh yeah - I ought to have mentioned one or two of them! I imagine you would be a great ice hockey commentator Red!
DeleteHmmm, Schafernaker needed further investigation. He is a rather talented artist.
ReplyDeleteSchafernaker means shave your knackers.
DeleteIt's almost comical the attachments we can develop to personalities we only know from their presentation on the mass media. It's a kind of almost instinctive idolatry.
ReplyDeleteI used to wonder at my step-mother saying, when she was in her eighties and I was in my forties, "there's nothing on television" but now that I am in my sixties I am beginning to understand how she felt. I do think this is an age thing. As one has more experience one is less impressionable and less inclined to suspend disbelief (even documentaries are an artifice), having seen and consequently seen through so much already. I can think of many programs that I remember being very taken with when I was younger that don't hold up well to re-viewing.
You make a very valid point Marcellous... an age thing indeed.
DeleteI'm not a fan of documentaries, most of what I tried to watch in the past was delivered in hushed monotone voices so as not to disturb whatever tiny critter was being spoken about, or otherwise delivered in such a manner that I fell asleep. Mostly it was David Attenborough that got shown down here.
ReplyDeleteDavid Attenborough and his crew might peer in through your window while you are sleeping: "And there she rests in her burrow. The rare Elsie Bear. Snug and warm. Snoring like a chainsaw."
DeleteI don‘t watch UK shows with presenters often enough to have formed an opinion, but of course I have my favourites on German TV, mainly newsreaders: Susanne Daubner and Michael Saunders are top of my list.
ReplyDeleteMichael Saunders does not sound like a German name!
DeleteHe‘s half English but was born and raised in Germany.
DeleteI too like Alice Roberts, but the show is a bit slow at times. I think we would all like a few more 'exciting discoveries', but of course archeology isn't always like that.
ReplyDeleteShe could visit Brighton to find some interesting ancient archaeology.
DeleteI like Radio 3, so Petroc Trelawny is a favourite. Given up watching television news or listening to it on Radio 4. I find that there is a female on Today who talks over the interviewee which makes me cross. I look for discussion and news elsewhere but I would hate to see the familiar traditional channels, radio and television disappear.
ReplyDeleteI believe you are thinks about Emma Barnett.
DeleteI agree with you about some presenters just being too annoying. I miss the well prepared interviewer who could fact check and challenge in real time - Paxo and Humphreys come to mind from the old school.
ReplyDeleteThe style of questioning seems to have changed from “what are your views on…” to “surely Mr so and so, you much agree that blah blah”. I’d prefer to hear from the person being interviewed than listen to the interviewer.
Nowadays it is as if some reporters are looking for sensational tidbits or ways of tripping up their interviewees.
DeleteHere's a pet peeve of mine- weather announcers, meteorologists who are constantly fear mongering during hurricane season. Any storm anywhere in the world can cause them to start issuing warnings about what "could" happen. This is quite common around here. There's one meteorologist whom I trust very much. He is quick to say, "We have our eye on this but at the moment there's nothing to worry about in our area. We'll know more in a two or three days."
ReplyDeleteAnd the fear mongers, at the beginning of EVERY hurricane season warn us that THIS is going to be the worse year for storms ever in the history of the earth.
And unfortunately they are right about hurricane seasons getting worse…it is due to climate change
DeleteThis season is past its midpoint and it's been nothing like they predicted.
DeletePaxman and Humphrys used to annoy me - too full of their own importance. I used to dislike Justin Webb, but he has matured - or I have. I like documentaries and Portillo on railways is entertaining and a good listener - much better than he was as a politician. I like Robin Ince and Brian Cox, and Alastair Campbell with Rory Stewart, and Katty Kay with Antony Scaramucci.
ReplyDeleteYou are a bit like me in that you feel strongly "for" some presenters and "against" some others.
DeleteI will forgive a presenter quite a lot if they are intelligent and prepared..as Paxo and Humphreys were.
DeleteI don't really watch the news on TV, just listen to CBC. I can't say that I dislike any of the presenters. One of the presenters on the morning show just retired and I miss his voice in the morning. Strange how people we have never met become part of our lives.
ReplyDeleteThat's right and yet we have the strange one-sided notion that we know them.
DeleteI could name lots I like and have liked, but I agree, too many think it is about them. They they are given too many programmes they know little about, and too powerful, and misbehave.
ReplyDeleteSome presenters seem to get loads of jobs - as if the sun shines out of their back sides. Take that Claudia Winkelman for example. Very irritating.
DeleteI like David Attenborough and enjoy the shows he does. I don't watch weather reports at all anymore now that my phone tells me the weather.
ReplyDeleteI like to hear weather people's explanations and how their forecasts have arisen.
DeleteI have no opinion about the presenters you mention (most of them unknown to me), but I agree with the general idea that the presenter matters... I have my own Swedish radio and TV favourites, of course - and whatever you'd call the opposite?? (Google is being unhelpful!)
ReplyDeleteIt's so nice when you feel comfortable about a presenter - in a sense trusting what they say.
DeleteI must say I don't really think much about the presenters. I just take the news from whoever's giving it! (Actually I generally read it rather than watch TV, and I never listen to radio.)
ReplyDeleteTomasz Schafernaker may be annoying but he's pretty easy on the eyes. (I Googled him.)
Well - you are more chilled out over presenters than I am Steve!
DeleteI don't watch the news, so have no idea who reads it these days.
ReplyDeleteIn spite of your sarcastic comments about Portillo (predictable as he's a Tory), I sometimes watch his Railway programmes and his travel weekends in European capital cities. I also enjoy certain documentaries, particularly those presented by Simon Reeve, and of course David Attenborough. I like Alice Roberts - although I wish she would get rid of that dreadful pink hair. It seems that many of the female presenters (and some of the males too!) have some of the tattiest hairstyles on TV and look as though they haven't seen a comb for weeks. They detract from the subject on hand - difficult to take them seriously, but maybe they just wish to be seen as trendy or just too engrossed in their subject to bother!
My comments about Portillo were by no means sarcastic Carol. They were simply hostile. There's a difference.
DeleteThat really has been a fascinating read - particularly the wide variety of views in the comments. It made me realise that it is now many years since I listened religiously to BBC Radio 4 first thing in the morning. Although I do tend, if I'm in, to watch television news at 6pm.
ReplyDelete