As we settle into the New Year, commentators continue to declare the present state of flux to be the ‘new normal’. In the wake of increasing globalisation and atomisation, humanity is simultaneously more connected and more fractured than ever before – how can brands manage in this new era? The tension of our age lies […]
Husbands of Britain: pity, pity, pity John Bercow. Already under fire from colleagues for somehow being both a bit of an old fart and palpably anti-Conservative in the Commons, his wife took her first steps into a full-blown publicity maelstrom when she entered the Big Brother house last night. Anyone who’s so much as walked […]
It strikes me that all is not well in Britain’s Got Talent, that something is falling apart. This year, the show opened on 10.6 million viewers (a 44% share). By May it was on a 43%. After four weeks in, it is currently running down 5% on last year, which opened with 11 million viewers. […]
I took part in the Cambridge Union debate last night, arguing for the proposition ‘This House Believes that Reality TV Represents Everything Wretched about Britain Today’. I underestimated the space, at how steeped in grandeur it is, and found myself more than a little nervous. The debate was well attended; over two thirds full. Joining […]
I spent a little of last night, as the festive season faded and a whole new year and the return to work hove into view, watching the latest iteration of Celebrity Big Brother wipe it’s arse across my TV screen. As the usual array of desperate people, half-arsed film heroes and one hit blips on […]
When the troubled tabloid-sacrifice uber babe Katie Price decided to re-enter the jungle, I received numerous requests to comment on TV and radio. For once I held back; I just wasn’t convinced that I had the interest or the energy to offer any opinion on another Katie Price PR move. In truth, I could not […]
“Dying is an art,” wrote Sylvia Plath, in her poem Lady Lazarus, and the very public final weeks of Jade Goody are reinforcing Plath’s point remarkably well. Jade Goody has moved on from the unthinking, mouthy persona that brought her to national attention with a sudden aplomb, becoming, in her need to make a better […]
The latest figures for Big Brother suggest that audiences for this year’s show, Big Brother 9, are down. I’m sure that the channel and broadcaster will argue about the statistics, but the point is, no one is talking about Big Brother this year, not in the office, on the tube or in the street. It’s […]
I was at a meeting the other day where some people were discussing Channel 4 and its rationalisation of Big Brother’s success. Channel 4 has explained that the show originally started off as an experiment, watching a group of strangers interact with each other in close proximity for a number of weeks without any outside […]
Why oh why is MTV associating itself with zzzzz list celebrities once again. Stand by for another desperate attempt by MTV to try and sell its pitiful content. It’s as subtle as getting a tan with a blow torch. The latest scam is a mildly amusing viral campaign for the skanky UK Big Brother series […]