No More All-Male Panel Shows on the BBC

Killary45 · 09/02/14 - 19:24

Panel shows such as QI and Mock the Week will no longer have all-male line-ups, the BBC's director of TV has said.

"We're not going to have panel shows on any more with no women on them," Danny Cohen told the Observer. "You can't do that. It's not acceptable."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-26107011

So now any woman on a BBC panel show is going to be there as the token woman. What a crazy idea.

Jason C · 09/02/14 - 19:29

Killary45 wrote: »

So now any woman on a BBC panel show is going to be there as the token woman. What a crazy idea.

Bet Shappi Khorsandi isn't seeing it like that.

zackai48 · 09/02/14 - 19:29

Typical BBC. Political correctness gone mad!

nathanbrazil · 09/02/14 - 19:31

What an utter twonk. Danny Cohen is a perfect example of how sad and pathetic the BBC is under the ghastly spectre of PC madness. In a stroke, he has diminished the presence of any genuinely funny/ knowledgeable female performer or spokesman who might appear. What is he going to find unacceptable next, all male rugby teams!

nathanbrazil · 09/02/14 - 19:32

Jason C wrote: »

Bet Shappi Khorsandi isn't seeing it like that.

As one of the truly funny female comedians, I would guess she feels insulted that anyone would think she, or her fellow female comedians, need a helping hand from nanny.

lundavra · 09/02/14 - 19:34

So no equivalent of Loose Women on BBC then.

lundavra · 09/02/14 - 19:35

Killary45 wrote: »

..... So now any woman on a BBC panel show is going to be there as the token woman. What a crazy idea.

Will they waive the rule for husbands of important women like the Labour party with their all women selection lists?

davelovesleeds · 09/02/14 - 19:36

lundavra wrote: »

So no equivalent of Loose Women on BBC then.

Is it goodbye to Woman's Hour?

furtivecat · 09/02/14 - 19:41

I don't think this situation should have happened in the first place; there never should have been panel shows with all men (unless that was their remit) but there has been just because they've neglected to have any of the many number of funny women for several years. Although personally I just find Shappi Khorsandi highly irritating.

ohglobbits · 09/02/14 - 19:48

The ironic thing is that the panel shows with female captains are usually the most sexist; Celebrity juice, Shooting Stars etc

Prince Monalulu · 09/02/14 - 19:52

Well anytime a woman appears on something someone (on here at least) always comes out with PC, box ticking, who's she sleeping with, etc.

Haven't read the article, so don't know what the reasoning is behind this.
Then again he's come out with some bollox I disagree with before in relation to cancelled shows.

yeahbuddy · 09/02/14 - 19:52

There are so many panel shows and probebly not enough women to do them. You tend to see women contestants over and over.

nigel12 · 09/02/14 - 19:58

He has turned into more of an issue now I think. Surely it could have just been a private initiative to ensure a more mixed approach to panels.

There will be loads more scrutiny now surely and they will have to very funny to escape any "there to fill up the quota" comments! If it's to be fair then surely all panels/ teams should be 50/50

jake lyle · 09/02/14 - 20:04

nathanbrazil wrote: »

What an utter twonk. Danny Cohen is a perfect example of how sad and pathetic the BBC is under the ghastly spectre of PC madness. In a stroke, he has diminished the presence of any genuinely funny/ knowledgeable female performer or spokesman who might appear. What is he going to find unacceptable next, all male rugby teams!

zackai48 wrote: »

Typical BBC. Political correctness gone mad!

The No1 campaigner against Sexism and ageism at the BBC has been the Daily Mail are they PC as well??:D

lealeeds · 09/02/14 - 20:11

Mock the Week never works when there is a woman on the teams.
It just doesn't
Whereas QI works well with say Sandi Torksvig and Jo Brand.

flagpole · 09/02/14 - 20:12

meritocracy at work.

cris182 · 09/02/14 - 20:13

There have been quite a lot of females on QI, Or are they saying they must have one on every week?

Surely it should be quality before who is what sex? (Not saying women are not funny, Just saying what if...) If 3 amazing male panellists were available one week only, One gets rejected so they can have a female on?

FrankieFixer · 09/02/14 - 20:18

Who is the most consistently funny woman on these panel shows? Some of the men aren't even any good.

Seventeen · 09/02/14 - 20:20

So now any woman hired to be on a panel show will be wondering in the back of their mind if they're just on the show to tick a box.

Either the guest bookers on these shows are sexist or they're already giving everyone an equal opportunity based on their talents regardless of gender. If they are sexist, they should be fired. If they're not sexist and are being fair, then why are women being shoehorned in under some agenda?

degsyhufc · 09/02/14 - 20:20

Killary45 wrote: »

Panel shows such as QI and Mock the Week will no longer have all-male line-ups, the BBC's director of TV has said.

"We're not going to have panel shows on any more with no women on them," Danny Cohen told the Observer. "You can't do that. It's not acceptable."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-26107011

So now any woman on a BBC panel show is going to be there as the token woman. What a crazy idea.

I read this earlier and was going to start a thread on it.
Well actually it was a DM link as that was was linked to on Google news
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2555111/All-male-comedy-panels-BANNED-BBC-pledges-include-women-shows.html

Two things that stood out were
1) QI is mentioned but over the last few series there have been plenty of female guests.
In a couple of episodes in the last two series the three guest panelists were all female and in several others there were two female guest panelists.

2) Victoria Wood was complaining about it, even saying that she doesn't like appearing on panel shows, but personally I felt she was pretty useless on QI - maybe she shouldn't have bothered appearing on it if she doesn't like that type of show.

Randysback · 09/02/14 - 20:24

Here is my list of Funny Women I know of:

End

Hayden · 09/02/14 - 20:28

Great news. Even more Sarah Millican on the telly.

Lowri · 09/02/14 - 20:31

The above-but-one post is a bit harsh and there are plenty of unfunny male comedians but it does seem that the percentage of female comedians who are actually funny is lower than that for men.
The series of QI where they became obsessed with female comedians from Austrailia had some very unfunny guests. I'm all for equality but if it so happens that the best people for the job are male then I don't see the problem. The only thing I would object to would be an entire series of a show with just men.

Killary45 · 09/02/14 - 20:47

cris182 wrote: »

There have been quite a lot of females on QI, Or are they saying they must have one on every week?

Surely it should be quality before who is what sex? (Not saying women are not funny, Just saying what if...) If 3 amazing male panellists were available one week only, One gets rejected so they can have a female on?

Danny Cohen is saying that we will never see another BBC panel show without at least one woman on the panel

This is the link to the original article in which the comment is just an aside:
http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/feb/08/danny-cohen-bbc-director-television-tv-panel-shows

The article contains quite a lot of Danny Cohen's opinions about TV, if anyone is interested in them.

iaindb · 09/02/14 - 20:47

lealeeds wrote: »

Mock the Week never works when there is a woman on the teams.
It just doesn't
Whereas QI works well with say Sandi Torksvig and Jo Brand.

Agree with this (mostly - wouldn't say never works).

MTW is a bit of a bear-pit. Not many of the female panellists are very good at jumping in. Too many of them seem to be just making up the numbers.

QI is more relaxed and better suited to female panellists. Sandi Toksvig is very much in my list of favourite QI participants - the ones whose name in the cast list makes me look forward more to the episode.

FrankieFixer · 09/02/14 - 20:54

Randysback wrote: »

Here is my list of Funny Women I know of:

End

Agreed. With the BBC expect to see Gina Yashere and Sarah Millican soon.

Hey there!

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