BBC All male comedy panel shows to go
juliancarswell
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2555111/All-male-comedy-panels-BANNED-BBC-pledges-include-women-shows.html
"All-male comedy panel shows will be consigned to the history books, after BBC bosses told producers that female guests must now be involved with the programmes.
Danny Cohen, BBC director of television, this week promised a better gender mix on such shows as Have I Got News For You, Mock The Week and Never Mind the Buzzcocks, which typically comprise all-male panels.
The move is part of a drive by the BBC Trust to address gender imbalance on our television screens. "
In December BBC director general Tony Hall was tasked with getting more women on air 'as a matter of urgency'.
Cohen has been looking for simple ways to achieve this and it is understood comedy panel shows were top of his list.
BBC quotas and the onward march of the feminist agenda or the only way to get women on such shows? Will this lead to only one thing....more Sarah Millicans?
"All-male comedy panel shows will be consigned to the history books, after BBC bosses told producers that female guests must now be involved with the programmes.
Danny Cohen, BBC director of television, this week promised a better gender mix on such shows as Have I Got News For You, Mock The Week and Never Mind the Buzzcocks, which typically comprise all-male panels.
The move is part of a drive by the BBC Trust to address gender imbalance on our television screens. "
In December BBC director general Tony Hall was tasked with getting more women on air 'as a matter of urgency'.
Cohen has been looking for simple ways to achieve this and it is understood comedy panel shows were top of his list.
BBC quotas and the onward march of the feminist agenda or the only way to get women on such shows? Will this lead to only one thing....more Sarah Millicans?
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Comments
I hate the PC world we live in, it's so petty about everything.
When will Loose Women be banned by ITV? They haven't had a single male presenter in years.
So sexist!:D
MTW is such a sharp witted show, especially the spin the wheel section and the step in when you think of something funny section, that the few women I have seen on it have stood out as way below the quick wit of all the men involved.
They have been reduced to the roles of embarrassed spectator's,:(
It means that dreadful woman Sarah Ferkin Millican will never be off the BBC and will have a job for life.
Surely this enough to end the licence fee for good.
Tht Millican woman needs to go to America to 'make it big' now.
I'm sure they coud have her.
Please please please BBC think again,
Surely all BBC panel shows are also under represented by the LGBT community, so we need one of each on the panel to reach the agenda targets.
BAN MILLICAN NOW.
Frankie Boyle will have to be on every bbc panel show to end this discrimination.
I think Keith lemon more than represents the ginger community.
Does it mater just as long as guests are funny,next they will want a set amout of minority guests each week.
I think its wrong to set targets for things it only should be the best no matter what sex or race they are.
I would imagine it probably will.
I watch a lot of comedians on the live comedy circuit and there just isn't many women doing comedy, funny ones are even rarer, political satirists are nearly non existent.
All this will achieve is less comedy on the bbc as no one will want to watch substandard material.
comedy is not a simple two-way street... Sarah Millican has made a career dining on divorce stories, men don't find that funny so alienating 50% of the target audience is really stupid!
you could say the same about male comedians talking about masturbation/drinking/sex etc but frankly, it's funny to men (we've all been there etc) and for the women, it plays up on the stereotypical view that women have about men so they find it funny also....
Goneril says that comedy should not be defined by gender, but it is - the entire purpose of comedy is to take a specific topic/point and mock it - anyone can mock a politician or famous celebrity but not everyone can "hit home" with the childhood stories or tales of going out with friends and happening upon a funny incident etc.... comedy takes a LOT of talent (something a lot of people seem to misunderstand sometimes)
I would never pay money to go and watch a female comedienne and I'm not being sexist, I just don't see the point in spending an evening paying to watch males get berated for various reasons with the whole point being "Come on ladies, we can do better than this!!" even though it's seen as "comedy" - the closest I would come to paying to see is Gina Gershon but even then, I would expect a supporting comedian as a "warm up"
I would however be more than happy to pay (again) to see the likes of Stephen K Amos/Al Murray/Rhod Gilbert/Michael McIntyre/Peter Kay/Dara O'Brain etc purely because their act is not just about men and the male view of the world
The "comediennes" generally themselves up as tokenisms.
Few women have the nerve to take a risk with their comedy and they are generally dull. It's not edgy to talk about your own fatness.
Excellent post,Darth!
All it will do is show how weak and untalented at quick wittedness most top women are, when compared to most top men.
This may then lead to lowering the standards by either telling the likes of Sean Locke or Lee Mack to take their foot off the gas or removing them and replacing them with men of a lower standard to make the women look better. Either way comedy suffers.
Sound crazy?
Its happened in other industries when quotas have been applied.
Funnily enough I have just come from a builders merchants where I was buying some lumber. In front of me were two builders having the banter between themselves and the counter staff. The were hilarious. Even these two anonimous builders were funier than practically evry female comedian I have seen.
sarah millican quotes
rhod gilbert quotes
I've then selected the first page offered by Google with some quotes from these individuals and here's the first quote from each list:
Sarah - "My mum gave me some advice when buying an apartment, don't get one with a balcony. Thanks mum, what with living on your own, there'll be a high suicide risk."
Rhod - "A spa hotel? It’s like a normal hotel, only in reception there’s a picture of a pebble."
I actually smiled at the Rhod comment, and that's because it's gender-neutral, non-specific and just "observational" comedy - a simple line, admittedly part of a larger story but he manages to get a quick giggle in such a short phrase and it can appeal to both genders...
the BBC will learn that their viewing figures will drop as a result of this plan to "get more women on TV" - maybe there's a reason they're not up there already.... maybe the public don't want them to be?
I was reading the letters page on Radio Times and someone wrote in recently that there was not enough females on panel shows and it looks like the BBC read this.