Old masters of television genre

EVENING TV has been showing a series of game shows based on golden oldies, fronted by Alan Carr. I did watch some of these but my abiding memory is his flashing teeth, an over-zealous approach and light reflecting off his specs (why they do not used diffused glass/similar beats me).

He had a considerable budget reflected in the set and prizes, but he failed to grasp the job in direct comparison to the old masters of the genre.

I am talking about the likes of Bruce Forsyth, Bob Monkhouse and others of that class.

Recently I have been watching the old show Bullseye, fronted by Jim Bowen, 16 series running from 1981 until 1995 when he fell from grace.

He had a wonderful way with both contestants and audience and was obviously very popular with the dartplaying masters, there was a warmth which came across.

His approach was almost nervous and diffident in manner, but it worked for all those years.

It was simple in construct and is still an easy watch.

There are people in TV management who cast about trying to fill schedules and fall back on these shows.

They cannot match those who went before, who had polished their performances over the years, in dubious locations, treading the boards in tough nightclubs learning how to “work an audience” before achieving stardom and all the benefits that would bring. Many would comment on this wryly when appearing on chat shows like Parkinson or Wogan to be lauded for bursting on to the showbiz scene and big money.

At least they had their moment in the sun and a taste of the good life.

Some never got back on to the bandwagon when the shows ended.

Poor old Ted Rogers ended up skint when Three, Two, One came off air, he must have thought the good times would never end so spent like a good ‘un whilst the cash kept rolling in and the public cheered him on. If only they had crowdfunding then we might have seen the same public bail him out with a whip around to ensure some degree of comfort.

David Prichard Rumney, Cardiff