The word television show

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The Word was a 1990s Channel 4 television programme in the United Kingdom.^[5]

Format[edit]

The show’s presenters included Terry Christian, comedian Mark Lamarr, Dani Behr, Katie Puckrik, Jasmine Dotiwala, Alan Connor, Amanda de Cadenet and Huffty.^[6] Originally broadcast in the old Tube time slot of 6 pm Friday evenings, The Word’s main live show was shifted to a late-night timeslot from 9 November 1990. The magazine format allowed for interviews, live music, features and even game shows. The flexible late-night format meant that guests could do just about anything to be controversial.

There was also an ‘I’ll do anything to be on television’ section called «The Hopefuls» which ran for half of series 4 and half of series 5 in which people did generally repulsive things in order to get featured on the programme.^[6]

Production[edit]

The show was the brainchild of Charlie Parsons and Christian and was originally produced for series 1 and 2 by the production company 24 Hour Productions, which later became Planet 24.

Paul Ross was the series editor on series 3 and 4, and became executive producer for series 5. Jo Whiley worked as a researcher/band booker on series 2 and half of series 3 and is credited as having given Nirvana their historic and notorious first TV appearance.^[7]

The programme ran for five series from 1990 to 1995. From the start, there was considerable tabloid backlash against the show. In mid 2000, Channel 4 screened a short-running compilation series titled Best of The Word, which mostly featured music performances.

Tango sponsored the show in 1994.

Notable moments[edit]

• Nirvana’s international television debut performance of «Smells Like Teen Spirit», with Kurt Cobain declaring Courtney Love to be «the best fuck in the world.»^[8]
• Singer/guitarist Donita Sparks of L7 removing her jeans and underwear during a performance, the full-frontal nudity displayed when she drops her guitar being briefly broadcast.^[8]
• The TV debut of Oasis playing «Supersonic».^[8]
• Rage Against the Machine playing «Killing in the Name», resulting in a stage invasion with guitarist Tom Morello and singer Zack de la Rocha both being stopped from performing by the chaotic crowd.^[8]
• Lynne Perrie, best known for her role as Ivy Tilsley in soap opera Coronation Street, performing a tuneless rendition of the Gloria Gaynor song «I Will Survive».^[8]
• A very drunk Oliver Reed giving a barely coherent interview before performing «Wild Thing» by The Troggs with Ned’s Atomic Dustbin.»^[8]
• Shabba Ranks advocating crucifixion of homosexuals, which received universal condemnation including from presenter Lamarr.^[9]

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• The Word at IMDb

As a format, it was the show renowned for asking celebrities the questions their publicists most feared.

Initially a staple of Channel 4’s early-evening schedule, the programme saw host, Terry Christian, do his finest impression of a northern f*ckwit alongside the hapless daddy’s-girl-turned-television-presenter Amanda De Cadanet.

On realising the show’s potential to build a large, post-pub audience, the show was swiftly moved to a late-night slot more suited to its risque material, where it quickly became entrenched as cult viewing. Best segments were ‘The Mission’ — a recorded insert famed for humiliating established Hollywood stars with footage of their early porn flicks — and ‘The Hopefuls’, which encouraged an assortment of nitwits to perform tastless stunts like vomit-drinking. Other memorable moments included a «freak circus» which witnessed one performer lift an iron with his genitals, not to mention the decision to ply p*sshead actor Oliver Reed with alcohol and secretly film the results backstage.

When z-list television personality, Paul Ross, took harness as programme editor, however, the show encountered a downward spiral from risque viewing of questionable taste to family fare. The guestlist increasingly resembled that of the mild talkshow, Wogan, with some personalities appearing in both studios on the same evening. By this time, an early-evening magazine spin-off from the programme — Access All Areas — was in place which, one suspects to be the key driver of the watered-down content. The spin-off show would often feature repeat footage aired in the late-night show which had to be «pre-watershed» compliant. The decision to supplant Christian as host with Mark Lamarr also backfired badly, since the Watford-born comic was something of a polished performer and therefore out-of-keeping with the show.

In the mid-1990s, the show was unceremoniously dumped from the schedules with programme chiefs citing record viewer complaints as the [improbable] cause.

And now for a final «The Word» commercial break teaser:

What have ex-Word presenters Terry Christian, Katie Puckrik and Hufty got in common?

The answer is they have all faded into relative or total obscurity since the show’s demise.

Словосочетания

Автоматический перевод

телевизионное шоу

Перевод по словам

television  — телевидение, дальновидение, телевизионный
show  — шоу, выставка, показ, показывать, проявлять, выставочный

Примеры

Примеры, ожидающие перевода