Which celebrity would you most like to punch and why?

Quote from: Claw75 on August 05, 2009, 04:23:16 PM

genuinely interested to know why so many blokes on here have such a dislike of the 'loose women'?

nasty presenters. really bitter stuff

this superb article in the Grauniad sums it up

When Jodie Prenger appeared on Loose Women on Tuesday - having just won the BBC talent show I'd Do Anything - it felt less like watching a lap of honour around the media circuit and more like a premonition: it was just so easy to imagine her as a future panellist on the the ITV daytime show. As she chatted with the four regular presenters - who include a former soap star, a Nolan sister and Chris Evans' ex-wife - I wondered how Prenger's public image would shift if she was onscreen every day. If she was heard referring to her weight as often as the current panellist Carol McGiffin refers to her drinking and sex life, could her popularity withstand the pressure? Unlikely.

Loose Women is, in many ways, hateful. And that prompts a question. How can a lively, long-running programme with an all-female presenting roster get it so completely wrong? It is particularly disappointing when you consider the central conceit of the show, which is that it features a group of sassy, liberated female panellists, able to speak their minds on any subject from politics to celebrity to family life.

The schedule each day runs like this.

First, the panellists are generally introduced in a semi-insulting way; just think of some twisted terminology regarding female appearance, misbehaviour or the ravages of old age and it seems you could well be a writer for Loose Women. There follows a brief focus on a current news item, which commonly devolves into discussion of McGiffin's alcohol intake, Coleen Nolan's weight issues, or simply a barrage of tiresome sexual innuendo. Then comes a celebrity interview, in which the panellists attempt to cut against the usual tone and inject some gravity into the proceedings. However hard they try, unruliness tends to break through, and, once again, everything the panellists say sends the audience into peals of rapturous, inexplicable laughter.

Confused but still intrigued by what you have been missing? The first thing that will strike a first-time viewer of Loose Women is the objectification and/or denigration of any man who happens to drift into the panellists' orbit. The show has a cult following of ironic student viewers and gay guys, likely lured by the recognition that no man - from the most aesthetically pleasing pop star to the longest-suffering husband - can escape the scrutiny of the hormone-crazed panellists. I'll admit it: I have been lured by this too. There is something terrifying about the prospect of, say, former Coronation Street star Sherrie Hewson asking a member of a Christian boy band about relationships - but it also promises to be strangely compelling.

Male viewers embarrassed at the lechery on Loose Women could well complain that this is a case of feminism "going too far". There could never be an all-male equivalent to the show called Talking Balls, where a crew of laddish reality-TV rejects and failed boybanders leered at the female soap stars brought on to sate them. Not only would it obviously be sexist, but the idea would never be floated in the first place. The schedulers would naturally expect the core demographic for such a non-politically correct, hyper-masculine show to be at work by then.

If Loose Women tells us anything, it is that, as far as schedulers are concerned, daytime television is just for silly women.

But even if this is what they think, even if most cheaply made daytime television is aimed at those apparently "undiscerning" viewers - housewives, students and the unemployed - surely it would help to add a little substance to the downmarket glitz? You would think so, but the trajectory of Loose Women since it started in 1999 suggests that, when it comes to viewer approval, probably not. For the first seven years, the panel was anchored by the talismanic "voice of reason", journalist Kaye Adams, who did her best to keep the show's panellists on track. Since she left, replacement hosts Jackie Brambles and Andrea McLean have attempted to do the same, but have been fighting a losing battle. Despite this, the programme recently won its first major award, voted Best Daytime Show by viewers at the TV Quick and TV Choice awards. It's obviously doing something right.

For those of us who long for some content, there are occasional glimmers of hope.

Earlier this week, for instance, the panel interviewed Green Wing actor Michelle Gomez, who is doing promotion for her current starring role in the RSC's Taming of the Shrew. The show's usual mood was derailed as Gomez went off into an unexpected, somewhat feminist tangent about how the themes of the Shakespearean comedy reflect the misogyny in today's society. After that, the subject quickly turned to cosmetic procedures, but the interview offered a tantalising glimpse of what daytime television "for women" should be like.

In that regard, the US seems to do a little better - its ABC channel features the American predecessor to Loose Women, The View, which is anchored by the pioneering female broadcaster Barbara Walters. Although The View is often overshadowed by media coverage of its panellists (when the comedian and TV presenter Rosie O'Donnell was a regular, she was repeatedly criticised for her appearance, sexuality and conspiracy theories), it does at least have some formidable and very funny contributors. Last year, for instance, Oscar-winning actor Whoopi Goldberg joined the programme.

Essentially, it is the lack of genuinely interesting panellists that I find most offensive about Loose Women. The camaraderie among the panel can be endearing, and I respect all those involved for having succeeded in the worlds of media and showbusiness, which are typically tough, male-dominated arenas. Ideally, though, a show such as Loose Women should really live up to its promise by casting the most intelligent, funny and diverse female personalities around; instead it resorts to former soap stars and reality-show contestants sitting around discussing their worst habits - and those of their husbands. Do women really need to be patronised like this?

In case you missed them ... Four top moments from Loose Women

Russell Brand hangs around the studio like a bad smell

The four presenters talk about the etiquette of flatulence, including whether Carol McGiffin, who declares that she "quite likes doing it . . . the louder the better", would feel comfortable "pumping" in front of her "dream man", Russell Brand. As McGiffin weighs this up, to her huge surprise, Brand appears, and they proceed to discuss her earlier admission that she would pay him for sex. Later the host, former Corrie star Denise Welch, gives him an eyeful of her cleavage, he is grilled about his sex life, and is involved in a discussion of the "suede crotch" of McGiffin's jodhpurs. Excellent.

Puppy love

All the presenters get dressed up in their wedding finery to watch Charlie, a dog owned by presenter Sherrie Hewson, get married to a canine called Dolly. Yes, really. As if that wasn't bad enough, the dogs are dressed in wedding outfits and Torchwood star John Barrowman presides over the ceremony with countless bad puns (the nuptials are termed, "puptials", for instance) . The long-suffering host, Kaye Adams, says "I can't believe we're doing this." Nor can we.

Drooling over Enrique Iglesias

Host Jackie Brambles sets the tone for an interview with the singer, introducing him with the observation, "Boy, could he be my hero baby." Another presenter tells Iglesias, "We don't want to ask you anything, we just want to look at you," and regular panellist Nolan says, "You look fabulous." He tells Nolan that she's "cute", at which point she cups her breasts and pushes them towards him. More flirtation follows, before Iglesias yelps "You're embarrassing me." The audience knows exactly how he feels.

What Katie did

As glamour model Katie Price comes on to be interviewed, Nolan admits that she has been worried. "I thought, 'I'm going to look flat-chested today,'" she says. "Yours actually look bigger than mine," says Price. "Exactly! I'm quite proud of myself," says Nolan, scooting her chair even closer to Price's. More breast talk ensues.