how much longer must we tolerate Graham Norton?

Have you heard of BBC4, Freda. I know I am sounding more and more like a 40 year old fuddy duddy...

I'm not poking fun at your typing, but for me "beakfast telly" conjured up the image of Robert Crumb crows watching television over bowls of birdseed. * Does anyone else get good ideas for characters' names from typos?Yesterday I came up with "Thropwing" when I tried to type "throwing. Good name for a tree-faery, I think.

Oh, and I'm a Norton disliker too. The genre's called "single entendre", I believe.

It's called flogging a dead horse. It's the same reason we get the same soaps every night: Neighbours, Hollyoaks, Emerdale, Corro, Eastenders, Bill, Holby City.... the same crap churned out endlessly. It's worse than wallpaper. Someone has gone to the trouble of thinking up plots and stuff for this. Bring back Ceefax and halve the licence fee, rather than giving channels that we don't want and can't get.

But did you see the resurrection of Simon Dee? He had three good guests - who weren't that famous (Brian Sewell, Cleo Roccos and someone else) who weren't plugging anything but gave as good, if not better, than they got. It reminded me that watching one person talk to another can be interesting. Dee was pretty dire but the show itself overcame that because it was genuinely quite entertaining.

Yes, I enjoyed this show. But it was on Channel 4 - I don't pay for that. The problem I've got with the licence fee, Tony is that I resent paying for digital channels and services that I can't receive, living as I do in a hilly part of the country. I'd love to settle down with a nice cup of tea and watch a documentary on Mogadishan hill farming 1850 - Present on BBC 4, or maybe the new sitcom from the creators of Alan Partridge (my favourite ever sitcom person) on BBC 3. Or listen to Radio 7. I can't. Why should I have to pay for it? Let's be fair and have a two tier licence fee and let those who want digital TV pay for it.

Dodge, then.

As Mummy Bird and Daddy Bird and Baby Bird sat down to their supper, they turned on their new television. It was one of those chaff shows, where exotic birds tell anecdoves about themself parrot fashion and everyone titters. "I feel lke thropwing up" said Mummy Bird spitting a juicy worm back onto her plate. [%sig%]

He was great in Father Ted, don't you think?

Yes i thought he was brilliant in Father Ted. He played a very funny and annoying character didn't he? I seem to remember something about a caravan and a guitar. I'd like to see him do more acting.

ooh you miserable old bugger. get back to your jigsaw puzzle and stop watching yoof tv..

well I mean to say .......

He has gone Sh*t. There are only so many knob gags...

I know spack.. and they all sound the same anyway, heard one heard em all i always say. Freda, you got a jigsaw for Spack?

ignore her - look he's got the audience clapping for god's sake!

the jigsaw is eminently more exciting

Can you keep the pieces on the table huffing like that? and is that KC and the Sunshine band on at the moment?

I was doing a jigsaw of a chicken the other day and getting no where, then my younger brother said "Put those cornflakes back in the packet Flash when you've finished with them." I am Forty one though.

KC and the Sunshine Band! What channel?

he looks better in the wig

So do I

Pamela Andersonnnn yuckkkkkkk her boobs arent wombles noses i notice *seethes*

have you found it yet Karl?

Pamela Anderson now!!! What channel?

Im not telling you

Channel 4 Karl Dont switch it on, you'll do yourself an injury!

Wait one minute! We've got Pamela Andersod singing lead vocals with KC and the Sunshine Band, and you refuse to tell me which channel!! Is it Sky Sports 1?

Channel 4 Karl. I'd rather do a jigsaw than watch Graham Norton.

Thanks Liana. Stay right there! I'm going downstairs to check out channel 4.

I just did myself an injury! Who on earth is that weird bloke though?

why was it a jigsaw of a chicken though? They're normally of cottages and autumn leaves.

Awwwww.... I haven't seen his show in a long time...we don't get channel 4 here, but I always liked Graham Norton's show. It was one of the highlights of my week. Then again, I guess a steady diet of Norton would be a bit much. It's just that compared to the Swedish version of Big Brother, which here is called "Farmen," Norton looks very entertaining. Of course, I'd have to skip the Pam Anderson segment. I don't find her the least bit attractive. I saw her on an interview show once, and she looked truly weird. There are better looking girls than that working as shoe sales clerks in Warsaw.

I'd rather cut off my leg with a black and decker jigsaw than watch Graham Norton... Is it me, or does anyone else find his habit at laughing at his own jokes before he gets to the punchline insanely irritating? Given the crazy desire of audiences to watch people like Trinny and Susannah, that ropey woman in leopardskin gloves in How Ming is your house, and Simon Cowell humiliating ordinary people, couldn't we have a chat-show where the host gives deserving celebs a good verbal kicking? I wouldn't even mind it being presented by Burchill...

I think camping might be measured by the decibel.

I can't bear Graham Norton. The sound of him cackling at his so-called jokes is too much to stand

This British predilection for campness, knob jokes and inuendo I have never understood.... seems unfunny as well as infantile to me. I always swich over when Graham Norton comes on.... frequently now, which is a shame as I rather used to like Channel 4.

I started this thread last night when the show was on - when I'm at my computer I can see the TV through a door to the next room. I tend to leave it on unless I need to concentrate, so for me the programmes are a sort of wallpaper. What gets me is that more and more TV seems to be designed for people who like me are not focussing on it, or waiting for the news. Chat shows like this and in the morning, beakfast telly and Kilroy, are an obvious example. When something does attract your attention it's usually inane or infuriating. What a shame for anyone who genuinely needs to put their feet up , sit back after a hard days work and be entertained!