Out with the strongest link - a big mistake
Carol Vorderman is leaving the Channel 4 TV quiz show, Countdown, after 26 years after being told she would have to take a 90 per cent pay cut if she wanted to stay with the programme. The game's originator, Marcel Stellman is now threatening to remove the rights from ITV Productions which makes the show.
An angry Stellman praised her loyalty and so he should. I'm glad that the originator of the show is sticking by his "talent." Times may be getting hard in the TV industry but I can't imagine the BBC treating Anne Robinson, presenter of its Weakest Link quiz,in such a cavalier fashion. But the Weakest Link gets a much higher billing than the more intellectually demanding Countdown which fills the daytime schedules.
Countdown is much the better quiz programme. Unlike The Weakest Link it demands a bit of effort from viewers. I suspect too that Vorderman has the sharper intellect. Robinson is no slouch but I bet she would flounder trying to do one of Carol's speedy calculations.
The creative people in business must stick together and fight the bean-counters wherever they can. Countdown didn't need financial cutbacks; it needed better scheduling and promotion. It's one of TV's little gems that deserves better. Countdown has just said goodbye to its strongest link and that can't be right.
I wonder how Carol Vorderman responded to the reduced pay offer? At a guess: "Consonant, vowel, consonant, consonant, vowel, consonant, consonant?" Or perhaps she suggested the management view the odd rerun.
An angry Stellman praised her loyalty and so he should. I'm glad that the originator of the show is sticking by his "talent." Times may be getting hard in the TV industry but I can't imagine the BBC treating Anne Robinson, presenter of its Weakest Link quiz,in such a cavalier fashion. But the Weakest Link gets a much higher billing than the more intellectually demanding Countdown which fills the daytime schedules.
Countdown is much the better quiz programme. Unlike The Weakest Link it demands a bit of effort from viewers. I suspect too that Vorderman has the sharper intellect. Robinson is no slouch but I bet she would flounder trying to do one of Carol's speedy calculations.
The creative people in business must stick together and fight the bean-counters wherever they can. Countdown didn't need financial cutbacks; it needed better scheduling and promotion. It's one of TV's little gems that deserves better. Countdown has just said goodbye to its strongest link and that can't be right.
I wonder how Carol Vorderman responded to the reduced pay offer? At a guess: "Consonant, vowel, consonant, consonant, vowel, consonant, consonant?" Or perhaps she suggested the management view the odd rerun.
Labels: Anne Robinson, Carol Vorderman, Countdown, The Weakest Link
posted by Richard Donkin at
4:11 AM
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