- Sun Dec 11, 2011 1:48 pm
#184133
It was as if his job later in life was to go on TV to get drunk and act daft, it was very sad as having watched these appearances I'm not completely convinced that he knew how he was been used.
You are right, if the BBC -or indeed anyone I'd say- invited a drunk man to appear on one of their shows and clearly used him for a cheap laugh, people today would probably be outraged. And people say television today sinks to new lows? As far as I can tell, it's been doing that for years - and not usualy the BBC either.
It seems such things were fine back then, particularly if it wasn't the BBC that was involved.
I've always found his last few interviews very unpleasant to watch. The producers of these shows clearly knew what they were doing, and that they were guarenteed a bit of unpredictable fun from Ollie, so they happily sat back and let an alchoholic man drink himself stupid for their benefit.Tubby Isaacs wrote:Ollie Reed on Aspel:
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This was accepted in a spirit of "anything can happen on live TV". Actually, it wasn't live at all.
Can you imagine if the BBC did that now?
It was as if his job later in life was to go on TV to get drunk and act daft, it was very sad as having watched these appearances I'm not completely convinced that he knew how he was been used.
You are right, if the BBC -or indeed anyone I'd say- invited a drunk man to appear on one of their shows and clearly used him for a cheap laugh, people today would probably be outraged. And people say television today sinks to new lows? As far as I can tell, it's been doing that for years - and not usualy the BBC either.
It seems such things were fine back then, particularly if it wasn't the BBC that was involved.
"He represents everything that is rotten in the State of Anywhere". - © George Melly (Apply where appropriate).