The Paul O'Grady Show
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| The Paul O'Grady Show | |
|---|---|
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| Format | Entertainment |
| Starring | Paul O'Grady |
| Voices of | Peter Dickson |
| Country of origin |  United Kingdom |
| No. of series | 8 |
| No. of episodes | 515 (as of 13 June 2008) |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Granada Television (ITV) Olga TV (Channel 4) |
| Running time | 60 mins |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | Channel 4 |
| Picture format | 16:9 |
| Original run | 11 October 2004 – present |
| External links | |
| Official website | |
| IMDb profile | |
The Paul O'Grady Show, for a while known as The New Paul O'Grady Show, is a popular British comedy chat show on Channel 4, formerly aired on ITV. Paul O'Grady, the comic from Birkenhead, previously more famous for his female alter-ego Lily Savage, hosts the weekday teatime chat show which is a mixture of celebrity guests, comic stunts and pieces, as well as viewer competitions. Melanie Sykes is the main replacement if Paul is unwell. When Paul has his holiday's during the series, a list of television and radio celebrities host the show. The show will return in September 2008.
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[edit] ITV show
The show was commissioned after O'Grady had impressed bosses when standing in for Des O'Connor on the (somewhat similar formatted) lunch-time entertainment show Today with Des and Mel (now defunct). They were so impressed by his initial standing in - a last minute replacement - that he was brought back several more times to stand in for O'Connor, and his own series was quickly commissioned. (As a result of their pairing, O'Grady also became good friends with co-presenter Melanie Sykes, who was very supportive of his own show, and has stood in for him on occasion).
The series began in October 2004, and had been greeted by ITV as the saviour of its 5–6 pm slot. The broadcaster had previously had trouble filling the slot with a popular programme, with failed attempts including two daytime soap operas Night and Day and Crossroads, the latter a revival of the 1960s hit of the same name.
Celebrity interviews appear, mostly soap opera actors, tabloid celebrities and reality TV contestants. A regular feature since the start has been Guess the Theme Tune, later Guess the Tune (now known as the Organ Game due to the dispute with ITV), a phone-in-competition where O'Grady plays tunes on his organ and the contestant has to guess them correctly to win up to £2000. The tune that O'Grady plays leading into the Organ Game is a truncated version of Sing as We Go by Gracie Fields. In April 2007, on his Channel 4 show, he asked the audience if they knew the alternative lyrics: "If you do, keep 'em to yourself!" The alternative lyrics were used by the Monty Python team in their song Sit On My Face.
[edit] Channel 4 show
On 10 January 2006, in a shock decision, O'Grady decided to defect from ITV and take his daytime chat show to Channel 4 after the company which produces Granada programming apparently 'forgot' to renew his contract.[1] O'Grady was believed to have moved to Channel 4 not only due to his contract renewal issues, nor salary, but he wanted to produce the show himself, having more creative control, which Granada disallowed. His own Television Production company Olga TV(named after his pet dog) now produce the show.
Since moving to Channel 4, The Paul O'Grady Show continues in the 5-6pm slot. Richard & Judy used to occupy the 5-6pm slot on Channel 4 all year, so now share the slot with the former rating competitor, alternating every three or so months. Peter Dickson continued as the resident announcer on the Channel 4 series.
In February 2006, ITV told O'Grady they were unhappy with his move to Channel 4, and he is currently in an ongoing dispute with the broadcaster regarding use of the same studio and props.
When the new series started on Channel 4, ITV decided to air repeats of the original show simultaneously on ITV1 whilst Channel 4 showed the new programme (this is partly why it adopted the name 'The New Paul O'Grady Show). However ITV quickly abandoned this after the repeats attracted less than 1 million viewers and was decreasing, whilst the Channel 4 show was gaining over 3 million viewers.
The Paul O'Grady Show is broadcast live on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 5:00 pm on Channel 4. Thursdays and Fridays episodes are pre-recorded on Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 12:30 pm. This was the same for when the show was at ITV.[2]
Series 1
The first Channel 4 series of "The New Paul O'Grady Show" aired on 27 March 2006 and ran until 16 June 2006 (with repeats being broadcast on More4 the next day). The new show was recorded at the BBC Television Centre until June 2007, instead of The London Studios used whilst on ITV1.
Series 2
The second series was planned to start on 4 September, but was delayed due to O'Grady's heart attack. The show began instead on 25 September 2006, and ran until 26 January 2007 (not including Christmas and New Year). This series returned to its original home, studio 2 at the London Studios. Buster did not appear for the first two weeks due to a serious eye infection, so Olga took his place instead. On 16 January 2007, viewers noticed that the show, which was due to be live, was a repeat. Apparently, this was due to O'Grady pulling out of the show at the last minute due to illness, which was later discovered as a sickness bug[3]. O'Grady returned live the next day.
Series 3
The show returned for the 7th series (3rd on Channel 4) on the 17 September 2007, with 'New' dropped from the title. The look to the new series remained unchanged except for the backdrop of the studio being the same colour as the background to the opening title sequence. The programme returned to The London Studios as well.
Following news of premium rate phone in scandals, The Organ Game was suspended (as it relied on people calling in to enter the game). On the first episode of the new series (broadcast on 17 September 2007), Paul went over to play the "Organ Game" near the end of the show to find it tied up and him unable to use it. He asked viewers to email the show to ask Channel Four to allow them do the "Organ Game". On 22 October 2007, O'Grady announced on his show that the "Organ Game" would be returning. However there are only going to be four special organ games leading up to Christmas. The game is for people who deserve a treat or someone who has helped others - the phone line entries which used to be on the show have remained suspended. On 19 November 2007, the Organ Game returned to the show - the first time since it was removed in September.[4]
Series 4
A new series of The Paul O'Grady Show begun on 17 March 2008 at 5:00pm. The new series will run throughout the spring until 16 June 2008 when Richard & Judy will return for their last series for Channel 4. The set for The Paul O'Grady Show has been given a bit of a new look with new colours and designs for the backdrop, new lights on the floor for when guests walk onto the set and a new look to the stage. The programme returned to The London Studios as well.
On Tuesday 15th April 2008, Melainie Sykes hosted the show, although it was not announced that she would be hosting. Paul was supposed to be on as usual, however Melanie informed the audience he was at home with the flu, and was unable to present. Melanie continued to host all the shows for the remainder of that week before Paul returned on Monday 21st April 2008. Paul hadn't fully recovered though so Melanie Sykes had to be called in to do the following show on Tuesday. It was announced that Lorraine Kelly would host Wednesday's show, Brian Conley would host Thursday's show (24th April ) and Shane Ritchie hosted Friday's (25th April). Paul did eventually return on Monday 28th April 2008.
Paul will return in the Autumn in September for another series which will run up to Christmas.
[edit] Show outline
Each episode follows the same general outline. It starts with O'Grady coming on with Buster (or sometimes Olga), saying "What's all this on my desk?, look what you've sent me" before sitting down to read his mail, usually with great disgust at the things that viewers send in (which have included vibrating soap, a viewers dead goldfish wrapped in tissue and children's letters asking if Paul wears a wig). After the break he has two sets of guests who come on and have a chat with O'Grady. A popular feature was the Organ Game, where O'Grady would 'play' a well known song on his electronic sounding organ whilst a viewer hanging on the telephone line would guess. The audience was allowed to help unlike other games. The first song, if guessed correctly earned the contestent £500, but this could be gambled for £2000 if a second tune was guessed correctly. The contestents virtually always used to win the £2000. The Organ Game was suspended on the 17 September 2007, but returned on four special occasions. Since 19 November 2007, the Organ Game has returned, but is not played everyday. The Paul O'Grady show usually involves children either reviewing toys, games and films or demonstrating skills (such as speed cup stacking).
[edit] Guest presenters
Whilst recovering from his heart attack, Channel 4 insisted O'Grady should take a week off from presenting the show. His first break occurred from 23 October to 27 October 2006 and guest presenters hosted the programme daily. Since then, there have been three more scheduled guest-hosted weeks.
In April 2008, there were two unscheduled guest-hosted weeks. O'Grady hosted the Monday show during these two weeks, but was taken ill after contracting a flu virus for the remainder of the weeks. Melanie Sykes guest-hosted five of the eight remaining shows, having previously hosted the show three times.
2006
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2007
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2008
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The show took a break on the week of the 5th May 2008. Grand Designs Live was its 5:00pm replacement for that week, hosted by Melanie Sykes. The show returned on Monday 12th May 2008 and will continue until the series ends on Friday 13th June 2008.
[edit] Animals
Paul O'Grady's use of animals has often been the target of criticism, citing it cruel to expose animals (in particular Buster) to harsh studio lighting for up to 55 minutes a day. However Buster and Paul's other dog Olga, only ever appear in the first part of each show usually for 7-8 minutes sitting on O'Grady's desk while he reads letters from the postbag. Olga and Buster then never appear for the rest of the show. Buster is O'Grady's pet dog, who was originally a stray that O'Grady found on a motorway approximately ten years ago. Buster has many fans, so much so that a limited edition Buster Nodding Dog was made and given as a consolation prize on the show and is now given away in a tombola. Animals feature heavily on the show (mostly dogs and household pets). O'Grady also has two other dogs, called Olga (a Cairn Terrier) and Louie (short for Lucifer) and 25 other pets (giving a total of 28 pets, including his cows - as said on his show responding to a viewer's question - he thought the name Wikipedia sounded like a rare skin condition).
[edit] Awards
Despite being critically panned and considered a prime example of "dumbing down" TV, the show was a surprise winner at the National Television Awards in 2005. The show had occasionally beaten daytime TV show Richard & Judy in the ratings, which aired at the same time on Channel 4.
[edit] Move to Sky One
Recently O'Grady has been approached by BSkyB to move his show to their own channel Sky One. It has been reported that he has been offered £16,000,000 by BSkyB, but in a TV Times magazine interview O'Grady has denied he was offered this from Sky and has also denied the rumours that ITV wanted him to become their new "Parkinson" after Michael Parkinson retired at the end of 2007. He said he was offered a deal by ITV but has refused and is staying with Channel 4 until the end of 2009.[5]
[edit] Catherine Tate Special
The Paul O'Grady Show appeared in a series three episode of The Catherine Tate Show, where Joannie "Nan" Taylor made an appearance. Originally she acted very sweet, and later revealed her true colours. When O'Grady mentioned that they had replaced Joannie's old chair with a new one and placed it in her flat, she became enraged at them intruding her flat, started swearing and walked off the set, much to the disgust of Paul.
[edit] Controversies
- On the 15 May, legal issues with the popular game in the show came to light, as the BBC did not have a valid license for live entertainment in the studios. As a result, no live music or singing could be exhibited on the show until the license was granted a few weeks later. However, as the majority of the music 'played' by O'Grady was pre-recorded this avoided the problem.[citation needed]
- In light of O'Grady's love of dogs, and the fact that O'Grady rescued Buster, the show runs a "Find A Dog A Home" slot where abandoned dogs from various charities are featured. Viewers can then call in to request they be placed on a list to give the dog a permanent home. A direct telephone number was given to connect viewers to the appropriate charity. On moving to Channel 4, the slot remained but now viewers had to initially call a 10p-per-call information service to get the direct number of the charity. Calls dropped dramatically, and charity groups including The Dog's Trust and Battersea Dogs' Home told producers that they would no longer be involved with the show. The premium rate line was quickly dropped from 29 May 2006, and the original format reintroduced with the full support of the charities.[6]
[edit] References
- ^ "Paul O'Grady inks deal with Channel 4", Digital Spy, 10 January 2006.
- ^ Lost in TV - free tickets to your FAVOURITE television and radio shows!
- ^ "Paul unwell", TV Forum, 16 January 2007.
- ^ 19/11/07 show, community.channel4.com
- ^ "Paul O'Grady offered £16m Sky deal", Digital Spy, 17 March 2007.
- ^ "O'Grady show rapped for charity line charge", Digital Spy, 28 May 2006.
[edit] External links
