The Bearded One

Oh dear. I have to blog about Noel Edmonds. Mr Beard himself. Oh dear. Oh dear, oh dear.

If you are a Brit, then you should be sympathizing with me around about now (though if your name is Mark Nicholls, I'd hazard a guess that there's a smirk lurking on your face). You see, Noel Edmonds is a bit, well... a bit naff. No offence meant to Mr. Edmonds - I'm sure you're a lovely man - but even you would have to admit that part of your success in the land of TV Presenters has been due to your somewhat cheesy persona and the collection of 'family friendly' TV shows.

Let me elaborate.

My first recollection of seeing Edmonds on the TV was when I was very small (around three or four) when he presented the Saturday morning kids' show Multicoloured Swap Shop. It wasn't overly memorable, to be honest, as I can't really recall any details about this particular show. I was a Tiswas girl, you see, and much preferred the antics of the Phantom Flan Flinger. *nods* Anywho, I watched Swap Shop as much as the next kid, but the only thing that really sticks in my mind is the multitude of mulitcoloured shirts that Edmonds wore. I suspect that the show was given its name because Edmonds was desperate for someone to swap him some decent shirts, but I could be wrong.

Throughout the eighties, Edmunds was predominantly focused on presenting his teatime show Telly Addicts, which was maybe one of his better career choices. The format was simple; clips of TV past and present were shown to two teams, and a series of questions would follow. You didn't watch it for the quiz though, you watched it for the collection of gems that appeared every week that you'd thought you'd forgotten about. I think this was successful for the first couple of seasons, but it got a bit tired after that and petered a bit like a deflated balloon.

Then came the Blobby Years. I'm torn here, I really am. I can't decide whether this was the highlight of Edmonds' career, or the lowpoint. Noel's House Party was one of those Saturday night shows that the BBC cranks out every couple of years with the hope that they will lure people away from the pubs and clubs. I wouldn't call myself an avid fan of the show, but I watched it more often than not (though I suspect that this was because there was no cable at the time, and the other viewing options were limited). It was sort of like car crash TV - you didn't want to watch, but was sort of morbidly fascinated nonetheless.

Of course, the show inevitibly came to an end (but not before an entertainment park based on Crinkly Bottom - the fictional village where Noel's House Party was happening every week - had been opened). This was swiftly followed by the Wilderness years, in which Edmonds was reduced to presenting one show a year. Noel's Christmas Presents was decidedly cheesy television, albeit in a warm-hearted kind of way. Seeing poorly children whisked away to Lapland would melt the hardest of hearts. Still, I don't think Mr. Edmonds was particulary happy - going from presenting a show every week to presenting one once a year was a bit of a kick in the teeth.

Then came The Comeback. Edmonds is now presenting the Brit version of Deal or No Deal, and is doing very well I must say. Not that I actually watch the show, you understand, but it's very popular and apparently he does a good job, or the Beeb wouldn't have renewed his contract. *nods* What strikes me as funny though, is that one of TV's other big phenomena - Who Wants To Be A Millionaire - is presented by none other than  Chris Tarrent, who presented the much preferred Tiswas of my youth. And you know what, I prefer Millionaire to Deal or No Deal. This ponders the question - is it the presenters that I don't like, or the show itself.

To be honest, I don't know, because I'm not overly keen on Chris Tarrent either. I'm a fussy madam, to be honest...