Does anyone remember the TV programme 'The Cook Report'?

[ankietyjoe]

'confrontation porn'

I was struggling to think of a witty phrase to describe my thoughts of that programme, but you perfected it here.

For me this was the beginning of the downfall of genuinely investagative journalism/TV.

The British Shock Jock.

[Lencoboy]

I was struggling to think of a witty phrase to describe my thoughts of that programme, but you perfected it here.

For me this was the beginning of the downfall of genuinely investagative journalism/TV.

The British Shock Jock.

I think you're right there, AJ.

I think the producers also felt obliged to keep upping the ante in terms of 'shock value' as the 90s wore on, with nearly everything being pushed to the max, while at the same time trying to appeal to (and inadvertently exploit) the 'lowest common denominators' of our society.

Nearly everything in popular culture nowadays seems so trite, boring, hackneyed and unoriginal, and I think the early 90s onwards was when the rot first started IMO.

There's also the irony of 'PC-gawn-mad' nowadays.

[MyNameIsTerry]

I used to watch it. It was certainly different to what I was used to seeing and there was some excitement to it.

TV is competition remember, you won't keep those ratings up and earn money with the same old tired formats. And like every generation for you I bet they all said the same about the slide of society. It's going to flow with current trends or die. The good thing is...we have remote controls and different channels

[NoraB]

I think the producers also felt obliged to keep upping the ante in terms of 'shock value' as the 90s wore on, with nearly everything being pushed to the max, while at the same time trying to appeal to (and inadvertently exploit) the 'lowest common denominators' of our society.

Remember Jerry Springer and all those, 'I'm in love with my Grandma (And we're going to have a baby) type episodes? Chairs flying all over the place and punches being thrown? (And the audience absolutely loving it).

[MyNameIsTerry]

Remember Jerry Springer and all those, 'I'm in love with my Grandma (And we're going to have a baby) type episodes? Chairs flying all over the place and punches being thrown? (And the audience absolutely loving it).

And the infamous reveals "we've done sexual stuff but...he doesn't know I'm really a man"

There were often twists. The cheater comes on on to confess and the partner is knocking her sister off.

[Lencoboy]

I used to watch it. It was certainly different to what I was used to seeing and there was some excitement to it.

TV is competition remember, you won't keep those ratings up and earn money with the same old tired formats. And like every generation for you I bet they all said the same about the slide of society. It's going to flow with current trends or die. The good thing is...we have remote controls and different channels

Yes, many viewers no doubt felt a bit of a sense of 'voyeurism' when watching it at the time. Ditto for Crimewatch UK back in the 80s and 90s, which still does sometimes come on but in the mornings rather than post-watershed, so is obviously a bit more toned down now compared to what it once was.

And you're right that people have been bemoaning the so-called 'malaise' of our society and have also uttering expressions like 'kids today have no respect', etc, for eons now.

[Lencoboy]

I came across another episode on YouTube today of 'TCR' from 1993 about car 'ringers' where organised crooks managed to weld each 'half' of two matching stolen cars of the same make and model together, and ended up selling them on to unscrupulous second-hand car dealers where they (the 'modded' cars) presented as death-traps for the eventual buying customers.

I wonder if people still do that sort of thing to vehicles today?

[Lencoboy]

On a similar note, I also remember Central Weekend Live on ITV on Friday evenings in the late 80s and through the 90s, where certain audience members and even some guests sometimes used to whip each other up into a frenzy and end up behaving like animals, which could also be dead cringeworthy and indeed embarrassing on such occasions.

I bet many audience participants who ended up causing epic rucks on some episodes of CW Live no doubt revelled in their 'fifteen minutes of fame' on live TV.

CW Live and the aforementioned 'Cook Report' were two of the finest examples of 'confrontation porn', especially during the late pre-Internet era.

With the current trend of reviving old TV programmes, I doubt very much if they would be able to resurrect 'The Cook Report' nor 'Central Weekend Live' (or equivalents) today, especially as both shows became a bit too raucous and OTT as the 90s wore on; hence both having been taken off air completely by the early 2000s.

Then again we did have the Jeremy Kyle Show that followed in the 2000s and 2010s which in turn seemed to be a magnet for the dregs of our society in pursuit of their '15 mins of fame' that was also abruptly cancelled in 2019 for similar reasons to CWL.

Of course we still have raunchy/edgy programmes like Love Island and of course Big Brother that recently made a comeback after a 5-year hiatus, where certain sadcases are prepared to humiliate themselves on TV. And not forgetting IAC that both Nigel Farage and Matt Hancock have humiliated themselves even further by appearing on over the past year.

[BlueIris]

Can we just have it on the record that Jeremy Kyle is, in fact, a dreg himself, and an exploitative one at that? There are some documentaries explaining what went on, and while I wouldn't have wanted some of the guests as my neighbours, I don't think any of them ever drove anybody to suicide.

[Lencoboy]

Can we just have it on the record that Jeremy Kyle is, in fact, a dreg himself, and an exploitative one at that? There are some documentaries explaining what went on, and while I wouldn't have wanted some of the guests as my neighbours, I don't think any of them ever drove anybody to suicide.

Hence why the Jeremy Kyle Show is such a lousy programme and should remain consigned to history where it clearly belongs.

Quite a few people I know are of the opinion that CWL was quite good and interesting in its earlier years (late 80s and early 90s) but unfortunately got hijacked by the boisterous rabble-rousing mob element which basically brought said show into perpetual disrepute which consequently culminated in its ending in 2001.

As for TCR, Cook being very up himself by nature (as you implied upthread BI) no doubt heavily contributed to the eventual demise of said programme.

He also came across as a bit 'militarised' on occasions.