Your Most Banal/Boring/Irritating Television Programmes?

[BigFatBully]

What are the most boring/banal/irritating television programmes on UK television, in your opinion? Below are mine.

*Pointless - Everyone seems to love it but it's so boring and tacky.

*Tipping Point - notice a theme here? Another one of the boring quiz shows, lazy channel operators shove down our throats, thinking we'll love it. If I was interested in who won the battle of Hastings, I could look on Google on my computer.

*Countdown - Really dull show and dull panellists, and there is no way that the "experts" work out all of the answers and have the right page on the right book open in that amount of time.

*This Morning - It used to be interesting when they did civilian make overs and at a time before forums like this were created. I really don't watch it any more. The presenters all seem so fake and if someone's aunt's uncle lost his leg climbing Kilimanjaro, that's sad for them but I don't want my morning to be dragged down with it. The false interest/humility from the presenters is nauseating too. Why do they have the fake window of the South Bank still, it's been years since they broadcast from there and the fake gold/oak tacky set hasn't been changed in over 10 years, you'd think with the resources they have they could update it.

*All Star Family Fortunes With Gino D'A'Campo - It may have been an interesting show about 25 years ago, but I really don't care about these so-called celebrities and their families and I don't find Gino D'A'Campo that entertaining.

*The Chase - What does Bradley Walsh have over ITV executives that they keep giving him these shows? I don't find him funny, I find him cliched. Yet again, another quiz that seems to plague the channels pre-dinner.

So much daytime TV is either sob stories, fearmongering, boring quizzes or car boot sale style shows that were obviously filmed years ago.

Well I just don’t watch things I don’t like. Seems simple enough to me.

When it's most of the channels (1,2,3,4 etc) for most of the daytime, that becomes difficult, which is why people switch off. ITV have financial difficulty at the moment, as viewership/advertising is in decline. People like myself are switching to YouTube for things to watch.

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Other programmes I am bored of are the dating "reality" shows, such as Married At First Sight, where they don't actually legally marry and shows such as First Dates where they rarely actually meet up again. It's usually all fake for the cameras, the same with Love Island, which I've only seen parts of but it's obvious that they act up to the cameras.

The endless police/crime dramas are boring too. A good writer should be able to think outside the box and think of their own situational dramas without just going for the low hanging fruit. In the past 10 years, there has been on ITV, The Level, Paranoid, White House Farm, Vera, Little Boy Blue and many more that are so forgetful I can't name.

Is it any wonder that people are turning away from mainstream television?

I disagree with you about countdown....it's a brilliant programme.

Most "entertainment" really which seems to all be hosted by the same small number of presenters who clearly have "something" on the executives as they appear in everything (Bradley Walsh, Stacey Solomon) and where the contestants can tick a few boxes on "Woke Bingo". Then all the so-called comedians who aren't funny, i.e. the Scottish woman in her little orange camper van!

Classic case is Blankety Blank = Bradley Walsh - tick, A drag queen - tick etc etc.

@BigFatBully

Is it any wonder that people are turning away from mainstream television?

I agree. Like politicians, the TV executives seem to be completely out of touch with "ordinary" people.

Yes, I agree. And most of them don't have the relevant broadcasting qualifications either. There is a company, I believe called James Grant Management, but I think they changed their name now. They represent Holly Willoughby, Phillip Schofield, Bradley Walsh, Rochelle Humes etc and have special arrangements with ITV where their talent gets most of the top jobs. Then there are presenters who should have just stuck to children's television because their patronising approach doesn't work, such as Stephen Mulhern. ITV seem to be obsessed with Alison Hammond at the moment, putting her face on most things.

I also really hate the nepotism. Roman Kemp would not have all of the jobs he has if his father wasn't in Spandau Ballet. He has no broadcasting qualifications, unlike for example Jordan North who earnt a BA degree in broadcast & production. I wonder how JN feels about people such as Roman Kemp sweeping in and taking the top jobs just because his father is Martin Kemp.

And what are the qualifications of Olivia Attwood-Dack and GK Barry? Why should they be on panel shows as persons of interest? What is their talent? Can the dance, sing, juggle, act? No. Yet, ITV fawn over them. It's similar with Joe Swash who has not acted in over 16 years, yet still manages to be on screen often when I switch my television on. My same gripe is with Linda Robson being on a topical panel show when there is nothing topical about her. She has not acted in years, and even then her acting wasn't remarkable. She comes on to the show, un-prepared, looking confused and frequently SWEARS on live television, knowing full well that she shouldn't, yet Joan Rivers accidentally did it once on the same show, not knowing that their wasn't a censor button on UK broadcasts and was asked to leave the studios and not return. I reckon these people definitely know something about the executives at television companies.

Roman Kemp may have famous parents but he got into broadcasting by his own merits.
And he is a great presenter.

Mastermind has got to be the most boring quiz show - a format that’s far too basic and it should have been killed off about 50 years ago. The specialist subjects are increasingly ridiculous and are of no interest to the average viewer. It’s also not visual in any way so might as well be on radio.

Yeah i think the whole of tv is a mess

Even good shows like the traitors have become formulaic, with talent agents trying to get their acts somewhere

I am bored by quiz shows. Nothing feels new anymore

Miranda

He presents the Finish Line quiz show with Sarah Greene and I like both him and the series as a whole. Much better than some of the more established quiz shows mentioned in the OP.

But should Roman have been fast-tracked in to the industry the way that he has or should he have gone to college, university and studied to be a qualified broadcaster? Would you feel ok if your child studied hard for a career in broadcasting and was cast to one side because an un-qualified applicant's father used to be in a pop band?

The One Show. Blue Peter for adults.

I agree about Pointless - it's tedious and long-winded. But I love The Chase and I think Bradley is great on it!

P.S. I don't watch TV - or anything else - in the daytime even though I'm retired. I have too many other things I want to do. I also think there are plenty of interesting programmes (and that's just stuff on Freeview - I don't subscribe to anything) so I just ignore programmes I don't like.

Sadly, the tv, music and acting industries are terrible for nepotism. So many really talented people go into it the right way via arts/music/dance/acting schools etc and don’t stand a chance when “sleb’s” children arrive on the scene. Must be heartbreaking for them to be constantly side lined.

We love The Chase and Countdown. Countdown is basically an institution!

In For A Penny has always wound me up. Childish guff with gurning Mulhern trying and failing to be funny.

the one show
the 100% club or whatever its called
never watched The Chase
escape to the country or similar sounding - i got drawn into one that was set very near me, but it turned out the prospective buyer had a bit of mental health issues and pulled out completely !
and they lie about the distance to the railway station
that hotel one on channel 4 Four in a Bed,
cant watch the Whole of Grand Designs, just watch the beginning and the last 10 minutes

Escape to the country
place in the sun
anything about antiques
🥱

Anything involving self-absorbed pouters in swimwear talking about who fancies who on some barrel-scraping reality show.

I like quiz shows!! And Bradley Walsh is awesome!

I hate the reality ridiculous shows like married at first sight. I despise love island and everything similar which puts a camera in front of fake people and trout pouts which essentially is all about sex and making people feel awful / used etc - fucking grim!

'The One Show'. The one what? what is actually showing what is it about and what it the point of it? can you tell I'm ?

Mary Berry. There I've said it, i can hear all the pearls clattering to the floor but i just hate cooking shows. You can't cook them, and you don't get to eat them, No, just sit and watch. Narcissists!

Countdown.

I usually love a quiz show but QI is a yawnfest 🥱