ColonelDr
Wednesday 20th July 2011 12:09pm
Dudley
9 posts
Quote: Vader @ July 15 2011, 7:35 PM BST
He's the son of a really powerful (former?) agent, I imagine that has something to do with it, and why he's done better than he deserves.
Weren't you a scientist? What does that involve then?
I research breast cancer, obesity and diabetes so fiddle around in a lab looking at cells and tissues and trying to see how they work.
Quote: Mark @ July 16 2011, 12:23 PM BST
We ought to head this thread back towards The Marriage Ref, but just to say and sort of backup what Aaron is saying, whether or not Whitehall did or did not get a bit of a leg-up (quite likely I guess, if nothing else his family had the financial security to act as a cushion as he gave stand-up a go in the early days)... he is now an accomplished comedian so no surprise he's on TV a bit.
Mock The Week is a good test for being TV-ready, and Whitehall manages to get plenty of gags into that each time he's on.
He's certainly divisive, but enough viewers like him that he is booked for stuff. He's got his own Channel 4 show on the way, so best avoid that channel if you're not a fan!
Anyway, The Marriage Ref. Surprising ITV went with it considering it was already a flop in America. As suggested above, the ratings aren't great... so they are probably regretting doing it now.
Dermot O'Leary, nice or not, isn't a comedian so shouldn't be hosting IMHO.
There were many flaws in the planning/execution of the series:
1) When we were approached we were told it was pre-watershed (so nothing sexy, no swearing, keep it clean) but when it was filmed they had changed that to post-watershed. This means that they only got couples with very twee issues. I imagine that the series would have done better with more interesting coiuples (present company excepted!!!)
2) There was very little promotion/advertising. When we were on Wedding House we saw loads of ads in written press, and on TV. Didn't see that this time
3) I think the program got off to a bad start byu picking the wrong couples to be first up
4) Apart from Dermot's salary (a reported £250,000) the show was done on the cheap (look at the start credits!). This might explain point 2.
All this said, we had a really good time making it and met some lovely people!