Popworld
| Popworld | |
|---|---|
| Starring | Alex Zane and Alexa Chung |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Production | |
| Running time | 60 minutes |
| Original release | |
| Network | Channel 4 |
| Release | January, 2001 – - |
Popworld is a British television programme broadcast on Channel 4, offering pop news, trivia, gossip, interviews and music vidoes, as well as musical performances from today's top artists.
The show began in January 2001 and is currently presented by Alex Zane and Alexa Chung who took over the programme in 2006. Popworld is broadcast every Saturday Morning on Channel 4 at 10.30 a.m., and repeated on E4 at 2.00 p.m. the next day.
At various points over the years there has been enough of what the presenters term "interview gold" to keep celebrity fear levels running high.[citation needed] Everything from a po-faced Gwen Stefani refusing a gift of cheese on the red carpet at the 2005 Brits; host Simon Amstell interviewing Natalie "You're too beautiful!" Imbruglia with a paper bag over his head, or, famously, Girls Aloud's Cheryl Tweedy, fresh from her court case involving an incident with a toilet attendant, being asked whether people were frightened to see her walk into the ladies.
Popworld has often been compared to shows such as the 1980's hit The Tube and it does share its sense[citation needed] of reflecting the times - in Popworld's case, it reflects confusing multi-media/blogging/downloading times. But it also harks back to the best on offer from previous eras - including, from the publishing world, the irreverence of old-school Smash Hits, the merciless skewerings of NME, through to the brutal-when-necessary celebrity demystification of Heat magazine.[citation needed] In late 2006, it was announced that Popworld was launching a weekly magazine called Popworld Pulp, due to hit the shelves in April.
History
Popworld started life in 2000 as a website founded by pop mogul Simon Fuller, and the accompanying show (first transmitted daily at teatime on E4) was originally intended for a much younger audience. The show's original hosts were Nickelodeon presenter Simon Amstell and 16-year old Miquita Oliver. The original ratings for the programme were dismal, but as Amstell and Oliver gradually warmed to each other (their relationship was strained in the early days) and had greater control of what they could say, the ratings improved. Popworld finally made it on to T4, (Channel 4's youth strand), in the spring of 2001. In the early series the show featured Leigh Francis as the character Barry Gibson.
During Amstell and Oliver's tenure on the show it often used surreal humour, and small references to Jewish culture in the UK; for example, Simon Amstell had been shown reading the Jewish Chronicle, as well as making references to festivals and customs. Since its inception the show gradually grew more and more dry and sarcastic, with singers and bands being subtly, and by 2004 more overtly, mocked. By the end of Simon Amstell and Miquita Oliver's tenure on the show it had gained a cult following as the alternative to limitlessly enthusiastic programmes such as Top Of The Pops. Notable events that occurred during their tenure include Amstell coming on to reggae star Beenie Man, and Britney Spears walking out of an interview. The Kooks refused to do an interview on their second appearance on the show, after Amstell's repeated references to the singer's ex-girlfriend Katie Melua during their first interview.
In February 2006, Simon Amstell and Miquita Oliver announced they would be leaving the show after "an amazing five years". In later interviews, they said they left the show after Simon had watched their interview with the band McFly; "We'd got to the point where it was as funny as we were ever going to get it. We thought, we need to stop this before it gets too stupid or boring." Their last show featured McFly and ended with Simon singing the song My Way by Frank Sinatra in typical cliched fashion. The finale resulted in a bizarre mock death for the two presenters, apparently crushed to death in a manner they had dismissed as highly unlikely earlier in the show. The final shots consisted of the bewildered pair wandering through what was apparently heaven only to come across God, in the form of Daniel Bedingfield, who subsequently denies them entry through the pearly gates.
Their last show aired on the 16th April 2006.
Present
On April 22, 2006, new presenters Alex Zane and Alexa Chung took over, following a trailer that seemed to be heavily influenced by Le Tigre's "Deceptacon" video - with Zane and Chung staring deadpan into the camera, repeatedly bouncing up and down on the spot wearing red Converse shoes and a garish colourscheme and performing very similar dance moves - though the music used on the trailer was not "Deceptacon" (it was "White Trash" by Junior Senior). Their first guests were Tom Jones, Snow Patrol and Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Another effect of the arrival of Zane and Chung was the return of bands such as Girls Aloud who had previously boycotted the show whilst presented by Amstell and Oliver.
Popworld Pulp, a weekly music magazine, launches on April 11 2007.
External links
- popworld website
- popworld at channel4.com
- Internet Movie Database Entry
- 'The new TOTP? Get up early on Sunday' - article from The Guardian
- 'popworld: the irreverent music show' - article from The Independent
- How did a 'gay geek' and a bolshie schoolgirl change the face of music TV? - article from The Observer