Who’s Laverne You?
Last night, 10 O’clock Live premiered on Channel 4. On the Twittersphere there was, in general, a lot of hate. This was the inevitable hype backlash. We’d all been really looking forward to it for the past 3 weeks or so. It had Brooker, Mitchell, Carr and a woman we vaguely recognised. And then as Thursday evening drew nigh, it dawned on us that this was LIVE and unfortunately these men were mere mortals.
Well calm down haters, it’s probably going to get better with time, you know, like a fine wine or a really boring child you’ve had by accident.
So it opened to them sitting round a table. That’s fine. No objections to the table.The table is faultless in this. Lauren Laverne proceeded to ask the lads what part they were going to play in the show. The boys, however, did not return the question. This was a bad omen, not only for their manners, but also for the part that Miss Laverne would play for the rest of the programme.
This did not go unnoticed, especially by the beady-eye of Twitter:
@EmmaK67 OK. #10oClocklive obv needs to bed in but next week – give Lauren an EQUAL SHARE. She’s not there to make fucking tea for the boys
and slightly more feminist-minded (and less relevant)
@KathViner That Was The Week That Was, 1962, had one female cast member. The 10 O clock Show, 2011, has the same
Ok I am allowed to say this because I have (really nice) breasts. But SO WHAT? I’m not of the opinion that anatomy should trump talent. And this wouldn’t be an issue at all if it wasn’t so blatantly obvious that her gender is the only reason why she is there.
She got one solo moment. Except she wasn’t ‘solo’ at all. She had to have a man with her, with his penis, to look after her. Oh, and pre-recorded because y’know what women are like. And the segment itself was utterly bizarre. ‘World News Now’ (WNN). The premise was that if E! News did actual news. So they presented the split between North and South Sudan as a celebrity break-up. I mean, I think,that was the point. It was terrible.
This all leads to the all-important question: why did they choose her? In my opinion, if you’re going to host a topical live show, you might want to have some current/recent political knowledge under your belt.
Here are some choice quotes of hers:
[on Ed Balls being promoted to Shadow Chancellor]
‘Do you think it would be awkward having a married couple in cabinet?’
a) They’re not in the cabinet. They’re in the shadow cabinet. They have been in the shadow cabinet for months.
b) They were in the cabinet when Labour were in power, if you can stretch your bird-like brain that far back.
c) This is completely irrelevant. Do you think that during meetings that she is going to halt proceedings by reprimanding him for leaving the toilet seat up?
[On tuition fees]
‘We should write Ed Balls an e-mail so that he does something when he’s in charge.’
a) My dear, I’m not too sure about your grasp of politics. But government isn’t pass-the-parcel. If he does become the next Chancellor it could be up to 4 years. And I don’t think we have that much time.
b) I’m not sure the Chancellor of the Exchequer is your go-to-guy when it comes to Tuition Fees. He might be preoccupied with the budget that is, apparently, fucking complicated.
Rant over.
If this was the best they could find, I wish they just had all men. Because by her being there as a token bit of skirt is not helpful and does not reflect well on the role that women should play in the entertainment industry.
I’m been racking my brains to think who else they could have chosen. But I’ve drawn a blank. Any ideas?
