BBC1: Parkinson

~ ~ Michael Parkinson, for me, is simply without an equal when it comes to chat show hosts. This 66-year-old son of a Yorkshire miner has been a journalist for 43 years, ever since he conducted his very first interview at the age of thirteen for his school magazine with a guy called Norman Bone, who made glass decorations for Christmas trees. After starting his journalism career with local newspapers in his native Yorkshire, “Parky” went on to become a distinguished and much respected columnist with such notable national newspapers as the Daily Express, the Daily Telegraph, and the ... more

I watched this programme quite often and found it to be rather entertaining, Michael Parkinson is the presenter, who interviews famous people from around the world, this programme has been going on for a while now and over the years he has interviewed so many stars from Mohammed Ali to Paul McCartney. The interviews are always conducted in a lively manner, and the person being interviews always seems to be interesting, it’s a formal chat but interesting. The guests are not people, but people well known, the presenter is so well respected and always looks at ease when he is presenting the ... more

The art of hosting a chat show should not be underestimated. Over the years many have tried and many have failed. Plenty of confident TV presenters, well versed in communicating on a variety of mediums have floundered when they have tried to engage celebrities in they one to one interview. A good example Danny Baker, a slick and effective Radio presenter was given a chat show by the BBC and it was a disaster quickly to be cancelled. The one name that has dominated the British chat show world for almost 30 years is Michael Parkinson and his show simply named Parkinson is still on BBC prime time ... more

The standard of tv chat shows can only be measured against one - Parkinson. There is no doubt that chat shows in general have been 'dumbed down' like the rest of tv. Its only when you see and hear Parky perform that realise this. Why Oh Why does it take the bringing back of Parky to prove this. He listens, prompts, laughs and generally put anyone at ease resulting in views and opinions that no one else gets anywhere near with these guests. Where are the young ones in this profession ? Surely there must be someone else that can do this without lowering the tone ! ... more

People's perception of "Parky" seems to be crippled by inertia, he may well have been a reasonable host. But it seems recently that sheer longevity in television guarantees you some kind of career rennaissance (who knows, perhaps Dennis Nordon will be next for this). As you may have guessed I'm not a fan of Parkinson, I find his interviewing style grossly sycophantic, he seems to faun of his guests and steers clear of asking difficult questions. It also seems that since his return to the chat show arena he doesn't have the same calibre of guests. Whereas previously he had Mohammad Ali now he ... more