In April this year, Ideal World TV was launched on Sky's digital service (channel 642). I have watched spellbound ever since!
Ideal World is a home shopping channel, that was formed by ex-QVC presenter Paul Lavers, and two other cohorts from that cheesey station(QVC), Debbie Flint, and Steve Whatley or 'Whatters' to his friends. The backbone of the idea and provider of the infrastructure, was the Ideal World Home Shopping Catalogue-you know the sort of thing, plastic sheets, ear hair removers, ankle trusses, and other such glamourous items.
Ideal World TV launched big, with the glitzy opening day of tele-selling, opening with VW Beetle, which was draped in female presenters, and priced £15k, this was Ideal World's big attempt to upstage QVC, who to my knowledge have only dealt in toy cars, and was the first real car offered for sale on U.K television. Unfortunately to my knowledge the VW never did actually sell and it quickly became a no-go area of discussion on the channel.
Ideal World's main problem in establishing a successful format at the moment, is in which direction it wishes to proceed. I think it has to accept that generally speaking, the TV Home Shopping market is made up of hard-up customers looking for a cheap stereo, or some fake jewellery, there are not so many prepared to fork out £100K for Jimi Hendrix's old guitar, or spend a couple of thousand on a signed Star Trek painting- thus a lot of these top end items seem to go unsold.
In terms of entertainment while you shop, Ideal World is very good. The station has gone for a frantic 'Zoo TV' type format, (although this seems to have been toned down recently,) and has some quite talented new presenting faces, and I must say to counterbalance, one or two dead-heads as well! Paul Lavers is witty and amusing, if not a little smug, Steve'I don't do Surnames' Whatley, is unintentionally hilarious, as he pokes and probes at the fashion models with his ruler- all in the course of retail journalism of course! and Tony Blackburn's Music Hour is well presented and at the start innovative, with a troupe of young dancers to accompany the music.
You can find some bargains on Ideal World, particularly with items like juicers, food mixers, cookery based products in general, they also have some good items for collectors of model cars, film memorabilia etc... Mixed in though is a lot of cheap and tacky £6.99 'gold' chains and bangles, which the female presenters struggle to keep a straight face for whilst demonstrating them, and some over-priced and generally disappointing PC gear.
I think you should tune-in to Ideal World, there are some good products on show, it can be hilarious, normally when they are trying to be serious though! and has one or two very promising young presenters too.
If your only experience of TV Home Shopping to date is stiff and starchy QVC or those dreadful Ameican Infomercials, you may be in for a pleasant surprise.
Once Ideal World has finally decided which market to pitch at, I think they could become a big success
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Aug 5th, 2000
