Jonathon Ross is a fine entertainment television presenter. I have no complaints with him on that part. But the fact that he fronts the only mainstream TV film review program is an absolute joke. Of late Film (Insert Year Here) has turned into sleb puff peaces, only concentrating on a couple of big releases and doing very little to suggest to people the variety of potentially great films out there. It does not seem to fulfill any of the remits which made it avid viewing as a teen for me (and that was when scarcely less populist Bazza Norman did it).
All that said, I was not prepared for the triumphal ignorance displayed by Ross last night at the British comedy awards. Scottish film Festival won Best Comedy Film. Perhaps a slight shock, but then the films it was up against were barely comedies, and I certainly liked the black humour on display (and to be fair comedy judges would love it). But not only was Ross surprised that the film won, he professed to never having heard of the film or seen it. Fair enough he had not seen it, but it was advertised everywhere in August and was well reviewed. Clearly not by Ross who not only kept trumping this surprise, but seem to revel in his ignorance.
Perhaps the reason his hegemony has not been broken is due to the Kermode factor (probably in line for the job and much worse). But at least Kermode only revels in his ignorance when he talks about God. Ross, resign.