‘What ‘norms’ are you sick of seeing on British TV?’ – 21 annoying cliches that people would love to fire into the Sun
Anyone who watched even a small amount of telly will be aware that the same tropes come round time and again. We like things that are familiar, which is why some gameshow formats go on forever – we’re looking at you Countdown – but it’s good to know when it’s time for something to be retired. They’ve been discussing this on the AskUK subreddit after user Major-Feed5214 asked:
What ‘norms’ are you sick of seeing on British TV? A ‘norm’ I hate is the ongoing need for contestants on game shows to wax lyrical about their lives when nine out of ten viewers don’t really care!
And plenty of people chipped in with their own opinions about things that really get their goat.
1.
‘Gameshow celebrity specials. It’s fun to see if a ‘normal’ person can win a lump sum of money that could, depending on the amount, be life changing for them. It’s not fun to watch a celebrity fail to win some money for a chosen charity that they could probably just afford to donate out of their own pocket anyway.’
–permanently-cold
2.
‘Two blokes cycling around Europe
Three men in a kayak crossing the Atlantic
Two older men on a wine tour across the alps
Two other men stumbling about as they navigate the Himalayas. Alone*
*and a team of 150 locals who do it all for them.’
–StarSpotter74
3.
‘Channel 5 love these. It’s like they randomly pick a celeb, a location, and a mode of transport and call it a show.
Funicular railways of the Azores with Gordon the Gopher. The canals of Birmingham with Salman Rushdie by Jet Ski. Unicycling the Large Hadron Collider with Lorraine Kelly.’
–That_Organization901
4.
‘My least favourite is ‘Celebrity Parent and Nepo Baby Child travel/try things’.’
–AvocadosAtLaw95
5.
‘Every dad character seems to be a moron or business executive that shuns his family. Surety there are other dad stereotypes we could use for a bit. DIY dad might have some legs.’
–WingiestOfMirrors
6.
‘Long drawn out quiz shows. I like the concept of the 1% club and Pointless. But I cannot watch them live as the quiz part is 15 mins and the other 45 is chatting or ‘tension building’.’
–acceberbex
7.
‘Dramas with white middle class families from the Home Counties. Mother has too many glasses of wine in the evening, father can only ever work in some kind of office setting and has sexy assistant. Protagonist daughter has zany gay friend and sensible black friend who both roll their eyes at her relationship dramas.’
–idontlikemondays321
8.
‘Channel 5 (and Channel 4, but to a lesser extent than Channel 5) making endless programmes about ‘the secret of supermarket own brands’, etc. Massive piles of wank, that always feature ‘shocking’ blind taste-test results.’
–Emergency_Town3366
9.
‘People/families getting free home makeovers or decluttering or meal plans, who always seem to live in huge houses with lots of space. They never work with lower income people who live in flats.’
–missyesil
10.
‘Remakes of old 70s and 80s game shows nobody asked for. At home with the (insert family here) shows. Random grifter travelling around Europe for free. Tours around the world in a van with a celebrity and their dad.’
–springsomnia
11.
‘The Great British Anything.’
–I_ALWAYS_UPVOTE_CATS