Letting Loose online (itv.com/loosewomen)

Member Name: AmyAmy

Product:	itv.com/loosewomen
Date:	25/08/09 (299 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: entertaining, well laid out, attractive, friendly members

Disadvantages: addictive

In 2007 I fell in love with a TV show. It was something I'd not heard of before, despite it being in existence since 1999, and it was definitely unlike anything I'd seen before. Loose Women soon grew to become my addiction, something that would get me through the day and giving me my daily fix of gossip and laughter. It's something that truly amazes me, but what is it really all about?

Loose Women is a daytime chat show, which is made up of a 'panel'. This panel however is not scary like that on Dancing on Ice, and they're not there to criticise you like the judges on the X Factor. No, our panel is made of of four women each show, from a pic n mix of presenters and celebrities. There are nine loose ladies who we see on a regular basis:

Andrea McLean is one of our two main presenters of the show, and she keeps the rest of the panel in order. She is well known from her days as GMTV's weathergirl, but has recently left that show. When she's not in the leading seat, we had Jackie Brambles, ex radio host and GMTV correspondant, to share the role. Sadly, Jackie left her post as Loose Women host when the latest series ended at the beginning of August (an emotional farewell as I'm sure you'll imagine), and she is to be replaced by Kate Thornton. Although I'm sad to see Jackie leave, I look forward to seeing Kate in action and do wish her all the best!

Alongside our presenters, we have our celebrity panel. Coleen Nolan, a member of the Nolans, is often seen on the show, bringing humour with her incredible comic timing and one liners. Then we have Sherrie Hewson, a well known and loved actress, who shares her outrageous stories of storing money in little holes and getting messy with her grandson. We also have Carol McGiffin who is not unknown for liking a drink! It's an ongoing joke on the panel that Carol moans at everything but deep down she's all heart! Actress Lynda Bellingham is also a regular, and has recently starred in West End production, 'Calendar Girls'. She is indeed the oldest on the panel and shares plenty a story about Mr Spain. Then there's Denise Welch, who is most recently known for her role in Waterloo Road. She loves Enrique Englasias, and has a wonderful sense of humour! Singer Jane McDonald is also a regular panellist, and she has one of the most amazing voices around! She lives with her 'mother', and loves a cup of tea! The newest lady to join the show is Rachel Agnew, who does not have that high a celebrity status, unless you count her role as 'Checkout Number X please!', but won the Make Me A Loose Woman competition earlier this year. She is a wonderful woman and I'm thrilled she won! Loose Women definitely has the best bunch of ladies around to make up this fantastic show!

Now during each show, four of these ladies get together and it would seem like they just generally gossip for an hour, but it does in fact have more structure to it! The show is divided into four parts. In the first quarter they talk about a daily debate - it could be something in the news, or something a celebrity has said. Then after a break a celebrity guest is brought on when they usually promote something. Section three is another daily debate with a final guest after another break. There are also daily competitions too. There's always laughter, even with the more serious conversations, and there is never a dull moment!

Rightly so, the women are currently on a well deserved break for the Summer, so this means no Loose Women for a good few weeks. It seems that I have actually been spending a lot of time on the Loose Women website however, and especially more so since the show has been off air. It's so magical! The site itself was updated about six months ago, with a complete make over and now I find I spend more time on there than I can spare! But what's it like?

When you first log onto the website, with your ITV user name and password, you are greeted by a very welcoming homepage. The Loose Women logo is at the top with various tabs underneath it. In the centre of the page there are images of the women with links to their own profiles, and several photos round about. Now each of the women do indeed have their own profiles on the website which enables you to send them messages etc, but to my knowledge none of them have logged on since creating their accounts, other than Rachel who does occasionally leave a little message. Once you've adjusted yourself to its attractive layout, it's time to have some fun!

The first thing to do is click on the 'My Home' tab, which will take you to your own homepage. Here you can upload photos to be displayed on your profile, as well as a profile picture. You can also type a bit about yourself. I find that some people waffle in this section, so I've kept mine short and to the point. There's one part I find interesting here,and it's the fact that you can have 'fans'. The best way to describe this is like twitter. When somebody becomes your 'fan', it is like saying they are following you (twitter terminology). Though you can return this fanship, and you then become friends - sort of like a mutual relationship. I think this is quite a sweet little extra. You can also send and receive message from other members on the website, which are stored in your inbox/sentbox. Again this feature is easy to use and very useful for getting in touch with other members.

The next tab along is the 'Competitions' section. Each week on Loose Women there is a competition with a ridiculously easy multiple choice question which usually lands you a cash prize, with the occasional exception. From this section you can enter these competitions and try and win yourself the chance of becoming a Loose Women competition winner. It's not as exciting as the Make Me A Loose Woman competition, or their latest long-running competition where you had to print the ladies' faces and take the masks on holiday, but it is still quite thrilling!

One more tab along from this and we come to 'Video'. This section is ideal if you are in the same position with me with the fact that you do not have Sky+, and you are away from a television during the day. Each week, the highlights from the latest episodes are uploaded to this section so you can enjoy the laughter from online. This is quite handy as Loose Women is not available on Catch Up and despite my many emails, ITV seem reluctant to put it on. Usually you can watch episodes online as there is on youtube member who uploads each episode, but other than that, there's no other way to catch it than these clips. Currently there are around 60 clips in this section, which gives you around 300 minutes of Loose Women footage. Once I started watching I was hooked and wouldn't allow myself to stop watching the clips until I'd sifted through them all. Now I am fully caught up and ready to start afresh when the new series begins!

'Photo' is our next tab. As you would expect, when clicking on this you are brought to a page that is filled with nothing more than photos. Many of these photos are of the ladies, which have been uploaded by the web editor. However whenever a member of the website uploads a photo, they are added straight to this section too. I quite like this as it means others can view your photos. I upload images of my Loose Women merchandise, and it makes me feel like a proud fan to have others looking at them. Also, I get to 'inform' others of my meets with Andrea and Lynda through the use of image - that always makes me smile!

Our next tab is 'Blogs'. This is where the web editor updates us with all the Loose Women latest news. Some of the more recent entries include Rachel announcing that she will be returing for the new series, a quest to seek out all of the viewers' favourite moments, and the news that Kate is to replace Jackie. It's a great way to quickly get the latest information, especially if you've missed a show and want to check if anything vital has been announced.

We next come to tab number seven, which is 'Members'. Here you can find a list of all the members on the website. The only downside is that you cannot search for members, and there are only a few ways to categorise them. One of the ways is to organise them by 'most viewed'. Carol momentarily is in the lead with an impressive 85563 views since she first 'joined' five months ago. I can't tell where I am as I do not come up on the list since I am on my user name, so if anybody cares to tell me, feel free! (My user name is amyamy69).

The 'Forum' is the section we come to next, and probably the place where I spend most of my time on the site. The forum itself is split into three sections: 'Welcome to the new Loose Women Community', 'General', and 'Daily Debate'. In the first section you can introduce yourself, and post on anything and everything. The second section is there so you can chat about all things 'Loose Women', and its the third section that excites me greatly. The web editor posts, after each show, threads on the subjects the ladies were debating on just a few hours prior. This allows us to share our views on the subjects that we were shouting to the TV about. I love a good debate and adore this section - it's ideal for a good moan and is chance to share with others what we really think! I love the forum and wish it was more active during the weeks when the show isn't on!

Towards the end of the row, there is a tab which states 'MMALW'. This is indeed the section dedicated to the Make Me A Loose Woman competition, where viewers sent in their clips in a hope that they'd become the next Loose Women. Thankfully it was Rachel who won, and since I had supported her all the way, I was delighted! Upon clicking on this tab, you can now see Rachel's audition tape as well as her first interview on Loose Women!

I think it is clear to say that there is a lot you can expect from this website. It is tastefully arranged and full of the Loose Women shades of blue. On every page there are delightful pictures of the ladies themselves and there is so much it has to offer. You can make new friends who also adore the show. It's a great place to feel more involved with the show and I truly do not have a bad word to say about it! Until they offer me a job as anchor of Loose Women, this site will be my saviour!

Amy 2009

Summary: /