Tender Loving Cack (Trisha)

Member Name: stoffy

Product:	Trisha
Date:	09/02/02 (437 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Trisha trying to stifle her insincerity

Disadvantages: repitition of topics, dullard guests

Alcoholism, adoption and divorce are sensitive issues. So what better way to come to terms with them, than hop over to Norwich and divulge sensitive information to loved ones in front of a hundred or so yokels in day-glo lycra and an ex-Playschool host?

Trisha Goddard has a chequered life herself - after presenting 'Playschool' for a short period of time (Floella Benjamin and Carol Leader were presumably sunning themselves somewhere), her life went into a downward spiral. As well as Busy Lizzy and the Why Bird usurping her from co-ordinating pre-school entertainment, her husband came out as being gay, and she suffered from depression. Emigrating to Australia, she was eventually offered a small presenting spot there.

After coming over to England, she was given a trial by Anglia TV in front of the Vanessa audience. The Feltz fan-club revolted against their fuschia clad leader to declare that Trish was better. This resulted in Vanessa being sacked and Trisha taking over quicker than you can say 'tender loving care'.

The set remained the same, as did the topics and the audience. However, the presenters were much different. Vanessa ignored 'the pain' to talk about her own, whilst Trish actually listened before talking about hers.

The topics on the chat show vary wildly from divorce to alcoholism to sexual identity crises to divorce to alcoholism… oh yes, and there is the occasional 'fun' item, such as 'I want to strip at 60 for my toyboy husband'. Just remember to leave those cornflakes in the box if you choose to watch this…

Of course, there is always a counsellor on hand to give advice. It's free for guests (well, for the first 15 minutes at least…), and I'm sure proves invaluable for the fragile individuals on the show.

Perhaps the funniest episode ever was Christmas reunions, where lost members of families were reunited ("How bad
ly do you want to see the Uncle you haven't seen for 30 years? Would you give up your only working kidney for it?" "er, yeah, probably"). The tack-fest had long lingering shots of Trisha looking glad and contented, although you could almost see the dollar signs in her eyes everytime a scally in a shellsuit broke down into crocodile tears.

It's managed to stay on the air for around 5 years - lasting longer than Esther and Vanessa, who dealt with similar topics. More sympathetic that Feltz or Rantzen, and less political and smarmy than Kilroy-Silk, Trisha has managed to grow a cult following of students, the unemployed and the suicidal. Despite her success, she has managed to keep a relatively low profile in the media, unlike Vanessa, who's chat show is now but a distant memory in the light of her Big Brother antics.

I think Trisha has probably come to a natural end now, as they have covered most topics under the sun, without quite having gone into Jerry Springer territory. I think that Trisha should now do a spin off show seeing what happened to all the cast of Play School after they were taken off the air. Maybe she could ask how Jemima is dealing with her alcoholism, whether Humpty and Hamble sorted out their messy divorce, and reunite Big Ted and Little Ted after a 14 year seperation… Oh yes, TV bliss…

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