Channel 5I have known about this for over a week and when I first heard I thought, well, this is probably going to be very cosy and fun - and it was.
We have awarded Matthew Wright Best TV presenter here see http://media.transgenderzone.com/?page_id=2885 for I think 4 years on the trot.
So I know from our logs and from how well he treats the subject of Transgender Issues, that Paris would be able to relax, and not have to have any hostility to battle or have to preach to the converted.
So how did it go?
Well watch for yourself.
17th of April Edition http://www.channel5.com/shows/the-wright-stuff
There is not a lot to comment on really.
Much of what she said, she has already said elsewhere, including having another crack at saying "Ed Milliband has got Oak in his Penis," AGAIN! Leave it ,it didn't work last time (that was on 'Question Time' here viewtopic.php?f=16&t=4024) 18 months ago (doesn't time fly eh?). And it fell flat there too. You could hear a pin drop and it was uncalled for. Matthew runs a tight ship and does sometimes look a little bit awkward and concerned when guests say things that may lead to his ear-piece rattling from the gallery, in the run up to an election he is legally obliged to give balance to all parties, if a comic tries a gag and it crashes, try another. She was in safe hands here and had nothing to prove.
Apart from that, they did have a section about , "Do you think you are Beautiful?" One wonders if they have done some research about Ms Lees
The instagram meltdown of selfies, does challenge the way she played herself down here. So a bit of a contradiction. She made the panel laugh, Matthew was in high spirits.Matthew introduced her as the most important GLBT person in the country according to the Pink List. Thats factually incorrect as there has been another Pink List since then. And the first time around it helped that her mate Christine Burns was the Judge. There has been some disquiet in relation to all that... Moving on...
There were some stories for her to get her teeth into and one was regarding a teenage trans*person and mum. Paris gushed about how happy they were, they covered what it is like to feel trans as a child.
I think the election and the newspapers were a good way to avoid going down those well traveled paths, as we can so easily (me included) become repetitive regarding our own life scripts and transgender issues that are the same discussions that were being had decades ago. I have them in our archives, nothing changes. And Paris had other things to focus on for once.
The interesting thing is she got more laughs doing one-liners and off-the-cuff remarks that had nothing to do with what she does, like the invasion of foreign Jelly Fish off the Devon Coast story, read out by Antony. She remarked following an earlier UkIP conversation,
"Maybe the Jellyfish are coming over here taking our jobs"
Not an original gag, but an original twist on it and got a laugh.
I think she is far better Telly when she relaxes and steps away from trans*, and she did relax and as time went on, and realised she had (and she did mention this) an ally in Matthew. The evidence demonstrates this is correct on my side, she looked like she was really installed and enjoying herself and being on the telly to boot!
This is a far cry from the intense confrontational situations like Benefits Studio Debates where Matthew mentioned he had first met her. I did find it interesting that they, or she, took the images from Transgender Zone to illustrate some of her endeavours. Notably the cropped image (to remove our TZ watermark
) of 'The Big Benefits Row' found here (watch the intro of TWS on Demand Five and you will see) viewtopic.php?f=16&t=4167 so it is handy I record and log all these historical events. That said it was originally taken from a Channel 5 screen grab so we are custodians of their image legally I guess but always funny to see where our screen grabs turn up (Lorraine Kelly also used one). But it is important to record and log trans things on television as without it people quickly lose track of what trans*people contribute and there were plenty before, and there are plenty that work today equally as hard if not harder than she. One day we will likely remark back to when she was on the telly, and have to defend her contribution to some young upstart who thinks they were the first...So all that aside
Summary
Positives
"A good turn" as they used to say, perfect for Matthew, and Matthew was perfect for her. No arguments, no confrontation, relaxed, very nice - great job TWS!
Negatives
"Oak penises!" Don't give the nay sayers any excuse to pigeon hole us into being sexual deviants! We have enough of that label already! Unless it is a conversation about medical examination of the genitals. It seems like a desperate act to be noticed and could damage opportunities. It can also put off people who really are on our side, people who want us to be seen positively. It will put some viewers in an awkward position for what is a throw-away one-liner at best - that didn't get a laugh anyway.
Nevertheless Paris did a pretty good job, and was well received. So for that a definite 4stars. As all the planets were aligned on this one!
4/5 TZ Stars - Good.
