So Graham Norton

So Graham Norton was a weekly talk show hosted by Graham Norton which was transmitted on late nights on Channel 4. Running from 1998 to 2002, it featured Norton in intimate, one-on-one conversation with his guests, as well as significant audience participation, and even in-studio prize giveaways. A staple of early BBC America programming, as well as syndication in other parts of the English-speaking world, it was the first contact many viewers had with Norton.

Originally 40 minutes, it became a 50-minute show midway through its run. In 2002, it was supplanted by a 30-minute, 5-weekly show called V Graham Norton.

Even so, the show is not properly thought of as the precursor to The Graham Norton Show, as its format was much more akin to or a more raucous version of. Furthermore guests were not chosen because they happened to be pushing a current project, but rather simply because Norton wanted to talk with them. Consequently, the show features guests that were perhaps more important to Norton’s youth — like {[w|William Shatner}},,  and  — or just those that were a part of significant, but no longer topical, televisual moments, like ,  and. that said, he did have occasionally topical guests, such as happened on the final show; the 1 March 2002 edition featured in the few months between the theatrical releases of  and.

Though not much of the format of the show was retained by the higher-profile Graham Norton Show, a few obvious things persisted. Norton’s TGNS opening from the audience, and his occasional use of audience members for gags, can easily be traced back to SGN — even though the earlier show made even greater use of the studio. Also, Norton’s delight of odd things on the internet, which usually appears in a few episodes of each series of TGNS, was a staple of most episodes of SGN. And finally, Norton’s production company, So Television, is a reminder of that old show's title. Indeed, it almost certainly derived its name from the show, since it was formed in 2000, after SGN had been in production for a couple of years.

External link

 * So Graham Norton at the Internet Movie Database