I watched clips of his stuff and even if I did not know he was a pedophile, I would still find him arrogant and horrible. He had that real "Fake nice guy vibe" about him. I wonder what did people find in him for making him such a success in British TV..
shareI know, it's hard to understand, hopefully someone from the U.K. will post their opinion in this thread. I've seen a few clips of Savile on YouTube and he's hard to watch, such a self-absorbed man. I think maybe most of his appeal is he wasn't afraid of putting on a show, he had complete self confidence. Another observation is Savile could joke about his escapades and it looks like the press and public thrived on his sick, dry, wit. They were unwitting co-conspirators.
shareI agree, it's hard to watch. I saw an interview of him with Ricky Gervais and it was so obvious he had no real feelings towards his charity work or the people he was "helping". It is obvious his charity was just a tool for him to go on with his sick activities. Also in that same interview he seems like he had zero feelings, he wasn't reacted to any of Gervais comments about him, he was expressionless the all time although Gervais was kissing his ass throughout the interview! To me he is was so unlikable, the worst sort of person. He also said many times that he absolutely hated children , yet the BBC and British viewers enabled him to work with children for many years. Maybe it was a different time but wow I have a hard time understanding how people could like him..He is absolutely repulsive! So strange! I wish he was still alive so he could face consequences for all the pain he had put people through. Pure psychopath !
shareIt's ironic that the Brits never prosecuted Saville but they sure turned on Benny Hill. Benny used his power to mess around with some of his "Angels". He wasn't a psychopath like Savile, more like a perpetual horndog that liked to have his cake and eat it too. Eventually a new wave of comedy became popular in Britain and Benny's antics(he'd been on TV for decades) became unwelcome. Both of these guys were eccentrics who used their fame for sex but Benny led a much quieter life, which may have made him an easier target to destroy.
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Yes, those were different times and Savile had been popular since the early 60's. I'm not sure but I think British TV had some rules about how many hours of comedy you could televise each week. What I'm trying to say is there wasn't much else to watch, Savile and a few others had the market cornered!
shareI was a child of the 1980s, and watched Jim'll Fix It.
And you're right. At the time in the UK, there were only four channels. There would've been less in the 1960s.
Shows got much higher TV ratings in those days.
He did a Doctor Who-themed episode of his horrible Fix It show, and it was featured on one of the DVDs as an extra but has now been pulled as a result of these revelations. However, there are reviews of it online, and those involved on the Doctor Who special have spoken out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnbLMeY124g
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People like assholes. David Letterman was a mean host in his early days but viewers found that refreshing after watching years of nice guy hosts like Merv Griffin and Johnny Carson. Hate to bring this topic into it, but Trump. Trump’s vulgar personal attacks on rivals are what shot his campaign up in the primaries.
shareI think we all can admit that Letterman had a lot of talent(very witty, charismatic) as well. Johnny could spot talent from a mile away and made sure to get Letterman on as Tonight Show guest host many times in the 70's. True, the Late Show's time slot allowed Dave more freedom to be occasionally mean, saucy, edgier.
shareAgree. Wasn’t dissing Dave. Just saying people sometimes like public figures who are mean, arrogant, saucy at times.
shareIt's probably the whole package that matters the most to the public. Self confidence might be the key, the celebrities that are self confident/self-aware can display their "monster" inside of them when the situation warrants..this builds respect with the public and later on down the road that celebrity gets a pass if they cross the line too much.
In Saville's case he was such a psychopathic force nobody would dare mess with him. If they tried, he could easily chew them up and spit them out. So, instead of challenging ANYTHING that Saville did the press kowtowed to him..or at least used him for a funny sound bite, interview, article..as long as Saville got the attention he'd give the press/media plenty to work with and thus the public adored him.
What a manipulative, EVIL bastard.
Here's pics of Savile's devilish lair:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2223326/Sex-beast-Jimmy-Savile-pictured-inside-caravan-young-girl-abused-30-years-ago.html
Looking at these pics...The guy is so gross. I am very puzzled and I do have to question the taste of the British public of the 70's/80's/90's what a strange, creepy person to turn into a national Icon.... I wish they could have put his ass in jail while he was still alive.
shareIt's not fair to blame the British public for accepting Savile, or any other celebrity. The U.S. had Milton Berle, he was a very mean spirited and unpleasant man..and certainly not good on the eyes. Marty Feldman looked similar to Savile, although he was a very decent man. Ed Sullivan was weird looking and most certainly mentally ill.
But yes, Savile was certainly a very weird creature, one in a billion perhaps. Still, about 1-2 percent of the population are psychopaths, they inflict terrible mayhem on innocent people every single day. They're not on TV though.
Ho yeah , for sure I do not blame them, I have British family members myself but I still question it as to me that guy is an anomaly. He had no charm or charisma, even when he spoke about his "Charities" he sounded robotic and without any sort of feeling. Watching clip of that Jimm'll fix it (A title that sound gross now) , there was no chemistry between him and his guests at all, his interviewing style was the equivalent of going to the toilet and taking a big dump to get over and done with it as fast as possible. It just puzzles me, what exactly in that guy people love so much to the point of making him a national Icon. I really do not blame them, of course if they knew then I doubt they would have kept watching him but I still wonder what people found likable in him because me, I find nothing! His appearance is disgusting and he has no charisma, he had no business being on TV at all. I think the person who posted that it could be the shows format rather than him being popular could be right, it's the only reason I can think off.
shareIt's hard to say as I didn't grow up watching Savile..maybe there was no appeal and that he was on TV because was eccentric and flamboyant. But then again, eccentric and flamboyant can be appealing qualities.
I admit he looks absolutely creepy/cringy in every video I've seen of him. That one pic where he's looking out of his caravan really sticks out in my mind. He's the restless sicko, always staring and stalking with no filter or morals of any kind. Probably one of the most terrifying person's I've ever seen.
What makes you say Milton Berle was a paedophile? It's not mentioned on Wikipedia.
I grew up in the UK in the seventies when he was very popular.
He was always considered eccentric, but at the time that was part of his appeal. As far as the public were aware there was no hint of his alleged activities back then. And in truth i, like many, was probably too young to see anything unsavoury in how he acted.
But what is now blatantly clear is how many people back then knew what he was doing and said nothing. I know it was a different time and he was certainly not the only one up to no good...but the people who looked the other way and said nothing should hang their heads in shame.
He used his charity work as a smokescreen but by the 90's alot of people thought he was just too odd. I wish this nonce had been caught whilst he was alive, and spent time in jail with Big Bubba!
shareEven if he wasn't so weird, I don't think he'd get on tv now because he was just so ugly. Apparently aesthetic standards were lower back then.
sharehe was one of the original DJs on radio one and from There went onto top of the pops and other TV shows. His fame just grew with each show that he presented. Until the late 90s there were only 4 tv stations in Britain (unless you paid for satellite tv)so celebrities were seen by far more of the population and so had higher profile tv shows. As a kid I thought there was something not quite right about him. I did love watching jim'll fix it though.
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