Iain Martin of the WSJ welcomed the exit of Jonathan Ross, the chat-show 'character' with his own show. Martin rightly points out that the chat-whores have now been captured by the 'cult of celebrity', that manufactory of dreams and despair, democratised under the entrepreneurial eye of Simon Cowell.
With the current horde of hosts, eccentricity, character, 'comedy' and self-promotion have moved centre-stage. Instead of a self-effacing host, whose mild mannerisms bring forth the qualities (or lack of) in guests, we have collaborators who can 'plug and play' in the televised USB port that is Wossy, Alan Carr, etc..
The chat-show is dead. We have comedy shows, with occasional guests.