TV Live Forum

What we really need is a reboot of the Tyne Tees show ‘The Roxy’.

If the BBC cared about TOTP, it would have been revived by now and there's no chance they'd ever give a programme a year long trial, that would A. cost too much and B. No commission ever gets that long for a pilot series.

Of course sometimes reboots work.

The Joy of Painting has been effectively rebooted on YouTube on the Bob Ross channel to great acclaim, following pretty much the original format (sans Ross, obviously):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOtLhesVh6o

(of course since the Netflix documentary landed brown stuff (no, not Van Dyke Brown ) has sort of hit the fan in Bob Ross land but that's not for here)

soupie post_id=38059 time= user_id=1542 Wrote:

tellyblues post_id=38057 time= user_id=1333 Wrote:

XIII post_id=38008 time= user_id=894 Wrote:The idea that a TOTP revival would become a Strictly style success really should be put to bed. What worked on Strictly would not work on TOTP, it's like chalk and cheese.

I don't think anyone is suggesting that TOTP would be as big as Strictly, but even a show like Strictly has to change its window dressing every week in order to keep viewers. If there wasn't "movie week" or popular songs being danced to, it wouldn't be as big.

the contest is what drives Strictly, rather than the themes- the X Factor did ‘movie week’ etc too, to little success in its final years. I really think TOTP is dead as the UK Chart just isn’t a big deal to Gen Z.

Themes do add something which is why programme makers bother with them. They help distinguish each show from the next so that viewers don't get bored.

XIII post_id=38104 time= user_id=894 Wrote:If the BBC cared about TOTP, it would have been revived by now and there's no chance they'd ever give a programme a year long trial, that would A. cost too much and B. No commission ever gets that long for a pilot series.

The BBC already have enough programmes that are popular with viewers so I can see why TOTP isn't a priority. They probably look to Sounds Like Friday Night and think why bother?, failing to take into account that the format was wrong (the show had to be rejigged for the second series after all) and the format for TOTP in its latter years was wrong too.

XIII post_id=38104 time= user_id=894 Wrote:If the BBC cared about TOTP, it would have been revived by now and there's no chance they'd ever give a programme a year long trial, that would A. cost too much and B. No commission ever gets that long for a pilot series.

The BBC obviously still care about the show and so do most viewers they was a small outcry last year when the BBC looked like they where not doing the Christmas and new year specials that within a few ours a press release was put out to say they would be on still. The BBC Four repeats are some of the highest ratings programs on the channel and the documentary’s have done well on both BBC Four and BBC Two. So I think the brand itself is still popular enough and cared about or else the BBC would have ditched it altogether. I think the only reason the BBC won’t do any new editions outside of the Christmas and New year shows is because they have lost their nerve. Sounds like Friday night was not good enough and was not given much time to work and had the problem of been in a slot that Top of the Pops struggled with for many years opposite coronation street which was still fairly popular then. The other reason been I think the BBC are still worried about bringing back a program that has links to a certain disgraced celebrity even though he had nothing to do with program at all for more than half of the 42 years it was on. While the weekly program might well be a risk and could go either way bringing back some of it spin off shows for regular series such as Top of the pops 2 and maybe a yearly or Occasional Top of the Pops live shows along with Top of the pops Saturday/Reloaded/Plus whatever you want to call would probably work and be a success. It has been done before. Top Gear ended and then came back with a massive change and became one of the BBC most successful programs. Doctor Who off air for nearly two decades ( with only the film in between) came back as a massive success. Not the same but Crackerjack off air for decades successfully brought back for CBBC. Masterchef off air for years came back with a slight format change again a success. Nothing to say it can’t be done for top of the pops.

I think if they was a gap of a year or two between Cowie leaving and Andi Peters taking over his version of top of the pops might well have had more success. It was two big a change at the time though

The repeats do well for BBC4 but I doubt most the audience would watch new editions with current music.


Back on the topic of reboots and The Mash Report becoming Late Night Mash the most current one, although an example of where other than the name and set they haven't changed anything.

Brekkie post_id=38293 time= user_id=976 Wrote:The repeats do well for BBC4 but I doubt most the audience would watch new editions with current music.


Back on the topic of reboots and The Mash Report becoming Late Night Mash the most current one, although an example of where other than the name and set they haven't changed anything.

maybe not but it could come back as a success like with the examples I put. The Christmas and new year shows do well enough still so they still is people who like current music. It could be done.

Personally I think there's more chance of the BBC rebooting Sounds Like Friday Night rather than TOTP. It would probably be easier to reboot as the viewer perception of what the show should be / was is weaker. The programme's name also conveniently links up with the BBC Sounds brand/app. I can't remember if in the past they had a Sounds Like Christmas special, or if they reverted to TOTP for that.

The Mirror is reporting that the revived series of Ready Steady Cook has been axed by the BBC.
https://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/ryla...y-24932809

BBCMeridian post_id=38343 time= user_id=2083 Wrote:The Mirror is reporting that the revived series of Ready Steady Cook has been axed by the BBC.
https://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/ryla...y-24932809

not sure that’s a surprise really although perhaps should have been given another series to let it win viewers over. That both of Rylans revived daytime shows axed then if it true.

Keith post_id=38334 time= user_id=1115 Wrote:Personally I think there's more chance of the BBC rebooting Sounds Like Friday Night rather than TOTP. It would probably be easier to reboot as the viewer perception of what the show should be / was is weaker. The programme's name also conveniently links up with the BBC Sounds brand/app. I can't remember if in the past they had a Sounds Like Christmas special, or if they reverted to TOTP for that.

no sounds like Friday night was just two very short series and that was it. Top of the pops remained on Christmas.

The TOTP repeats do well for BBC Four but the idea that the BBC will look at those and think 'we need to revive TOTP' is stretching things. Considering music specials barely do well for BBC One and Sounds like Friday Night was a flop, TOTP as occasional specials isn't going to do huge numbers.

Col87 post_id=38355 time= user_id=1400 Wrote:

BBCMeridian post_id=38343 time= user_id=2083 Wrote:The Mirror is reporting that the revived series of Ready Steady Cook has been axed by the BBC.
https://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/ryla...y-24932809

not sure that’s a surprise really although perhaps should have been given another series to let it win viewers over. That both of Rylans revived daytime shows axed then if it true.

Agreed. RSC had it's timeslot moved around constantly due to Boris's regular Coronavirus briefings, not the best way to build an audience.

XIII post_id=38358 time= user_id=894 Wrote:The TOTP repeats do well for BBC Four but the idea that the BBC will look at those and think 'we need to revive TOTP' is stretching things. Considering music specials barely do well for BBC One and Sounds like Friday Night was a flop, TOTP as occasional specials isn't going to do huge numbers.

Well, there was a time, circa 2012, when I did actually think that we were very close to getting Top of the Pops back on a regular basis. The BBC4 repeats were doing good business, they'd just discovered a load of lost footage like David Bowie doing The Jean Genie which had got in all the papers, the sixtieth anniversary of the chart was coming up and there were various things announced for that and they even announced they were going to do a live stage show under the brand. There was also those "What Next?" promos on the Beeb which featured the Pops logo as an example of a classic BBC brand. So it felt like Pops was enjoying renewed enthusiasm both inside and outside the Beeb again and I genuinely thought it might come back. But unfortunately Savile happened and it became a totally toxic brand and that was the end of it.

I still don't think you can write it off, like you can't write off any genre. Twenty years ago everyone was writing off Saturday night telly saying the old shiny floor show was dead and then Pop Idol and X Factor and Strictly happened and they were the biggest shows on TV again. So you can absolutely have a music show doing good business on TV again, if the time and the format is right. Sounds Like Friday Night probably wasn't it, but that's not to say another show couldn't do it. I wonder how much its lack of success was because people turned their nose up at it because it wasn't Top of the Pops.

The thing is, though, if you want to feature music on TV, what better format than Top of the Pops? It's certainly the simplest and most effective way anyone's found to present pop music on television. Note that this doesn't mean it has to be Top of the Pops exactly as it was in the 70s and 80s, presented by a Radio 1 DJ and including a full chart rundown so you can write it in your exercise book and it must only play records in the charts even if that means it has to go down to number 74. But the basic concept of a load of popular tunes is one that can surely be adapted for a new era. You can look at Pops in 1976, 1986, 1996 and 2006 and you can see four completely different programmes, some more successful than the others. But it's the same format, it's the execution that changes. And so if someone can come up with a way of making Top of the Pops work now, there's no reason why it wouldn't. There's no reason why it has to be like it was.

JAS84 post_id=38367 time= user_id=881 Wrote:Agreed. RSC had it's timeslot moved around constantly due to Boris's regular Coronavirus briefings, not the best way to build an audience.

Maybe, but it was also at the height of the first lockdown when daytime audiences were at their highest for many years, so plenty more people had a chance to sample it than would usually be the case, especially as it got screenings at the weekend as well. Being around the briefings was of obvious benefit as well. I've been working full-time throughout and I saw it plenty of times.

XIII post_id=38358 time= user_id=894 Wrote:The TOTP repeats do well for BBC Four but the idea that the BBC will look at those and think 'we need to revive TOTP' is stretching things. Considering music specials barely do well for BBC One and Sounds like Friday Night was a flop, TOTP as occasional specials isn't going to do huge numbers.

you don’t know that though. Either one of us could be right but unless they tried it we will never know. Like I put before the problem with sounds like Friday night was it was completely in the wrong slot 7:30 on Friday the same slot Top of the pops itself struggled in was never going to do well there. 8:30 or 7:00 might have been better options for it or even having the program on a Saturday could have worked. Like I put above Masterchef Top Gear and Crackerjack have all come back successfully so no reason that Top of the pops couldn’t if it was done right.