BBC Programming Thread

[Brekkie]

I think the trouble with BBC1 primetime is so much of it doesn't feel "BBC1 Primetime" anymore thanks to years of cuts, but whilst personally I think This is My House is better suited to ITVBe they do need to increase content which will presumably trend younger. That said it is the sort of format which 25 years ago may have been a shiny floor light entertainment show right at home on BBC1.

Notice too they've basically stuck with BBC3 programming in the post news slot, and current BBC3 programming too.

[JAS84]

The malaise of the weekend schedule seems to have spread to Friday with Would I Lie To You? repeats, the tired Question of Sport and the new series of This Is My House bombing. Surprised it got recommissioned and it's for nine episodes too.

Tired? Have you watched QOS lately? It's not hosted by Sue Barker any more.

[tellyblues]

The malaise of the weekend schedule seems to have spread to Friday with Would I Lie To You? repeats, the tired Question of Sport and the new series of This Is My House bombing. Surprised it got recommissioned and it's for nine episodes too.

Tired? Have you watched QOS lately? It's not hosted by Sue Barker any more.

Er... yes?

[no1fanofthepals]

The malaise of the weekend schedule seems to have spread to Friday with Would I Lie To You? repeats, the tired Question of Sport and the new series of This Is My House bombing. Surprised it got recommissioned and it's for nine episodes too.

Tired? Have you watched QOS lately? It's not hosted by Sue Barker any more.

And? Just because she isn't hosting it any more does not mean that the show isn't tired. There's only so many sport questions you can ask before they get a bit repetitive.

[natashajacobs]

I think the trouble with BBC1 primetime is so much of it doesn't feel "BBC1 Primetime" anymore thanks to years of cuts, but whilst personally I think This is My House is better suited to ITVBe they do need to increase content which will presumably trend younger.  That said it is the sort of format which 25 years ago may have been a shiny floor light entertainment show right at home on BBC1.

Notice too they've basically stuck with BBC3 programming in the post news slot, and current BBC3 programming too.

It’s pretty unfair and quite sweeping to say that they don’t do primetime well anymore. I watch a lot of Beeb and yes they have the old trusty cheap factual shows, but they always used to.  BBC1 is still doing so much well despite the cuts. The only place I think it’s really poor is Sat nights outside of Strictly time.

[telebox2001]

All their LE eggs are in the Strictly basket. I fail to understand why X Factor bombed out yet Strictly has piled on the viewers - how can a cheesy contrived ballroom dancing show be that much of an audience magnet?

[Jamesypoo]

I think it may be because X Factor was born in the mid 2000s at the height of confrontational TV shows. Pretty much every show going had some kind of drama, tension and seriousness about it. Strictly had aspects of this, but has softened over the years and is now just a nice thing to watch. On the other hand, X Factor always had these dramas, OTT scenarios, twists, conflicts and all the associated nonsense added over the years to try and cling on to some kind of relevance.

Thankfully, TV seems to have moved on now and for the better. Gameshows are, on the whole, played for laughs again and we seem to be going back to comedians presenting various formats which, in the recent past, may have been played a lot straighter than they are now.

[telebox2001]

Yeah but all that faux positivity and isn't everything lovely is just so... fake. I'm not a big fan of formats where the contestants are celebrities. If you want to be all nice and happy and chirpy use real people. That's why I liked X Factor at its peak, it took someone like Leona Lewis who worked answering phones in Domino's Pizza and she became a global superstar. People want to see other people's dreams come true.

[natashajacobs]

All their LE eggs are in the Strictly basket.  I fail to understand why X Factor bombed out yet Strictly has piled on the viewers - how can a cheesy contrived ballroom dancing show be that much of an audience magnet?

The same reason X Factor did well to begin with. People have very challenging lives and want an escapism for a couple of hours on a Saturday in the middle of dark winter nights. X Factor if anything became contrived towards the end and that’s why many people stopped watching. Strictly was also becoming less stuffy since Brucie and Len left and opened it up to a wider audience.

[Brekkie]

I think the trouble with BBC1 primetime is so much of it doesn't feel "BBC1 Primetime" anymore thanks to years of cuts, but whilst personally I think This is My House is better suited to ITVBe they do need to increase content which will presumably trend younger.  That said it is the sort of format which 25 years ago may have been a shiny floor light entertainment show right at home on BBC1.

Notice too they've basically stuck with BBC3 programming in the post news slot, and current BBC3 programming too.

It’s pretty unfair and quite sweeping to say that they don’t do primetime well anymore. I watch a lot of Beeb and yes they have the old trusty cheap factual shows, but they always used to.  BBC1 is still doing so much well despite the cuts. The only place I think it’s really poor is Sat nights outside of Strictly time.

Whilst I get what you're saying and somewhat agree with it the schedule changes have done the perception of BBC1 primetime no favours - with EE now at 7.30 and Holby axed that is two hours of scripted content gone from the 8pm hour.

[telebox2001]

All their LE eggs are in the Strictly basket.  I fail to understand why X Factor bombed out yet Strictly has piled on the viewers - how can a cheesy contrived ballroom dancing show be that much of an audience magnet?

The same reason X Factor did well to begin with. People have very challenging lives and want an escapism for a couple of hours on a Saturday in the middle of dark winter nights. X Factor if anything became contrived towards the end and that’s why many people stopped watching. Strictly was also becoming less stuffy since Brucie and Len left and opened it up to a wider audience.

That's the thing, I do find it stuffy.  Ballroom dancing in itself is very stuffy and old-fashioned.  I get that people need different things than they did 18 years ago, people's lives have as you say become more challenging and the world's gotten worse.  I wouldn't say Strictly gives me an escape but I like music competitions - I was as much of an X Factor junkie as I still am a Eurovision & Melodifestivalen junkie.  I still say there is scope for a British broadcaster to license the Mello format from SVT, and not necessarily as a National Final, it could happily sit as a standalone programme on ITV.

[tellyblues]

Yeah but all that faux positivity and isn't everything lovely is just so... fake. I'm not a big fan of formats where the contestants are celebrities. If you want to be all nice and happy and chirpy use real people. That's why I liked X Factor at its peak, it took someone like Leona Lewis who worked answering phones in Domino's Pizza and she became a global superstar. People want to see other people's dreams come true.

That was something The X Factor failed to achieve in later years. With Strictly, it doesn't matter if contestants do well but there was an external aspect to TXF that affected how the public viewed the show - if contestants became popstars or not, with the help of their money. Nobody after James Arthur had any long-lasting success and were dropped from their label after just one album so it put people off watching and buying records. I also think the standard of performances dipped on the TXF which partly had to do with better singers trying to be discovered through YouTube etc instead and also partly because it was much more difficult for singers to impress as time went on. Strictly has the same dances but they can make them fresh with different songs, costumes etc.

And since TXF ended, ITV has allowed Strictly to grow by shutting up shop against it. It could be beaten but not with what has been commissioned.

[natashajacobs]

The same reason X Factor did well to begin with. People have very challenging lives and want an escapism for a couple of hours on a Saturday in the middle of dark winter nights. X Factor if anything became contrived towards the end and that’s why many people stopped watching. Strictly was also becoming less stuffy since Brucie and Len left and opened it up to a wider audience.

That's the thing, I do find it stuffy.  Ballroom dancing in itself is very stuffy and old-fashioned.  I get that people need different things than they did 18 years ago, people's lives have as you say become more challenging and the world's gotten worse.  I wouldn't say Strictly gives me an escape but I like music competitions - I was as much of an X Factor junkie as I still am a Eurovision & Melodifestivalen junkie.  I still say there is scope for a British broadcaster to license the Mello format from SVT, and not necessarily as a National Final, it could happily sit as a standalone programme on ITV.

Yes I’m not saying nobody finds it stuffy. But clearly fewer people do now than when it started or it wouldn’t have grown its audience base. It’s feel good family entertainment and if I was at the Beeb I wouldn’t be ditching it anytime soon. It gets bums on seats at a critical time in their history, has high production values and there is a sense of togetherness that brings people together. Problem is there is such a chasm either side of it the rest of the year. Easy option to commission 4000+ episodes of Pointless Celebrity edition than anything new like the UK melfest you suggested.

[telebox2001]

Yeah, that's what I mean Natasha. And I'm not even suggesting an arena tour, can easily be scaled down to somewhere like LH2 or even a studio at MediaCity. Almost make it a songwriting competition - one thing SVT are big on is profiling the writers and I don't think we do enough of that in the British music industry. But I do think there's scope for a singing competition that does what X Factor tried to do in 2017 with Grace Davies and Rak-Su (they were bigged up for being writers) but play a straighter bat.

[p2004]

Personally, I do think a "UK Melodifestivalen" spin-off would struggle quite a bit.
Melodifestivalen in Sweden is effectively part of their music culture right now - there are still multiple songs from the show on Sweden's Sverigetopplistan (their charts), which is a testament to how popular the festival is in the country. What backs this up (as with most other Nordic national finals and even Sanremo) is a long history of this format, which everyone knows is linked to Eurovision, but people see it as its own distinct thing. Here, no national selection has been able to establish itself in the UK, thanks to the BBC frequently changing its name. X Factor and the other slew of mostly unnamed unremarkable talent shows has also firmly established within British audiences the idea that we look for a good vocalist. Breaking that mindset is a struggle, which the BBC faced themselves with Eurovision: You Decide. Even if ITV try and commission an show focusing on original songs by songwriters, people will inevitably focus on the vocals and it'll be the format's undoing.