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Christmas Presentation 2019

Excluding BBC One, ITV and Channel 5 (December 2019)

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ET
ethanh05
JAS84 posted:
For a little perspective - Christmas Day television may be getting worse here in the UK, but in the USA it is utterly appalling.

It seems the Americans save all their Christmas specials for the three weeks before Christmas, ensuring key advertising and sponsorship revenue is made.

Below is an example of this Christmas Night prime time schedule on the four main US networks, from the New York stations.

NBC on Christmas Night

8.00pm - Dr. Seuss How the Grinch Stole Christmas (animation)
8.30pm - Film: Dr. Seuss How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)
11.00pm - Local News

CBS on Christmas Night

8.00pm - The Neighborhood (repeat of the sitcom's 2018 Thanksgiving episode)
8.30pm - Bob Hearts Abishola (repeat of the sitcom's October 2019 episode)
9.00pm - Mom - (repeat of the sitcom's 2018 Christmas episode)
9.30pm - Carol's Second Act (a repeat of the sitcom's 2019 Christmas episode shown on December 12th 2019)
10.00pm - All Rise - (a repeat of the legal drama's Christmas episode shown on December 16th 2019)
11.00pm - Local News

ABC on Christmas Night

8.00pm - NBA Basketball from Los Angeles
10.30pm - Black-ish (a repeat of the sitcoms 2019 Christmas episode Father Christmas shown on December 10th 2019)
11.00pm - Local News

FOX on Christmas Night

8.00pm until 10.00pm - Back to back episodes of The Moodys originally aired in early December 2019

So, what do we make of Christmas prime time programming in the US compared to here?

Doesn't make much sense to me showing two different versions of The Grinch back to back. And is that LIVE basketball? Wouldn't expect sports fixtures on Christmas Day.

Live NBA basketball is a tradition over in America. I believe there's about roughly 3-4 games live on the networks on the day over there (and presumably over here in Sky).
RD
rdd Founding member
They have had NFL too if it falls on a weekend, though if it falls on a Sunday they shunt most games to the Saturday.
ST
steddenm
A promo for Christmas on ITV has the dragon from the John Lewis ad in the corner.
CA
Capybara
A promo for Christmas on ITV has the dragon from the John Lewis ad in the corner.

Most ECPs also have it with a product placement logo on the lower left corner.
WH
Whataday Founding member
JAS84 posted:
Doesn't make much sense to me showing two different versions of The Grinch back to back. And is that LIVE basketball? Wouldn't expect sports fixtures on Christmas Day.


It does make sense to show the traditional 1966 half hour animation followed by the feature length movie with Jim Carrey. They are both very different styles but have both become a staple of US Christmas TV.

And yes it will be live basketball. Things don't grind to a halt on Christmas Day in the states as they do over here. I think on Thanksgiving there are less things open than on Christmas Day.

As Andrew says, cinemas are open in the states on Christmas Day, and it has been a long held tradition for families to pick out a Christmas Day movie to go and watch in the evening. Some movies have Christmas Day as their opening date specifically to attract families.
BR
Brekkie
The US is a different market of course but I think relatively speaking apart from CBS they're decent enough. Live basketball is their Strictly, NNC have a decent enough film whilst The Moodys is a Christmas series (a US version of the excellent Aussie series).
LL
London Lite Founding member
BT Sport have been running some Christmas pres since at least last weekend, with quite a few festive puns on the go ("Ho Ho Morinho", "Tree Points", "Yule love to see it")

I picked up my Christmas Radio Times today, which is so chunky it has a spine:
*


Which is frustrating that I can't rip out the holiday section this time round.
AN
Andrew Founding member
BT Sport have been running some Christmas pres since at least last weekend, with quite a few festive puns on the go ("Ho Ho Morinho", "Tree Points", "Yule love to see it")

I picked up my Christmas Radio Times today, which is so chunky it has a spine:
*


Which is frustrating that I can't rip out the holiday section this time round.

And of course where have they put the holiday section? Only slap bang in the middle of Christmas Day!
BR
Brekkie
Anyone agree that although good for features and daily highlights the actual listing pages, especially for digital channels other than BBC4, are probably the worst of the paid for listings magazines. Very little information and actually quite difficult to read.

The main channel pages not much better either and poor in comparison to the early part of the century. Only BBC4 seems to have decent programme descriptions.
AN
Andrew Founding member
Anyone agree that although good for features and daily highlights the actual listing pages, especially for digital channels other than BBC4, are probably the worst of the paid for listings magazines. Very little information and actually quite difficult to read.

The main channel pages not much better either and poor in comparison to the early part of the century. Only BBC4 seems to have decent programme descriptions.

If Radio Times bosses still think that their readers don’t watch Channel 5, then they certainly won’t watch the low brow digital channels.

To be fair,the listings need a shake up, they haven’t been the same since they shoved daytime in the side column.

If it wasn’t for the tradition of getting a Christmas Radio Times every year, I’d probably get a different one.
LL
London Lite Founding member
Anyone agree that although good for features and daily highlights the actual listing pages, especially for digital channels other than BBC4, are probably the worst of the paid for listings magazines. Very little information and actually quite difficult to read.

The main channel pages not much better either and poor in comparison to the early part of the century. Only BBC4 seems to have decent programme descriptions.

If Radio Times bosses still think that their readers don’t watch Channel 5, then they certainly won’t watch the low brow digital channels.

To be fair,the listings need a shake up, they haven’t been the same since they shoved daytime in the side column.

If it wasn’t for the tradition of getting a Christmas Radio Times every year, I’d probably get a different one.


I was hoping Mark Frith may have returned full listings for daytime shows, but hasn't.
RW
Robert Williams Founding member
Anyone agree that although good for features and daily highlights the actual listing pages, especially for digital channels other than BBC4, are probably the worst of the paid for listings magazines. Very little information and actually quite difficult to read.

The main channel pages not much better either and poor in comparison to the early part of the century. Only BBC4 seems to have decent programme descriptions.

If Radio Times bosses still think that their readers don’t watch Channel 5, then they certainly won’t watch the low brow digital channels.

To be fair,the listings need a shake up, they haven’t been the same since they shoved daytime in the side column.

If it wasn’t for the tradition of getting a Christmas Radio Times every year, I’d probably get a different one.


I was hoping Mark Frith may have returned full listings for daytime shows, but hasn't.


Nothing has changed at all since he took over - in fact, other than the inevitable shuffling about of the listings as channels have come and gone, the design and layout of RT has remained almost entirely unaltered since 2010.

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