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Coronavirus - Impact on live/recorded shows

Several talk programmes have cancelled studio audiences (March 2020)

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SC
Score
I don't think it is an issue with Saturday night TV in general, it's more that BBC1's Saturday nights this year have been embarrassing, and they've been walloped by ITV for most of the year. That all changes this Saturday of course with the arrival of Strictly, but it effectively feels like BBC1 have one hit show on Saturday nights for the whole year (they also have McIntyre's Big Show but given that they normally air it alongside Strictly that doesn't help much).

I know the pandemic has hit the schedules but I don't think BBC1 would have been any better without it anyway, aside from having more weeks of Strictly. Little Mix would have stank out the Spring and they had nothing significant planned for the Summer that didn't air (aside from the Euros filling a few weeks).

It feels like the commissioning has been really bland and unimaginative, commissioning ideas that are over a decade out of date (e.g. Little Mix) or feel like they've been done on the cheap, often in slots that are too big for the idea (e.g. First and Last). It all feels quite misguided. It's as if they sometimes forget that the main purpose of Saturday night entertainment is to entertain a big audience.

Some of the new commissions for 2021 do sound more promising, such as The Wheel, or even I Can See Your Voice, which is clearly BBC1's answer to The Masked Singer, but has done well so far in the US. Blankety Blank with Bradley Walsh, if it is actually happening, should do well (I'm not against revivals if they are done right and feel fresh). Things do need to improve in 2021 because the last few years have been really poor.
LL
Larry the Loafer
Other than Strictly, have the BBC ever had a big revival of a classic format in recent years? All the examples I can think of are ITV programmes, and as such I assumed the Bradley Walsh pilot was for ITV. Maybe they're missing a trick considering the success of Catchphrase and... well, I was about to say Family Fortunes but that seems to be getting a lukewarm reaction.
IS
Inspector Sands
Larry the Loafer posted:
Other than Strictly, have the BBC ever had a big revival of a classic format in recent years?

Doctor Who?

Not that Strictly was a revival of a classic format, the format was very different to the original
SO
Soupnzi
The BBC seem to be slightly back to an era of ‘me-too’ type shows. The Masked Singer rip-off reeks of ITV- Amanda Holden, Paddy McGuiness etc. Then there’s the commissions with Bradley Walsh inc the one with Holly Willoughby.

Chuck in the new morning commission with the not-very-BBC host Kym Marsh.

Channels are forever ram-raiding each other’s talent and ideas. But this does feel like a BBC attempt to be more like ITV.
MF
Matthew_Fieldhouse
Inspector Sands posted:
Larry the Loafer posted:
Other than Strictly, have the BBC ever had a big revival of a classic format in recent years?

Doctor Who?

Wouldn't say 2005 was recent
JO
Jonwo
Larry the Loafer posted:
Other than Strictly, have the BBC ever had a big revival of a classic format in recent years? All the examples I can think of are ITV programmes, and as such I assumed the Bradley Walsh pilot was for ITV. Maybe they're missing a trick considering the success of Catchphrase and... well, I was about to say Family Fortunes but that seems to be getting a lukewarm reaction.

There does seem to a focus on new IP than existing IP when it comes to BBC commissions.

It does seem a wider issue for BBC One, they seem afraid/ashamed of being populist.
SC
Score
Soupnzi posted:
The BBC seem to be slightly back to an era of ‘me-too’ type shows. The Masked Singer rip-off reeks of ITV- Amanda Holden, Paddy McGuiness etc. Then there’s the commissions with Bradley Walsh inc the one with Holly Willoughby.

Chuck in the new morning commission with the not-very-BBC host Kym Marsh.

Channels are forever ram-raiding each other’s talent and ideas. But this does feel like a BBC attempt to be more like ITV.


I've noticed this, particularly as you've said with some of the talent they've been choosing. I can see the logic in commissioning I Can See Your Voice although yes it is a clear rip-off, but then filling it with talent you'd generally associate with ITV definitely suggests they're trying to be more like ITV when it comes to entertainment.

I'd forgotten about the Bradley and Holly show - that was due to film in early March just before lockdown, do we know if they managed to do it?

I expect they'll start stripping entertainment shows across a week next. To be fair, it's worked for ITV so they might as well try.
IS
Inspector Sands
Matthew_Fieldhouse posted:
Inspector Sands posted:
Larry the Loafer posted:
Other than Strictly, have the BBC ever had a big revival of a classic format in recent years?

Doctor Who?

Wouldn't say 2005 was recent

It's more recent than Strictly Laughing
VA
valley
Score posted:
Soupnzi posted:
The BBC seem to be slightly back to an era of ‘me-too’ type shows. The Masked Singer rip-off reeks of ITV- Amanda Holden, Paddy McGuiness etc. Then there’s the commissions with Bradley Walsh inc the one with Holly Willoughby.

Chuck in the new morning commission with the not-very-BBC host Kym Marsh.

Channels are forever ram-raiding each other’s talent and ideas. But this does feel like a BBC attempt to be more like ITV.


I've noticed this, particularly as you've said with some of the talent they've been choosing. I can see the logic in commissioning I Can See Your Voice although yes it is a clear rip-off, but then filling it with talent you'd generally associate with ITV definitely suggests they're trying to be more like ITV when it comes to entertainment.

I'd forgotten about the Bradley and Holly show - that was due to film in early March just before lockdown, do we know if they managed to do it?

I expect they'll start stripping entertainment shows across a week next. To be fair, it's worked for ITV so they might as well try.

Out of interest that new show seems to be filming at Maidstone.

SW
Steve Williams
iloveTV1 posted:
Exactly. These same three programmes keep getting used when there’s a whole - Garden Rescue, WILTY? And Mrs Brown.


Well, that has always been the case, think back to the umpteen repeats of Only Fools and Horses, Birds of a Feather and Men Behaving Badly in the past, the former especially was on pretty much every week for years on end. And those were in the days when most of the UK had four and a half channels (including C5) and people would watch the same channel all day, which absolutely doesn't happen now.

So often scheduling is less about stringing hits together than it is trying to get from teatime to bedtime as cost-effectively as possible. And with the Beeb's mantra now being fewer, bigger, better there is going to be more gap filling around the margins, but I do not believe there are significantly more repeats on BBC1 now than in previous years, even in the current circumstances.
JK
JKDerry
Steve Williams posted:
iloveTV1 posted:
Exactly. These same three programmes keep getting used when there’s a whole - Garden Rescue, WILTY? And Mrs Brown.


Well, that has always been the case, think back to the umpteen repeats of Only Fools and Horses, Birds of a Feather and Men Behaving Badly in the past, the former especially was on pretty much every week for years on end. And those were in the days when most of the UK had four and a half channels (including C5) and people would watch the same channel all day, which absolutely doesn't happen now.

So often scheduling is less about stringing hits together than it is trying to get from teatime to bedtime as cost-effectively as possible. And with the Beeb's mantra now being fewer, bigger, better there is going to be more gap filling around the margins, but I do not believe there are significantly more repeats on BBC1 now than in previous years, even in the current circumstances.

I never understand why the go to sitcom for BBC One to repeat on a Friday or Saturday is nearly always Mrs Browns Boys, and nearly always an episode from Series 1 or 2, and never later episodes or even one of the specials.

Does BBC have a special agreement with Brendan O'Carroll on the constant repeats of the show? Brendan once said he planned to milk the cow of the show to death, and he has done. 2020 marks the end of the Christmas specials deal he had with the BBC.
AA
Amber Avenger
JKDerry posted:
Steve Williams posted:
iloveTV1 posted:
Exactly. These same three programmes keep getting used when there’s a whole - Garden Rescue, WILTY? And Mrs Brown.


Well, that has always been the case, think back to the umpteen repeats of Only Fools and Horses, Birds of a Feather and Men Behaving Badly in the past, the former especially was on pretty much every week for years on end. And those were in the days when most of the UK had four and a half channels (including C5) and people would watch the same channel all day, which absolutely doesn't happen now.

So often scheduling is less about stringing hits together than it is trying to get from teatime to bedtime as cost-effectively as possible. And with the Beeb's mantra now being fewer, bigger, better there is going to be more gap filling around the margins, but I do not believe there are significantly more repeats on BBC1 now than in previous years, even in the current circumstances.

I never understand why the go to sitcom for BBC One to repeat on a Friday or Saturday is nearly always Mrs Browns Boys, and nearly always an episode from Series 1 or 2, and never later episodes or even one of the specials.

Does BBC have a special agreement with Brendan O'Carroll on the constant repeats of the show? Brendan once said he planned to milk the cow of the show to death, and he has done. 2020 marks the end of the Christmas specials deal he had with the BBC.


There is an episode from Series 3 on tomorrow night - the 9th time it has been repeated on BBC One - pretty much all at the exact same time of night - which is about the same amount of repeats as Series 1, Episode 1. (Yes, I'm board).

I guess half of the specials aren't repeated as much due to being Christmas themed. Do the New Year eps tend to be New Year themed?

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