40 years since itv extended hours: 16th Oct 1972

First part was to provide a new pre school tv slot. Main reason for this was to combat the lack of pre kids shows from the effects of Sesame street: SS open a can or worms for ITV and IBA etc. A number of companies dislike SS but it turned out neither of the main ITV companies had produced any kids show the same league unlike the BBC. Thames along with Yorkshire who also hated SS started producing a whole range of new shows:

Thames Television came up with Rainbow,
Yorkshire with Mister Trimble,
Granada with Hickory House,
ATV’s with Inigo Pipkin.


http://www.btinternet.com/~acbarrett/history.htm Still better than the Farm:



soon Came:

Was this video real or was it a massive P*sstake?

Rainbow Twangers

Christmas tape.

...which Victor Lewis-Smith rather naughtily presented as real, so now most people who have seen it are convinced it was seen by millions of children.

Despite absolutely ripping them to shreds Victor Lewis-Smith is a massive pres nerd, hence why he was aware of niche productions like 'History of the Testcard' and the Christmas tapes.

Anyone got the whole show? Seen printed ads for it in old mags like '405 Alive', tempted to write off in vain...

My Uncle has a copy I think. I'll ask him.

It wasn't just the kids shows that started on 16/10/72 it was the start of ITV's extended hours, pushing the schools back to a noon finish time and the launch of programmes like Crown Court and the forerunner to the lunchtime news

Updated title. So the first report started today aswell.

Starts around 7:04...

Yes, I've read that Sesame Street received a rather cool reception in the UK. For instance, Francis Wheen's book Television states that while the show was a success in most countries, the BBC rejected it for being "too American, too middle-class [huh?] and too authoritarian [how?]." To me, the show is public service children's television at its best -- simultaneously entertaining and educational -- so I never understood this hostility. Am I missing something? Did it make some people uncomfortable simply because it was American? Or because it was multicultural at a time when multiculturalism wasn't universally accepted in the UK and elsewhere in Europe?

P.S. I found an interesting article on Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sesame_Street_in_the_U.K.

It seems that elitism and anti-Americanism were among the major reasons for the hostility.