I wonder if LOVE Prod shot themselves in the foot. This move was handled so badly and kinda PR disaster for such a high profile international show. How can you announce a major move without securing the talent that presents the programme? HOT MESS. Yeah they might'ave made some money now with this Ch4 move for GBBO, But its hard to say if any other broadcasters would be falling over themselves to work with them on any other formats in the future. Seems they will need some major PR to smooth things over. Is it likely the BBC would look at anything they present in the future?
LS
Lou Scannon
Nobody can "copyright" the basic idea of a bunch of people baking cakes and bread whilst having a TV camera pointed at them, any more than you can copyright the idea of... say... "gardening programmes" (after all, we have formats as diverse as Gardeners' World, Love Your Garden, and The Autistic Gardener - all from different broadcasters)
If
the Beeb did have any inclination make some kind of baking show of its own, as long as the there were at least enough format differences etc for it to be legally judged as not infringing on any Love Productions copyrights etc (e.g. having little/nothing in common beyond the basic inclusion of baking), then that'd surely be fine?
And if any such show from the Beeb were able to sign up any/all of Mel, Sue, Mary or Paul (who are human beings whom Love Production do not own like slaves, and a free to do as they wish), then it might be the programme that naturally inherits the existing Bake-Off audience far more so than the Love Productions/Channel 4 programme does. It's not as if the exact name/title of the programme (and/or the marquee!) is the main clincher for the existing audience...
The thing is that it's appeal is more than just the 4 presenters, it's the whole package that makes it such a good programme - the casting, the editing, the storytelling. That's a little more difficult to replicate
If relations between the BBC and Love are as bad as is claimed then Channel 4 is probably the least worst option.
Aside from signing up to buy the format without the talent, Channel 4 should not have gone public without confirming the position on talent.
It never ends well when the behind the scenes negotiations between broadcasters and presenters get played out in public (see the damage to Adrian Chiles & Christine Bleakley when they moved to ITV).
The fact that Mel & Sue wouldn't even entertain any discussions with Channel 4 suggests they are acutely conscious of not being seen to be interested in the show because of money.
There's no doubt more than one party at fault here but something as precious as Bake Off should never been handled in such a clumsy fashion.
And the real losers here are the 10 million+ viewers who are likely to lose their favourite programme.
And the real losers here are the 10 million+ viewers who are likely to lose their favourite programme.
Exactly. Even if GBBO continues, it's not going to be the same show people have grown to love any more. The show's basically been snatched away as a result of this.
I've never watched the show, but on paper it sounds like a twee middle England female skewed BBC Two format which was fortunate enough to move across to BBC One where for some reason became a hit.
GBBO is a victim of it's very short success on a mainstream channel which of course would see 70% Sky Plc owned Love Productions become morally bankrupt.
Question is, will the new presenters and the current BBC audience gel in the same way I can't fathom why viewers like inane innuendo and Mel and Sue in peak?
The thing is that it's appeal is more than just the 4 presenters, it's the whole package that makes it such a good programme - the casting, the editing, the storytelling. That's a little more difficult to replicate
And the fact that it's not commercialised. Channel 4 seemingly underestimated how much people just don't want a commercialised Bake Off by harping on about how they're a free to air public service broadcaster. They might be a PSB but they're still going to cram 13 mins of ads in, a sponsor and product placement.
The thing is that it's appeal is more than just the 4 presenters, it's the whole package that makes it such a good programme - the casting, the editing, the storytelling. That's a little more difficult to replicate
And the fact that it's not commercialised. Channel 4 seemingly underestimated how much people just don't want a commercialised Bake Off by harping on about how they're a free to air public service broadcaster. They might be a PSB but they're still going to cram 13 mins of ads in, a sponsor and product placement.
I really don't think that's as big a deal as you make it out to be. Presumably there is already some extraneous stuff in the one hour show that is removed for international repeats. If there are people who somehow hate adverts so much that they don't watch any other channel than BBC, then tell them to invest in a PVR and watch it on delay. And product placement is so restricted in this country anyway, have you ever seen PP in a UK show that is so over the top it distracts you? I haven't.
IMO the big deal here is whether the format itself will be drastically changed, and whether the rest of the current cast and production crew will continue when it moves over. That's what will make the difference.
Well - it would be very easy to drop the 'history of cakes/biscuits/puddings' film... I don't think (m)any of the international variants bother with that...
The thing is that it's appeal is more than just the 4 presenters, it's the whole package that makes it such a good programme - the casting, the editing, the storytelling. That's a little more difficult to replicate
Though arguably the casting, editing and storytelling will remain the same - assuming the largely-freelance team that Love use decide to continue to the next series.
Well - it would be very easy to drop the 'history of cakes/biscuits/puddings' film... I don't think (m)any of the international variants bother with that...
Is that a legacy of it being commissioned as a BBC factual programme?