Blue Peter

just an idea

I had no idea about your ability to see into the future.

The Blue Peter studio was re-lit today and seemed much better, warmer and somewhat bigger? Andy is away in America so here are Helen and Joel curtosy of BBC player in the re-lit studio. (Also look at the bricks on the red wall, they seem much warmer!!)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/cbbc/episode/b00jt4g8/Blue_Peter_07_04_2009/

Amazing what a change can colour can do.

Re what posters have written before - I think the biggest problem with Blue Peter over the past years has been the constantly changing music and set. ( Constantly changing compared to how long previous versions of the titles / theme had lasted ).

Apart from further amending that ghastly theme tune, the only thing that would help matters is a move to the former time, or to something like 445pm

Really like Joel and Helen, still not too keen on Andy.

Same with me, I've never warmed to Andy but think Joel and Helen are really good, and have potential to carry Blue Peter and make it good, the main problem I think still lies in Tim Levell - although I must say he has improved lately. There's been less of flicking back and forth between segments all the time lately.

I should think yesterday's cooking segment will be added to the list of Blue Peter cooking disasters after what happened.

It is in much better shape now than it was a year ago, but it's the time slot which is crucial - although to be honest if CBBC did get their 5pm slot back, it wouldn't surprise me at all if they kept Blue Peter at 4.35pm and aired something else after it.

....And on a similar line to what sjames posted above, I think the fact that the editor has now finally acknowledged what the progamme is about, returning to some traditional content and items, the programme seems to have improved.

It's always important to remember that children's programmes exist for children... it's easy for nostalgic adults to say what they think is "wrong" with a programme which they have fond memories of and forget about the real target audience.

However the depressing fact is that in some respects BP has also lost touch with its target audience too. There are afternoons when the TOTAL audience is only 0.3 to 0.4 million. That probably means that only 100-150,000 children are watching some days.

To some extent the problem is certainly down to scheduling - 4.35pm is too early for some children. But I can't help but wonder if a few decisions over the past couple of years haven't exactly helped.

All Biddy Baxter's successors up until Tim did a grand job modernising BP while remaining true to its heritage. For all the superficial changes or individual items which might not have fitted into BP in Biddy's day, the programme remained true to its roots, its established character and, most importantly, it still had a special bond with children.

As far as I can make out, Tim was the first editor who set out to make radical changes - both superficial and of substance. And while, of course, all decisions must be made purely with children in mind I can never recall a time before when BP was the kind of high octane children's programme which adults wouldn't appreciate. BP was a programme for children - not a childish programme.

Still the BBC Trust expects action to improve the ratings for Blue Peter and Newsround so all is not lost. At least not yet. Here's hoping.

Whilst I agree with a lot of the sentiments here - I don't think the change to transmission times can be underestimated - and the loss of Neighbours.

I'd be interested to know if the audience profile for The Weakest Link is much older than for Neighbours - my gut says it will be. That probably means that the shows before Weakest Link don't get as many younger viewers as they would have before Neighbours in pre-switch/pre-echo terms.

More than anything - the re-scheduling of the CBBC on One output has meant that programmes aimed at an older audience have a smaller potential audience to appeal to. They are simply on too early, and are now on before a programme that might not appeal to a similar audience. BBC One really needs to re-think the pre-Six O'Clock News programme if it thinks kids TV is important. It isn't just a CBBC issue, it is a BBC One scheduling issue.

However the changes to Blue Peter haven't helped either IMHO. I think one of the major issues - I'm sure expressed elsewhere in this thread - is that Blue Peter now feels cheaper, lower quality, less ambitious. I'm not saying it is awful - just that you can tell that it has re-allocated its budget - and I don't think it has worked for the better of the show. The new studio format really does feel like every other saturday kids show of recent years - but with films in. Sure the head of Kids, Richard Deverell, wasn't happy that such a large chunk of budget went on funding a proper, large studio for its production (well - he's got a news and online background with no real understanding of studio production - so that's hardly a surprise. Studios are expensive - but for a reason - they work well) However if all the money for that studio has really been diverted into films (and not just cost savings...) - are those films really that much higher in quality - to me they seem to have dropped in quality as well (with more cheapo-cam stuff)?

The drop in quality in studio production terms has been huge, the increase in quality of the films has not been reciprocal. The show simply isn't what Blue Peter used to be - and I think that is true for its target audience - not just us old-timers who have fond memories.

It is possible to re-invent shows successfully - though it is not easy. It is very difficult to do it in the current climate of budget cuts etc.

I wonder if BP will move to Salford, and if it does whether it will get a better studio again...

I still think the set is really good.

Thinking about it... its Andy's 3rd year this year, hard to believe ihe has been on the programme as long as Zoe and Gethin were. I seem to only associate him being as part of the current team, with helen and joel!!!!!!!
D'u reckon he'll be moving on soon??? It would be a shame (eeven though i don't really like him, he is a bit wierd, especially his street chavvy speech!!) because blue peter needs more presenter consistency. Agreed???