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Maaixuew
With endless repeats, revivals, imports and sequels, has British television reached an all time low?
Original ideas seem hard to come by these days, and the schedules seem to be full of endless repeats of older programmes and American imports. Other programmes often shown by the big five include benefit bashing documentaries, reality television and panel shows, programmes that are notoriously cheap to produce and are more often than not, noticeably dumbed down. The recent establishment of the various 'local' channels across the country have also demonstrated the lack of care there seems now regarding the quality of programmes being broadcast, when arguably 15 years ago, this would have been inconceivable.
The question is, is there no originality or creativity any more in broadcasting, or have these qualities been pushed to one side in favour of the cheaper option?
Last edited by Maaixuew on 13 April 2016 12:43am - 5 times in total
the lack of care there seems now regarding the quality of programmes being broadcast, when arguably 15 years ago, this would have been inconceivable.
Nonsense. 15 years ago there was plenty of low quality, cheap, poorly produced television available. All that's changed is that there's more channels.
It's not long ago that BBC One's evening schedule was based almost entirely on Eastenders, Changing Rooms, Animal Hospital and Ground Force. None of which are examples of high budget, quality television. And most of them were the pinnacle of their programme types...
the lack of care there seems now regarding the quality of programmes being broadcast, when arguably 15 years ago, this would have been inconceivable.
Nonsense. 15 years ago there was plenty of low quality, cheap, poorly produced television available. All that's changed is that there's more channels.
It's not long ago that BBC One's evening schedule was based almost entirely on Eastenders, Changing Rooms, Animal Hospital and Ground Force. None of which are examples of high budget, quality television. And most of them were the pinnacle of their programme types...
Perhaps you are right in that respect, but could you say the same of programmes produced 25 or 30 years ago?
I think you're talking into the trap of comparing memorable television in the past with the unmemorable television of today. Compare prime time quiz shows - bulls eye, countdown or 15-to-1 vs the cube, countdown or million pound drop - are they really any worse today?
Fifteen years ago you had Big Brother, Fame Academy, The salon, airport, airline, and countless other fly-on-the-wall documentaries filling schedules, pretty much the same as today.
Well the OP appears to be a bit of a nostalgia masochist. He/she has started the following threads over the past two years:
- Has British TV reached an all-time low?
- Are there too many channels?
- TVS Archive
- Did the loss of Thames result in a decline of standards?
- Thames/Carlton 92/93
- The ITV Rebrand of 2002
- Does Analogue Satellite still operate?
- 26 Years Ago : The Broadcasting Bill
- Should the BBC bring back the 91-97 logo?
- Anniversary of the day all TV adverts became 16:9
- Should the BBC bring back the 1988 - 1997 logo? (again)
- The introduction of national ITV1 continuity in 2002
- Why were the BBC2 2s brought back?
- Has television quality declined?
- Two threads on BBC2 regions
- Has the BBC had its day?
Well the OP appears to be a bit of a nostalgia masochist. He/she has started the following threads over the past two years:
- Has British TV reached an all-time low?
- Are there too many channels?
- TVS Archive
- Did the loss of Thames result in a decline of standards?
- Thames/Carlton 92/93
- The ITV Rebrand of 2002
- Does Analogue Satellite still operate?
- 26 Years Ago : The Broadcasting Bill
- Should the BBC bring back the 91-97 logo?
- Anniversary of the day all TV adverts became 16:9
- Should the BBC bring back the 1988 - 1997 logo? (again)
- The introduction of national ITV1 continuity in 2002
- Why were the BBC2 2s brought back?
- Has television quality declined?
- Two threads on BBC2 regions
- Has the BBC had its day?
Double post: answering the question once and for all:
Television is subjective. I miss programmes with gravitas, but tastes change. Music reflects tastes and trends, as does fashion, food and all other consumables. Television is no different. We have a different type of television to the one we did 10, 15, 20 years ago. Individual programmes may be similar, but the soup in which the croutons float is a different flavour, it's served at a different restaurant by a different waiter using a different ladle.
I will point out that nearly every attempt to "bring something back" has either failed or not done as well as version one. Three new Blockbusters since Bob hung up his Ps and Es, none of which lasted longer than two series. CatchPhrase never the same since Roy Walker. A new Yes Minister which was panned. New 15 to 1 which is different for difference's sake. Birds of a Feather quietly ignored. Crossroads cancelled for a second time. London's Burning and The Bill were killed off by their own attempts at relaunching / revamping into new programmes. Even Countdown has changed, up from 30 to 45 mins. Knight Rider even came back for one series before disappearing again. Hawaii Five-0 is just CSI with garish shirts. Innovate, don't renovate.
That, somewhat unironically, you keep retreading the same old ground. Your posting history reads like a Christmas schedule on BBC1 - full of repeats. Seen it before. Nothing new. Whereas most other threads are dedicated to things happening in CURRENT television presentation, yours almost always are focussed on the past, and while discussion of the past is welcome and interesting, there's only so much you can say about what went before before you start repeating yourself. It's why you can only watch SO many documentaries on WW2, or snooker in the 80s, or the Coast of Britain before you start retreading old ground.
Also as I mentioned in my previous post, TV is entirely subjective. There are people with long memories who are able to compare and contrast many eras of TV. My own memory stretches back to at most the early 90s. It serves absolutely no purpose to engage in purely subjective threads over and over, because you'll get the same answer - some people will like old stuff, some people will like new stuff and some people will like a bit of both. It's the forum equivalent of those filler articles you see in newspapers on slow news days. There's plenty of folk who will moan that education standards have dropped, that food standards have dropped, that politics is more corrupt than ever.... when in fact there's no definitive metric with which to measure such things. Discussion of a topic is one thing. Posting the same thing over and over in the hope that it will stimulate a debate is another. There will be no definitive way to settle the questions you ask, rather you will just end up with two factions each claiming various fatuous and completely immesurable reasons why their argument is correct. It's not trolling as such, but it's certainly close to a forum equivalent of clickbaiting.
