ITV

because as I said people have always been snobish (is that a word?) towards itv! its nothing new it has always been the case! I honestly do not remember a time when ITV was praised- so I dont see why it should be different now!
With respect to ITN, ITV must be the only network in the world that has not recieved any credit for its news service- the credit has always gone to ITN rather than ITV, despite the fact it was ITV that has paid for it. When people talk about respecting the BBC it's because of its news service which has always been associated to it. ITV has never had that as ITN was always seen as a seperate body- so I can understand why ITV wanted to brand their news as ITV News. Unfortunately it was far to late and instead of ITN bringing credibility to ITV, ITV discredited ITN. But to be honest I would be more concerned if ITV was getting praised, as that would be totally out of character.

Please correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't ITV show Grand Prixs? Judging from your sig I assume that that would be of some remote interest to you.

'Bandwagon Birkett' springs to mind...

.....and also Katherine's comment. Surely it's the old adage, "how can you comment if you don't watch it anymore?"

SO

I'm going to begin a thread which will only allow positive thoughts on ITV.

It's pretty clear the average Joe doesn't hate ITV, whereas the average TV Forumer does - what, a handful of people? I don't think Charles Allen will be quaking.

For the record, the BBC and ITV are as bad as each other when it comes to trash TV - only you have the priviledge of paying for the tripe you see on the BBC.

We must remember ITV doesn't have an obligation to please minorities - it HAS to be a one-size fits all TV channel. It needs to scrap the crap and keep the performers. That's why programmes like Shafted... were Shafted.

People may say I'm a Celebrity is Trash TV, well, in that case, more than 1 in 6 British citizens are heathens. It is one of the most popular things on the box. If you were the boss of ITV, would you stop producing this "trash" and instead show "World in Action", which would gain 1.5 million viewers at most?

I think the answer to programmes which don't perform on ITV1 is to whack them on ITV2 (or ITV3) at the same time it was intended for broadcast on ITV1. Then everyone stays happy, and the money programmes stay on ITV1, and subsequently ITV2 benefit from an increased audience inherited from the "trashed" ITV1 venture.

ITV hater reporting for duty! Firstly, even my wife has started to laugh at (not with, at) ITV when she saw the trailer for "Fatland" next week, shown shortly after a programme about - plastic surgery. Neither can she wait for "Celebrity Wrestling" to start.
ITV is trash - period.
Secondly, the constant refrain from those people who work in ITV and come on here is that "things had to change because we live in a mutl-channel/ digital age" (delete as appropriate). Nobody has ever explained to me why it is that a well made programme on ITV would lose viewers simply because they were all tuning in en-masse to friendly tv, Racing UK, AVAGO etc. Strangely, when something like the "Two Ronnies Sketchbook" comes on BBC One, they all resist the charms of Gay TV, L!VE TV, The Poker Channel etc. and tune in to a proper well made well presented TV programme - most of it of course made years ago.
ITV was set up by parliament to provide a regional basis for the independent network, and the law has not changed (if it had, ITV would simply get rid of all the regional franchises) - that's why we still have the regional stations, in name anyway. But by simply filming and following a local vet, or lifeboat crew or whatever, calling it regional programming and then pointing out nobody's watching (presumably all having flocked over to the exciting multichannel/digital experience of Look4Love TV) this enables them to abandon their regional programming,
What a con.,

The poor quality of their coverage (especially James Allen's commentary) does not make me interested in seeing it. If Sky's Formula One Digital Plus service was still running, THAT'S the quality of coverage I want. My thoughts on this have been well-documented, I am becoming disillusioned with the whole sport too. Too much meddling of the rules too often, and it's not very fan-friendly. Bernie Ecclestone was, is and shall always remain a TIT.

I never said i don't watch it of course i do.I just don't like the way ITV has let go of it's regional roots it's a mess now.Yes i know that things have to move forward etc before you say it.

Well I listed some of the good points in the other thread so here are some of the bad. I like ITV but some things do annoy me about them - especially number 4

1 The national announcing team - some of them are OK but a lot of them are so annoying, especially when they talk over the end credits when you want to hear the theme tune. Thank god we get our own announcers on ITV Wales.

2. Showing too many reality tv/celebrity types of programmes - Im A Celeb, Hell's Kitchen, Celeb Stars in their eyes, celebs under pressure, with a little help from my friends. far too many of the same type of series.

3. Showing the same programmes all the time. Why must 7pm always be Emmerdale (apart from Saturday) There are far too many episodes.

4 Taking advantage of the popularity of Corrie by ordering extra episodes whenever there is a reality tv series or something else and then scheduling it before or after it. (e.g. Hell's Kitchen, Im a Celeb)

5. Not giving a new series a proper chance in peak time and axing it before the end or moving it to a grave yard slot.

Jez - I completely agree with you - you've probably listed the exact same 5 points that I would have done (except I wouldn't have listed good points like you say you have in the other thread...)

Some people are saying that ITV has actually always been trash and that we only 'notice' it more now because we are able to discuss it on the internet. I disagree - a few months ago I was going through some old tapes with quite a lot of old ITV stuff on (mostly where the VCR was left recording after a programme), and I can honestly say it was of a much higher quality.

Of course I would like the regional branding back (but I understand it won't happen), and I get really p***ed off with all the Celebrity programming, but I think the thing that annoys me the most about ITV today is the general 'feel' of the channel, especially between programming. Everytime I hear an announcer talking in a 'gossip-like manner' instead of formally introducing a programme, I want to punch somebody!

In my opinion, ITV is digging itself into a VERY deep hole that it will never be able to get out of. These Celebrity programmes provide intense but short-term success. I think that as each year goes by, shows like Pop Idol, I'm A Celebrity... etc will continue to spark public interest, but in the bigger picture, viewers will desert ITV. I mean, there's only so much dumbing-down that society can endure.
In just 4 years we've had Popstars, 2 series of Pop Idol, Popstars; The Rivals, 4 series of I'm A Celebrity..., Soapstars, Hell's Kitchen, The X Factor and God knows what else...

Oh, and yes - ITV News is a COMPLETE joke!!!

Got to agree about this. It annoys the hell out of me, especially the Scottish bloke and the girl with a weak voice who can barely be heard above the jingle.

ITV has always been pleb TV - TV for the council house.

It's a complete myth to believe that it was some talented, high-brow broadcaster twenty or thirty years ago.

The schedules of 20 years ago, easily found on the net, shows it to be full of the same formulaic UK dramas it shows now. The only difference is that they currently show fewer US dramas, virtually none in primetime.