ITV is great at dramas, it needs to comission more of them and for longer runs (as ITV have with
Afterlife
). ITV is also good at soaps, when it isn't flogging them to death.
However when was the last time ITV produced a
decent
sitcom? Or a gameshow that wasn't derivative or involved premium-rate phonelines-- they could do better than relying on
WWTBAM
all the time I feel.
And just for balance, can we see more current affairs programmes and more investment in the regions. After all, ITV is supposed to be Britain's "only true regional broadcaster" according to its website!
There were two new gameshow formats being piloted by ITV. One is "Show me what you've got" (formerly "Show me the money"), and "For the rest of your life".
Both pilots were being shot by Endemol in August. I tried out for "Show me the money". The other show was for couples only.
No premium rate phone lines were involved in either.
Not sure if either made the grade and have gone to a series. Both were being shot on the same set.
The problem with gameshows is that they're a dying breed worldwide -- in the US a small number of independent companies (Goodson-Todman being the most prominent) developed most of the best formats in the 50s through to the 80s. When the owners of these companies retired no-one else seemed to come up with comparable formats with any kind of longevity.
Sitcoms seem to have suffered much the same fate in the UK, not helped by the Alternative comedians in the 80s; nothing wrong with the Alternatives, but their output put the traditional sitcom out of business, so now it's largely sidelined. ITV always had fairly weak sitcoms, and in the modern perspective that is more obvious than ever, so ITV pretty much don't bother any more.
Combine that with ITV's obsession with soaps and soap actors (who are quickly forgotten in the minds of the public), and the "me-too" attitude with the multitude of poor-quality reality shows (all reality TV is carp but a bad reality show, eurgh), and ITV are now caught in a pincer movement, with few genres they can call their own. They killed off the PSB for short-termist greedy reasons, gameshows and sitcoms are dead in the way we used to watch them, and they're left desperately trying to grab viewers with drama programmes which they
can't
allow to run for multiple seasons if they aren't a hit straight away because the rest of the channel is too weak to prop them up.
The BBC has declined, but because it's a PSB with a guaranteed source of income it can afford to take risks with edgy shows. ITV can't any more, partly of its own doing and partly because of the climate in broadcasting today.
The one thing I can't fathom in all of this though is why on earth they decided to stop showing American dramas. I understand that they were being outbid by $ky but these often very high quality populist shows would be an ideal cheap way of sureing up the weaker areas of ITV's schedule. And yet they decided to pull all imports from primetime. Unbelievable.
The problem with gameshows is that they're a dying breed worldwide -- in the US a small number of independent companies (Goodson-Todman being the most prominent) developed most of the best formats in the 50s through to the 80s. When the owners of these companies retired no-one else seemed to come up with comparable formats with any kind of longevity.
Interestingly, "Show Me What You've Got/Show Me the Money" has already been picked up by a US network; although I was given to understand the format was created to meet ITV's commission.
The format creator is he who did Deal or No Deal, and Endemol were quite blunt when they told me that ITV wanted "a winner like Deal" on their books.
Gameshows did fall out of favour big time. The biggest producer of gameshows in this country during late 80's and to mid 90's was Action Time. Does anyone know if Action Time is still in existance and who now owns them - last thing I heard was that Carlton owned them.
Nowadays it does seem that Endemol (owned by Spanish telecoms company nowadays ) are the biggest producers of gameshows and Reality gameshow genres (e.g. Big Brother).
Decent gameshows need to come back to primetime e.g. Wheel Of Fortune, Family Fortunes, The Price Is Right, The Pyramid Game, Strike It Rich, My Kind Of Music, etc...
ITV were actually quite could at subtle comedy hits - ones that were not advertised but through word of mouth did actually get the viewers e.g. Watching, Home To Roost, Surgical Spirits etc... - but again ITV don't take these risks anymore - shame, unlike BBC
If anything ITV fault is the lack of risk taking and the fear of failing. Other stations do take risks, and that does include Sky and other satellite & cable channels and they do have both hits and misses and they learn. ITV are too frightened and play safe thus a failure on their channel IS more noticeable due to the amount of froth they already produce.
Finally it was ITV's own decision to drop foreign programming from its schedule (except for Home and AWay to which it was tied to) on the fact the the viewers didn't want to watch foreign drama's/comedies and were more interested in home-produced programmes of all genres - that was actually Charles Allen when he was vice-chairman and Granada plc (before merging with LWT, Yorkshire, Tyne Tees, Border, Meridian and Anglia). What a hypocrite he became when he was chairman of ITV plc and stripped the channel of its best assets and stopped doing what ITV was good at - market leader, imaginiative and most importantly viewer grabbing with decent programmes and regional identities.
The one thing I can't fathom in all of this though is why on earth they decided to stop showing American dramas. I understand that they were being outbid by $ky but these often very high quality populist shows would be an ideal cheap way of sureing up the weaker areas of ITV's schedule. And yet they decided to pull all imports from primetime. Unbelievable.
ITV1 will be airing its first American drama in primetime for years in January, with Six Degrees, made by the creator of Lost.
ITV were actually quite could at subtle comedy hits - ones that were not advertised but through word of mouth did actually get the viewers e.g. Watching, Home To Roost, Surgical Spirits etc... - but again ITV don't take these risks anymore - shame, unlike BBC
Actually considering the standard of some of the BBC's recent sitcoms it's probably more of a relief than a shame!
Seriously though it is a shame - but ITV can do comedy well, if not the traditional sitcoms. Harry Hill's TV Burp, Creature Comforts and 2DTV have all been brilliant in the last few years.
I think though ITV1 needs to go for the family sitcom area. They don't have the right audience for the more adult sitcoms really - though they are ideal for the 10pm slot - but if ITV1 would free up an 8pm hour one night a week (say Tuesdays out of the football season) eventually it would pay off.
They would have to try a few before they got anywhere, but partnering them up in the hour with something like Harry Hill's TV Burp would be worth the risk IMO.
It's certainly a better use of time than Trinny and Susanah Undress - if ever there was a programme title that put you off viewing!
There has actually been a sitcom airing Mondays at 10pm on ITV1 for the last few weeks. The fact that nobody has mentioned it at all, even slagging it off is quite ironic
ITV1 also do a lot of successful comedy dramas
:-(
A former member
Andrew posted:
There has actually been a sitcom airing Mondays at 10pm on ITV1 for the last few weeks. The fact that nobody has mentioned it at all, even slagging it off is quite ironic
