It's all for charity and rightly an incredible amount of money was raised, but the main purpose of the telethon is to be an entertainment programme. I'm a bit put out by those who seem to consider that because it's for a good cause, the telethon itself should be immune to criticism.
And the two aren't separate either really. Many of us who've grown up with Comic Relief donate largely because of what we remember from the telethons over the years - if the show itself becomes less entertaining and gets less viewers over the years ultimately it will hit the donations.
Maybe, just maybe, the concept of the 'Telethon' is now dead. Little else from the world of 1980s broadcasting survives, so really is it such a surprise CiN and Comic Relief are so poor ? Or perhaps they always were, but production values for LE are so high and precisely tuned now, that by their nature Telethons need to reinvent themselves ?
Can you imagine Eurovision going back to being presented in a studio, with five cameras ?
I thought it was being held in the Ukraine this year?
But seriously, I think you're right. The telethon idea is a little dated in a way. Compare, for example, what ITV did with the Telethons in 1988, 1990 and 1992 and then look at what they do now with Text Santa. Same message, but it's just been repackaged for this decade. In commercial radio, Global have got all their ducks in a row for Make Some Noise where all their brands do their bit. It's taken the old Gold Rush and Charity Auction format and again modernised it - and they raise a phenomenal amount.
In terms of LE, yes things have got bigger. The X Factor and Strictly have set new benchmarks for Saturday Night entertainment. Saturday Night Takeaway isn't doing anything new, really - it's just reinvented the lovechild of Noel's House Party and Toothbrush for the 2010's. You mention Eurovision - the various producers, particularly in what I'd call the "post-Wogan" years, have put a huge amount of effort into making it a first-class television production. The Swedish production last year was phenomenal, and the brave decision to revise the way the scores were presented made for incredible television. You don't watch the X Factor and know Louisa Johnson has won ages before the end do you? Oh, wait.
The X Factor doesn't do a charity single anymore - but the profits from the winner's single go to charity instead. The cynic in me says that's designed to derail another Rage Against The Machine campaign (if you derail the song you hate sick kids) but they're still doing their bit. (Cowell of course does a significant amount of charity work discreetly, he just chooses not to shout about it.)
Loads of shops in my town got involved in various activities and fun-days in the run-up, as did all the local schools. I think people just raise money in different ways now. The cake sales, the workplace events, it's basically more "organised" now. And as has been mentioned, big companies hunt as a pack now - if you work for pretty much any national name they'll have a significant charity department.