The Story of Light Entertainment, BBC2, Saturday night, pulled in more viewers (2.4m) than some of the current, modern-day tv shows on mainstream channels the same night.
Evidence that:
A: People DO want professional entertainers on their TV screens. The only way to see them is a clips show. They are SO TIRED of watching someone cooking a meal, or buying a house being passed off as acceptable fodder.
B: That the snobbery has to end, and the opinion that "light entertainment" is old fashioned is, in itself, old fashioned.
Audeinces want it. So why aren't they being given it?
Year after year, The Royal Variety Performance pulls in 8-10 million viewers. The market is there - why doesn't anyone tap into it?
I just don't get it.
I'm not saying that a Royal Variety style show is the way to go, but with a visionary producer, and the genre having a more contemporary feel, proper entertainment could be the new "watching a man paint a wall".
All it needs is someone brave enough to take the risk. A risk that I believe isn't there in the first place.
I think it's all a reason of economics. Commercial channels have shareholders to satisfy, and will often be more willing to stick to whatever makes them the most money and satisfies the shareholders rather than the interests of the viewing public or what makes "good" TV.
Really decent programme though - good to see the subject being given a decent run (eight episodes), a decent running time (90 minutes), no smart alec title etc. Looking forward to the rest of the series.
Well, it's spelt youth, but you get the idea. Most executives believe that the younger generation don't want to watch such programmes and thus try and cater for them, hence Big Brother, Love Island and more.
Unfortunately, they fail to realise that quite a lot of young people would rather be out and about than watch this type of programming. Either that, or they actually like variety, which I doubt is the case with most people between the age of 18-24 who post "awful, absolute tripe" to any programme at any opportunity. Because of this, a lot of the older generation are sidelined.
OK, that's my totally opinionated rant over for today!
I agree, all this light entertainment aimed at youths has to go. I'm 16 and I'm starting to hate all these reality programmes aimed at younger people. I could include Big Brother in the list but I've noticed that there need to be more older people in the show as some of the younger there are ageist and I'm already on the verge of hating younger people despite my age because they're all ugly and rude freaks, chavs and goths in my eyes and we're supposed to appeal to them.
On the brighter side I'd like to see Noel's House Party to return. I loved that show especially Mr Blobby!
I agree, all this light entertainment aimed at youths has to go. I'm 16 and I'm starting to hate all these reality programmes aimed at younger people. I could include Big Brother in the list but I've noticed that there need to be more older people in the show as some of the younger there are ageist and I'm already on the verge of hating younger people despite my age because they're all ugly and rude freaks, chavs and goths in my eyes and we're supposed to appeal to them.
On the brighter side I'd like to see Noel's House Party to return. I loved that show especially Mr Blobby!
Because Noel's House Party wasn't light entertainment....
I was thinking about this recently, and could only really come up with one proper conclusion (in my mind anyway)
Television is starting to become outdated. People are going out a lot more, and instead are buying DVDs, Videos etc.
Now in the 60s, 70s, 80s and even 90s to an extent people were watching television a lot more! Since TV was such a big thing, people at the time were willing to watch NEW things and see them develop as there was no real alternative to television and radio as a medium like we have now. People did go out, but television was seen as an ok way to spend a night at the time. Now it doesn't seem like this. Staying in and watching TV of a night time now is i think for the older generation.
SO, when programmes come on that link with the older programmes of the 70s, 80s etc the people who were brought up on television are going to watch them. So re-makes like Doctor Who, documentaries etc which build on the nostalgia of earlier television will suddenly catch the eye of people who watched it NEW when it came out all them years ago and they will watch it. So the figures will always be high for these types of shows as they appeal to the what i would call "Television Generation"
Now these days, TV is not as big as it once was, so the new generation of television viewers are going to watch TV less and less, and instead go out, or even watch a DVD, play their Xbox or whatever. Since their attention spans are shorter they are unlikely to watch NEW programmes that come out nowadays and follow them to see how they go. You may get a rare occasion when something like Big Brother or Lost pops up, when people talk and talk about it so it does eventually get around and become popular, but it's not always the case. Love Island is just the same as Big Brother really, yet look at the ratings it is getting.
The "TV Generation" i.e. the older audience are not going to watch these shows either because they will think it's crap, and will just stick to watching what they want to watch, i.e. documentaries on older shows, re-makes of old shows because that is what they want!
We've got to face it, i really think eventually television wlil be dead and buried. Or at least not grab the kind of audience figures we're even getting now for some programmes.
The final digital switchover will probably hinder this more. This is where TV will start using sport as the only medium for people to watch television. God knows, what ITV will be doing in 2012 for the Olympics.
I think it's all a reason of economics. Commercial channels have shareholders to satisfy, and will often be more willing to stick to whatever makes them the most money and satisfies the shareholders rather than the interests of the viewing public or what makes "good" TV.
Which is precisely the reason for the TV License, so that the BBC can produce programmes which would not be viable for a commercial channel
