Has Television quality declined?

I was discussing this with a writer friend not so long ago, who used to write for programmes on the BBC and ITV. Now retired, we were both in agreement that television as a medium has wholly declined in quality. Programmes that were once made with lots of care and attention, are now being churned out. I suppose that because there are more channels than there were 15, even 10 years ago, that the whole quantity over quality issue arises. Whilst people would argue that the internet has largely killed television off, programmes that were made a decade ago, when the internet was in its golden age, where made with higher standards than now. It just strikes me that a lot of television companies don't care or are playing it safe with time tested ideas that have now run their course.

I would be interested to know other member's thoughts on this matter - as I think it's a very important one if television is to survive for future generations.

I think technology and the destaffing that came with it is partly to blame. back in the day you just couldn't cut corners, you needed separate people doing jobs that are combined into one now due to the nature of the kit. That meant there were more people casting an eye over the output and so they were more likely to be able to pay attention to details that might be overlooked now.

The word 'quality' is so broad and down to taste so it's hard to make a general judgement. But if we talk about physical things that we can see and measure such as production values, then I think there has been substantial improvement.

For instance, just looking at the standard of studio sets, there is far more money spent, and more attention to detail. Advancing technology has assisted this but also the collapse of the unions led to a lot more money used on screen rather than behind the scenes.

I think in this country we hit a low point in the early 00's but I genuinely think we will look back at the end of the 00's and now as a golden age with plenty of quality programming. ITV's dramas in particular have been outstanding.

But on the other hand improvements in technology and fewer people can also mean an increase in 'quality'.

You don't need a studio and a full crew and a massive edit suite full of equipment to make a 'quality' TV programme. It can all be done much cheaper on location and edited on a desktop computer and still look more polished than something made in the traditional method in the 70s or 80s.

It can also be of benefit to writers and other programme creators - fewer people involved can mean they're closer to the production and have more control over the end product.

TOWIE and Made in Chelsea are recent examples of bad quality programming.

I bet we could come up with bad quality programmes from 70s and 80s. And NO 321 does not count.

Every decade has its fair share of sh*te. I mean late 90's/early noughties....

But are they really bad quality? They're example of lowbrow programming but for what they are, they're pretty well made.

Like I said, the word 'quality' isn't specific enough and is based on taste rather than any specific values.

Exactly Whataday. It does feel like there is a lot of rubbish today but in truth there is still a lot of quality television broadcast, arguably as much as ever. It's just while in the past there might be one decent programme on TV across 4 channels at any given time, now it's across 400.

It's probably fair to say there has been an increase in mediocrity in TV, but the best of the best of UK and international television is arguably as good as it's ever been.

What do you mean by quality? Quality in terms of highbrow/lowbrow and intellectually (dis)engaging programming? Or quality in terms of production values and polish? Because those two things are separate.

Agreed. As far as the Beeb are concerned, the two stand out dramas for me (so far) this year have been Line of Duty and Happy Valley . US TV drama is very strong, arguably some of it exceeds our best. I'm halfway through watching the entire collection of Breaking Bad , it's extraordinary it's never been broadcast on UK TV, fantastic gripping stuff.

What is generally poorer is factual programming. The recent BBC documentary about the Cross Rail project, had some excellent moments, but it did feel like 75 mins of decent content packed into 180. There's so much faffing about reminding you what's happened in the last five minutes, becomes really tiring to watch. It's a pity that the attention span of viewers that is taken for granted on 'top drawer' complex drama, is often not there for factual stuff, though there are recent exceptions, Dr Michael Mosely's recent Horizon programmes about meat have been higher quality than most of that series' recent efforts, but still no where near the levels the strand had back in the 70s and 80s.

In short, there's normally a hour or so of something worthwhile to watch every night on TV, which personally I find fine, and is more than I can consume anyway, seeing as I have two PVRs, both 90% full with unwatched content !

Police Drama's, whether procedural or something more gritty with a sinister twist, always seem to fair quite well. Doesn't matter if it is a all year round show or not, although I do find that all of the current shorter run police drama's are if such a high quality that they could become all year rounders.