I found it a pain that they couldn't do anything self-contained, and seemed to rely solely on special editions of ITV shows. Given that the only two that I care for is Family Fortunes and I'm A Celebrity (and even IAC featured participants who I can't stand) and almost everything had to have some form of The X Factor injected into it, I found the level of entertainment sub par... but I guess that's subjective.
In fairness its just the same as what the BBC do with Children in Need and Comic/Sport Relief.
Not really. Comic Relief and Children In Need have always embraced shows/stars from other channels.
Mod Edit: Don't try and get around the swear filters, they're there for a reason.
Comic Relief yes, but not with Children in Need. Generally the main events in Children in Need are an EastEnders song & dance routine, a clip from Christmas Doctor Who, a special Strictly Come Dancing, BBC Newsreaders dance, probably something from Dragons Den, Top Gear etc etc.
CF
CatsFast101
To be fair to the BBC, I'm sure The Bill did a stench for Children in Need. And both them and Comic Relief have featured shows from other channels. Where as, Text Santa was totally ITV. I mean CIN and Comic Relief heavily relay on BBC shows to support but do show other things and maybe ITV should do the same? Like a Corrie and Eastenders crossover. Maybe some comedy shows from the BBC as this a genre really ITV don't enter much, and people have said a comedian might of gone down well so that might have worked well. Killing two birds with on stone; 1) Having som non-ITV content 2) Having some comedy in there
Don't forget one issue with Text Santa is having to raise the profile of it as a new initiative. It's quite possible they did ask some BBC shows but they might feel they already do their "bit" with CIN and Comic Relief, hency relying on the staple of shows that they know will come on board. PLus with just 3 hours to fill as opposed to 6/7 it's possible they just didn't need to.
I agree to the casual viewer the amount of references to shows they might not watch might have been off-putting, but the other way to look at it is that to the core ITV viewer there was an awful lot of familiar faces to hook them in which is a good starting point. It amazes me how cynical some can be over a genuinely good initiative that has raised millions...it wasn't that long ago when ITV's idea of corporate responsibility was the wishy-washy "year of promise" and all that nonsense.
Least they did better than Stand Up To Cancer on C4 (show wise), that was awful in comparison.
I thought that was better.
The worst thing about Text Santa for me was 'contrived comedy'. It perhaps needed a few stand-up comedians. Funnily enough I thought Paddy McGuinness did well. There's been far too much Holly Willoughby on TV this year.
Interesting to see that Stand up to Cancer raised more, despite it being on a smaller channel and only debuting this year. Are ITV viewers just tight Seriously though the total (£5m) for Text Santa was very poor imo given the effort behind it.
£5m based largely just on donations is a considerable figure really as unlike Comic Relief and Children in Need it hasn't really got thousands of people out fundraising for it or a massive merchandising campaign behind it, so the vast majority of that £5m would have been from people texting on the night.
Just over 5 million just on the night aline was a million more than what the whole initiative raised last year. Don't forget CIN and comic relief have been going for over 20 years. This is only the second year for Text Santa!
Just over 5 million just on the night aline was a million more than what the whole initiative raised last year. Don't forget CIN and comic relief have been going for over 20 years. This is only the second year for Text Santa!
That's fantastic news! I do hope ITV stay committed to this format and resurrect it again next year, as it seems to be working well for ITV as a whole.
Doesn't the vast majority of the total on the night for both Children in Need and Comic Relief come from the cheques handed over by various fundraising events, rather than the phone-in? I'd like to see how the on-the-night donations compare.
Don't forget also the total leaps up for CIN and Comic Relief after the pubs shut and people start donating more freely. The total of £5m was announced at 2300 so missed all that (although there were highlights - I'd be interested to know what it was by 0115 when the highlights package ended).
