Saturday, prime time telly, anybody bother?

[Tricky Dicky]

I don't bother even looking at the schedules for BBC1 or ITV1, they never have anything worth watching. Absolute garbage.

 

[Nibble]

BBC1 can be okay, only ever watch on Iplayer though. I will admit to a guilty pleasure of Doc Martin on ITV1 every now and again. Sorry.

 

[Carrot Cruncher]

If Saturday night tv isn't an advert for going out and getting pissfaced in the pub, I don't know what is.

That said, there's usually something decent on BBC4.

 

[Nibble]

Saturday night is my one night out week so never see it on the night but rifle through catch up on Sunday eve revels it to be awful.

 

[The Large One]

Saturday night TV makes me want to go out and get a job.

 

[gripper stebson]

Having been a HUGE fan of Frank Skinners podcast over the last 4 years I hate to watch him on I Love My Country.

Actually during a Podcast about a year ago he said he'd been to a screening of the pilot for a new Saturday night show he'd done with Micky Flanagan and could barely watch he was so embarrassed. Guess he didn't think it'd get made!

 

[CheeseRolls]

I could go on for ages about the demise of television. But in a nutshell, it has had to dumb down to a very low level. There are too many channels and not enough money.Some shows can rise above this but production costs are prohibitive. Sherlock for instance is fantastic telly but don't expect too many more as they can't keep Cumberbatch on the BBC budget. Shows are mostly safe, lowbrow, lowest common denominators, linked to voting and " Behind the Scenes " extension shows to fill the multitude of channels. The few big hitter shows dominate the airwaves and the budgets. It's almost impossible to get a new show to air,other than derivations of " X, Strictly, Bake Off " . There are now just a few homogeneous formats that all shows are descended from. I worry that telly can never recover.

You pick an interesting example in Cumberbatch who is a talented actor and looks to be going places. For me there is a huge pool of "light entertainment stars" who I think are far more disposable and indeed interchangeable. It used to be the case that TV paid for Theatre work for the acting fraternity. I do wonder if prime time light entertainment TV should be more of a showcase for talent, providing exposure for those good enough to earn a living from voice overs, celebrity endorsements and other such shite.

 

[Nibble]

Having been a HUGE fan of Frank Skinners podcast over the last 4 years I hate to watch him on I Love My Country.

Actually during a Podcast about a year ago he said he'd been to a screening of the pilot for a new Saturday night show he'd done with Micky Flanagan and could barely watch he was so embarrassed. Guess he didn't think it'd get made!

It's shocking telly, especially for him. Flanagan can be amusing but clearly hasn't got much longevity, the next Jimmy Cricket. However, I always regarded Skinner as a talent. I hope he's getting some serious bunce for this shitehouse.

 

[Colossal Squid]

Oddly enough I sat down to watch some prime time Saturday night guff this weekend for the first time in many a year as I was determined to stay in and not drink/save money.

I didn't last very long before resorting to the Playstation but I did catch this Love my Country show, which I'd never heard of before. Absolute shite it was but I was surprised to see Micky Flanagan on it. I thought he was a bit of a risque comedian with a lot of blue stuff. Hardly your family entertainment kind of guy. But I guess if the money's right...

I'm also always amazed by just how fresh out of ideas ITV seem to have been for about forty years now. Whilst I never watch it, I do occasionally flick past their listings and it's like a trip down memory lane: Surprise Surprise, Catch Phrase, Family Fortunes, Through the Keyhole... ALL of these shows are still being broadcast as part of the channel's prime time line up. I swear the only reason we're not still subjected to Beadle's About is because he's dead, but I wouldn't be surprised to see a remake of that in the not too distant future. Vernon's About perhaps?

Before I was old enough to go out and have fun on a Saturday night I remember sitting down to watch the live garbage that the two big broadcasters would churn out. The likes of Noel's House Party and assorted gameshows. So I do sort of see why there's a market for this type of programming. Young families with nothing better to do can quite easily resort to zoning out in front of the telly, the fast paced shouty on screen mayhem keeping the kids entertained for precious hours of peace. BUT the fact that this type of telly hasn't changed in fifty odd years really is quite surprising. Given how so many other formats have come and gone over the years, with TV as a whole rapidly changing with the times, it seems the Saturday nights are stuck in a bygone era. I know X Factor and all its variants are relatively new shows by comparison, but they're still based on tried and tested concepts from back in the day. For X Factor see Stars in Their Eyes, for Strictly Come Dancing see, er... Come Dancing. Even the Muppets are back on our screens some 23 years after the death of Jim Henson.

Are we really that boring and stuck in our ways that we can't cope with bold new programming on a Saturday night or is it that the networks simply don't have the balls to attempt anything new?

 

[CheeseRolls]

Oddly enough I sat down to watch some prime time Saturday night guff this weekend for the first time in many a year as I was determined to stay in and not drink/save money.

I didn't last very long before resorting to the Playstation but I did catch this Love my Country show, which I'd never heard of before. Absolute shite it was but I was surprised to see Micky Flanagan on it. I thought he was a bit of a risque comedian with a lot of blue stuff. Hardly your family entertainment kind of guy. But I guess if the money's right...

I'm also always amazed by just how fresh out of ideas ITV seem to have been for about forty years now. Whilst I never watch it, I do occasionally flick past their listings and it's like a trip down memory lane: Surprise Surprise, Catch Phrase, Family Fortunes, Through the Keyhole... ALL of these shows are still being broadcast as part of the channel's prime time line up. I swear the only reason we're not still subjected to Beadle's About is because he's dead, but I wouldn't be surprised to see a remake of that in the not too distant future. Vernon's About perhaps?

Before I was old enough to go out and have fun on a Saturday night I remember sitting down to watch the live garbage that the two big broadcasters would churn out. The likes of Noel's House Party and assorted gameshows. So I do sort of see why there's a market for this type of programming. Young families with nothing better to do can quite easily resort to zoning out in front of the telly, the fast paced shouty on screen mayhem keeping the kids entertained for precious hours of peace. BUT the fact that this type of telly hasn't changed in fifty odd years really is quite surprising. Given how so many other formats have come and gone over the years, with TV as a whole rapidly changing with the times, it seems the Saturday nights are stuck in a bygone era. I know X Factor and all its variants are relatively new shows by comparison, but they're still based on tried and tested concepts from back in the day. For X Factor see Stars in Their Eyes, for Strictly Come Dancing see, er... Come Dancing. Even the Muppets are back on our screens some 23 years after the death of Jim Henson.

Are we really that boring and stuck in our ways that we can't cope with bold new programming on a Saturday night or is it that the networks simply don't have the balls to attempt anything new?

Check out Opportunity Knocks and New Faces on Wikipedia and then try and work out exactly what Simon Cowell invented. He even borrowed his dress sense from Mark Farrington.

 

[Nibble]

I have fond memories of playing drinking games to catchphrase before heading out to the pub for a night. Same on Friday's, used to watch TFI Friday round a mates (bet I would cringe if I saw it now, the geek Evans sucking up to the likes of Noel Gallagher and Wayne Hemingway and vice versa) before heading out. Was fun for a while.

 

[Colossal Squid]

How long before Bullseye gets a "reboot"?

 

[Nibble]

Actually, it's still pretty good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbzFqF4VyYY

 

[Westdene Seagull]

I have fond memories of playing drinking games to catchphrase before heading out to the pub for a night. Same on Friday's, used to watch TFI Friday round a mates (bet I would cringe if I saw it now, the geek Evans sucking up to the likes of Noel Gallagher and Wayne Hemingway and vice versa) before heading out. Was fun for a while.

Bloody hell - that brings back memories - TFI before going out and "The Word" with toenail and corn eating when you came back smashed !

 

[HawkTheSeagull]

X Factor was alright, but they have massively spoilt it in recent years by adding in too many sob stories and back stories, they only do these for people that get put through - but they show them before they actually sing, so you already know they are through.

Then there is the new format of 2 auditions just so they can get another show on TV to fill the schedule.

 

[Colossal Squid]

Also I see Blind Date is due to come back for a "one off special" later this year. They're blatantly just testing the water to see if there's enough of an audience to bring it back permanently.

So what haven't they brought back? Wheel of Fortune? Must be due to return before long. You Bet? Surely overdue a comeback. The Generation Game? As long as Bruce is still alive there's surely opportunity for this old classic

 

[Papa Lazarou]

The BBC will always have something 'family' oriented on Saturday evenings, be it Doctor Who, Merlin, Robin Hood or the new offering Atlantis. Other than that, and ITVs attempt in Primeval, there's little in that traditional category left.

 

[Colossal Squid]

Do people still get "gunged"? I remember that was a mainstay of Saturday night TV when I was a kid. Get somebody in a tank full of goo. Classic

 

[Leighgull]

Downton is merely the reincarnation of Upstairs Downstairs, which was one of a range of fairly decent period dramas of 30 odd years ago. There was Onedin, Poldark and The Forsyth Saga, all of which would be as good if not better than Fellowes' bland fayre.

Onedin line?, Poldark?..I remember those with dread as a child.Lots of internal shots of people with sideburns arguing..women with bustles arguing...bloody hell I used to disappear upstairs whenever that turd came on.

The drivel on Saturday night...talent shows, dancing about, Means that I have to sit apart from my dearest love and read a book while she laps up the shit

No difference there in 30 years.

 

[Papa Lazarou]

I can't beleive the BBC ditched Total Wipe Out - that was great.

You've been Framed is also a classic Saturday evening show that seems to be on it's last legs.