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All about ITV https://www.beexcellenttoeachother.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=3070 |
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Author: | NervousPete [ Fri Jan 23, 2009 17:47 ] |
Post subject: | All about ITV |
I've just borrowed a book from the library called 'The Dream that Died: The Rise & Fall of ITV' by Raymond Fitzwalker. Looks like interesting stuff with lots of good old righteous anger and dry wit. I've skimmed through it and, as usual, the venality of the asset strippers and profit hunters staggers. The last great thing I saw on ITV was 'The Second Coming' by RTD, and that had a blindingly awesome first episode and a good second one that was marred by (aha!) an inability to work out how to end it, and slightly chickened out. Primeval was fun, but nothing special. Before that the last awesome sci-fi I can remember is Sapphire & Steel. Anyway, I poked around for stuff on the book and found this interesting article: (spoilered for length) ZOMG Spoiler! Click here to view! So can ITV turn its fortunes around? Will it succeed in cultivating talent both behind and in front of the camera? Will Nirehenge weep salty tears of joy at a sudden revival of Terry Nation & Peter Hinchcliffe production values? ("No," - ed.) |
Author: | Squirt [ Fri Jan 23, 2009 18:15 ] |
Post subject: | Re: All about ITV |
I'm no TV expert, but things like Brideshead Revisited must still be making cash for however holds the rights - it still pops up on TV and gets given away with Sunday papers and so on, and House and West Wing must be raking it in on DVD sales. Surely a decent drama series is worth a punt, even if you judge everything on purely commercial reasons. |
Author: | JBR [ Fri Jan 23, 2009 18:24 ] |
Post subject: | Re: All about ITV |
My dad used to say the same thing about the - admittedly in a relatively niche area - athletics coverage. ITV had it for a while, before they crunched the numbers and rather than thinking "£100,000 an hour - hmm, well, it's worth it", getting to "we can stick an old Bond film on and get the same viewing figures". |
Author: | chinnyhill10 [ Fri Jan 23, 2009 19:50 ] |
Post subject: | Re: All about ITV |
Squirt wrote: I'm no TV expert, but things like Brideshead Revisited must still be making cash for however holds the rights - it still pops up on TV and gets given away with Sunday papers and so on, and House and West Wing must be raking it in on DVD sales. Surely a decent drama series is worth a punt, even if you judge everything on purely commercial reasons. They are too scared of the cost of failure. It's the "Eldorado" factor, ever since that happend everyone is terrified they'll lose loads of money and their job. Although ironically any broadcaster these days would give their right arm for the ratings and audience share that Eldorado got! ITV went down the pan because it's structure was fundamentally screwed with in the 1990 broadcasting act. ITV was made up of lots of regional companies all making TV shows for the network. Yes they all bitched about who got what slots on the network, but it generally worked and they all competed to outdo one another. There was a genuine sense of competition. Thames losing their franchise was a huge huge blow. For years they'd been purveyors of great shows across the ITV network that still live in the memory. They spawned Euston Films a division of Thames specifically dedicated to making high quality drama entirely on film and on location. From Widows through to Minder, Euston Films set a benchmark for the network. It's also no surprise that ITV don't really do comedy any more, a problem that occurred once Thames lost it's franchise. One of Thames's final series was Men Behaving Badly which they continued to make for the BBC. But going back further you had everything from Man About The House to George and Mildred, Never The Twain and countless other series lost to the midsts of time. Yes they produced some right old shit, but they were always prepared to take a risk and if something didn't work they would do something else instead. These days ITV is short of money and afraid to take a risk. And the worst thing is that this means less pressure on the BBC to keep up. So the BBC's standards have dropped greatly as well as there is no benchmark for them. Up until the last 10 -15 years the it was often ITV who innovated and took risks and the dear old BBC followed. You only have to look back at the days of World of Sport up against Grandstand on a Saturday afternoon. LWT could only get the rights to the sports the BBC didn't want, but they did such a superb job that they used to trash Grandstand in the ratings. 15 million people watching wrestling on a Saturday afternoon. Not forgetting the ITV 7, the darts and all the other stuff they pulled the punters in with. Sadly we won't see those days again. Now go and look at my avatar and say "Good morning, you're watching Thames, from London". And then fucking weep! |
Author: | Plissken [ Fri Jan 23, 2009 20:19 ] |
Post subject: | Re: All about ITV |
Interesting that the decline of ITV has been largely due to beancounting. And the malaise that affected the BBC that Chinny mentioned was thanks to John Birt, the beancounters beancounter. In monetary terms, entertainment is either wildly successful or a complete failure. THere is little in-between. So trying to steer a middling course is doomed to failure. |
Author: | MarzSyndrome [ Fri Jan 23, 2009 22:11 ] |
Post subject: | Re: All about ITV |
Is it safe to assume Thatcher can mostly be blamed for the Broadcasting Act which effectively killed Thames? |
Author: | chinnyhill10 [ Fri Jan 23, 2009 22:33 ] |
Post subject: | Re: All about ITV |
MarzSyndrome wrote: Is it safe to assume Thatcher can mostly be blamed for the Broadcasting Act which effectively killed Thames? Yep. And they made bloody sure Thames couldn't win their bid. Thames had made a documentary called "Death On The Rock" which she took great exception to. Wiki: Quote: The company's most controversial act (and perhaps its bravest) was the documentary "Death On The Rock", part of the current affairs strand This Week. The programme questioned the authority of British troops who had gunned down a group of suspected Provisional IRA members who were allegedly planning a terrorist attack on a British military ceremony on Gibraltar. The documentary was regarded almost as an act of treason by many Conservative politicians, and newspapers such as The Sunday Times. The station, along with the IBA who stood by it, came in for tremendous criticism from those quarters. Although it has to be said that Carlton did outbid Thames. Years later Carlton begged the government for a reduction in their licence fee as they couldn't afford it. Talk about insult to injury! TVAM also lost its franchise and Thatcher actually apologised to their Chief Executive in a private letter than he then published. |
Author: | Derek The Halls [ Fri Jan 23, 2009 22:41 ] |
Post subject: | Re: All about ITV |
This sounds like a thread for Mark X. |
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