TV and all that jazz
As for TV well it's the influx of reality shows, home improvement shows and gameshows. TV reached a new low with Big Brother and an even lower point with I'm a celebrity get me out of here. As for the so called comedy shows Little Britain it's just appalling. I've never seen such crap in my life. Mind you there is some good stuff on although sadly not as much as there used to be as anything good seems to be axed or take forever to come back on TV or be moved timeslots and displaced because of sport or otherwise victimised.
I could speak at length about this subject and about how good shows never get the press they deserve. I mean I love a lot of good British dramas. I'm newly addicted to Vincent. Then there's Judge John Deed, New Tricks, Born and Bred, Hustle, Blue Murder, A touch of Frost, Midsomer Murders and those are just the ones I watch. I've heard great things about Spooks. Inspector Morse is very popular although I never really liked it. Waking the Dead used to be good but has got really silly. Then there's Heartbeat, for what it is it's quite good entertainment. The spin-off The Royal was never brilliant and I turned the air blue when that got renewed and Born and Bred (a much better show) got axed.
US TV isn't necessarily better, it just gets a lot more press and therefore becomes more popular. I mean the US has Hollywood and therefore stuff that gets exported seems to some people (friends at school) to be a lot more entertaining. CSI:NY, Grey's Anatomy, House, Without a Trace are all good. I don't watch Desperate Housewives, Lost, Prison Break or Numb3rs but they are all very popular. I love US TV shows but I love British TV shows as well. I wrote an article for the sixth form magazine about how unfair it was that these popular shows were broadcast in the US and then a year (or more in some cases) broadcast over here because I love US shows.
What TV show will you be watching tonight? The chances are that it will be US produced. The CSI stable, Grey’s Anatomy, House, Desperate Housewives, The OC and Lost are all TV programs bought from the United States and they are all insanely popular in the UK. However, if you surf the net looking for information on your favourite US-grown show you will find that they are at least a season ahead in the US if not more. Suddenly, the intriguing mysteries of Lost are not as intriguing anymore as the answers have already been revealed in later episodes and have been posted numerous places on the net - easily accessible to the unsuspecting UK fan.
How, I hear you ask, is this possible? Why, in this the technology age, do UK viewers have to wait a year or more for the next instalment of their favourite show? Take Grey’s Anatomy as an example. The UK premiere for this show was on the 6th of April 2006, four days earlier in the states episode 20 of season two aired - an episode UK fans have yet to see. There is no reason for this madness; it’s a circumstance that even those in the industry can not explain.
So, what is the point in this article? To tell you that it shouldn’t be this way and that you can change it. Audiences hold all the power, TV networks have none. If you make your displeasure known then they will have to change their money-spinning ways. Ratings are all important to the networks; try not tuning in when they eventually show it or if that’s too hard (it would be for me) then write into teletext or your favourite TV listings magazine, even send an email or write to the network concerned. If enough people say enough is enough then the networks will be forced to act.
Don’t complain about the jet-lag, destroy it.
but that's beside the point. I think that British TV needs a shakeup. Reality TV is a cop-out as they don't have to think up any decent plots. When I heard that it had cost nearly 2 million pounds to build the new Big Brother house and then production costs and things like that on top of it I went a little mental. The fact that C4 pushes back broadcasting Without a Trace by over 2 months so they can devote the entire summer to Big Brother is irrelevant. It made me angry that they were wasting so much money producing crap rather than investing in some quality drama which you could watch again and again.
Ok, I could rant and rave about this forever and cover far more than just the state of British TV. For example, one hit show Hustle which has been successful in the US is now becoming part US. The network AMC which bought the rights to it has also bought some production rights and insisted that two of the six episodes in the next series be filmed in the US. Why? It's a British show, part of the appeal is that it's British surely? I mean, there have been attempts to copy Hustle and put it in a US setting and both of those shows bombed. Couple that with the fact that Hollywood has lured away Adrian Lester so the show will have a new lead next season and we're heading for trouble.
Something else that annoys me about British TV. The seasons aren't very long. In the states there's 23/24 episodes in a season. In England there's normally 6/8. Heartbeat is an exception as it's a show that attracts ratings whether it's good or not, a safe option and therefore it's on for half the year. I expect that now Where the heart is has been axed The Royal (Heartbeat's spin-off) will dominate the other half of the year.
Ok, I must stop. I feel too strongly about TV and I go on far too much. I think I'll save how much I hate the movie industry for coming out with sequels to movies that were meant to stand alone in order to cash in on the popularity for another entry. I mean honestly, is there no creativity left in this world? I loved the Santa Clause movie as much as the next person but really the second one should never have been made let alone the third one which is coming out at the end of the month. I think the only original character left is Santa Clause. The same happened with Miss Congeniality, it's a bad move. Two exceptions to this are The Princess Diaries and Bridget Jones Diaries. The unplanned sequels for both were as good as the originals.
Definitely going to stop now.
I could speak at length about this subject and about how good shows never get the press they deserve. I mean I love a lot of good British dramas. I'm newly addicted to Vincent. Then there's Judge John Deed, New Tricks, Born and Bred, Hustle, Blue Murder, A touch of Frost, Midsomer Murders and those are just the ones I watch. I've heard great things about Spooks. Inspector Morse is very popular although I never really liked it. Waking the Dead used to be good but has got really silly. Then there's Heartbeat, for what it is it's quite good entertainment. The spin-off The Royal was never brilliant and I turned the air blue when that got renewed and Born and Bred (a much better show) got axed.
US TV isn't necessarily better, it just gets a lot more press and therefore becomes more popular. I mean the US has Hollywood and therefore stuff that gets exported seems to some people (friends at school) to be a lot more entertaining. CSI:NY, Grey's Anatomy, House, Without a Trace are all good. I don't watch Desperate Housewives, Lost, Prison Break or Numb3rs but they are all very popular. I love US TV shows but I love British TV shows as well. I wrote an article for the sixth form magazine about how unfair it was that these popular shows were broadcast in the US and then a year (or more in some cases) broadcast over here because I love US shows.
What TV show will you be watching tonight? The chances are that it will be US produced. The CSI stable, Grey’s Anatomy, House, Desperate Housewives, The OC and Lost are all TV programs bought from the United States and they are all insanely popular in the UK. However, if you surf the net looking for information on your favourite US-grown show you will find that they are at least a season ahead in the US if not more. Suddenly, the intriguing mysteries of Lost are not as intriguing anymore as the answers have already been revealed in later episodes and have been posted numerous places on the net - easily accessible to the unsuspecting UK fan.
How, I hear you ask, is this possible? Why, in this the technology age, do UK viewers have to wait a year or more for the next instalment of their favourite show? Take Grey’s Anatomy as an example. The UK premiere for this show was on the 6th of April 2006, four days earlier in the states episode 20 of season two aired - an episode UK fans have yet to see. There is no reason for this madness; it’s a circumstance that even those in the industry can not explain.
So, what is the point in this article? To tell you that it shouldn’t be this way and that you can change it. Audiences hold all the power, TV networks have none. If you make your displeasure known then they will have to change their money-spinning ways. Ratings are all important to the networks; try not tuning in when they eventually show it or if that’s too hard (it would be for me) then write into teletext or your favourite TV listings magazine, even send an email or write to the network concerned. If enough people say enough is enough then the networks will be forced to act.
Don’t complain about the jet-lag, destroy it.
but that's beside the point. I think that British TV needs a shakeup. Reality TV is a cop-out as they don't have to think up any decent plots. When I heard that it had cost nearly 2 million pounds to build the new Big Brother house and then production costs and things like that on top of it I went a little mental. The fact that C4 pushes back broadcasting Without a Trace by over 2 months so they can devote the entire summer to Big Brother is irrelevant. It made me angry that they were wasting so much money producing crap rather than investing in some quality drama which you could watch again and again.
Ok, I could rant and rave about this forever and cover far more than just the state of British TV. For example, one hit show Hustle which has been successful in the US is now becoming part US. The network AMC which bought the rights to it has also bought some production rights and insisted that two of the six episodes in the next series be filmed in the US. Why? It's a British show, part of the appeal is that it's British surely? I mean, there have been attempts to copy Hustle and put it in a US setting and both of those shows bombed. Couple that with the fact that Hollywood has lured away Adrian Lester so the show will have a new lead next season and we're heading for trouble.
Something else that annoys me about British TV. The seasons aren't very long. In the states there's 23/24 episodes in a season. In England there's normally 6/8. Heartbeat is an exception as it's a show that attracts ratings whether it's good or not, a safe option and therefore it's on for half the year. I expect that now Where the heart is has been axed The Royal (Heartbeat's spin-off) will dominate the other half of the year.
Ok, I must stop. I feel too strongly about TV and I go on far too much. I think I'll save how much I hate the movie industry for coming out with sequels to movies that were meant to stand alone in order to cash in on the popularity for another entry. I mean honestly, is there no creativity left in this world? I loved the Santa Clause movie as much as the next person but really the second one should never have been made let alone the third one which is coming out at the end of the month. I think the only original character left is Santa Clause. The same happened with Miss Congeniality, it's a bad move. Two exceptions to this are The Princess Diaries and Bridget Jones Diaries. The unplanned sequels for both were as good as the originals.
Definitely going to stop now.