Search results matching tag 'ITV1'

Tonight will show why TV matters

1704826 — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 08:59:00 GMT

Television has long been under attack. Digital media, societal change and audience fragmentation mean that those occasions when the whole nation gathers around their set have become increasingly rare. But when they do happen it's a useful reminder of how important TV is as social glue.

And one of those moments will happen tonight.

I refer of course to Countrywise on ITV1 where, according to the listings, Paul Heiney (remember him from the early 80s?) will 'visit a farm and a jam factory'. Sounds like fascinating stuff and it's on just after Five's always excellent and entertaining Live From Studio Five and before Paris Hilton's Best American Friend Forever on ITV2.

Politicians may come and go and politcs may be transitory but television will never die.

ITV decision to launch ITV1+1 channel begs questions

1704826 — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 17:10:00 GMT

Does ITV know something about the Competition Commission's final decision on CRR that we don't?

Already the broadcaster has an ITV1+1 service lined up and ready to start transmitting from the beginning of next month - coincidentally the CC is expected to make its ruling on what 'son of CRR' should look like this month.

No-one really expects CRR to be abolished but the decision to launch a +1 of its main channel indicates that ITV is confident enough that any changes will not make this unfavourable, which has prevented it from doing so in the past.

So what will a new CRR, that manages to both convince the regulators that it is not anti-competitive but allows ITV to potentially cannibalise audience share from ITV1 without damaging its share in negotiations, look like? Answers please.

Also, achieving this Holy Grail will end up being a nicer epitaph for outgoing chairman Michael Grade than either of his opposite numbers at Channel 4 - Luke Johnson and Andy Duncan who are also leaving at the end of this year - look like getting.

Farewell Big Brother - for now at least

255762 — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 08:25:00 GMT

So Big Brother is to be axed from Channel 4 according to an The Sun. Let's hope the news is true. The show has really run its course. That has been said several times in the past but with ratings falling every year it was a surprise that Channel 4 signed another three-year deal with Endemol, meaning that an 11th series is locked in.

Last year Channel 4 showed its desire to chase ratings when it kept housemate Alexandra in (remember her? No me neither) despite proving one of the worst bullies the show had ever had the displeasure to host.

All the signs were there last year that it had run its course, but Channel 4 has ploughed on and has been rewarded with some of the lowest ratings in years for the 10th series. I think this is good news for Channel 4. Yes it leaves a hole in its schedule, but surely that is a creative opportunity as well and a challenge to be met?

Not only having ratings been low, but it was virtually ignored by the media. Even the stalwart Sun provided no haven. Not even a NIB, a tiny paragraph, each day has been warranted.

Channel 4 executives looking for coverage of their once cash cow must have been dismayed, or more likely depressed, by its absence from Britain's media diet.

There is no denying that Big Brother has provided us with much entertainment. There was a time when casual viewers would more regularly tune in on a Friday to see an eviction (Channel 4 says 38m viewers watched Big Brother at least once - that's 69% of population), but that time has past.

I suspect many of us could pass the housemates in the street this year and not recognised one of them. They are going to be more shocked by its axing than anyone. More shocked that they have been in there for more than 80 days and few will know who they are.

No D-List media careers are going to be kick started this year. What's a former Big Brother contestant to do? Opening up a new branch of Lidl might be a stretch even for the winner which ever loser that might be.

According to reports though Celebrity Big Brother might still return and there's nothing wrong with that. I can see that still have a good set of legs and exciting interest.

I can also see the format being adapted and tweaked. If it goes anywhere that's what it needs most. New ideas. As it is the lack of innovation that has as much as anything done it for this show. It has turned into something relentless. Kind of like The Long March - but probably less fun (and not in China). Maybe it won't be the same show exactly and maybe it won't be on the same network. There is nothing to say that it has to be on Channel 4. You could easily see ITV or Sky having a crack at taking the format on. I'm pretty sure there is life in it yet - just not 13 weeks of life.

As that was the one thing above all others that struck me this year. It was more or less the only thing that struck me this year as the updates from the Big Brother press office popped into my in box was how the day count inexorably built.

Big Brother used to be much shorter and have fewer contestants, but when you get an email and the headers says day 67, 75, 80 and 84 you have to ask will this show never end? Well yes it will and it the very near future - but I'm pretty convinced that in some form or another it will be back.

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Uri Geller cries all the way to the bank

1704826 — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 10:38:00 GMT

A clip of creepy cutlery twister Uri Geller was on Sky News this morning. It was an excerpt from some more high quality entertainment we can look forward to on ITV1 on Sunday night - My Friend Michael Jackson: Uri's Story.

A blubbing Geller talks about how Jacko was his 'brother' and a 'true friend' and then shows them going shopping to meet that other oddball Mohammed Fayed.

All very moving stuff. Until you remember that it was Geller who introduced Jackson to Martin Bashir whose filmed encounter (also shown on ITV1) arguably led to his complete downfall. The two subsequently fell out and Geller appeared on telly denouncing Jackson's activities with small boys.

In short, other than appearing on rubbish TV shows in the early 80s and talking nonsense about crystals - which memorably failed to help his Exeter FC - Geller only has his acquaintance with another fruitcake to thank his career for. What a strange way to make a living.

Please don't watch it - it'll only encourage Geller as a professional Jackson mourner and mean ITV will make more of this rubbish.

ITV dramatic ambitions left in tatters

255762 — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 15:07:00 GMT

You have to feel sorry for ITV, it has made great efforts to develop high quality dramas and change the way it is seen, but before this project really got started the axe has fallen. Some shows have already been cut, and other big budget investments like sci-fi/dinosaur show Primeval, face an uncertain future as budgets are slashed.

Back in 2007, ITV executive chairman Michael Grade promised more innovative and quality drama. And we got it. It was needed. It sounded like the start of a brave new experiment that could lift the overall quality and perception of ITV.

ITV green lit the type of programming that is largely absent from its schedules.

Along came shows such as 'Lost in Austen', yes it was another British costume drama, but it was modern and genuinely fun – not to mention a great success for ITV (it sold in 90 territories worldwide). It commissioned a new version of 'Wuthering Heights' and why not, the British love a bit of high quality moorland doom and gloom and ITV's track record on this is good (its 1996 production of 'Emma' with Kate Beckinsale is good).

Along came 'Primeval' which used the 'Walking with Dinosaurs' technology to put dinosaurs on the streets of London. Bold, with a big budget, and created to compete head to head in the Saturday tea time market against the BBC's revamped 'Doctor Who'.

This year it was followed by a big budget vampire drama 'Demons' with Philip Glenister aka Gene Hunt from 'Life on Mars'. It was a British stab at doing a 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' and why not? If you are going to imitate then imitate the best in Buffy creator Joss Whedon -- although why they gave Glenister an American accent when it was clear that he could not master it is anyone's guess.

Flash forward to, well, right about now, and this bold experiment has been undone. Everything it seems is coming under the axe as part of ITV's efforts to slash £65m from its £1bn programming in the face of the downturn.

There have been reports that 'Demons' is to be axed and 'Wuthering Heights', while made, has been sitting on the shelf for a good long while as ITV wasn't sure if it could afford to air it. Although it has been recently reported that it will now air shortly.

ITV has also looked at axing family drama 'Wild at Heart' because it is filmed in South Africa although a reprieve is possible. Yorkshire-based 'Heartbeat' and 'The Royal' are also going.

This week there were reports that 'Primeval', which is now into series three, could be axed as well because of its large budget.

Primeval, which recently parted company with two of its stars Douglas Henshall and Lucy Brown, is currently still on air until May 30 and is awaiting a decision from ITV bosses on whether it will get a fourth season.

It has done really well for ITV and it would be a shame if it lost the show, which is has recently started airing on BBC America, because of budget. There has also been talk of a US film version, another indicator of its success.

ITV, often unfairly criticised for over reliance on the Simon Cowell Reality TV Factor, has made much head way since 2007, but that chapter in its history seems, temporarily at least, to be at an end. And that is a shame.

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Bafta got it about right although Dot deserved one for on-screen smoking

1704826 — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 08:06:00 GMT

Apparently the unreleased energy contained in the average dustbin each year could provide enough power for 5000 hours of TV viewing (and probably supply enough content for the schedulers at BBC3 in perpetuity).

The principle of 'more is less' means that there is now a lot of rubbish on the telly - the lamentable remake of Reggie Perrin is just one example - but there is also quite a lot to celebrate and I think that the Bafta awards show the diversity of quality UK television. What is even more gratifying is that so much of it came from the commercial broadcasters.

From Harry Hill's TV Burp to Life in Cold Blood and ITV's News at Ten, the awards show that TV can entertain, educate and inform when it is at it's very best. It's just a shame that on-screen smoking is deemed as beyone the pale.

If only the Duke of Edinburgh did know who Simon Cowell was

1704826 — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 13:39:00 GMT

It's a shame that the Duke of Edinburgh has denied that he called Simon Cowell a ‘scrounger', even though he did it with the rather elegant put-down that ‘he does not know enough about Mr Cowell to make any sort of comment about him'.

I can think of a lot worse things to call him - camp old roué, bitchy millionaire pantomime dame, cruel and cynical exploiter of the young and naïve - and I'm sure that if HRH the D of E did know who he was he'd come up with even better ones. Still, it's been a nice little publicity stunt for Cowell.

However I'm sure that someone would be quick to point out that he has pretty much single-handedly reinvigorated the light entertainment genre and has helped re-establish ITV's Saturday night line-up (albeit at a massive financial cost) to a pre-eminence not seen since the early 90s, thereby providing some much-needed cheer to an otherwise bleak schedule.

And the schedule is about to get bleaker still - this weekend marks the last time that ITV will transmit the Boat Race as well as the first Formula One race on the BBC since ITV handed back the rights because of cost.

With ITV's sports coverage now solely focussed on a ragbag of football rights, as well as cuts to drama and daytime commissions, there's a danger that, light entertainment aside, the network is beginning to look almost indistinguishable from those UKTV satellite repeat channels that keep being re-branded with increasingly ridiculous names.

Without Cowell, ITV might want to consider UKTV's example and re-brand as ‘Threadbare'; ‘Scrounger' would best be saved for Channel 4.

Fox's Remote free TV experiment kicks off with Dollhouse

255762 — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 15:52:00 GMT

ITV is having a bad time of it and advertisers aren't impressed, but what's the solution? Does ITV need to tweak its model and maybe take a look at Fox's bold “Remote-Free TV” experiment?

It seems unfair to rub it in again as everyone has stuck it to ITV recently, but these last few weeks have not been good ones for Britain's biggest terrestrial commercial broadcaster.

ITV clearly has a problem. Seeing its prime time police footage show 'In the Line of Fire' coming third in the TV ratings behind Five and 'CSI Miami' this week really does not help. Add to this the recent fiasco over in the FA Cup replay between Everton and Liverpool when in a (almost) comical fashion ITV1 cut away to the break as the only goal in a long and boring game was scored you can see why advertisers are thinking twice.

Maybe the decision to re-commission 1940s detective drama 'Foyle's War' and other new quality programmes will help, but it needs to innovate more as it did with last year's successful 'Lost in Austen'. The buzz around that was palpable. That's what advertisers are looking for.

Combining that buzz with some more valued, more expensive, and sought after ad breaks could also provided a much needed shot in the arm.

The New York Times today has a piece on Fox TV's "Remote-Free TV" experiment, which has seen the broadcaster test a strategy of airing fewer-commercials each hour.

It began with its 'X-Files'-like drama 'Fringe'. That show aired with around 10 minutes of commercials, which is about four to six minutes fewer than the typical hour long show.

It will be doing this again with Josh Whedon's upcoming secret agent drama starring Eliza Dushku. Whedon is making that show for Fox even after his much praised but shortlived show 'Firefox' was cancelled (he also made 'Buffy the Vampre Slayer and the also cancelled 'Angel' for Fox as well). Interesting, but I guess as an aside, ITV has an agreement with Twentieth Century Fox TV to co-develop and produce programmes, in a deal that is meant to rival the BBC's fruitful transatlantic co-production agreement with HBO, which has delivered hits like 'Rome' and 'Band of Brothers'.

For its troubles Fox is reported to have received 40% to 50% premiums for the advertising sold for 'Fringe'. According to Ad Age, an average 30-second ad on 'Fringe' cost $343,000 making it the most expensive show in its slot by far.

In the case of 'Fringe it seems also to come down to the type of show, with sci-fi oriented programming pulling in entertainment and technology based advertising with advertisers ranging from Sony Pictures, Warner Brothers and Universal to Apple and Verizon Wireless with retailers in there also.

Other than 'Primeval' and 'Demons' of late ITV has always been light on this kind of programming that the Americans do so well.

Question is, would this remote free TV experiment work for ITV? There's no reason why not and the benefits appear to weigh up experimentation. The US network is not running it for every show just certain dramas. As well as premium ad rates the results are also said to include more attentive viewers who are paying more attention to what they are watching as there is less ad clutter and less ad skipping. That is a real win for advertisers.

Sure the experiment has its critics. That much is evident in the response of Jon Nesvig, the president of sales for Fox Broadcasting, who said last week that the format has worked "reasonably well" for 'Fringe'.

Nesvig added that "the jury is still out on the economics" and that "even if it wasn’t an absolutely positive financial success, it was definitely a worthwhile experiment and something that I am glad we have attempted and will continue to work on.”

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Leave John Craven alone!

1704826 — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 12:34:00 GMT

Viewers have come to accept that Mark Austen and Fiona Bruce will occasionally lapse into Pip ‘n’ Fern on their respective news bulletins by cross-promoting other programmes on their channels.

ITV does it for Tonight, the BBC for Panorama, Channel 4 for Dispatches (Five is precluded because it doesn’t have any other factual output) and to a certain degree it’s a pretty legitimate way to puff a forthcoming programme that contains a degree of investigative journalism. And, after all, they are only doing something that has been happening in chat shows and magazine formats promoting light entertainment programmes or soaps for decades.

But I was struck by a very clumsy attempt on the otherwise innocuous and ostensibly factual Country File on Sunday morning to puff the BBC’s struggling Sunday evening family entertainment show Merlin.

While it’s acceptable for news programmes to promote factual content and lighter pieces to promote soaps, using a programme for the rural community to show-in the mention of completely unrelated-show seems a bit desperate. What next, The Sky at Night promotes Tittybangbang?

This is more interesting than Robert Peston - honest

1704826 — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 13:05:00 GMT

Given that only Robert Peston has a more influential blog than this one, I thought I'd give you some insight into..... Al Murray's Happy Hour.

Now I'm a massive fan of Al Murray and the show and I think that it provides ITV1 with a very neat young profile that it is often not given the credit for being able to attract, usually because Channel 4 is seen as sexier.

So when ITV kindly offered me a ticket to go and watch a recording I was delighted. It was fun, but slightly odd. The audience seemed to have been largely made up of hardcore Al Murray stalkers - one obese loner sat nearby had been to every recording and was on first name turns with the warm-up man, the security guards and greeted Big Bob as if he was his best mate.

It was also overwhelmingly white and quite downmarket and I think that they perhaps take the pub landlord character as if it was a real person and not a pastiche. In between filming Dawn French, one of the guests, was constantly dabbed down and had her make-up touched-up due probably to her obesity, while Robson Greene tried to come across as a working-class hero but ended up looking a bit of a knob.

Anyway it's worth watching as it shows a commitment to comedy that should be welcomed. And if you're interested, I'm the balding bloke with a beard sat next to a short bloke in a pink shirt