5th Column Television

When a DJ  clears the dance floor, it is because the choice of music is crap basically.

So what about our esteemed TV programme schedulers ??

Well they do not get my vote. In Britain we have more choice of channels and less entertainment or infotainment.

For instance the new BBC 3 and 4 channels are a waste of air time. Small audiences watching cartoons like Family Guy or abstract culture. BBC News is boring. Who would have thought that Sky could do it better, in an industry where the BBC trains all in the beginning. Terrestrial channels cannot or will not bid for national sport fixtures and those without a satellite dish or cable have to go to a pub to watch their team, their country.

Where is the new comedy replacing that of over 25 years ago? Do not tell me there is anything today as funny as Fawlty Towers or Rising Damp. Comedians were household names a plenty when we only had 3 channels, now they are a dying breed and certainly not as witty, satirical and clever as Spitting Image, the Muppets, the Two Ronnies, Monty Python, Pete and Dud, Tommy Cooper, the list goes on and on, like only fools and horses.


The truth is the demise of British Television started with Margaret Thatcher in the 80's when she forced BBC TV to devote 25% of production to independent programme makers, to break what she saw as a monopoly. I worked for BBC Current Affairs in those years, and the rot set in as BBC lost money due to her policy, to follow ITV in a downward spiral of performance levels. This is what we have ended up with and worse to come. 25 channels 50 channels of surfing and hopping, longer advert sequences, and monotony for couch potatoes.

It is cheap television to run repeats, to run talent shows, where the contestants are free. Reality TV is also cheap using talent less no hopers for the viewers to watch sleeping, making a cuppa tea going to the toilet on CCTV. Expectation levels are down, viewers watch 2 hours of cooking genres, 2 hours of soap operas night after night, except all viewing figures are down as is advertising revenue, because even advertisers realise TV is garbish whereas the internet, computer gaming, dvd films are increasingly better forms of home entertainment for those that are less mindless sheep watching what we are being served up............ dross !!!.