The BBC had a dress malfunction on its website the other day, and put up its emergency 'Simplified' web-page.
What caught my attention was that the only two faces displayed were two distinctly old, 1960's icons Tony Blackburn (aged 71) and Terry Wogan (aged 76), advertising a current music event .... laughable really.
It is quite stunning that the BBC can't actually replace these ancient performers, and indeed still relies on both them, and the even more venerable Bruce Forsyth (aged 86), to try and keep its ratings up. Whatever happened to the ethos of 'Hope I die before I get old - My generation baby' ... a song that was a hit when these three gentlemen were all entering, or already in their middle-ages.
Now ironically this web page malfunction came in the same week as the BBC Trust's review of BBC One, Two, Three and Four, concluded that the BBC should become more distinctive, and take more creative risks, as the trust believed that viewers feel that the BBC tends to "play it safe", and rely too much on trusted staples, and that the BBC must try and reverse its fall in the young viewing audiences.
For example the average age of BBC1 viewers has grown to 59 years, from age 56 in the period 2010/11 (so its probably worse than that now), while the average age of people watching BBC2 had also grown, from 58 to 60 years in the same period.
Oddly, BBC3, the BBC's only youth orientated 'risk' TV channel (and incidentally the only BBC channel I regularly watch), is to be removed from terrestrial TV, and placed solely on the Web, via the BBC iPlayer.
I don't think its hard to see where the BBC's problems may stem from .... if Arthur Askey or Harry Secombe were still alive, they would probably still be presenting on the BBC.
But suffice it to say that both these comedians, now long dead, had worked with Bruce Forsyth. In 1964 Forsyth presented the Baird Festival of Television show at the Royal Albert Hall, featuring the likes of Kathy Kirby, Arthur Askey and Gracie Fields. In February 1965, at the same venue, he presented ‘Welcome to the Golden Ball‘, starring Harry Secombe and Sandie Shaw.
It kind of puts the BBC's 'Star' policy into a time perspective, when you consider that you have have been born in the late 1950's or earlier to be able to recall TV shows from the mid 1960's, and yet Bruce Forsyth was the mature compare and host on shows at that time .... but he and others of similar vintage are still BBC mainstays.
The BBC policy on selecting 'the talent', is nearly as sclerotic as its stars ....
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| Simplified BBC Homepage |
What caught my attention was that the only two faces displayed were two distinctly old, 1960's icons Tony Blackburn (aged 71) and Terry Wogan (aged 76), advertising a current music event .... laughable really.
It is quite stunning that the BBC can't actually replace these ancient performers, and indeed still relies on both them, and the even more venerable Bruce Forsyth (aged 86), to try and keep its ratings up. Whatever happened to the ethos of 'Hope I die before I get old - My generation baby' ... a song that was a hit when these three gentlemen were all entering, or already in their middle-ages.
Now ironically this web page malfunction came in the same week as the BBC Trust's review of BBC One, Two, Three and Four, concluded that the BBC should become more distinctive, and take more creative risks, as the trust believed that viewers feel that the BBC tends to "play it safe", and rely too much on trusted staples, and that the BBC must try and reverse its fall in the young viewing audiences.
For example the average age of BBC1 viewers has grown to 59 years, from age 56 in the period 2010/11 (so its probably worse than that now), while the average age of people watching BBC2 had also grown, from 58 to 60 years in the same period.
Oddly, BBC3, the BBC's only youth orientated 'risk' TV channel (and incidentally the only BBC channel I regularly watch), is to be removed from terrestrial TV, and placed solely on the Web, via the BBC iPlayer.
I don't think its hard to see where the BBC's problems may stem from .... if Arthur Askey or Harry Secombe were still alive, they would probably still be presenting on the BBC.
But suffice it to say that both these comedians, now long dead, had worked with Bruce Forsyth. In 1964 Forsyth presented the Baird Festival of Television show at the Royal Albert Hall, featuring the likes of Kathy Kirby, Arthur Askey and Gracie Fields. In February 1965, at the same venue, he presented ‘Welcome to the Golden Ball‘, starring Harry Secombe and Sandie Shaw.
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| Bruce Forsyth, Harry Secombe and Gracie Fields |
It kind of puts the BBC's 'Star' policy into a time perspective, when you consider that you have have been born in the late 1950's or earlier to be able to recall TV shows from the mid 1960's, and yet Bruce Forsyth was the mature compare and host on shows at that time .... but he and others of similar vintage are still BBC mainstays.
The BBC policy on selecting 'the talent', is nearly as sclerotic as its stars ....
You have to admire the 60's generations ability to hang on to power and influence, especially at the BBC.
ReplyDeleteCan't disagree ... but the rise of 'reality' TV is even more disturbing.
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