State of British TV

[tjh290633]

Bring back the potter's wheel, the National Anthem at 12pm, the end tone and, most of all, the white dot!

(And Tomorrow's World)

And Top of the Pops. My way of keeping up with pop trends effectively ended when that program died.

I have fond memories of Animal, Vegetable or Mineral and plays performed live.

Sir Mortimer Wheeler saying "It has an inscription", often "Made in Birmingham".

TJH

[servodude]

Bring back the potter's wheel, the National Anthem at 12pm, the end tone and, most of all, the white dot!

(And Tomorrow's World)

And Top of the Pops. My way of keeping up with pop trends effectively ended when that program died.

Yeah! Can you imagine if you could access the archive of TotP? You could easily revisit that performance of Dexy's in front of a picture of Jocky Wilson!

And try telling kids today that you used to sit and shoot the dots with with your finger waiting for "schools programs" to start!

[nimnarb]

Memories.....some doth complain too much. Watch it or don't or, as others have said, read a good book. Just a fraction that kept me amused. Has it got worse or better some 70 years later?

Dads Army
Quatermass and the Pit
Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons
The Prisoner
Hancocks Half Hour
Minder
The Sweeney
Budgie
Steptoe and Sons
Porridge
Open All Hours
The Two Ronnies
Are You Being Served
Allo Allo
Dixon of Dock Green
Some Mothers Do Have Em
Emergency-Ward 10
The Invisible Man
Z Cars
Callan
The Avengers
Dr. Finlay's Casebook
The Saint
Danger Man
Fawlty Towers and the rest.......

and not forgetting, are you sitting comfortably, then let's begin(Listen with Mother)
Andy Pandy
Flower Pot Men
Muffin The Mule
Ivor the Engine
Rag Tag And Bobtail
Sooty
Crackerjack
Blue Peter(is this still going?)





https://www.retrowow.co.uk/television/television.html

[didds]

As kiloran says, when there were only two programmes it was a lot easier for them to maintain half decent standards. It is the BBC's own fault. They have so many channels on both TV and Radio that they simply cannot maintain the quality and of course need endless repeats to fill the time available. I watch hardly any TV nowadays and much prefer reading.

Dod

Plus back when there were only 2 x BBC TV channels, they also weren't broadcasting 24 hours a day. In my vague recollection there was schools TV during the day (one channel?) , with news and a magazine program around noon/early afternoon (Pebble at One ?).

Then it ALL closed down until children's TV kicked off again at about 4 or so, through to the news at 1745, and evening programming, which finished circa 2230-2300. weekends that may go as late as 0100 after a Hammer House of Horror film after MOTTD!

There was also Open university at weird hours too ?


Eeee... it were reet grand.

[Dod101]

Memories.....some doth complain too much. Watch it or don't or, as others have said, read a good book. Just a fraction that kept me amused. Has it got worse or better some 70 years later?

Dads Army
Quatermass and the Pit
Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons
The Prisoner
Hancocks Half Hour
Minder
The Sweeney
Budgie
Steptoe and Sons
Porridge
Open All Hours
The Two Ronnies
Are You Being Served
Allo Allo
Dixon of Dock Green
Some Mothers Do Have Em
Emergency-Ward 10
The Invisible Man
Z Cars
Callan
The Avengers
Dr. Finlay's Casebook
The Saint
Danger Man
Fawlty Towers and the rest.......

and not forgetting, are you sitting comfortably, then let's begin(Listen with Mother)
Andy Pandy
Flower Pot Men
Muffin The Mule
Ivor the Engine
Rag Tag And Bobtail
Sooty
Crackerjack
Blue Peter(is this still going?)





https://www.retrowow.co.uk/television/television.html

B***** H*** Did your memory dredge up that lot or did you find it somewhere? It brings back memories of much happier times of watching the box I must say. Today's stuff is anaemic by comparison or is there something else at work? certainly in my mind things were so much simpler then.

Dod

[Gerry557]

My TV licence is due renewal today. Unfortunately I can't think of a reason atm to do so. Lists of yesteryear are OK in showing what can be achieved but what about the future.

I have to admit if the license was for only the BBC then I wouldn't have bought it last time. I can only think of The English that has been worth watching recently and I think that was jointly done with someone else. I watched that with surround sound so I doubt it was even via BBC.

The world service was OK when I was abroad but the Internet has changed things there. Maybe I could wave my old licences and just watch the reruns of the good stuff.

Looking at the media, it looks like I'm not alone. Another 10% of people are doing the same.

[Leothebear]

I still like the BBC for all its faults. When you consider what it offers, the website, Iplayer, the radio stations as well as the terrestial TV, it remains great value for money.

I also subscribe to Netflix, which costs me more than a licence and I find is a continuous trawl, seeking out the watchable from the mountains of dross.

I think the rest of the world would think we were nuts to ditch the BBC.

Leo

[swill453]

My TV licence is due renewal today. Unfortunately I can't think of a reason atm to do so.

Bear in mind that if you do eventually think of a reason to get a licence, it will be backdated to today. You won't get away with having a free gap.

Scott.

[Lootman]

My TV licence is due renewal today. Unfortunately I can't think of a reason atm to do so.

Bear in mind that if you do eventually think of a reason to get a licence, it will be backdated to today. You won't get away with having a free gap.

There is no equivalent of SORN for a TV set?

What if you get rid of your TV and then do not buy another for 6 or 9 months? Are you still supposed to pay for the gap?

[redsturgeon]

I joined my wife yesterday while she was watching some Ambulance reality programme on BBC on her laptop, I notice it had a tag saying it was being broadcast live. It occurred to me that I had not seen this tag before...for the simple reason I had not watched BBC live for many months...if not years.

I ditched my Virgin TV package last year and now watch any programmes I wish via streaming at the time I wish to watch, be they BBC, ITV, CH4, Prime or Netflix, I also have access to Apple and Disney streaming via my kids.

I don't think any of my kids or their own children ever watch live broadcast TV.

I would happily pay the price of the TV license just to listen to Radio 4.

As for BBC programmes I have enjoyed via iplayer over the last couple of years,

Panorama, Masterchef, HIGNFY, Mum, Everything with Richard Attenborough, Fleabag, Line of Duty, Many films (they are currently showing Point Break, A Few Dollars More, Ammonite, Heat and I have just watch Memento) also countless high quality documentaries.

I think the license fee is a bargain, although I disagree with the way they try to enforce compliance.

John

[SalvorHardin]

I still like the BBC for all its faults. When you consider what it offers, the website, Iplayer, the radio stations as well as the terrestial TV, it remains great value for money.

I also subscribe to Netflix, which costs me more than a licence and I find is a continuous trawl, seeking out the watchable from the mountains of dross.

I think the rest of the world would think we were nuts to ditch the BBC.

Netflix costs me £7 per month, cheaper than the BBC. There are plenty of decent series, here's what I've seen this year (and that I rate quite highly) compared to the BBC:

Netflix series (series are in rough order of preference):

The Lincoln Lawyer - Los Angeles defence lawyer who spends a lot of time working in his car.
The Queen's Gambit - orphan becomes a chess prodigy. Set in the 1950s an early 1960s.
The Witcher (swords and sorcery - the first series is very good, less so for the next two series).

Lilyhammer - New York mobster goes into witness protection in Norway (first series was on the BBC).
The English Game - origins of professional football (public schools vs. factory teams).
Wanted - Australian. Two women go on the run from the police, crooked police and criminals, having witnessed a murder and escaped in a car filled with drugs and criminals' money.

The Last Kingdom (Vikings vs. Anglo-Saxons, used to be on the BBC ("Destiny is all"))
The Night Agent - action-thriller involving a conspiracy within the American government

The Diplomat - political thriller focusing on the new American ambassador to Britain. Her husband expected to get the job, not her.
Cowboy Bebop - quirky live-action science fiction. Most fans of the original anime don't like it; I'm one of the odd ones who prefers it.

Foreign language series:
Ultraviolet - Polish. Amateur investigators who rely heavily on social media and crowdsourcing help in solving crimes that the police ignore.
Kleo - German. A Stasi assassin is framed by her bosses. Two years later she gets out of prison after the Berlin Wall is brought down, and hunts them down.

On the BBC:
Blue Lights - Northern Ireland police (best thing the BBC has done since the first two series of "Peaky Blinders" IMHO).
Sherwood - aftermath of the miners strike twenty years later, set in a Nottinghamshire mining village.
erm, that's it

EDIT - I've watched more on Paramount+ than the BBC. Not just the various Star Treks, Yellowstone is excellent (as is its spinoffs 1889 and 1923).

[servodude]

Cowboy Bebop - quirky live-action science fiction. Most fans of the original anime don't like it; I'm one of the odd ones who prefers it.

Right...
Now...
Where's my f*"""ng pitchfork!?

I'm sure you're loving the adaptation of Foundation as well?
And can't wait for the"whatever" happens to Firefly?!

I wish Keanu had made CBebop when he had the chance
I was so up for it and it was just soulless - none of the anime cast were box tick cyphers, the live action just felt like a "check list"

Grrr

[Alaric]

And why can't the BBC put their back catalogue on iPlayer? (Actually they might still be prevented for reasons of "market advantage")

They joined forces with ITV to set uo a subscription streaming channel called Britbox. The free streaming channel itvx seems to raid Britbox from time to time also including BBC programmes.

There's a lot of hitoric content they only show with warnings and some they won't show at all because of the presenter(s). A lot of the ToTP archive won't be available or shown for this reason. That's before you get on to the performers. Countdowns of best selling records of the early 1970s have omissions.

[servodude]

And why can't the BBC put their back catalogue on iPlayer? (Actually they might still be prevented for reasons of "market advantage")

They joined forces with ITV to set uo a subscription streaming channel called Britbox. The free streaming channel itvx seems to raid Britbox from time to time also including BBC programmes.

There's a lot of hitoric content they only show with warnings and some they won't show at all because of the presenter(s). A lot of the ToTP archive won't be available or shown for this reason. That's before you get on to the performers. Countdowns of best selling records of the early 1970s have omissions.

Actually that makes sense, I can imagine that "ownership" of this stuff gets complicated.... even before the "you can't do that anymore" stuff

[Leothebear]

Netflix costs me £7 per month, cheaper than the BBC.

I assume you view on a small screen because that's the 720 HD price. It'd look rather ropey on a large screen.
My payment is £15.98 a month for 1K HD for my TV and my daughter's now she's no longer permitted to share our account. (she is dependent on us).

[SalvorHardin]

Netflix costs me £7 per month, cheaper than the BBC.

I assume you view on a small screen because that's the 720 HD price. It'd look rather ropey on a large screen.
My payment is £15.98 a month for 1K HD for my TV and my daughter's now she's no longer permitted to share our account. (she is dependent on us).

I mostly use a 43 inch Toshiba Fire HD TV. Good enough for me. I can't tell the difference between Netflix's picture quality and a Blu-Ray that's played on the same TV.

I've long been convinced that Netflix are letting me have 1080 HD, or that the difference between 720 and 1080 isn't anything like as big as is claimed. That said it's a pretty good picture (640 x 480 AVI files played on it look really good).

[SPURLEY]

You tube , 2 weeks ago watched loads episodes of not the nine o clock news from around 1980 . last week wheel tappers and shunters . charlie drake the worker , just type something in the search bar , shame about google buying it and putting adverts in though .

[Dicky99]

Prime time television om BBC1. Three elderly ladies presenting something called 'Rip Off Britain'. If that is not dumbing down and contributing to the general cynicism of society, I do not know what is.

Dod

On the other hand, if it prevents just one person from losing their life savings to the ubiquitous scammers then it will have served it's purpose. If this programme is dumbing down then what the flip would you call 'Love Island' and it's ilk ? (No, I don't watch LI either).

It's been airing on day time bbc for donkeys years. Presumably it's now been moved to prime time to fill a void.

[Dicky99]

Why don't they tell kids to "switch off their television sets and go out and do .... something that stops them being sedentary fat things with asthma?

It never did me any harm

[Dicky99]

As kiloran says, when there were only two programmes it was a lot easier for them to maintain half decent standards. It is the BBC's own fault. They have so many channels on both TV and Radio that they simply cannot maintain the quality and of course need endless repeats to fill the time available. I watch hardly any TV nowadays and much prefer reading.

Dod

Plus back when there were only 2 x BBC TV channels, they also weren't broadcasting 24 hours a day. In my vague recollection there was schools TV during the day (one channel?) , with news and a magazine program around noon/early afternoon (Pebble at One ?).

Then it ALL closed down until children's TV kicked off again at about 4 or so, through to the news at 1745, and evening programming, which finished circa 2230-2300. weekends that may go as late as 0100 after a Hammer House of Horror film after MOTTD!

There was also Open university at weird hours too ?


Eeee... it were reet grand.

I seem to recall when I was a kid that on Sunday mornings the only permissible offerings were unfathomable black and white OU lectures, a programme of Asian music mostly involving a bloke playing sitar...oh and Rolf Harris teaching kids to swim.