TO great fanfare, ITV kicked off its Sunday night double whammy last night with the X Factor results show and a new series of I’m A Celebrity….
As winter sets in and Britain is battered by the worst storms since the last time we had the worst storms, this is supposed to represent hibernation TV at its finest.
What it actually represents is mediocrity at its finest. A talent show dumbed down to a bunch of exquisitely indifferent contestants and a tired old romp through the jungle with whatsername who used to be in EastEnders. Even the prospect of Jordan/Katie being torpedoed in can hardly gee up the excitement quota.
Looking over the pick and mix of has-beens and z-listers it’s hard to predict if a scorching romance will take off to boost the jungle ratings. I’m not holding my breath for chemistry to spark between George Hamilton and How Clean Is Your House presenter Kim Woodburn – though she may be able to help him scorch off the rest of his Tango self-tan when it starts going blotchy through deprivation from a salon touch up.
There’s no doubting that shows like X Factor and I'm A Celebrity… can still pull in ratings at a time when there is fierce competition between terrestrial television and a mind-numbing number of satellite television stations.
And at least these are programmes that you can sit down with the family – a rarity in itself – and enjoy together without fear of baseless sex, violence and bad language corrupting your youngsters.
But if this is the best there is to hook mainstream attention, why are we being taken for a ride with poor, lazy television which seems to have surrendered any attempt to really give the viewers what they want.
This year’s crop of X Factor finalists are about as exciting as Chorlton Street bus station on a rainy night and I would wager that other than the pantomime horse known as Jedward, we are not witnessing the birth of the new pop music messiah.
What’s more, by picking up the phone and voting for your favourite to stay in either competition – and believe me when you have a little one sitting next to you on the couch begging to dial the number it’s hard to resist – these programmes become a self-fulfilling prophesy, since we pay for their survival and to line the pockets of those who make them.
And there’s more in the pipeline since it has just been revealed that ITV are launching a new series next year, which will see pop stars turned into opera singers. The Cheeky Girls as the Three Tenors (excuse my maths), doesn’t exactly smack of raising the bar.
Of course subtle pay-per-view television can make a difference sometimes. This Friday night sees the BBC’s annual Children In Need telethon. And though it has been criticised over the years for the amount of funds siphoned off for administration and bureaucracy, it has still raised over £525m since it started back in 1980.
This is in part due to the amazing generosity of the British public. But it’s also because established names have been prepared to hoof around like amateur vaudeville acts in the name of a good cause.
I can’t imagine one of this year’s high spots – a group of female newsreaders doing a Beyonce routine – cost an awful lot to stage.
As the weather bites, and recession bites harder, it’s likely to be a grim Christmas for a lot of people. Television is a great comforter at times like this. Wouldn’t it be nice if programme makers stopped trying to dress up the indifferent as the exceptional and give us something that really made it worth switching on for.
Glitter’s Moors fascination is a little sinister
RUMOURS abound that Gary Glitter is house-hunting in Saddleworth. Representatives for the disgraced rock star are said to be spying out a secluded property for him in the area.
Glitter was famously convicted for storing pornographic images of children on his computer in 1999 and for molesting two young girls in Vietnam three years ago. Not a terribly pleasant man, then.
Of course as a civilised society we can’t allow mob rule to dictate where those who have served time are allowed to live after they regain their liberty.
But I’m sure I can’t be the only one who finds the idea of Glitter wanting to live in Saddleworth, a place synonymous with the crimes committed by Moors murderers Myra Hindley and Ian Brady, a little perplexing.
It is a free country and Glitter has to live somewhere. But it's also a big one. I’m assuming it's a coincidence that he’s so hot on this location, location, location.
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Angela, on the first topic. My TV is for sport, and David Attenborough. I either play music, read a book, exercise(It's good for you), or on the pc. Why on earth would you turn on Saturday night TV unless it was Football First? Secondly, I can assure you that story on Glitter moving to Saddleworth, is false.
Do you want to know how culturally bankrupt we have become as a nation?
Remember Churchill (no not our glorious leader that galvanised the country to fight the likes of Griffin & Hitler)..The moth eaten canine cousin of Bagpuss...Well guess what he has been franchised and cloned to the extent that he is appearing in 8 EIGHT pantomimes this Christmas. Let joy be unbounded as Fairy Godmother prances about stage asking the children do they know where the wicked witch is and trust old Churchill to pop up in the wings to come up with the answer and deliver his cliche - "oh yes"...
Does it get any worse ? (well gary glitter could be worse)...
Time to leave the country.
Its hard to understand why people who dont like talent shows have so much to say.More than people who do like them.I dont like football.Neither do millions of others but Forums or Comments are not full of people saying they dont like it,that its boring and all the talk is inane rubbish ,filling the newspapers and celeb columns if one of them sneezes.Personally I havnt enjoyed Sat night tv for years.Its been my least favourite night.The X Factor and Britains got Talent is something all ages can watch together.People love to talk about it in the same way people love to talk about football.I find that boring and dont understand the mentality,except to see it as escapism.Why do people resent others having that same escapism and enjoyment.The same people who drone on daily,year in year out about football,having the cheek to say tv is dumbing down with talent shows.Dont watch and dont listen ,the same as millions dont watch ,listen or give a moments thought to football.At least they dont spend their time complaining about it.
For the first time ever Anglea's articles were actually not bad. The first one I had to wonder if she hadn't gotten a friend to write it. But the second piece, about Gary Glitter - why the ridiculous 'location location location' bit at the end? It seems to somehow make light of the subject matter and does not even tie into it at all. Perplexing.
I think it’s the way that a lot of people have not much else in their lives that’s so remarkable, and I don’t mean the elderly and lonely who end up with no choice.
It becomes all-consuming with a lot of people, and their minds don’t seem to be occupied with much else. Yes, it’s just harmless entertainment, but if it becomes your only highlight and interest it does turn the brain to mush. I firmly believe this kind of obsession gives governments free-rein to do as they wish because a good proportion of the population don’t care what’s happening in the world or “who get’s in”. But ask them about X Factor or Big Brother and they’re experts. I don’t see that aspect as being positive, although admittedly there is nothing negative in watching Saturday night entertainment as a rule.
As for myself, I don’t place much value on the music that’s popular these days, and I’ve no interest whatsoever in the back-biting or ‘celebrity’ antics that seem to go on. I do think it’s sad that for many the only thing that seems worth living for is to become famous and earn pots of money. By far, the vast majority of those dreams end up just shattered, and some narrow their aspirations so much that it can ruin their lives.