Comments on: OTT’s chart of the decade

By: Glenn Aylett

Glenn Aylett — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 18:51:04 +0000

Jonathan
Call me old fashioned but I actually miss the old three channel world where viewing was a collective experience and everyone seemed to watch the most popular shows. Nowadays I have 20 channels and they are just dominated by the same tired repeats- how many times can E4 repeat the same Friends episodes, reality garbage such as Paris Hilton’s Best British Friend and soap ominbuses. Because there is so much television 24/7, there is less money to go round so digital channels survive on the cheapest programming available: repeats and cheaply made reality, which if it flops, doesn’t matter as few people really care enough.

By: Jonathan Haw

Jonathan Haw — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 11:10:52 +0000

I think the TV bosses of the 80s would be horrified to think that the 20th most popular programme of the year would attract only 8.85m! 20 years ago, a bog standard edition of Blind Date would frequently have rated better than Wallace & Gromit on Christmas Day.

It’s amazing just how much audiences have fragmented, especially given that, of the hundreds of other channels now available, virtually none are showing anything of any quality or note. It’s just the sheer number of “choices” that are cluttering up the airwaves that’s causing the audience to fragment. The bulk of it is just repeats, imports, or repeats of imports (not that there’s necessarily anything wrong with repeats, but it it’s stopping new stuff getting made….).
Will there come a time when no single channel has enough viewers to be able to justify producing original drama?

By: Glenn Aylett

Glenn Aylett — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 21:21:09 +0000

Interesting to see Heartbeat as a ratings success earlier in the decade as these days it’s seen as a programme that attracts a similar audience to Last of the Summer Wine( usually over 65s) and ratings are on the floor, but at its peak it was nearly as popular as the two big soaps. I would love it if you could get a list from the eighties and compare how tastes and ratings have changed over the last 20 years. Bet there would be far more sitcoms in there as well as sitcoms have dramatically fallen in production since the 80s.

By: Jason Carter

Jason Carter — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 22:32:17 +0000

I quite like the way that Lewis is pipped by the Brazilian GP that saw – er – Lewis Hamilton take the title.

By: Steve Williams

Steve Williams — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 14:04:19 +0000

Oh, Corrie was Vera dying, fact fans.

By: Mark Bing

Mark Bing — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 13:53:01 +0000

Coronation Street on the 18th January 2008 was Vera Duckworth’s sudden death:

http://www.myparkmag.co.uk/articles/television/coronation-street/coronation-street-liz-dawns-curtain-call.html

By: Andy Elms

Andy Elms — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 13:01:21 +0000

A quick google reveals the Antiques Roadshow at No. 11 was the “£1million find” but I’m probably missing something when I say I can’t remember anything significant about the episode of New Tricks at 14….

By: Rob Williams

Rob Williams — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 12:47:05 +0000

Good to see that the most watched programme of last year was Wallace and Gromit, says something that people want humour over the bleakness of the soaps at Christmas. Roll on 2009 to continue the great telly…

By: Paul

Paul — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 10:33:55 +0000

The Corrie episode was Vera Duckworth’s on-screen death.

By: Gervase Fen

Gervase Fen — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 02:07:54 +0000

That’s the death of Vera Duckworth in at no. 47.