dumbing down - a rant

[ramtops]

I am so heartily sick of everything being reduced to the lowest common denominator ... The latest victim appears to be the BBC's Panorama, a flagship current affairs programme.

no, it's not necessarily "easy" television. It tackles difficult subjects, and does it with an assumption that its audience has intelligence. It's been shuffled from pillar to post in recent years, ending up in the wasteland of Sunday nights, where it used to be on at prime time on a week night in days gone by.

now, we are informed by the Guardian that

Panorama, the world's longest-running TV current affairs programme, needs a "touchy-feely" overhaul because it has become "too distant, demanding, difficult and didactic", according to a briefing document prepared for the BBC executive in charge of the series.

there are so few programmes these days that require more than a single brain cell to appreciate. Horizon is but a shadow of its former self. We see very little good drama now. In these days of reality TV, D-list celebs, soap operas, etc., can't we have just the odd programme that requires more than a single brain cell to appreciate?

thank god for Radio 4, that's what I say.

Comments

[thewingedteapot.livejournal.com]

I agree completely. If they want to present this material differently there are other programmes already out there, but there are almost none which assume viewers have intelligence so let's hang on to Panorama as it is. The BBC is supposed to be a public-service broadcaster so they should have the courage to schedule Panorama primetime in any case since ratings do not affect their income.
And I know I work for an ITV company so may seem prejudiced about the ratings but it is one which used to make First Tuesday and now makes Holidays from Hell, Before They Were Famous etc etc - once we used to win BAFTAs and the odd Emmy but now our studio block wins awards for the flower beds outside.

[vampwillow]

read, read.

[sheepthief.livejournal.com]

Indeed - I had a similar rant about Horizon some time ago. I was astonished at how bad it had become. =:-/

[easterbunny.livejournal.com]

Hurrah for Radio 4. Although I quaked in my boots the other day to hear someone suggest to the new Radio 4 controller that Woman's Hour should be moved back to 2 pm. Shock horror! Even I don't drive into work that late!

Reality television needs to go, and in its place, I would be thrilled to usher in a full programme of What the Victorians / Alchemists / Ornithologists Did For Us - they may not be incisive or cuttingly academic, but if the BBC could say that their lowest common denominator tuned in regularly to Adam Hart-Davis, I think that would be a proud moment