Cranky Conner
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Who put glue in my shampoo?
Posts: 762
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Post by Cranky Conner on Mar 8, 2009 15:02:43 GMT
Tyne Tees managed to pull a celebration up North to celebrate their 50th (though it was limited to their regional news programme). Thames would be difficult as they are no longer an ITV region (although FreeMantle could have used the old skyline as an endcap...just an idea). The fact LWT wasn't able to celebrate their 40th is down to the fact there's no distinction between weekend and weekday.
I am aware that there is a global economic downturn at this point. However, why then is ITV not cutting back on Coronation Street and Emmerdale? Surely that takes up a lot of its programming budget? And what are we losing? Dramas and the Bill. You mean to tell me those awful soap operas and the awful reality tv programmes (Dancing On Ice (someone tell me what's so special about skating on ice to the tune of bad music), Britains Got Talent (George Sampson when you suffer the consequences of your condtion I will not hesistate to play The World's Smallest Violin), X Factor (Simon Cowell you are nasty, selfish git who only wants loads of cash from the performers regardless of whether they win or not)) aren't being cut back on.
As I also said on YouTube, don't you think it's funny how 15 regional companies were able to keep up a regional news service, while a single company can't.
Frankly, ITV's troubles can be traced back to the 1993 Broadcasting Act. That paved the way for ITV's troubles.
And yes, ITV does suck. The only things I can stand to watch are Krypton Factor, the occasional drama, Primeval (a ripoff of Dr. Who) and Toonattik (except the only thing I can stand to watch on it right now is Power Rangers Jungle Fury). Which brings me to another thing, why doesn't ITV get rid of ITV2, ITV3, ITV4 and the CITV channel. The latter's mostly full of rubbish American imports, and some of the programmes can be seen on other channels anyway (Teen Titans! Danny Phantom! Pokemon!). And furthermore it's a misnomer - how many of the programmes are made by the Independent Television companies (past or present). One? Two? None??
Hopefully that's all I have to say about ITV, for now.
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Post by blacklion400 on Mar 8, 2009 22:47:05 GMT
I disagree with getting rid of the soaps. Although I never watch them, Coronation Street and Emmerdale are very popular, and are probably what's keeping them going. A soap will always rake in the ratings, just look at Eastenders, it's BBC's most watched program ever. The soaps should stay if ITV want to survive. X Factor maybe stay, although it's pure garbage, it's very popular and loads of people watch it, so it keeps the ratings up. Britains Got Talent I agree should go, it's one talent show too many. ITV should also bring back it's longer children's slot, with QUALITY children's programs, perhaps a mix of old children's classics with some new one's too. Also agree ITV 2, 3 and 4 should go, they are not needed at all. The BBC sort of know how to balance their channels. BBC 1 and 2 are mainly the big programs. BBC 3 is for fresh and new ideas and some obscure programs too (which alot of people like), and BBC 4 is mainly for older audiences, with more art culture type programs. ITV need to perhaps think up some new ideas, bring in some decent comdedy's maybe. Harry Hill should definately stay of course, since it is pure brilliance. You've been framed has sort of lost it's touch, even with Harry's narration, so I guess that should go too. Who knows, maybe it will improve in the future. So, do you guys agree/disagree with what I've said?
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Post by Ryan on Mar 8, 2009 23:04:12 GMT
Quite honestly I think the Digital Revolution has killed stations like ITV really. Programme Budgets are spread too thin across a plethora of channels and not enough cash is being generated.
Channel 4 is in a similar situation - they all need to work through it and see what's to be done.
In all, most of ITV's stuff hasn't been great either of late. The BBC has always had a better 'feel' to it, would watch any of their produced programmes over an ITV one any day of the week.
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Post by FlyingScotsman on Mar 8, 2009 23:32:14 GMT
ITV is just embarrassing these days. I honestly, no word of exaggeration, do not think I've watched a programme on ITV1 in about a year. I remember a few years back, Channel 5 was seen as the poor relation. Now they've got all these glossy American dramas and actually quite excellent documentaries and they've overtaken.
I'd love to see ITV make quality programmes again. What happened to the likes of House of Cards? But the fact is, "reality" TV and soaps bring in ratings, and that's what they need. I remember the Controller of Channel 4 making a similar argument about the excreable Big Brother - he hated it, but it brought viewers in, so they got more advertising revenue.
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Post by Nicholas on Mar 8, 2009 23:32:26 GMT
Coincidentally, we've been discussing this in Media studies, and quite frankly, ITV1, Channel Four and Five are going down the drain. Personally, I think Channel Four has the most rubbish on it, but some of the cooking shows are pretty good, such as the F word or watching Hugh Fearnly-Whittingstall. I don't like the tone of Five, but they can occasionally show a few good things. ITV1 is trying to save itself with it's new programme 'The Colour of Money', which, frankly, I've seen and isn't bad, but whether it's the end for ITV... who knows. A merger between these channels seems fesible currently, and I wouldn't rule it out, but, frankly, it won't be the biggest loss. Kudos to five for their kid's programming, which has seen a lot of improvement recently [especially because they've invested in broadcasting shows about a certain little blue tank engine and his friends] Nicholas.
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Cranky Conner
Passenger Engine
Who put glue in my shampoo?
Posts: 762
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Post by Cranky Conner on Mar 9, 2009 9:03:47 GMT
Kudos to five for their kid's programming, which has seen a lot of improvement recently [especially because they've invested in broadcasting shows about a certain little blue tank engine and his friends] Nicholas. Unforunately they've yet to invest in his pre-season 8 exploits.
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Post by blacklion400 on Mar 9, 2009 21:04:33 GMT
let's try an dmake a list of good programmes ITV; including one's that bring in ratings.
.Coronation Street .Emmerdale .Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (if that's still on) .TV Burp .MAYBE X Factor
Can you think of anything else?
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Cranky Conner
Passenger Engine
Who put glue in my shampoo?
Posts: 762
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Post by Cranky Conner on Mar 9, 2009 21:57:11 GMT
Despite being a load of rubbish "Britain's Got Talent" manages to draw high ratings in, to the point Doctor Who episode "Forest Of The Dead" ended up with 4 million viewers, because everyone else was watching stupid people do stupid things in the final.
The trouble is, what draws in high ratings isn't necessarily "good". Pirates Of The Carribean 2 and 3 did very well at the box office and a number of people view them in lower regard than the first one.
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Jim Prower
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Now as Sir Handel!
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Post by Jim Prower on Mar 9, 2009 22:29:40 GMT
Interesting escapade coming home today.
So, I'm in the car, and on a 2-lane, urban road, with a yellow-striped center median. It's illegal to drive in this median.
So some mom, in her Toyota Highlander (a FWD car-based SUV) is in a huge rush. So she tailgates me. You know how someone will get closer and closer to your back bumper, trying to urge you faster? Well, that's what she was doing.
So, instead, I hold my speed steady. Maybe even slow down a bit. I figure, "This'll really piss her off, she's in such a big rush." I underestimated the rush.
Remember that illegal lane, the median? Well, apparently she doesn't know what "striped yellow line" means. So she pulls around me in a mad rush.
Of course, it all looks in vain: there's a red light ahead, and a line of cars stopped there. Break the law to get one spot forward. But no! This is not enough for criminal mom! Now she's on the shoulder! She passes the line, makes a right at the red, then an illegal U-turn and turns right back onto the road. This, I believe, accounts for several infractions, and I wish there'd been a police officer who'd seen the whole thing. And I wished she'd been treated like one of the criminals on "COPS." (Yeah, that's rather harsh.)
As an end note, I caught one more sight of Criminal Mom...stuck in traffic at a stoplight. I suppose that's comeuppance enough.
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Post by Halstead on Mar 10, 2009 10:42:01 GMT
I assume the main reason why ITV has slumped heavily over the years is simply because they broke the rules. Since it's creation an authority called the ITA was created to stop the ITV franchise from being violated into the state we know today.
The authorities changed twice and in 1990 it became the ITC and sadly like it's successor Ofcom it had a soft-touch policy, in contrast to the IBA (who stopped a Carlton takeover of Thames in the mid 80s because they knew more harm than good would happen if it did).
When the franchise rounds finished the ITC flexed the law where ITV companies can take each other over which was a BAD conisderation, and don't say Carlton/Granada started the whole thing off because it was Yorkshire Television who started it off in 1992.
Now we've Michael Grade setting cutbacks and downsizing the news services. Ofcom have the power to tell ITV what to do and put on the channels and it could prohibit the local news cutbacks from happening and instead ignoring the viewers and allowing the channel to trash itself. (you should read the comments on the ITV local blogs, a lot of p*ssed off viewers are complaining)
One way ITV could repair itself would be by selling off the regions one by one and trying to revert to the system it was before the mid 90s when accountants got greedy. It's nice to see STV, UTV and Channel haven't seen any major reprecussions from the recession, although it would be nice if the last two made a few programmes for the network every now and again.
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Post by Father Austin Purcell on Mar 10, 2009 11:56:33 GMT
let's try an dmake a list of good programmes ITV; including one's that bring in ratings. .Coronation Street .Emmerdale .Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (if that's still on) .TV Burp .MAYBE X Factor Can you think of anything else? Poirot is a good series (can't say the same for "Marple" though). Midsomer Murders is quite respectable too, although now that John Nettles is leaving that may change for the worse. Heartbeat wasn't bad either. I know it had it's detractors, but at 8:00 PM on a Sunday evening, a bit of rose-tinted nostalgia is just what the doctor ordered. We're all criticising ITV, but in my view the BBC isn't that far behind them now. In fact, I'd say television in general is getting worse. ITV just has the misfortune to be in the vanguard.
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Post by Metamorphical on Mar 10, 2009 14:56:16 GMT
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Warrior
Passenger Engine
Posts: 915
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Post by Warrior on Mar 10, 2009 15:46:33 GMT
WHAT?!?
Ok, that's ridiculous... If they don't want people watching them, then why don't they take them down? Not that I want them to, it just seems odd...
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Little Engine
Goods Engine
"But I think we can put our differences behind us. For science. You monster.""
Posts: 332
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Post by Little Engine on Mar 11, 2009 1:00:54 GMT
Now that I'm on a proper keyboard, it's time for that full-blown rant I promised...
Okay, so, basically, my parents have cut off my computer's Internet connection. (I'm typing all this from another computer, which I can sneak on when my parents aren't home....) The reason they did this is because I have a B minus in one class. And said B minus is not due to me not studying or not doing well on assignments or anything. It's due to three missing assignments, which I figure I've already turned in anyways, because I always turn stuff in, and either my teacher's lost it or simply hasn't entered it in.
My parents are acting like this B minus is such an abominable, horrendously awful grade. Never mind that I'm a year advanced in school, in honors classes for social studies and English, have never gotten a score below 97% on a French test, am an additional year advanced in math and science, and have As in every other class besides this one. I mean, if I have a single B minus at any point in the semester, I must not be smart enough to get into college.
Apparently, this grade is so "unlike me" (guess I have to be constantly perfect to be "me", according to them) that it must be due to me "not focusing." My mom grilled me for several minutes on the exact details of the assignments missing and whether I turned them in or not. I told her I couldn't remember, which I can't-- the teacher is using abbreviated names for them like "Renaissance Packet", and how am I supposed to remember, out of all the worksheets and assignments I get in all my classes, which assignment "Renaissance Packet" is?
According to my parents, the source of my distraction must be the Internet. Which is a complete load of nonsense. This whole thing is a complete load of nonsense, as I am focusing as much as I ever have, and the Internet has absolutely nothing to do with it. I'm half thinking that perhaps my parents feel like they hear about all their parent friends punishing their kids for their bad grades, and feel they're missing out, and so jump at the first chance they have to do it to me, although I work hard at school and always have.
And so, my Internet is turned off until I "bring my grade back up"--
Holy crap, my dad nearly caught me, gotta go right this seocnd!
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Richard
Passenger Engine
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Post by Richard on Mar 11, 2009 1:09:16 GMT
There's nothing wrong with a B minus, (I think that's a 86 or 85). Some classes are harder than others. For proof-of-point, I'm making A's in all my classes except for a low B in Geometry Honors.
Your parents still love you though. I wouldn't let a grade get in between your relationship. Take it from me, this has happened to me before as well.
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Little Engine
Goods Engine
"But I think we can put our differences behind us. For science. You monster.""
Posts: 332
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Post by Little Engine on Mar 11, 2009 3:21:58 GMT
Yeah... I know they love me, and they're just trying to make sure I do well, but it seems so extreme. I don't like having to sneak around like this, and yet, what else can I do? Accept the Internet ban? I don't think so. I look forwards to coming here every evening when I get home, I'm not giving that up willingly, because they don't understand.
Plus, like you said, B minus isn't all that bad, and I know it'll be up to an A again by the end of the year anyways, so what's the huge problem? It's in an easy class, Civilizations, for some stupid reason.
Another part of it is, I guess, that they've always trusted me, and now they seem to trust me with nothing. It's really annoying....
Oh, and while I'm complaining (hehe, sorry everybody, feel free to not finish reading my rant), I also am getting a cold and have the stupid WASL test next week. But, ah well, guess it could always be worse....
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Post by Jim522 on Mar 11, 2009 8:05:24 GMT
Something exactly the same as this happened to me in film class last year. I'd completed, and worked so hard on a very important assignment, and had made the teacher aware of it several times over.
He was very unreliable though, and little did I know before too late that he had either lost it or not even transferred it from my computer in the room to his!
What this meant was, when I received my piece of paper at the end of the semester, I was shocked to see I had a great big FAIL on the page.
It would take another 2 months of struggle to fix the problem, well, sort of. Because it was now considered "late", not being my fault at all, I received a mere "pass" mark for the assignment, and there's nothing I could do about it.
My parents are strict in the extreme. While I don't feel like dragging up the past and going into every last detail about things, I do understand how you feel, LE.
While I feel your situation is unfair, and very uncomfortable, particularly in the sense that you have to sneak SIF, I encourage you to press on. And if you do, you will end up on top in the end.
All will pass in good time, and I can assure you will be fine.
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Warrior
Passenger Engine
Posts: 915
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Post by Warrior on Mar 11, 2009 14:01:13 GMT
I had to put up with the same crap, but on a higher scale. My parents FORCE me to get 100% on EVERYTHING in school, and if I don't, I have to keep redoing it until I do... Thus, no internet...
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Post by Knuckles on Mar 11, 2009 14:09:27 GMT
I'm glad my parents didn't do that to me, I'd rip the test papers up in front of their faces's.
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Post by Halstead on Mar 11, 2009 20:54:23 GMT
I'm glad that has never happened, to put it frankly I was one of the few who found it difficult to concentrate to schoolwork due to disabilities, although my GCSEs were fairly good IMV. My A Levels I won't mention, because I don't want to sound like a poor thickie on this board although I do strongly regret that decision...
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