Ed Parnell
Wednesday 4th July 2007 6:34pm
LONDON
360 posts
Quote: Mark @ July 4, 2007, 2:12 PM
That's where a lot of the money went! That said, for the BBC My Family was a cheap investment in terms of ratings return.
There's has been a ton of shows on the BBC: Not Going Out and Green Green Grass are two big hitters not mentioned yet.
Don't forget a lot of it has been invested in comedy we haven't seen yet (i.e. still in production) and a lot of it has gone on pilots that have never made it to air or have been tucked away on BBC3.
I'm not speaking for or against the BBC here - they do try lots of new comedy each year but there is some serious in-efficiency going on. The average budget to setup a pilot is normally between £250,000 and £800,000 apparently - I could sort one for £50,000 I think!
Not going out was ok. GGG was formuliac and poorly thought out.
A lot of this money goes on fees, to people like Ross and Norton, not on actual programmes. It's wrong to say there is a big investment in comedy because many of these people are already invested in and safe bets, but command higher fees. This doesn't mean they are any good of consistent performers. To me, Ross has been uver used. Norton just looks up stuff on the web, as far as I can see. Again, these people are paid retainers and then the BBC might find something for them to do. This is the wrong way around. You get the format. One of the things which gripes me about Dr Who is the star name before the programme title. The format is bigger and probably more important than who plays the Doctor, but apparently this is not recognised. I'm using this as a case in point.
I'm sorry, My Family, GGG, After You've Gone...formulaic. It doesn't 'go' anywhere. It's the same stuff as in the seventies but with mobiles.
BBC3 however have produced some good shows.
Seriously, if people want quality improved they are going to have to look at the way they develop formats and ideas, and not just go with whatever is closest to the chequebook five minutes before lunch.
Also, they sell a lot of these shows abroad, so it's entirely wrong to base things on ratings value.
The BBC doesn't need to chase ratings, it needs to produce quality programmes which people will make a point of seeing. If you concentrate on that, then the ratings will be there.
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