X Factor November 16, 2008

So I decided that I wanted to write about X Factor. Mostly because I have never been into it till this series and I wanted to investigate what makes it such a watchable programme. I also wanted to look at the viewing figures between that and other programmes like it. For example Fame Academy and reality TV shows like big brother.

X-factor competes for the highest rating on a Saturday night with strictly come dancing. Both shows involve the public getting involved and voting for the favourite act to stay in the next week and they both have a separate results show. In these result shows they do similar things where they use the public vote down to the last 2 contestants and from there they have to perform again and the judges decide which one stays and which one goes.

This programme gets more viewers the Strictly Come dancing does and is therefor more popular then strictly come dancing (based on the figures from the week begging 2/11/2008. (see: http://www.barb.co.uk/viewingsummary/weekreports.cfm?report=weeklyterrestrial&requesttimeout=500)(wesite visited 15th November 2008 23:52)) It also means that it is likely to get more votes. I think that the way that these type of programmes make you want to watch them and make you really feel that if you don’t vote you will really feel like your contestant will really be kicked out is crucial to the amount of people that watch them. I think that X-factor is more likely to make you feel like if you don’t watch you and vote your favorite person will be kicked out. Especially after last week when one of the favourite to win the contest got kicked out.  (See: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7718192.stm (website last updated Saturday 8th November 2008 23:42) and also http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/news/2008/11/ofcom_may_investigate_lauras_x_factor_eviction.html (last updated: 14th November 2008 13:13))

X factor and other programmes like it our famous for being most controversial when the public get involved then thing usually start to go badly. There have been a lot of voting scandals before so this would be no new thing if ofcom did decided to investigate it. It does make me think about the media’s effect on the X factor rating after it got into bad press last week. Footage of the vote of can be seen below and you can see the bad reaction that the audience has to Laura being voted off. I think that this was generally the view of most of the audience. There was a massive petition to get Laura reinstated and this is why Ofcom may decide to investigate.

I would also like to like this to my power section as I think that this whole thing could have been a ploy to get people to vote more. What a way to get more votes to the show the next week by getting rid of one of the most popular acts in the show and then warning people that if they didn’t vote the same thing could have happened again. I think that this demonstrated the huge power the media have over us to effect what we do. I know that watching this weeks episode that I wanted to vote because I didn’t want my favourite act to go out.

(video added:09 November 2008 )

The Quiz Panel Show November 14, 2008

I wanted to write about the panel show as it is one of my most favourite types of show and I very much enjoy watching and listening to them on the radio. Here are a few of my favourites:

The News Quiz

This is a radio show on BBC Radio 4 hosted by Sandy Toksvig and is on a Friday night. Each week they look at the current news and draw comical question from them. The question usually end in conversation of a comical nature. They also rely on the public for there clippings from newspapers. This quiz is one of my favourite panel shows and as I really enjoy listening and making radio this quiz has been really inspirational to me. I like the way they involve the audience by getting them to send in newspaper clippings. It is also recorded in front of a live audience. I think that this is one of the best of the panel shows and I find often that it is the funniest one.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/comedy/newsquiz.shtml

(visited: 14th November 2008 16:21)

Mock the week

Again another panel show that I really enjoy. Hosted by Dara O’Briain the repeats these days are usually on a Wednesday. The difference with this show is it is not about who answers the most questions it is usually about who makes the host laugh the most. It combines the stand up skills with the usual quiz show format. Again this is a style of show that I usually enjoy. I really enjoy this one because the style of show that it is is different from the normal quiz panel show style. It is more based on there stand up skills and their abilities to make us laugh. This type of show is more like the radio show ‘I’m sorry I haven’t a clue‘ (http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/clue/) (site visited: 14th November 2008 16:38.)

(video added:03 August 2008 )

http://www.mocktheweek.tv/

(website Visited:14th November 2008 16:43)

Nevermind the Buzzcocks

Another one of my favourite panel shows. Hosted by Simon Amstell shown on a Thursday Night on BBC 2. This is a quiz show all about Pop Music. They base all there rounds around pop music in different ways. The guest that come onto the show are usually pop stars althought they are sometimes actors or TV presenters. I really enjoy this and it makes me laugh. I think that because panel shows like this only appeal to a small audience because it only appeals to people that like music, they put the on BBC 2 so that many people can watch them but it is not the main thing on a BBC channel that night. I think that this is why this and Mock the week are both on BBC 2.

(video added: 30th May 2008 )

This is the famous moment on Nevermind the Buzzcocks where Preston from The Ordinary Boys walked off after some jokes where made about his wife Chantelle who he later Divorced.

Jeremy Clarkson November 4, 2008

So i previously mentioned in my blog Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross scandal where they made prank phone calls to Andrew Sach who play Manwell in Faulty Towers. Jeremy Clarkson has received 200 complaints over a joke he made about Lorry drivers killing prostitutes. I think this is a clear sign that the BBC are now taking them selves too seriously and that news stories like this a week ago would not have even made the news.

When Karen said that the BBC would have to be alot safer from now on I don’t think I believed her but this now proves to me that this is right and now what the BBC is doing has been brought up once, it will be brought up again and again and again.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7707641.stm

(last updated: 9:30 Tuesday 14th November 2008  )

Television November 1, 2008

So in yesterdays lecture we looked at television, I really enjoy television and would love to work in it one day. We were looking at programmes that make an impact on our lives and why they make that impact.

Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand

We started off looking at the biggest news story of this week, which is Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand making prank phone call to Andrew Sachs who played Manwell in Faulty Towers. The programme only recieved 2 complaints when it was aired and then when it was put in the Daily Mail, it when on to recieve another 30,000. Jonathan Ross (the most highly paid presenter for the whole of the BBC) was punished with a 3 month suspension without pay, and Russell Brand resigned in the middle of this week.

I think that the whole thing was blown out of proportion and that if they are going to punish them for there prank phonecalls they should also be looking into the reasons why people like Chris Moyles can get away with it. I think that because the 2 radio station (BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 2) have 2 very different audiences that it does not affect the younger audience of Radio 1.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7694989.stm

(page last updated: 17:11 Friday 31st October)

Skins

Skins is a British comedy on Channel 4 which has taken interactivity too a whole new level. The progamme is based around a set of teenagers and there lives. The programme is different to many other televison programmes because it uses the medium of the internet more then most programmes. The programmes are released over the internet before they even get aired on the telly. On the skins website you can apply to write an episode or be an extra in an episode. They even organise skins partys up and down the country much like the one that can be seen in the promotional bit that was released on Channel 4 before the programme was.

http://www.e4.com/skins/

(visited: 10:32 1/11/08 )

I have never personally watched this programme but  I think that its a really good idea because it reaches the audience it wants to reach in the way that particular audience wants to find it. I also think that it give younger people a great oppertunity to get involved in the television they watch.

Fiona’s Story

This was a drama that went out on BBC One in august of this year. It was about a women trying to keep her family together after her husband is accused of owning child pornography. It looks mostly at the way the family react to the news and how it affects all there relationships. I didnt get to watch the whole of this drama but I think that the bits that I did see were well written and interesting. Something like that its hard to say that you enjoy it but its really interesting to look at the way a situation like that affects ordinary people. The big risk that the BBC took was to take a chance on a new writer for this piece. For a programme that ran at prime time on BBC One it took alot of courage for the BBC to let her do it.