THAT WAS THE BOX – April 2014 (Week Two)

‘BRITAIN’S GOT TALENT‘ (ITV – ITV PLAYER)
 

I can’t remember that the last time where there was a period with no reality TV shows to watch. With ‘THE VOICE‘ over and done with until next year, it’s time for the return of Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden, David Walliams and Alesha Dixon in another series of ‘BRITAIN’S GOT TALENT‘ – with cheeky Geordie two-some Ant and Dec back as hosts.
 

This year there’s a bit of a twist to the way the judges get to buzz the acts, as they each have a special gold buzzer which they can only hit once through-out the series. Should an act completely win over even just one  judges, they can show their approval by pressing the snazzy new button – meaning that the auditionee gets to go straight through to the semi-finals, whatever the opinions of the other judges.  Could this cause friction among the judges?
 

Amanda Holden decided to give her golden approval to 79-year-old Salsa dancer Paddy Jones and Nico Espinosa, who absolutely left me in awe after watching her strut her stuff, and being swung around like a rag-doll during her audition. After winning the Spanish version of BGT, the pair are already potential favourites this year’s British contest. Paddy proves that you really are as old as you feel!
 

Other great acts included the amazing dance group Light Balance, opera singer Lucy Kay and of course boy group Collabro

 

‘AMAZING GREYS‘ (ITV – ITV PLAYER)
 

While we’re in the reality TV frame of mind, I will now turn our attention to ‘AMAZING GREYS‘, where hosts Paddy McGuinness and Angela Rippon host a unique new game show. The basic premise involves some of the country’s most talented pensioners competing against eager young rivals. Each senior citizen has a unique skill to their name, and if the young contestant can master it and beat two of the “Greys”, they can win £10,000.
 

I’m not sure what to think of this show. Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s great to see more presenters of Rippon‘s calibre on primetime TV, but I just don’t think the format will work long-term. Probably because it is a blatant gimmick!
 

In any case, I will be rooting for the seniors every time!

 

‘THE BATTLE FOR BRITAIN’S BREAKFAST‘ (BBC2 – BBC iPLAYER)
 

From reality TV shows to some breakfast nostalgia, and Angela Rippon again! This harks back to my childhood, in a TV-remote battle for ‘Good Morning Britain‘ while my parents preferred ‘BBC Breakfast Time‘. But it was more than just a battle up and down the living rooms in the country – it was a fight between ITV and the BBC over who could win the biggest audience share of Britons who were tucking into their toast and cornflakes.
 

For those who may not appreciate or were not around in the early-mid 80s, before these two TV shows there was NO breakfast telly – full stop! People only had the radio, the TV test card or ‘Open University‘ as the only alternatives, or they would we would just breakfast at breakfast time. In 1980 a new ITV morning franchise was granted to TV-am, an organisation which was fronted by the “Famous Five” (Sir David Frost, Anna Ford, Michael Parkinson, Angela Rippon and newsreader Robert Kee. The BBC could not stand idle while ITV would be able to broadcast at 6am, therefore they brought in Frank Bough and the young and attractive Selina Scott. So ‘BBC Breakfast Time‘ was born on the 17th January 1983 (two weeks ahead of ITV), the first of two programmes to be sofa-based, casual and chatty.
 

ITV finally launched two weeks later, kicking off with TV-am‘s hour of hard news, followed by ‘Good Morning Britain‘. Despite remaining reasonably positive, it was the viewers’ opinions which was the most important, and they weren’t keen. Fast forward a bit and advertisers were fleeing, and debts were beginning to pile up quickly. With some more drama falling onto the struggling show, including the switching of chief execs, and the sacking of Ford and Rippon , you could be forgiven for wondering how did things get so bad. With Greg Dyke taking on the job of breathing new life into TV-am, viewers soon saw presenters Nick Owen, Anne Diamond and of course a puppet by the name of Roland Rat.

 

 
It wasn’t completely plain sailing from here on, even though ‘Good Morning Britain‘ did eventually steal the Beeb‘s morning audience share. But then as cliché states, the path to success is never a straight one.
 

I wasn’t sure if it was the pure nostalgia of the documentary but I found it this programme fascinating, especially as I was completely oblivious to the ratings war between the two channels when I was growing up.

That’s it from me for this week, but Karen Mason will be back with her usual collection of TV reviews of the past week, next week!