I’ve been away for the past few days so hence the lack of posts but I come back and remarkably enough find myself in agreenment with Kevin Spacey who has criticised the BBC for airing talent shows such as Any Dream Will Do and I’d Do Anything.
“I felt that was essentially a 13-week promotion for a musical – where’s our 13-week programme?” Spacey said. The Hollywood star is artistic director at the Old Vic theatre in London. “I have spoken to your chairman but he has yet to get back to me,” Spacey said. The BBC replied that its shows were not “unduly promotional”.
But that’s not quite true, is it? The cosy arrangement between the State Broadcaster and Lloyd-Webber (and now Cameron Mackintosh) is promotion incarnate. The musical moguls get massive free publicity for their productions and the BBC gets to produce more cheap TV. There is something unseemingly about it all, and whilst it is not evidence of political bias, it is evidence of the BBC prostituting itself to churn out Saturday evening dross.
The BBC having an inherent bias towards irritating glitzy shite is something I can agree with. Especially when the coaches say things like “OK, you’re giving me 110%, and that’s fabulous, but I want you to be giving me 150%”. Bell ends.
Hey at least the BBB isn’t running…
CONVERTING TO ISLAMO: THE MUSICAL …
in which over a 13 week period the BBB hilariously shows the rehearsal and selection process as 20 contestents from differnt backgrounds compete to be Muslim Convert of the Year.
Well, not yet, anyway.
Off topic,I know,but please be aware that tomorrow the economics affairs committee of the House of Lords will publish its conclusions on the economic benefits of mass immigration.It is expected destroy the governments long held justification for immigration
Monitor the way the BBC covers this story tomorrow.The BBC has long parroted the econmic benefit line… http://www.haloscan.com/comments/patrickcrozier/7202043536019434601/
100% right. If the Beeb did give some free publicity to the Old Vic it might actually be fulfilling its public service remit given that Spacey generally puts on intelligent stuff for Londoners rather than West End toss for tourists.
I’m with that. He’s right – it is basically free publicity. How they justify it as not being free publicity I don’t know.
That said, there seems to be an insatiable appetite for this kind of crap. At least the BBC have the grace to confine it to Saturday night TV only, thank God.
as a public service broadcater they have to cover everything and they clearly don’t.
a spacey said – “play for today” was wonderful idea. a way of getting the whole country to think about one subject for a brief while.
it has no chance of returning in today’s dumbed down bbc.
Wonder what John Simpson:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4480883.stm
Thinks about the Republic of Botswana funded programming on BBC1:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2007/12_december/04/detective.shtml
Odd how the utterly disastrous Weinstein Company is involved. The BBC chucking money at the Weinsteins to enable Michael Moore to spout more of his propaganda? The BBC bankrolled Moore through most of the 90s, of course.
It’s not political bias, you’re right — but if Lord Lloyd Webber was a Labour peer you’d all be hopping up and down with rage, wouldn’t you?
“Its not political bias”
Who cares? – this site is ‘biased bbc’ not ‘politically biased bbc’.
BJ,
No. Next question…
Nice to see that hatred of Andrew Lloyd Webber transcends political boundaries.
“a spacey said – “play for today” was wonderful idea. a way of getting the whole country to think about one subject for a brief while.”
As I recall, ‘Play for Today’ always used to be full of lib-left bias.
I have a connection to the current touring version of JATD and I can tell you that it is playing to packed houses of people who have come to see the ‘stars’ of the BBC reality TV Show. Of course it is free publicity, in fact it is downright sponsorship
David,
I simply don’t believe you. What would your reaction be if David Puttnam got his own “find a star for my new film” show?
I’m no fan of the BBC’s “Chav” TV programming. ITV are capable of producing this stuff.
I also just love the way the BBC spout on and on about the “New” Dr Who. Personally I can’t stand the thing. It’s biased attitude to Thatcher and the USA is pathetic. It’s written by someone who spent time writing “gay” stories and is so far away from the old Dr Who as to hardly be worth the name.
I wonder how many here have the same “BBC watching habits” as me?
BBC breakfast news (well a bit of)
BBC 6pm news (I like to be kept up to date with climate change you know)
Horizon (when it has something interesting on)
Top Gear
Sky at Night
Oh and “Click” on News 24
That’s about it for £140 a year. Bargain!
On News 24, at 20:56 today (31.3.08), the BBC replies to Mr Spacey’s comments. Up on the screen comes a written statement. In it, there is an ‘it’s’ where there should be an ‘its’.
Billions of pounds in tellytax, and they still can’t use grammar.
And I would just like to point out that that smiley thing was NOT my intention!
BBC 24 get the Guardian TV critic to discuss Spacey’s views [after a sly dig at him by saying ‘he hasn’t embraced the Brit love of Sat night Tv’. Damn foreigners eh?
TV critic says.. ‘well he promotes his shows by being famous. Its all sour grapes’.
Thus totally missing the point that he doesnt spend TV tax money on his pads.
Pathetic.
durr… pads = ads, ie promotion.
http://www.itsmummy.com/
Martin:
……..I wonder how many here have the same “BBC watching habits” as me?
Sun came out Sunday – so I decided give the grass it’s first mow. Takes a couple of hours, so I alleviate the boredom with a little headset radio – tuned to R4 ‘cos I’m not much into sport or music.
Sunday afternoon R4 was a new experience for me.
First we had leftie Mariella Frostrup talking to people about books. We learned that leftie Jo Brand reads Das Kapital to her kids, we heard from some old lefty who wrote books about about unilateral disarmament in the cold war, and thought climate change was worse than nuclear war, and finally from another lefty lady who agreed and couldn’t bear to think about climate change because (bizzarely)her children were going to die from it and she’d never have grandchildren.
Next we had old leftie labour stalwart Joan Bakewell interviewing ancient (lefty) poets of the ’60’s and playing their recordings – which sounded exactly like a famous old episode of Hancocks ‘alf Hour ( if anybody’s old enough to remember) where Tony Hancock and Sid James try joining an avant guard poetry group to pick up girls. One old geezer read a poem about a condom and said “they’d never allow that now” (clearly doesn’t stay up for late night TV!)
After that we had ancient Alvar Lidell reminiscing about 1968 – the year where all beeboids of a certain age spiritually reside.
The two hours or so was like an elephant’s graveyard of the dusty old ’60’s student rhetoric that I hadn’t heard since I grew out of it aged around 22 – priceless, and all for only £140 a year.
Your BBC – where the ’60’s go on for ever…and ever…and ever…
Here’s a story the BBC are burying away:
Alert as Irwell turns orange
http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/s/1043249_alert_as_irwell_turns_orange?rss=yes
You’ve got to dig away on their Lancashire news site to find it….
Orange River Irwell Investigated
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/lancashire/7323188.stm
Why would they keep that from us. And who are they trying to please?
David Vance: Any theories?
.
Anonymous:
“Its not political bias”
Who cares? – this site is ‘biased bbc’ not ‘politically biased bbc’.
Anonymous |
Perhaps it`s the `cultural bias` that the bbc occasionally own up to.
I have noticed that the rather gentle ginger gonk who fronts news 24
in the long dark nightime of the soul only cheers up and smiles when they run a piece on hairdressing or stage musicals,
of course it would be un pc for me to draw conclusions.
However help yourselves.
Hillhunt
I think the quote “There have been no reports of any fish deaths or other damage to wildlife”
is your answer there.
BJ:
Thank God the fish are safe. And the river’s turned such an attractive colour. What’s not to like?
.
Amazing that it takes one of Hollywood’s luvvies to hit the UK news headlines complaining about BBC bias. Frankly, I couldn’t care less if another champagne American socialist is p*ssed off because his plays are not on TV – I’m more concerned about the drip-drip socialism to which our children are being subjected.
Sort the damn politics out first – the luvvies and their complaints can get to the back of the queue.
Horizon used to be the bestprogramme on the BBC.
Now its so dumbed down its a total waste of time.
A crying shame.
I couldn’t help but laugh over the fact that even Kevin Spacey got the same evasive non-response from the Beeb to his complaint that I do whenever I complain:
“I have spoken to your chairman but he has yet to get back to me,” Spacey said. The BBC replied that its shows were not “unduly promotional”.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7318812.stm
The extension of the ‘progressive’ agenda to its science output is what turned me against the BBC.
It got to the point where the only BBC programme I watched with any regularity was The Sky at Night.
I stopped paying the BBC’s jizya over 2 years ago.
There is now almost £300 sitting in my bank account that would not otherwise be there (small change to the likes of Hillhunt, I daresay).
Funny, nobody mentioned that Spacey was complaining of blatant advertising. This is specifically forbidden in the BBC’s Charter, not that that worries the beeb of course. The tax however should not be used for advertising, full stop.
Yes, it would be interesting to see British theatre/ BBC Drama show some real guts:
“Dutch courage, German courage”
http://www.newcultureforum.org.uk/home/?q=node/260
I think this is one of the key reasons for destroying the vile, mediocre, boring BBC.
If we compare the crap that passes for drama at Al Beeb (Casualty, Holby, Eastenders, anything by the dreary Stephen Poliakoff etc etc etc etc etc etc etc) with the astonishingly creative mix that routinely emerges from the States (Mad Men, the Sopranos, ER, House, The Simpsons, Family Guy etc etc etc etc etc etc) you begin to understand how pernicious, demoralising and negative the BBC is in cultural terms.
HOnestly, it’s moribund drama output is even worse than its news and current affairs!
And the xxxxs get away with it!
If we compare the crap that passes for drama at Al Beeb (Casualty, Holby, Eastenders, anything by the dreary Stephen Poliakoff etc etc etc etc etc etc etc) with the astonishingly creative mix that routinely emerges from the States (Mad Men, the Sopranos, ER, House, The Simpsons, Family Guy etc etc etc etc etc etc)
Sad but very very true
Horizon used to be the bestprogramme on the BBC.
Now its so dumbed down its a total waste of time.
A crying shame.
I’d tend to agree.
Getting the balance right between education and entertainment when making a popular science programme can’t be easy, but once you have taken the special effects and arty camera work from Horizon there often isn’t much hard information remaining.
I’ve got a collection of Horizon documentaries dating back 25 years and the gradual change in style is very apparent.
Horizon in it’s current style should be part of the schools programming, because it would do a fantastic job of awakening an interest in science amongst bright 10 year olds.
Agreed. Horizon is just utter shit for the most part.
Many of the programs have little “science” in them and appear to be amied clearly at the “chav” brigade.
Why is the BBC so frightened of real science?
Perhaps because no one at the BBC is science trained and the “arts” are seen as superior?
After all when the BBC wants a sound bite, it’s usually some leftie loser from the cinema or Theatre they get on
If Kevin Spacey had been a University professor complaining about the lack of science on the BBC do you think he’d have gotten the same response? I don’t.
I’m fed up of hearing leftie radio & TV presenters admitting to being proud that they are no good at “maths or science”
None of them would admit to knowing nothing about Shakespeare would they?
Soaring synthesizers and tricksy cgi padding out programmes of dumbed down garbage.
Horizon lost the plot years ago.
Sky News – reporting on Zimbabwe.
BBC News 24 – reporting on the new Dr Who series
And we pay £140 a year for the bum wipes at the BBC?
The BBC advertises more and more on its channels. It also advertises its programmes and what happens to you if you fail to pay for them on huge billboards around the country and now even in cinemas! Why is there any need for any of this? Just how much would other corporations in the trash business, such as burger bars or fizzy drinks makers, spend on advertising if everyone was forced to buy their products by the government? I’ll tell you. £0. Every penny the BBC spends on advertisng its own drivel is a deliberate misuse of licence payers money.
At least the government has stopped the BBC running long and frequent licence fee funded adverts for its many magazines on its TV channels. Naturally, it never occurred to the BBC that there was anything wrong with such behaviour until they were told to stop it.
“Compare the crap that passes for drama at Al Beeb (Casualty, Holby, Eastenders, anything by the dreary Stephen Poliakoff etc etc etc etc etc etc etc) with the astonishingly creative mix that routinely emerges from the States (Mad Men, the Sopranos, ER, House, The Simpsons, Family Guy etc etc etc etc etc etc)”
While the many of the British public implicitly know this, and it is reflected in their viewing choices, it isn’t politically acceptable do say so out loud. British patriotism is absurdly wrapped up in the country’s pop culture output. Thus the virtually unquestioned assumption that we should all cheer for the Brits on Oscar night rather than think about which of the nominees handed in the best performance. Thus the need to pretend you prefer BBC entertainment over American imports even if it isn’t reflected in what you actually watch.
Here’s the bbc’s April fools effort – it’s not advertising honest!
So the beeb has no commercial interest in the production of these shows YET they made £31million pounds from the last show being on tv!
That sir, is a commercial interest!
Although, having said that…if the beeb HAS to sponsor these musicals, why dont they force the shows to only sell tickets for £20 each at the most? Id certainly take my family to see shows such as Joseph and Ms Von Trapp BUT at £200 for the whole family to attend…I dont think so!
Mailman
Pray tell Gusset, what’s it advertising? A particular brand of chocolate biscuits?
“Kevin Spacey is dead right”
(Benedict Nightingale).
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/stage/theatre/article3652462.ece
Play for Today would not be made now, one of the reasons being that any plays written would be neutered by the BBC’s Editorial Guidelines Dept.
Play for Today did indeed feature many left/liberal writers but those plays were also often superbly written and acted, and unlike the likes of White Girl reflected reality.