Yes, in that respect Big Brother has been hugely influential.
It wasn't the first reality TV show but it was the one which got the most attention and it has sustained itself for 7 years.
There is no doubt that it (and its contemporaries) have influenced our ideas about popular culture, specifically the notion that you can become famous without any discernible talent or gift, but just by "being yourself."
This is in contrast to talent shows like Pop Idol and X Factor, where the winners do (arguably) have to at least have a decent singing voice.
I think "24" was innovative in having a real-time narrative and the use of split screens (though certainly not the first to use those techniques.) It might have popularised the shaky, restless, "documentary-style" camera but I'm not sure whether other TV shows did this before.
I think The Simpsons was also very influential in redefining animated comedy.
the question posed is "Most influential TV show of the last 10 years... "
mw thinks most of you here are about 12???
24, er, xfiles, friends most of the shows used as examples got at most 5 million viewers not what I would call influential...
the question posed is "Most influential TV show of the last 10 years... "
mw thinks most of you here are about 12???
24, er, xfiles, friends most of the shows used as examples got at most 5 million viewers not what I would call influential...
Agrees, the question is most influential..... not your favourite reality/quiz/sci-fi show.
1, Location, Location, Location/Property Ladder, Grand Design's and Changing Rooms for the unexpected consequences of helping to stir up the insane and unsustainable property crazyness of the Blair years which now means most 20 year olds can't remotely afford a house anymore, or even hope to. They have helped shift attitudes from Debt bad, thrift good to the unwelcome largesse is a worthy trait.
2. Jamie's School Dinners - for the obvious
3. Whistleblower (BBC, not ITV) for the quality insight into the disgusting/illegal/criminal activities at Barclay's, Tesco's, Birmingham Heartlands Hospital etc
4. Blue Planet/Planet Earth, for pushing the envelope on documentaries
5. Top Gear, for the transformation from slightly hobby-ish 'dads' version, to the world's biggest Motoring TV show and creation of Richard 'Rocketman/Hamster' Hammond as a legend. Need to get Vicky back from 5th Gear to be TG chick in residence though.
6. Sadly, How Clean is Your House for the insight into the disgusting way many people live their lives, and the fact they are quite brazen and open to having it viewed by the populous at large. Would your gran let anyone in if the house was not clean !!
Slightly off thread..
7. FCUK adverts, for getting F*ck slightly misspelt on the TV wall to wall. Mary Whitehouse is spinning!!!
8. NSPCC Full Stop ad's, for getting across how horrible some people really are.
the question posed is "Most influential TV show of the last 10 years... "
mw thinks most of you here are about 12???
24, er, xfiles, friends most of the shows used as examples got at most 5 million viewers not what I would call influential...
5 million viewers? We are talking worlwide here not just the UK.
Anyway, ratings and influential do not always equate. For example Show1 may have relative low ratings but may just about be succesful enough for Show2 to be green lighted, Show2 then becomes a world wide mega success.
Show2 may get the ratings but it would never have existed without the influence of Show1.
Friends: [...] Cold Feet and Coupling (two of the best comedy shows in the UK) would never have been made without it.
I disagree. There have always been sitcoms. Coupling was a sitcom, one in a line that includes Joking Apart etc from the same writer; it was just the next thing Steve Moffat did before he got distracted by Dr Who. It would have happened without Friends, just as Joking Apart happened without any precedent I can think of.
Pj Steven, even how much I love Lost and Prison Break, they cant be called influential as 24 created them and re-invented the whole drama genre in America paving the way for Lost,Prison Break, Heroes etc.
Pj Steven, even how much I love Lost and Prison Break, they cant be called influential as 24 created them and re-invented the whole drama genre in America paving the way for Lost,Prison Break, Heroes etc.
Agree to a point, but I think the primary "sell" on 24 was that it played in "real time" - the story was actually secondary to that.
With say "Lost" the basic sell was one central driving mystery stretched over an entire series.
But 24 was definitely influential - if for nothing else firmly establishing that a movie star could very credibly star in a TV show!
the question posed is "Most influential TV show of the last 10 years... "
mw thinks most of you here are about 12???
24, er, xfiles, friends most of the shows used as examples got at most 5 million viewers not what I would call influential...
maybe 5 million in the UK - but the shows you mention are genuine worldwide phenomenan with literally 100's millions of viewers.
Just re-read through the thread, for the people promoting Big Brother, I take it they mean the Dutch Original from Endemol BV, as opposed the the British 'version' from Endemol UK.
Jade Goody did not start a world-wide phenomena, other than making people across the globe want to throw up.............
i was originally trying to restrict the thread to the last 10 years. i agree with loads mentioned (this life, simpsons, royle family etc.) but this are all older than 10 years ago.
debate is also being clouded by people's own taste and how much success they had.
what about the 11 o'clock show? gave use ali g and ricky gervais?
i was originally trying to restrict the thread to the last 10 years. i agree with loads mentioned (this life, simpsons, royle family etc.) but this are all older than 10 years ago.
debate is also being clouded by people's own taste and how much success they had.
what about the 11 o'clock show? gave use ali g and ricky gervais?
Again not really influential, except Ali G maybe helping 'gang' culture and Bling be accepted more into UK society, the caricature became reality to the stupid and influencable.
Influential programmes is society changing, and of the ones I mentioned Jamie's School Dinner's stand out head and shoulders as a single campaining winner.
From a sci-fi/fantasy point of view it would be The X Files and Star Trek The Next Generation. Their success made studio execs aware that there was a hunger for sci fi on TV. So many shows were green lighted on the back of their success: Babylon5, Buffy, DS9, and so on...
Probably "Big Brother", as unfortunante as that is.
I agree.
When something is influential it's about what measure of influence it's had, which is stating the obvious, but that's how I see something as being influential or not.
So out of all those programmes mentioned I have to say Big Brother because it's influenced so many future programmes and created an obsession in society for being famous for being famous. That existed before, but BB made it appear as a more realistic possibility and was/is aspirational TV to the public.
There's just a glut of TV programming based around the genre of reality TV.
So as far as being influential I don't see how any of the other programmes mentioned come anywhere near close to it even if they have been influential in their own ways.
I think BB has easily been the most influential due to the knock on effect it has had on TV programming, AND on society itself.
.....but I agree, influential for mostly negative reasons.
Changing Rooms - just look at the schedules and think how many shows in the 8pm slot would have been made without it. Virtually every property show and every lifestyle show owes it a debt.
Big Brother - not only did it define the reality genre, it also showed TV companies how to use multichannel offshoots and the internet to augment a show's popularity.
The Day Today - its influence can be seen in virtually every British comedy made since.
24 - popularised the serial drama in the US in a climate where almost every successful drama was a police or medical procedural with largely standalone episodes, paving the way for Lost and Heroes.
Who Wants To Be A Millionnaire? - placed the focus of gameshows very much on the tension in the studio, and made gameshows a part of primetime again.
Changing Rooms - just look at the schedules and think how many shows in the 8pm slot would have been made without it. Virtually every property show and every lifestyle show owes it a debt.
Big Brother - not only did it define the reality genre, it also showed TV companies how to use multichannel offshoots and the internet to augment a show's popularity.
The Day Today - its influence can be seen in virtually every British comedy made since.
24 - popularised the serial drama in the US in a climate where almost every successful drama was a police or medical procedural with largely standalone episodes, paving the way for Lost and Heroes.
Who Wants To Be A Millionnaire? - placed the focus of gameshows very much on the tension in the studio, and made gameshows a part of primetime again.
Big Brother didnt start reality Tv-Castaway did
Im a Celeb-it isnt really influential as it has created much else.
Nip/Tuck-It didnt even show any nudity.
it really is an interestng debate as i work in the industry and was asked this question recently
Hmmm...posted on the 18th...5 most influential shows from the last ten years...You wouldn't be trying to get the members of DS to fill out a certain internal app would you? :rolleyes: :eek:
Comments
good post, objective and probably about right.
K
mw thinks most of you here are about 12???
24, er, xfiles, friends most of the shows used as examples got at most 5 million viewers not what I would call influential...
Agrees, the question is most influential..... not your favourite reality/quiz/sci-fi show.
1, Location, Location, Location/Property Ladder, Grand Design's and Changing Rooms for the unexpected consequences of helping to stir up the insane and unsustainable property crazyness of the Blair years which now means most 20 year olds can't remotely afford a house anymore, or even hope to. They have helped shift attitudes from Debt bad, thrift good to the unwelcome largesse is a worthy trait.
2. Jamie's School Dinners - for the obvious
3. Whistleblower (BBC, not ITV) for the quality insight into the disgusting/illegal/criminal activities at Barclay's, Tesco's, Birmingham Heartlands Hospital etc
4. Blue Planet/Planet Earth, for pushing the envelope on documentaries
5. Top Gear, for the transformation from slightly hobby-ish 'dads' version, to the world's biggest Motoring TV show and creation of Richard 'Rocketman/Hamster' Hammond as a legend. Need to get Vicky back from 5th Gear to be TG chick in residence though.
6. Sadly, How Clean is Your House for the insight into the disgusting way many people live their lives, and the fact they are quite brazen and open to having it viewed by the populous at large. Would your gran let anyone in if the house was not clean !!
Slightly off thread..
7. FCUK adverts, for getting F*ck slightly misspelt on the TV wall to wall. Mary Whitehouse is spinning!!!
8. NSPCC Full Stop ad's, for getting across how horrible some people really are.
5 million viewers? We are talking worlwide here not just the UK.
Anyway, ratings and influential do not always equate. For example Show1 may have relative low ratings but may just about be succesful enough for Show2 to be green lighted, Show2 then becomes a world wide mega success.
Show2 may get the ratings but it would never have existed without the influence of Show1.
Agree to a point, but I think the primary "sell" on 24 was that it played in "real time" - the story was actually secondary to that.
With say "Lost" the basic sell was one central driving mystery stretched over an entire series.
But 24 was definitely influential - if for nothing else firmly establishing that a movie star could very credibly star in a TV show!
But
maybe 5 million in the UK - but the shows you mention are genuine worldwide phenomenan with literally 100's millions of viewers.
Jade Goody did not start a world-wide phenomena, other than making people across the globe want to throw up.............
debate is also being clouded by people's own taste and how much success they had.
what about the 11 o'clock show? gave use ali g and ricky gervais?
Again not really influential, except Ali G maybe helping 'gang' culture and Bling be accepted more into UK society, the caricature became reality to the stupid and influencable.
Influential programmes is society changing, and of the ones I mentioned Jamie's School Dinner's stand out head and shoulders as a single campaining winner.
Completely agree
I agree.
When something is influential it's about what measure of influence it's had, which is stating the obvious, but that's how I see something as being influential or not.
So out of all those programmes mentioned I have to say Big Brother because it's influenced so many future programmes and created an obsession in society for being famous for being famous. That existed before, but BB made it appear as a more realistic possibility and was/is aspirational TV to the public.
There's just a glut of TV programming based around the genre of reality TV.
So as far as being influential I don't see how any of the other programmes mentioned come anywhere near close to it even if they have been influential in their own ways.
I think BB has easily been the most influential due to the knock on effect it has had on TV programming, AND on society itself.
.....but I agree, influential for mostly negative reasons.
It pretty much single handedly re-invigorated the TV cartoon industry.
But sadly, like Big Brother, I think it's influence has been mostly negative despite the fact that it kept the TV cartoon industry alive.
Big Brother - not only did it define the reality genre, it also showed TV companies how to use multichannel offshoots and the internet to augment a show's popularity.
The Day Today - its influence can be seen in virtually every British comedy made since.
24 - popularised the serial drama in the US in a climate where almost every successful drama was a police or medical procedural with largely standalone episodes, paving the way for Lost and Heroes.
Who Wants To Be A Millionnaire? - placed the focus of gameshows very much on the tension in the studio, and made gameshows a part of primetime again.
Never heard of Babylon5?
I have, but 24's popularity was, as far as I'm aware, significantly less niche.
I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here- Celeb Reality
Nip/Tuck- Broke Taboo's
Big Brother didnt start reality Tv-Castaway did
Im a Celeb-it isnt really influential as it has created much else.
Nip/Tuck-It didnt even show any nudity.
Agree with that, The Day Today was the best but unfortunately all the comedies influenced by it have been way inferior. Well I think so anyway....
I assume the last of A Bit of Fry and Laurie was more than 10 years ago? It would have to be right up there - groundbreaking comedy alright.