Has Saturday Night TV ever been this bad
 

With all the following shows starting tonight:-

Richard Hammonds Secret Service
Britains Brightest
Splash
Take Me Out

...has Saturday night TV ever been so dumbed down?

The trouble is, all the shows I watch tend to start and finish at the same time as each other, so once they are all over there is literally NOTHING on that I would ever want to tune in to.

Thank God for DVDs, although it's not the same. I remember when there used to be at least one or two good films on Friday and Saturday nights at the VERY least. :(

In it To Win It with Dale is back tonight! :D

The new series of Borgen starts tonight on BBC4, it's like a Danish West Wing and worth a watch if you don't want something dumbed down.

there never seems to be anything on to watch...it's a good job I like to read and got plenty of books for Christmas

I was disappointed when I saw the trailer for "Splash" which had Tom Daley lowering himself to this kind of stuff. The very title of the show sounds like a childrens TV show title for a start. So it's about diving, but I suspect more people will be tuning in to check out some of the bodies on the board, presuming there is anyone half decent doing this show, and not like the advert with Shaun Williamson!

It could well be one of those shows that gets a first episode curious audience that vanishes rapidly, leaving the show moved around the schedule or even dropped before it finishes.

I go out, plus there's the added tedium of the FA Cup. For all I come from the North East, football does nothing for me..

Three out of the four shows you quote haven't ever been shown as yet, now I personally am going to reserve judgement until I actually watch them rather than pre judge it.

I assume you have been able to see the advance tapes of all of the new three shows and that why you have started this thread, but for me at least we are seeing the Channels actually trying something new, its far better than hours of soaps the same thing day in day out midweek.

It's always been shit

You really need to see a Beadle's About rip-off presented by Richard Hammond to decide whether it's shit or not? From the trailer alone it makes Don't Scare the Hare look like quality entertainment.

Good on you Glenn! I always warm to a fellow male footy hater! :)

Thank God for so many other entertainment options nowadays is what I say, inside and out.

Mind you, at the Olympics the diving was a highlight sport to me. Enjoyed it immensely with Tom grabbing that bronze at the last moment, not to mention the guys are something to aspire to, even if you never get there!

I'm reading more lately too. :)

Take Me Out = Shite. Come back Cilla all is forgiven!

BBC3 is repeating Merlin

More support for the OP's theory ;)

I'm going to be honest.
Take Me Out is better than Blind Date
The X Factor is better than Stars in their Eyes
The Cube is better than Moment of Truth
Nothing, however, beats Gladiators

However my interest in the genre of these shows has slipped as I got older.

Got the classic citv on now but it goes off at 6 then there is nothing lucky my sky planner is so full though with stuff to watch after.

ITV Saturday night schedule June 4, 1994:

5.20 Bullseye
5.50 Baywatch
6.45 Stars in their Eyes with Matthew Kelly
7.30 The Brian Conley Show, guests Level 42.
8.15 You've Been Framed ! Jeremy Beadle
8.45 News with Carol Barnes
9.00 Film: Narrow Margin, Gene Hackman
10.45 Big Fight Live from Cardiff: Steve Robinson v Freddy Cruz
11.35 Film: Kojak
01.30 Hollywood Report

The problem really is that increasingly TV is at two extremes.


One extreme:

A History of Art in Three Colours
Borgen

the other:

Richard Hammonds latest trash vehicle
Lottery Game Show
Splash
Take Me Out
--------------

TV for either dimwits or professors, where's the middle ground?


I don't want to think too much on a Saturday evening but the intellectual level of much of BBC1/ITV1s output is far too low.


Methinks television executives have come to have a very low opinion of the public.

Without any basis since you only have to look at the ratings for the trash telly to realise most people think it beneath them.

I do hope you are joking.

Cilla and our Graham did a superb job with Blind Date and Stars in their Eyes was an actual talent contest with out any of the silly drama you get from The X Factor.

Series 2 of Borgen is starting tonight on BBC4! What more do you want?

Subtitled Danish drama and football highlights. That's my Saturday evening sorted.

I'm not.

I agree that Cilla is a far better presenter, but the show was cheesy as hell. I recently saw an old episode on YouTube. At least Take Me Out is a bit more self aware even if the contestants are less sophisticated.

Stars in their eyes declined because of the TV talent shows we have today. Even though it was far more modest and honest ( except for the smoky doors part ;) ), it is more exciting to see someone trying to establish themselves as a star rather than trying to impersonate someone else, even if the execution became more and more convoluted.

Don't get me wrong. I liked the past shows but I'm trying to look them objectively instead of through Nostalgia goggles.

Yeah, for me it's really bad at the moment, now that Merlin's finished.

But BBC3 are showing series 1 ep 1 of Merlin at 7 tonight! So I will be watching that of course.

But everything else on the main channels is boring :yawn:

thats why you should have a pvr and save some stuff to watch later

I often find myself watching Challenge on a Saturday night these days because it reminds me of better times. In the last few weeks we've had the pleasure of Strike it Rich, Play Your Cards Right, Catchphrase and Take Your Pick.

None of this nonsense where you have to humiliate yourself to in front of 20 women to get a date.