Originally Posted by
Blackhorse47:
“I thought last night's HL show was awful, especially after the tension filled recent episodes. It had everything I hate about the new format with people coming into the house, fill-in segments and fame grooming. Anyhow I won't disagree with any of the reasons you quote as being responsible for the show dumbing down, but I do disagree with them being responsible for lower viewing figures.
I presented all the figures for the week by week breakdown on the previous page and although for some reason that appeared to initiate lots of sneering, the figures prove that the show hasn't lost viewers during its run. From the traditional low point in weeks 2/3, the trends have been either stable or slightly up and without last week's surprise plummet they would have been clearly up. This isn’t the pattern of a show that's irritated its viewers enough to switch off. It is the pattern of a show that didn’t get enough viewers in the first place and the reasons for that have nothing to do with production values and poor execution.
This is a reborn dead series being shown on a smaller station, with a smaller advertising budget, out of season, without the benefit of a +1 station, against tougher competition, at 10pm. It's logical that its ratings will drop when compared to the same show before it was axed (but after many, many, many years of falling ratings, poor production decisions and media disinterest) on a larger station, with a bigger advertising budget, at the right time of year, with the benefit of a +1 station, against weak opposition, at 9pm.
At half-term this year the ratings rose, showing how the program works best at holiday time. When there's been tough opposition, the figures have gone down and when there's been no competition, they've gone up. When they advertised CBB strongly, it got high figures. When they didn’t advertise BB, it got low figures. When they show BOTS on 5* it gets lower figures than it does on 5… All these factors are self-evident with hard facts to back them up, but, of course, if anyone would like to provide statistics to prove these factors don’t influence ratings, I'd love to see them.
To me everything points to the low ratings coming from matters that have nothing to do with the C5 production issues that concern forum fans (and which are leapt upon as being the only reason for the drop). Sad though it is, this means addressing those issues won't raise ratings, but addressing the other issues will. Next year it will be shown in season, without competition, suitably advertised, with a +1. All this should give the show the ratings everyone reckons it should get, irrespective of whether or not they address any of the annoyances.
Anyhow, for what's it's worth, I've droned on for a bit on my blog about this year's BB at http://ijparnham.blogspot.com/”
Interesting post.
We'll have to agree to disagree about that particular episode. Yes it shared all the problems of dumbing down we do agree on, the recapitulations ad nauseam, the poor editing, the stupid voiceover text aimed at an audience with a mental age of six.
BUT despite all that it did show, perhaps it could hardly fail to because of the reaction of that HM and did so almost depite itself, an individual at near breaking point. His struggle with the cause of that, the indifferent reaction of the interlocutor , and the unsatisfactory "reconciliation" at the end, with nothing really resolved.
That psychological drama, which used to be the stuff and meat of BB is why I continue to watch this schlock personally. But it became so rare in the latter years of C4 and even more so under C5, and the rest if the wannabe celebrity, kiss on the bed, shit in the kettle, macarana dancing rubbish so all pervasive that I do wonder if I will bother in future. You have to have a modicum of self respect. I know it isn't The Brothers Karamazov, but this series jumped the shark for me.
Maybe I am generalising from my own viewpoint. Perhaps it is true that no-one went broke underestimating the public. Maybe this "yoof" demographic responds to this dross, and the numbers prove it.
But I have my doubts. That psychological drama is the basis of BB's appeal, I contend. Viewers, whether they are young or old, stupid or bright, educated or not can respond to it at a profound, visceral level. It is about human life at its rawest, and that is a subject all humans find endlessly interesting.
The producers team have lost sight of it. That is why the format is broken. Whatever you say about C5's inferior footprint and marketing resource, which is true enough I suspect, the key is ALWAYS the product itself.
There has been a huge audience for BB in the very recent past. It isn't hard to find C5 rather than C4 on most people's TVs (I appreciate it hasn't got 100% reach but still), and a great show can find a huge audience on a minor channel.
This hasn't been a great show. It has been very poor. We can't totally prove WHY people have switched off (not during it necessarily as you say, but at the beginning) but I do not find your argument that it isn't the show content but the marketing very plausible, except at the periphery.
where are the red words gone I swear they were there a minute ago.
