[porkpie]

Friday January 6th.
Starts with a 60 minute overview of the year and ends with a look at the big hits of the year.
In between those 2 we have the first of the 1977 shows.

The 3rd edition , the one for Jan 20th has a Gary Glitter performance so let's hope they don't edit it out.

Only 4 missing episodes across the whole year.

[ardmajell55]

Originally Posted by porkpie

Friday January 6th.
Starts with a 60 minute overview of the year and ends with a look at the big hits of the year.
In between those 2 we have the first of the 1977 shows.

The 3rd edition , the one for Jan 20th has a Gary Glitter performance so let's hope they don't edit it out.

Only 4 missing episodes across the whole year.

from memory of the time, the charts in '77 weren't any improvement on the one they just finished with. The year finished with Mull of Kintyre and Wings if memory serves.

[Bundyman]

Originally Posted by ardmajell55

from memory of the time, the charts in '77 weren't any improvement on the one they just finished with. The year finished with Mull of Kintyre and Wings if memory serves.

From memory there are less crap novelty songs in 77 than there were in 76, but some will be naff of course & others will be ruined by the TOTP orchestra.

I am looking forward to these. 77 had some great songs you don't get hear on the radio very often.

If there are only 4 missing episodes in 77, anyone know if BBC4 are going to air one each week after a while? If they keep missing a week every month, it'll be well behind by next Xmas

[Dirty Rooster]

I thought the 1976 shows were all the same show, repeated for ever ... until it clicked.
So now we will watch the 1977 ones, good stuff.

[porkpie]

Originally Posted by Dirty Rooster

I thought the 1976 shows were all the same show, repeated for ever ... until it clicked.
So now we will watch the 1977 ones, good stuff.

Basically it was.
Which is why I was hoping that BBC4 might latch onto the fact that the show would be more popular if they switched the years around a bit.
1977 one day and another year on another day or just a different year each week.
Its very unlikely that their intended plan to run one a week for 40 years will come to fruition and if it does lots of us won't be around to see it.
As they seem to have secured a good deal with the BPI in order to bring these repeats to screens after many years of requests it seems a tragic waste to show them as they are.

Weekly shows in sequence is boring and while its better than nothing , daily repeats or perhaps just more frequent than once a week with different decades on different days would really brighten things up.

I think that 77 is more interesting than 1976 but if we were to see perhaps 1980 one day next week followed by 1972 and then maybe 1989 it would make for a far more exciting time and it would also allow BBC4 a more realistic chance to actually show the series in great numbers rather than wasting it as they currently are.

I hope that if or when the budget cuts finally affect whats onscreen that the inevitable increase in repeats will mean more POPS

[steve16]

I love the weekly shows in sequence and I desperately hope they don't change it. Over the next ten years I'm looking forward to seeing the development of modern pop music - in real time. It would be a disaster if they changed it.

Playing the shows out of sequence would destroy it for me - it would destroy the development. Yes, there's a lot of junk, but that just builds anticipation for the good stuff. I have a personal rule that I never fast-forward through the songs I don't like. It's the best show on TV.

The ratings for this show are going to rise and rise over the years. BBC4 has a banker hit show for the next 20 years - unless they screw with the formula.

[Balthus]

Originally Posted by steve16

I love the weekly shows in sequence and I desperately hope they don't change it. Over the next ten years I'm looking forward to seeing the development of modern pop music - in real time. It would be a disaster if they changed it.

Playing the shows out of sequence would destroy it for me - it would destroy the development. Yes, there's a lot of junk, but that just builds anticipation for the good stuff. I have a personal rule that I never fast-forward through the songs I don't like. It's the best show on TV.

The ratings for this show are going to rise and rise over the years. BBC4 has a banker hit show for the next 20 years - unless they screw with the formula.

Totally agree with all your comments.

[Flying Tart]

I for one am looking forward to 1977 - the good stuff and the bad. It was six years before I was born and it's always a pleasure to hear songs I recognise and discover songs I've never heard before. And laugh at the studio guests dancing. And ogle Legs & Co.

[icefall]

woop woop 1977 totp great

[Glenn A]

This was the year punk broke through, but in chart terms it was never that huge, and a far more significant and popular genre, disco, started to dominate the charts. Also in 1977 there will be the last gasp of glam among some heavy rock, American country, reggae and pop, so quite a good year and better musically than 1976.

[chemical2009b]

Enjoyed 1976 and will enjoy 1977 a lot better.

[eurofandave]

Originally Posted by steve16

I love the weekly shows in sequence and I desperately hope they don't change it. Over the next ten years I'm looking forward to seeing the development of modern pop music - in real time. It would be a disaster if they changed it.

Playing the shows out of sequence would destroy it for me - it would destroy the development. Yes, there's a lot of junk, but that just builds anticipation for the good stuff. I have a personal rule that I never fast-forward through the songs I don't like. It's the best show on TV.

The ratings for this show are going to rise and rise over the years. BBC4 has a banker hit show for the next 20 years - unless they screw with the formula.

I agree with you and i'm also one that never skips through the songs i don't like.

[Oldvinyl]

Originally Posted by Glenn A

This was the year punk broke through, but in chart terms it was never that huge, and a far more significant and popular genre, disco, started to dominate the charts. Also in 1977 there will be the last gasp of glam among some heavy rock, American country, reggae and pop, so quite a good year and better musically than 1976.

Yes, there should be some gems of one-hit-wonders from that genre. I'm going to be interested in picking out the manufactured punk groups from the real ones .

[Mrs Mackintosh]

Hi porkpie. I take it this will be the "official" thread for when the series launch starts on Friday night?

Am I to take it that the long running 76 thread is done now?

Cheers, and thanks for all your contributions in the other thread, looking forward to many more in this one.

[Dirty Rooster]

Yes please ;

Originally Posted by porkpie

... if we were to see perhaps 1980 one day next week followed by 1972 and then maybe 1989 it would make for a far more exciting time and it would also allow BBC4 a more realistic chance to actually show the series in great numbers rather than wasting it as they currently are....

[porkpie]

Originally Posted by steve16

I love the weekly shows in sequence and I desperately hope they don't change it. Over the next ten years I'm looking forward to seeing the development of modern pop music - in real time. It would be a disaster if they changed it.

If they showed them in sequence daily would you not be able to keep up?
If they showed them out of sequence can't you watch recordings in your preferred order?

And they don't need to be out of sequence.
They could keep 1977 to a particular day but play other years on other days to make it varied.

The idea that their current practice will last for years is a bit outlandish.
Ratings are unlikely to gain ground .
As we saw with 1976 the same charts , same number ones and same acts week in week out gets boring.

There is no doubt at all that while the 1977 shows will attract an audience , the broadcasting of shows from other eras would keep the media interested and maintain more viewers who are not interested in 1977

Its been about 15 years since UK Gold showed unedited original shows.
Years of requests from viewers have been met with the reasons of music rights etc.

To finally have this sorted out after all this time is superb , but to carry on the way they are going is a real missed opportunity .
I for one would like to be alive when we get to the late 80's

If the much rumoured budget cuts do affect BBC4 then more frequent TOTP seems an obvious choice whether it be daily in sequence or more often with different eras.

I recorded the shows from German tv where we got around 30+ shows covering 1970 to 1975( pretty much all thats left of that era in the archives) and they were all far more exciting that anything from 1976.
The colourful era of Glam/Glitter Rock was under represented in the 64-75 compilation.

I was surprised that BBC4 didn't take the opportunity to show at least the Xmas shows of those years over the Xmas period

[porkpie]

Anyone have a site we can look at to see the acts and archive status for this years shows?
There was one listed for 1976 but can't find one for 1977

[Andy Walmsley]

Originally Posted by porkpie

Anyone have a site we can look at to see the acts and archive status for this years shows?
There was one listed for 1976 but can't find one for 1977

Not sure which site was listed on the 1976 thread but this is the one I've checked before.
For some reason DS is not letting me directly enter the link in this post (possibly because it's another forum) but search for Popscene 1977 and you'll find another forum with all the info.

[Mr Merton]

Musically speaking, 1977 may not be perfect but in my opinion it is noticably better than 1976; indeed the music seems to have been slowly improving as 1976 progressed and it will be fascinating to watch how things develop through '77. The first four months of 1977 are essentially "business as usual" before the first punk and new wave performances are seen on the Pops, but even several of the MOR singles seem to be noticeably better compared to what was released in '76.

Plus these reruns seem to have gained popularity as time progressed, and it will be interesting to see how many more viewers (or otherwise) the 1977 shows will attract. Fewer missing editions will also result in better continuity with less repetition compared to 1976, because tunes were sometimes repeated two weeks later therefore a missing show could result in a fair amount of repetition in surviving consecutively broadcast editions.

[Heavenly]

Originally Posted by chemical2009b

Enjoyed 1976 and will enjoy 1977 a lot better.

Same here. Cannot wait!!!

[Servalan]

Originally Posted by steve16

I love the weekly shows in sequence and I desperately hope they don't change it. Over the next ten years I'm looking forward to seeing the development of modern pop music - in real time. It would be a disaster if they changed it.

Playing the shows out of sequence would destroy it for me - it would destroy the development. Yes, there's a lot of junk, but that just builds anticipation for the good stuff. I have a personal rule that I never fast-forward through the songs I don't like. It's the best show on TV.

The ratings for this show are going to rise and rise over the years. BBC4 has a banker hit show for the next 20 years - unless they screw with the formula.

I pretty much agree. I'd gladly take two shows a week rather than one that keeps getting dropped for The Sky At Night (WHY?????????????? ) but the point about seeing how music evolves from year to year is what makes these repeats so rich.

But is it possible that this thread can focus solely on the 1977 edittions and the year's music, without the circular debate about how BBC Four should repeat TOTP ...?

In any case, potentially way more controversial than this is the 1977 documentary. Because if it consists of a few D-list talking heads slagging off TOTP for not having more punk bands on, it'll be rather at odds with what was actually in the singles chart that year ...

[James2001]

I think we know by this stage that the majority of retrospective documentries are badly researched, ill informed crap, often made my and interviewing people who weren't even around (or were still in nappies) at the time.

[Gulftastic]

Even though this launches on Friday, is the regular weekly show to be in the proper Thursday night slot?

[Servalan]

Originally Posted by Gulftastic

Even though this launches on Friday, is the regular weekly show to be in the proper Thursday night slot?

Presumably - but I couldn't find it in next week's Radio Times because guess what's on Thursday evening in the TOTP slot? None other than the ****ing Sky At Night! *pours self large cocktail*

[davidmcn]

Originally Posted by porkpie

Only 4 missing episodes across the whole year.

The final year with any missing programmes - according to Wiki the 8 September 1977 edition is the latest one.