It doesn't bother me that I haven't seen Alex sing live, I rarely go to 'gigs' anymore anyway, I would rather listen to her album at home. And Alistair has to work hard, he wants to be famous, perhaps he does deserve it after all his 'hard' work', but I wouldn't hold your breath. Do you really think that more people are going to buy his next album?

Well he has been asked to write a song for a major film soon so if that takes off then yes I don't see why not

I for one, hope there is another Fame Academy - despite the flaws of the last two!

Whatever you think of the previous students the show has succeeded in bringing several talented individuals into the public eye (and I am including both Alex and Alistair in that) that we would have otherwise never heard.

BTW, if you want to know how just hard Alistair has been working check out some of his his recent performances. (Alistair live at Whitby ) If his new album is up to the same standard as 'I can't make you love me'. then I will definitely be buying it!

Fame Accademy has been axed

in fact the show was never axed , the bbc never said it was but the press said it instead.
the bbc shelved the show and keep reviewing it .

There was an interview with cat deeley in a magazineThey asked her about work she had lined up and she said she had fame3 lined up for three months with patrick later this year.

I really hope that turns out to be accurate!

I had wondered if the new academy building would
be practical for a 12-week stay?

But looking at the review on the live streaming there
seems to be a field behind the new building.

So any students wouldn't so house bound/stir crazy
being locked away inside for 12 weeks!

Tez

This would tie in with her decision to leave CD:UK. There aren't masses of presenting jobs for entertainment shows around so unless she's planning to go into a different genre of TV (or make it in the States) another series of FA would fill some of that spare time.

It's not the BBC but the present granny govt. that has said it is axed. It was announced again on Capitol Radio 95.8 this lunch time.
Let it be on the heads of all those who voted them in!

The government don't have any say in what programs the BBC show (unless they're raiding production offices on the grounds of "national security" and I think FA should be OK on that one). The independence of the BBC is one of the cornerstones of the organisation.

The BBC do have to justify the imposition of the licence fee and part of that justification has always been catering to a broad range of tastes. In the run up to each charter renewel they always say they will make more public service programming and less entertainment but the reallity is they will always need to have popular shows as the bulk of the schedu;l..

Further to the above:
BBC news item "Forging a new BBC? Perhaps not"
Telegraph story "Ground Force axed by BBC before its viewing figures wilt"
The Herald story "BBC told: copy less and think more"
What a load of tosh. I doubt Jowell and her cronies ever watch either show (which are derivative of Opertunity Knocks, New Faces and countless other talent shows). Where FA differs is that it is also about developing new talent not just a pure talent search like all the others. FA is exactly the sort of program the BBC should be making. The goverment haven't got a clue. My main worry is that the BBC may not realise what they have got with FA and just believe the criticism (that started with the opening show of FA1) from the anti licence fee elements of the media.

The only "news" of FA being axed I have found comes from a very anti licence fee story from Mr Murdoch's The Times
Could these be the newspaper conclusions refered to by the first story?

Although FA is very different from Pop Idol in some ways, would the BBC have FA at all if it hadn't been for Pop I? And if you were the BBC and were going to copycat an ITV show, you wouldn't do exactly the same thing, would you? No, you'd change it around a bit and add something to make it "educational". And you'd try to make it about "real talent": people who could write songs as well as sing.

It's true, as thenetworkbabe points out somewhere, that Strictly Come Dancing is, if anything, more derivative than FA, yet it seems to be ragarded as "innovative".

However, Strictly is a hit (by today's standards). And it's a hit in a timeslot that people had started to think would never see a BBC hit again. So natrually Strictly is going to be presented as "good", however "good" is now defined. And, to be fair, the BBC can't be accused of copying anyone else's recent ballroom dancing hit, because there hasn't been one.

Now this may be a controversial claim, but I think it's right.: Alex Parks saved FA's and the BBC's credibility last time, because she was widely seen as a genuine talent who would not otherwise have been noticed. This is especially so since David Sneddon was widely regarded as a failure. Despire FA supposedly being about real talent etc, etc, it had failed to find one. So it was really just a dressed up Pop Idol after all. And it wasn't pulling in a big enough audience vs ITV. So the "failure" spin was in and knives were out and being sharpened. FA needed someone different whose talent could be brought out and developed by the show. FA needed an Alex.

(I'm not saying any of these opinions of David or Alex are correct, or incorrect; I'm talking about widespread perceptions.)

That's one reason I think the stories that have the BBC waiting to see how well Alex's album does before deciding about FA3 make a lot of sense. If Alex is another "failure", then FA is just another reality talent show.

Nonetheless, it's possible that a successful Celeb FA will make a difference. If the BBC has a hit reality show, it's still accused dumbing down, and chasing ratings, etc. But if the show's a hit, at least the BBC is doing it well. And if it beats ITV in the ratings, the BBC's doing it better. The press also tends to praise shows that are hits. What really hurts is a reality failure. So if Celeb FA is a hit, that may encourage the BBC to risk an ordinary one.

Otherwise, only Alex can save it. Again.

Interestingly, however, the BBC considered signing the first series of Pop Idol. As said in Simon Cowell's autobiography, he had a meeting with both BBC and ITV and both commisioned it. The BBC could have hosted Pop Idol but luck fell down to ITV getting it. When things like this are so close and everyone knows the greatness of a new genre, why can't everyone use it?

Peter Allen on bbc five live has just said that CRFA has made bbc rethink about the show.
he did not go on to say much , and it might just be what he thinks , but it seems he might habe made a good point, he said that the bbc do so much for charity and the when the first 2 fa show were done a lot of money was raised for children in need plus the fa bursary and it looks set to be the same for the next 2 years , now that the bbc have been told to do more arts shows and that FA combines both the needs of the bbc.

not much i know but its is a small hope .
CRFA has taken off so much i do feel that the bbc will re think the show.

Good news thanks!

Tez

The thing is, the normal Fame Academy raises money for musicians of all different genres around the country as well. So those seeking to see it taken off might want to remember that.

There's also a thread on the future of the fame academy format
if you want to pass on this news.

http://forum.digitalspy.co.uk/board/...76#post3569276

TEz

I would love to see it come back but without parky and with the grants not judges if we get rid of the biased behaviour we had in FA 2 and have fair constructive critisium then we will have a brill show