True, but according to your 'services' you do have it - so what's the beef?

Steve.

but if you don't have digital then you don't have interactive element

re: your other point as I keep saying the basic point of FA and Pop Idol is to give a record contract to the winner. If you cross BB with Pop Idol you get FA ... roughly speaking

as I said before it's not just FA that's being singled out

well just for a second I thought I would think about other people
Seriously though I think its a valid point that if you dont have digital the format is basically the same as Pop Idol.

yes but you've always needed digital

I have loved this series of celeb fa and i am hooked on the live streaming. I also preferred the set up for FA1 and the second series always felt to me that it was put together without much thought behind it.

What really annoys me is that i pay for the licence fee yet the BBC & government think they know what i want to watch! I happen to like some DIY shows /Makeover shows (ie DIY SOS/Ground Force & Homes under the Hammer) yet these popular types of shows are being axed in favour of more "worthy" programmes. Well excuse me but i happen to enjoy those less "informative" programmes and often enjoy relaxing in front of them rather than having the serious stuff on all the time.

As for RT I happen to enjoy FA more than pop idol (especially pop idol2) and x factor. I enjoy getting to know the ppl so, i suppose thats why i like BB in a way, for me the live streaming is what goes to make the whole thing more enjoyable.

Wonder if i can ask for my £120 back from the Beeb if i dont want to watch any of their "worthy" programmes any more and just watch the commercial channels as they give viewers what they want.!

Dont think the BBC could do that even if they wanted to. Think it would have to be done by one of their commercial arms if it was a subscription service. TBH not entirely sure.

No.

I was talking about the highlights shows (BB style) they had on BBC1 during the week!

Fair enough, I see what you mean now. Yes, without access to the digital services FA does look just like PI, without the marketing gloss thrown at it.

Steve.

Not been funny but why didn't you just mention the highlight shows that way would off understood what you where going on about

I thought with this being a FA forum people in it may know a little bit about the show. Therefore when I said you cant see things like the singing lessons anymore unless you have digital tv people would understand

The Fame Academy format came BEFORE Pop Idol, that's what irritates me.

And why the hell shouldn't the BBC put on light entertainment shows that people actually want to bloody watch?! It frustrates me so much.

If they don't do another series, they are completely insane. They've got a perfectly good new academy, I can't see how it's going to cost that much money to do a full series and it would probably do fairly well. There is NO reason why they should not do it. What they gonna do, documentaries on Saturday nights now?

Nope they will probably put tons of strictly some dancing on every week for a whole year as this is a "new" idea and fits in with what they have been told to broadcast.

I completely agree Ben there happens to be a hell of a lot of ppl who like this light entertainment but they are going to get ignored because the government has told them to braodcast more "worthy" programmes or they risk losing the fee.

So basically BBC p*ss a lot of ppl off by axing their fav shows and force ppl to switch away from yourselves onto the commercial channels as they seem to be able to give ppl what they want to watch!

I really hope that some other channel can take up the FA idea as i personally think its too good an idea just to be left to rot away.

look I've never bothered with highlight shows on any reality show as no matter what the programme is producers always edit different people in different ways also prefered FA1 because of the different streams instead of the single stream you got in FA2, take it you expect people to be able to read your mind when you post then, but then again I said watch people learn not watch snippets of people learning that the producers give you on highlight shows

Got it in one AcerBen! as i understand the BBC were in talks with Endemol over the Star Academy format from France before Pop Stars even was broadcast on ITV, that was 18 months before Pop Idol saw the light of day on ITV , (created after the ITV didn't want to have fork out for use of the Pop Stars format) but being the BBC they sat on the idea while commitees looked into it, while ITV recognised a winner and got on with it.

As far as i can remember on FA1 they did show a re-cap show on BBC1 late night as well the BBC1 showdowns/live streaming/BBC Choice daily show.

So this was available to everybody, the Claudia BBC3 only show started with FA2, but i always felt was part of the BBC budget cut backs when FA2 became FA Lite.

Tez

Popstars which gave us the brilliant Hearsay was based on an existing Australian series, I was at the ITV press launch. FA format may well have been mooted before PI came on air, but it still followed it's successful first series.

I honestly can't remember how the first series worked, all I remember was the Friday night show which to the average viewer was very similar to PI. I totally accept that CRFA is very popular but it isn't considered to be a original/distinctive programming.

I believe Endermol did offer FA to C4 first but they turned it down, and based on the reception for first series they would say they were justified.

I have nothing against standard FA, but to me it is very similar to Pop Idol/Stars. Sure it's a different element to watch the students each day learning but it's not wildly different from a combination of BB and Pop Idol/Stars

PS - It wasn't my idea to cancel FA

What? The BBC ran good message boards. Much better than, say, the C4 equivalents.

I have to say they're even better than Digital Spy in some ways.

(Also they were still there when I just now looked.)

Logically it should mean FA3 - public like it, audiences are high lots of problems have been worked on, voting figures for one night are better than for complete weeks in BB5.

Politically trhey are stuck on the argument licence = public service = different - and because public service means unwatchable ,and they have no intention of scrapping copycat programmes like soaps, they need something to say look we have changed. They can't change much actually because no viewers equals no licence, but they have to look like they have changed. The Sir Humphrey civil service answer faced by such stupidity is to announce a big change and then do the same thing - the Blair answer is also to announce a new programme which actually is the same old programme. You really need to rework the format so its so clearly educational and cultural with a new name and then you might have "Not Fame Academy 3". in an ideal world the BBC management would just make a stand but as they are a frightened and disunited bunch who now will get paid regardless of audience figures, i wouldn't bet on it.

If you don't have digital TV you soon won't have TV its going to be compulsory when analogue stops broadcating.

It's common sense to do another series, but this time with more pressure to actually make it the truly great show it really could have been the first series.

Of course, it being common sense means it's done for.

FA is not some cheap tacky 'pop idol' show. Yes there are influences from shows like pop idol and bb but as mentioned before, are there really any completely original shows around nowadays.

FA was designed to nurture talent and was shown in the first series with lemar, he'd have never become a brit award winner had he not been given the training that he was given in the FA Bursary which is a brilliant way of supporting grass roots British music.

Even just watching the celebs over the past few days, you can see just how much these people have improved, and these aren't even proper singers.

A third series if it was ever going to happen needs to be in the style of the very first series. The 2nd series should probably be forgotton about, THAT was clearly chasing ratings. A show similar to the original is more unique.

Personally, the first series taught me loads of stuff about vocal training I didn't know before, so to say it's more dumbing down is ridiculous, they just need to go back to the basics of what the show was originally created for. It would be tragic to see FA dumped and can't really be classed in the same league as Ground Force or Pop Idol. The Beeb don't know what they're getting rid of if there's no 3rd series.

Last year's FA Board was terrible! An awful format and full of teeny-texters claiming "Paris shud win coz e iz fit" (or somewhere along those lines).

I agree if there is a 3rd series it should try and be more like FA1 then FA2. although FA2 was only made like that because of the success of the celebrity one. But I think the BBC just dont realise that the celebrity version and the series are very different things- although actually that doesn't surprise me as the BBC has never understood the format of FA IMO.

The BBC FA board may be terrible, but I'd still say that in general the BBC boards are good.

1. The moderators actually respond (at least in the forums I've used.) (Compare C4.)

2. Sometimes the presenters reply as well. (Christoper of Liquid News fame, for example.)

3. They're moderated, rather like DS is, in a way that keeps down desctuctive fights etc.

The argument against the BBC going into areas that are of commercial interest is that the licence fee gives the BBC a guaranteed income and hence an unfair advantage. The people making this argument give the impression that if only the BBC wasn't in that area, there'd be commercial versions that were as good.

But (1) there wouldn't be, and (2) in a way, the BBC, with a fixed income, is at a disadvantage.

For instance, I do not believe for one second that if the BBC didn't have websites, the C4 ones would improve or that Sky would offer something wonderful.

In this CRFA I think they have shown plenty of Academy Life Footage! They must show around 10/15mins worth in the first show, and then around 5/10 in the results show... which is around the same amount as they had for THREE days in FA1.
And as for the whole 'FA is a copycat show'... SO WHAT!? It is a very entertaining programme, and we see the contestants grow as singers a lot more than we do in ITV's pop shows. I also find, with FA''s format, it is easier to support one student as you feel as if you know them more than you do in the average talent contest!